Top News:
New York Times:
Sources: Washington Post CEO Will Lewis criticized Sally Buzbee's judgment in publishing a May 2024 article about a UK phone-hacking lawsuit that involved him — Will Lewis, the chief executive of The Washington Post, objected to coverage of a legal development involving him in a phone hacking case.
Discussion:
Digiday, @mattdpearce@threads.net, @paulvieira, @benmullin, Puck, @katie_robertson, @harrymccracken, @nick_field90, @sulliview, @peterjukes, @tvhilton, @farnazfassihi, @edmundlee, @eisingerj, @rogerford.org, The Wrap, @nick_field90, @ChrisBoese@newsie.social, @rcmacleod, @davidbeard@threads.net, @dangillmor@mastodon.social, @jeffjarvis@mastodon.social, @edmundlee@threads.net, @eisingerj, @janecoaston, @jswatz_tx@threads.net, @geisler_jill@threads.net, @fredvultee, @silvermanjacob, @davidbeard@threads.net, @farhip, @kevinmdraper, @kennysmith@mstdn.social, Press Watch, The Guardian and Vanity Fair
New York Times:
A look at the now-shuttered news site BNN Breaking, which former staff say mostly published AI-generated content; Microsoft had licensed BNN content for MSN.com — The news was featured on MSN.com: “Prominent Irish broadcaster faces trial over alleged sexual misconduct.”
Discussion:
The Desk and @structstories
The Wall Street Journal:
Vice founder Shane Smith returns as Vice News EIC, but with no management responsibilities, and will host a series of shows and create social media content — Shane Smith is sorry, but not sorry. The 54-year-old co-founder of Vice Media said he has few regrets as he embarks on a new role at the company …
James Pearson / Reuters:
China-linked app NewsBreak used AI to write 40+ inaccurate local US stories since 2021 and in March added a note that its content “may not always be error-free” — Last Christmas Eve, NewsBreak, a free app with roots in China that is the most downloaded news app in the United States …
Discussion:
@wexler, @niubi, @nastyoldwomyn, @reuters, @reuters, @robdecola, @pearswick, @reuters, @nanditab1 and @magneticcrow@catcatnya.com
Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:
The Atlantic CEO Nicholas Thompson shares details on the OpenAI deal: publishers can benefit from tech platforms as long as they avoid becoming wholly dependent — Shortly before The Atlantic announced “a product and content” partnership with OpenAI, the magazine published a piece …
Discussion:
The Atlantic, @sarahscire, @jessicalessin, LinkedIn and Business Insider
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: the NBA is closing in on deals with NBC, ESPN, and Amazon that would bring in ~$76B in media revenue over 11 years; the deals will include WNBA rights — The National Basketball Association entered its first TV negotiations in a decade with a problem: Its main business partners seemed to be on shaky footing.
Discussion:
@morningbrew, Amol Sharma on LinkedIn, The Desk, @patrick1kennedy, Robert Dee on LinkedIn, Los Angeles Times, Front Office Sports, @benfritz, @benfritz, Adweek, @asharma, @asharma, @jbflint, @jbflint, @webbarr, @jbflint, ESPN Press Room U.S., Media Play News, Christian Grece on LinkedIn, Next TV, Business Insider, The Wrap, Sports Media Watch, Awful Announcing, Barrett Media, Chris Pfaff on LinkedIn, Cord Cutters News and New York Post
Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
Regional UK news startup Mill Media, which offers online newsletters, plans to launch in London, as the Evening Standard scales back, and open a Glasgow office — Regional UK news start-up says there is an opportunity after years of savage cutbacks in local media industry
Blake Brittain / Reuters:
Four educational publishers sue Google, accusing it of promoting pirated copies of their textbooks and ignoring copyright infringement notices — Google (GOOGL.O) was hit with a lawsuit on Wednesday by educational publishers Cengage, Macmillan Learning, McGraw Hill and Elsevier accusing …
Discussion:
Publishing Perspectives, Bloomberg Law and Search Engine Land
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
How New Zealand's Stuff is using a sentiment tracker, which asks readers for their response to stories, and a softer explainer-style for contentious stories — New Zealand's Stuff “abandoned” the traditional inverted pyramid structure for its “most contentious” stories as part of its battle against news avoidance.
Discussion:
@pressgazette
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Stability AI releases Stable Audio Open, a text-to-audio model for generating up to 47 seconds of samples and sound effects, prohibited for commercial use — Stability AI, the startup behind the AI-powered art generator Stable Diffusion, has released an open AI model for generating sounds …
Discussion:
@stabilityai, @hugovntr, @Tamasg@mindly.social, @benjedwards, @andymac3d, @iscienceluvr, @minimaxir, @simonw, @nickadobos and Stability AI, more at Techmeme »
Nikkei Asia:
An analysis finds 90K+ images of popular anime characters on generative AI image sharing sites; ~2.5K images had multiple similarities to the original artwork — —An animator working for a Tokyo-based production company — “This Pikachu” was drawn by generative AI.
Discussion:
Nikkei Asia and @hrfm_yamamoto
Liam Scott / Voice of America:
Five former colleagues of exiled Uyghur journalist Kasim Kashgar have been imprisoned in China's Xinjiang region, seemingly over their ties to the VOA reporter — Former colleagues of exiled Uyghur journalist Kasim Kashgar have been imprisoned in China's Xinjiang region …