Mediagazer: Google launches News Showcase in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania; several publishers added a feature where Google pays for reader access to paywalled content (Marek Miller/The Keyword)

6:30 PM ET, June 18, 2024

Top News:

Mark Stenberg / Adweek:

Subscription platform Zuora is acquiring AI company Sub(x) to use AI to enhance paywall offerings for the news industry; Sub(x)'s 10 employees will join Zuora — EXCLUSIVE: With Sub(x), Zuora moves beyond propensity scoring to reinforcement learning — Subscription technology platform Zuora …

Discussion: Chris Scott on LinkedIn, @markstenberg3 and Zuora

David Gilbert / Wired:

ISIS created two YouTube channels falsely branded as CNN and Al Jazeera channels in March; their videos stayed on YouTube for a month and a half before removal — One video focused on giving ISIS credit for a terror attack that Russian disinformation blamed on Ukraine.

Discussion: @paddydugganj, @SteveThompson@mastodon.social and @daithaigilbert

Marek Miller / The Keyword:

Google launches News Showcase in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania; several publishers added a feature where Google pays for reader access to paywalled content — News and Publishing Partner Manager, Central and Eastern Europe — For more than two decades, Google has partnered with journalists …

Discussion: Neowin

Tony Plohetski / Austin American-Statesman:

Gannett's Austin American-Statesman names Courtney Sebesta executive editor; she began her career at the Statesman 22 years ago as an editorial assistant — Courtney Sebesta, a homegrown journalist who has risen from an entry-level newsroom position to top management at the Austin American-Statesman …

Discussion: Courtney Sebesta on LinkedIn and Austin Business Journal

Brian Stelter / @brianstelter:

Email to staff: Jeff Bezos names and copies Will Lewis and says WaPo “needs to evolve” and has his “commitment on maintaining quality, ethics, and standards” — New: Jeff Bezos writes to newsroom leaders and says “the journalistic standards and ethics at The Post will not change.” [image]

Discussion: Fox News, The Guardian, Axios, New Republic, CNN, Mediaite, The Wrap, @karaswisher@threads.net, The Daily Beast, @alexbruell, @sokane1@threads.net, @johnrobinson, @karaswisher@threads.net, @farhip, @hadas_gold, @karaswisher@threads.net, @johnmcquaid@threads.net and @kbode@threads.net

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Netflix plans to open two permanent in-person experience venues, in Dallas and near Philadelphia, in 2025, a continuation of its previous pop-ups — They're not exactly theme parks, but the new Netflix Houses — to open next year in King of Prussia, Pa., and Dallas — will feature a wide array …

Discussion: CNN, Netflix Tudum, Brian Millman on LinkedIn, BGR, The Verge, Quartz, Peter Csathy on LinkedIn, @0xchalie, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap, Deadline and Media Play News

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:

French ad agency Havas plans to invest €400M in AI and data-led initiatives in the next four years, and prepares for a four-way breakup of parent Vivendi — French company launches AI strategy as it prepares to split from parent group Vivendi — Havas will invest €400mn …

Discussion: The Media Leader, Adweek, PRWeek, @havas, @davidclinchnews, Ad Age, MediaPost and Havas

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Venu Sports, the Fox/WBD/Disney streaming venture, announces more hires, including Chief Business Officer Tim Connolly, who had led Apple TV+ subscriber growth — Key senior hires include chief business officer Tim Connolly, CTO Skarpi Hedinsson and CMO Brian Borkowski

Discussion: The Desk, Radio & Television …, The Wrap, Next TV, Deadline and Barrett Media

Ina Fried / Axios:

A NewsGuard study of 10 top chatbots, including from OpenAI, shows how often they repeat Russian disinfo and cite fugitive John Dougan's fake local news sites — - Entering 57 prompts into 10 leading chatbots, NewsGuard found they spread Russian disinformation narratives 32% of the time …

Discussion: Fox News and @pernillet@mastodon.online, more at Techmeme »

Sara Guaglione / Digiday:

Daily Mail plans to launch a dozen long-form shows on YouTube by the end of 2024, focusing on popular verticals including entertainment, sports, and the royals — In a bid to earn more ad revenue, Daily Mail is making a big push into long-form video with plans to debut a dozen shows on YouTube by the end of this year.

