Top News:
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Sources: the expectation at Paramount Global is that neither of the two offers in play, Skydance-RedBird and Sony Pictures-Apollo, will come to fruition — After months of M&A talks, Paramount Global and controlling shareholder Shari Redstone might be going it alone after all.
Discussion:
The Wrap, New York Times, New York Times, Quartz, @willsun_1, CNBC, Los Angeles Times, Financial Times, The Hollywood Reporter, Rich Greenfield on LinkedIn, Reuters, Reuters, Wall Street Journal, Advanced Television, Variety, Associated Press, Yahoo Finance, ComingSoon.net, The Information, Media Play News, Radio & Television … and Next TV
Taylor Lorenz / Washington Post:
Twitch streamers are growing their audiences as they stream student protests, and some viewers and protesters see them as more trustworthy than traditional news — Live-streamers are amassing audiences through real-time coverage of student encampments and police crackdowns.
Discussion:
@brethamilton, @91tophtwitch, @brethamilton, @taylorlorenz and @taylorlorenz
RELATED:
Matt Cooper / University of Oregon:
A group of researchers say Twitch is increasingly becoming a news source, and traditional news outlets could use it for added income and audience engagement — The popular app Twitch, created to livestream video game action, is redefining journalism as it becomes a source for news, University of Oregon research found.
Discussion:
@kennysmith@mstdn.social, Maxwell Foxman on LinkedIn and Taylor & Francis
Tom McArthur / BBC:
RSF publishes its World Press Freedom Index and places Norway, Denmark, and Sweden in the top three, the US down 10 spots at 55, and Eritrea in last place — Gaza is one of the deadliest places in the world to be a journalist, according to Reporters Without Borders
Discussion:
RSF, Iran International, @thatbenloh, @simongerman600, @ramabdu, @kajakallas, Brendon Craigie on LinkedIn, Sabrina Hastings Mela on LinkedIn, @voanews, @emilybell, @farhip, ICIJ, Voice of America, The Guardian, Press Gazette, @michellemanafy@journa.host, News/Media Alliance, Journalism.co.uk and Newslaundry
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Reuters:
Al Jazeera source and Israeli official: police raided a Jerusalem hotel room used by Al Jazeera as its de facto office, following a government shutdown order — Israeli police raided a Jerusalem hotel room used by Al Jazeera as its de facto office on Sunday following a government decision …
Discussion:
Sydney Morning Herald, Associated Press, The Wrap, Al Jazeera, Semafor, @fpaispal, @unhumanrights, BBC, Committee to Protect …, Haaretz, CNN, Variety, @ajenglish, Financial Times, @phil_lewis_, @baekdal, @pressfreedom, The Guardian, @tparsi, @brianstelter, @alon_mizrahi, @hadas_gold, @ajenglish, @ussamamakdisi, Mediaite, The Hill, @seamus_malek, Reclaim The Net, @LiamOMaraIV@mastodon.social and Deadline
SWI swissinfo.ch:
Swiss public broadcasters RTS and SRF plan to drastically reduce their communications on X, saying they aren't reaching their target audience on the platform — Swiss public broadcasters RTS and SRF are drastically reducing their communications via the social network X (formerly Twitter).
Discussion:
@swissinfo_en, @marcel@waldvogel.family and @kubikpixel@chaos.social
Kayleigh Barber / Digiday:
Some publishers plan to keep testing Google's Privacy Sandbox but won't allocate further resources to it, as Google delays cookie deprecation from Chrome again — Publishers could see the writing on the wall when it came to Google's announcement that it was delaying cookie deprecation from Chrome yet again.
Sara Fischer / Axios:
A look at news publishers' conflicting approaches toward AI companies, and how the lack of a data marketplace makes it hard for buyers and sellers to set rates — - The new suits add heft to the Times' claims. … Several other large news publishers, including the Financial Times …
Discussion:
@sarafischer, Peter Csathy on LinkedIn, Digimentors on LinkedIn and New Republic
Nikkei Asia:
Sources: Chinese-owned media stopped submissions to Asia's highest-profile journalism prize SOPA due to Chinese government pressure to avoid foreign “collusion” — Outlets stop SOPA submissions under pressure to avoid foreign ‘collusion’ — Nationalists have attacked Chinese media …
Discussion:
@williamyang120, @williamyang120, @kanghexin, @joemosch and @elimeixler
Yun Li / CNBC:
Warren Buffett says Berkshire sold its entire Paramount stake and “lost quite a bit of money”; Berkshire owned 63.3M shares of Paramount as of the end of 2023 — WATCH NOW — Warren Buffett says Berkshire sold its entire Paramount stake and ‘lost quite a bit of money’
Discussion:
@richlightshed, @thetranscript_, @joecarlsonshow, @tvgrimreaper, Bloomberg, Deadline, Quartz, The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter, @mgsiegler@threads.net and Reuters
Rachel Metz / Bloomberg:
A look at Runway's second International AI Film Festival, which it says grew from 300 short-video submissions in 2023 to 3,000 in 2024 with 10 finalists chosen — Artificial intelligence has changed filmmaking a lot over the past year, even though the technology is just getting started. But first...
Discussion:
New York Post, @nemperez, @semil, Fortune and IndieWire, more at Techmeme »
Alex Kantrowitz / Big Technology:
Elon Musk says he wants Grok to create news summaries by relying solely on X posts, without looking at article text, and improved story citations are coming — Musk emails with details on AI-powered news inside X. An AI bot will summarize news and commentary, sometimes looking through tens of thousands of posts per story.
Discussion:
Social Media Today, CoinGape, @kantrowitz, @brianstelter, @pkafka, @scobleizer, @kurtwagner8, @thekenyeung, @mcculloughirvin, @nxthompson, @chrismoranuk, @hshaban, @hshaban, @hshaban, @iethics, CoinGape, Bloomberg, @nzpom.com, @krveale.bsky.social, @anthonyintx.bsky.social, @avishaybsg.bsky.social, Business Insider, @born2bemild.bsky.social, @notgareth.bsky.social, @mjpaul.bsky.social, @caprine.bsky.social, @emmiehine@dair-community …, @Kierkegaanks@beige.party, @nateschenkkan.bsky.social, @kilgoretrout.bsky.social, @getwired.bsky.social, @smartsmears.bsky.social, @blackamazon.bsky.social, @legalba.bsky.social, @niedermeyer.io, @LiamEgan@mstdn.ca, @firerock31@threads.net and @reneeleegreco@threads.net
RELATED:
Wendy Lee / Los Angeles Times:
How the AI-generated music video for Washed Out's The Hardest Part was created entirely using OpenAI's Sora, a first from a major record label — “The Hardest Part,” a new song from indie pop artist Washed Out, is all about love lost, among the most human of themes.
Discussion:
@ankitpr89, @vividfeverdrms, @thisisnalaa, @counternotions, @counternotions@mastodon …, @paultrillo, @realwashedout, @realwashedout, @realwashedout, @paultrillo, @realwashedout, @paultrillo, @realwashedout, @realwashedout, @abelowrob, @kennyle31, @carlfranzen, @paultrillo, Kamila Sultanova on LinkedIn, @billyfx.ig@threads.net, @patrickromeoau@threads.net, Mashable, Tom's Guide, TechRadar, Thred Website, No Film School, Voicebot.ai, Interesting Engineering, Stereogum, Washed Out on YouTube, Paul Trillo on Vimeo, VentureBeat, Boing Boing, r/videos and r/washedout, more at Techmeme »