Discussion: The Media Leader, StreamTV Insider and Press Gazette

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Forbes' lawyer demands that Perplexity AI remove articles sourced from Forbes, seeks assurances that Perplexity AI won't infringe on Forbes copyrights, and more — - The chatbot tried to give credibility to the Forbes story it presented by citing other “sourced” reports that were actually …

Discussion: @johnvoelcker

Daniel Hurst / The Guardian:

Australia complains to the Chinese embassy over efforts to block the view of Australian journalist Cheng Lei, who previously was detained in China, at an event — Anthony Albanese describes behaviour of officials at Parliament House during Chinese premier Li Qiang's visit as ‘clumsy’

Nic Newman / Reuters Institute:

RISJ's 2024 Digital News Report with a survey of 90K+: six platforms, like TikTok, reach 10%+ of respondents for news use, compared to just two a decade ago — This year's report comes at a time when around half the world's population have been going to the polls in national and regional elections …

Discussion: Rutger Verhoeven on LinkedIn, Nieman Lab, Reuters Institute, @andrewstroehlein …, Reuters Institute, Boing Boing, Media Voices, Diya Banerjee on LinkedIn, LatAm Journalism Review, Journalism.co.uk, Jacob Granger on LinkedIn, @jeffjarvis@mastodon.social, Press Gazette, WAN-IFRA and Reuters

Nic Newman / Press Gazette:
A look at news influencers in the US, the UK, and France: a majority are mainstream journalists in the UK, much higher YouTube use for news in the US, and more

Discussion: Reuters Institute

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Oil Reporter, Singapore — Bloomberg

Newsperson - State Govt. & Politics, CA — AP

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State Government Reporter, WA — Seattle Times

Climate Crisis Columnist — Prospect UK

Multimedia Journalist, CA — Paramount

Community Engagement Mgr., DC — Freedom Forum

Senior California Politics Reporter, CA — SFGATE

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Assistant Correspondent, DC — Kyodo News

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More News:

Etan Vlessing / The Hollywood Reporter:
Fremantle and Pluto TV strike a global deal to launch 25 FAST channels across 13 countries, including the US, UK, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, and Italy

Discussion: The Desk, The Wrap, The Streamable, Realscreen, Broadband TV News, Kyle Espinosa on LinkedIn, TVNewsCheck, Next TV, Advanced Television, Media Play News, WORLD SCREEN and NewscastStudio

Lisa Du / Bloomberg:
Blackstone plans to buy Japanese digital comic provider Infocom in a ~$1.7B deal, in its biggest private equity transaction in Japan to date

Discussion: Financial Times, Reuters, Reuters, Wall Street Journal, Blackstone and Teijin, more at Techmeme »

Wall Street Journal:
Social media creators say earning a decent, reliable income is getting harder, as platforms pay less for popular posts and brands get pickier about partnerships

Discussion: The Hill, The Information, James Wigginton on LinkedIn, @hoofnagle, Steve Severinghaus on LinkedIn, @albertfong98, Business Insider and r/technology, more at Techmeme »

Ann Cooper / Nieman Reports:
A look at AP Corporate Archives, launched in 2003 to preserve the organization's history and since then expanded with initiatives like an oral history program

Discussion: Kate Ortega on LinkedIn and @niemanreports

James Thomas / Euronews:
Study: anonymous pro-Russian actors are barraging journalists in Europe with fake news, in an effort to overwhelm fact checkers and amplify fake narratives

Discussion: @heidireports and Check First

Earlier Picks:

Nilay Patel / The Verge:
Q&A with Tubi CEO Anjali Sud, who joined from Vimeo in September 2023, on the streaming industry, working within Fox, subscription fatigue, copyright, and more

Discussion: The Guardian, @reckless1280@threads.net, @hi.im.vijay@threads.net, @anjsud and r/television

Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:
Dow Jones and the union that represents journalists at WSJ, Barron's, and MarketWatch reach a tentative agreement on a four-year deal after a year of bargaining

Discussion: @katie_robertson, @natalieandrews, @gzuckerman, IAPE 1096, IAPE 1096 and MediaPost

Natalie Korach / The Wrap:
Sources: 25 unionized staffers at The Daily Beast took buyouts, equivalent to ~70% of the guild, including almost all of the outlet's senior staffers

Discussion: @eshugerman, @justinbaragona, Poynter, @nataliekorach and @willsommer

Harry Lambert / The Daily Beast:
A profile of The Washington Post CEO Will Lewis, once one of the UK's most feted journalists, and a look at the many compromises he's made in pursuit of power

Discussion: NPR, @davidfolkenflik, @mattizcoop, @brianstelter, @davidfolkenflik, CNN, @4seasonstl@threads.net, @benjaminmullin@threads.net, @harrytlambert, Associated Press, @semaforben, @dankennedy_nu@threads.net, New York Times, New Republic, Newser, Poynter and @davidfolkenflik

Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
YouTube is testing Notes, an experimental crowdsourced tool to let users add context to videos, similar to X's Community Notes, on mobile in the US in English

From Techmeme:

Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority:
Source: Google has canceled the development of a second-generation Pixel Tablet, planned for release in 2025, due to concerns that it wouldn't sell very well

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is testing a more conversational version of Siri, dubbed “LLM Siri”, with plans to release it in spring 2026 as part of iOS 19 and macOS 16

The Information:
Sources: OpenAI considered making a browser, discussed deals to power AI features on Samsung devices and search on sites and apps from Condé Nast and others

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