Top News:
NBC News:
Julian Assange pleads guilty to a conspiracy charge as part of a deal with the US, letting him go free after spending five years in a British prison — The WikiLeaks founder has been held in a prison outside London for the last five years and fought extradition to the United States.
Discussion:
@wikileaks, The Guardian, CNN, New York Times, BBC, The Atlantic, @stella_assange, ScheerPost.com, CBS News, Associated Press, Ars Technica, Boing Boing, The i Paper, Al Jazeera, Fox News, Reason, Wired, @benburgis, @jimwaterson, 9to5Mac, Bloomberg, @robertkennedyjr, NewsNation, Freedom of the Press …, ABC7, @stella_assange, @wikileaks, CAIR, @naughtfollowers@threads.net, @markcurtis30, Reporters Without Borders, @jamesrbuk, @mikebutcher, @naughtfollowers@threads.net, @jameeljaffer, Reuters, Press Association, @jack, @jamesrbuk, @jamesrbuk, @sgurman, Engadget, Metro.co.uk, @jeffjarvis, @jeremyscahill, @autismcapital, @zcohencnn, @craigmokhiber, The Intercept, Financial Times, Mediaite, Rolling Stone, The Wrap, Deadline, The Daily Beast, The Register, Washington Examiner, @mbrauchli@threads.net, @lemonslayer.bsky.social, Deadline, @martinsfp@threads.net, Gizmodo, @joeo10@mastodon.sdf.org, Axios, New York Post, BBC, Politico, @lemonslayer.bsky.social, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, The Verge, Mumbrella, TechCrunch and Committee to Protect …
Nilay Patel / The Verge:
Q&A with Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters on updating the company's famous culture memo, its advertising ambitions, bundling, game streaming, AI use cases, and more — The co-CEO who replaced co-founder Reed Hastings details the company's new culture memo, its ad ambitions, and what's next for Netflix.
Discussion:
Business Insider, Next TV, Variety and New York Times, more at Techmeme »
Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch:
The RIAA's lawsuit against generative music startups will be the bloodbath AI needs and an object lesson in hubris for similarly unethical AI companies — Like many AI companies, Udio and Suno relied on large-scale theft to create their generative AI models.
Discussion:
Shane Zammit on LinkedIn, Music Business Worldwide, CMU, Boing Boing and Rolling Stone, more at Techmeme »
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Mia Sato / The Verge:
The RIAA files two copyright-infringement cases against the AI music services Suno and Udio; Udio was used to create the viral song BBL Drizzy
The RIAA files two copyright-infringement cases against the AI music services Suno and Udio; Udio was used to create the viral song BBL Drizzy
Discussion:
Plagiarism Today, Washington Examiner, Engadget, Vibe, Shelly Palmer, RIAA, Wired, @abelowrob, @robertfreundlaw, @riaa, @tb_num, @mitch_glazier, @komaniecki_r, ABC7, @future_of_music, @kerrymuzzey, @maximumadhd, @jess_miers, @riaa, @rachelmetz, @rahll, @rachelmetz, @emilylazar_sm, @ednewtonrex, @human_artistry, @dada_drummer, Inside Radio, @patrickmoorhead, @human_artistry, @mattbelloni, @justinebateman, @johnpstrohm, @dada_drummer, @rachelmetz, @riaa, @riaa, @riaa, @lucas_shaw, @jason_koebler, @carnage4life, @carnage4life, Bloomberg, The Register, MediaPost, Music Technology Policy, Ars Technica, Quartz, Consequence, @GossiTheDog@cyberplace.social, @miasato.2@threads.net, @reckless1280@threads.net, 404 Media, Drew Thurlow on LinkedIn, Wall Street Journal, Digital Music News, CNN, @andybaio@xoxo.zone, Fast Company, Music Ally, CMU, Reuters, Music Business Worldwide, Billboard and Variety, more at Techmeme »
Raphael Minder / Financial Times:
Polish state energy group Orlen plans to sell its media company Polska Press, acquired under the former right-wing government, to show political independence — Orlen's acquisition of newspaper business under former rightwing government has drawn criticism
Discussion:
@raphaelminder, @j_jaraczewski, @cookcommunicat1, @bdstanley, Telewizja Polska S.A and @staunovo
Todd Spangler / Variety:
MTV appears to have fully pulled down MTV News website, scrubbing two decades' worth of content from its archives; Paramount Global shut down MTV News in 2023 — Some two decades' worth of content published on MTVNews.com is no longer available after MTV appears to have fully pulled down the site.
Discussion:
@patrickhosken, The Ankler, @jill_krajewski@threads.net, @alannabennett, Cord Cutters News, @annetdonahue, @crystalbell, Angela Matusik on LinkedIn, @stephentotilo, @sam_piroton, The Wrap, @lymoula, @jemaswad, @meelztv, @bloodravenlib@mas.to, @tirhakahlove, @hiattb, @brendonkleen14, @jhoffman, @film_girl, @kevdgrussing, TVNewsCheck, @dangillmor@mastodon.social, Consequence, The A.V. Club, @martinsfp@threads.net, @kalihays1@threads.net, @kashana.bsky.social, @lakewitchhouse.bsky.social, @jaytingle.bsky.social, @smi.bsky.social, @greene.haus, @mirrorman.bsky.social and The Verge
Sara Fischer / Axios:
The Associated Press is launching The AP Fund for Journalism, an independent 501(c)3 charitable organization to raise $100M+ to expand state and local news — - “It will help to sustain what we do, grow what we do, and add new and incremental journalism services for the industry," Veerasingham told Axios in an interview.
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
Fact checkers at UK news agency PA Media and Full Fact say AI content has proved less problematic than expected so far during the country's general election — Fact checkers spending more time on verifying claims made by politicians than on fake AI-generated content.
Dave Collins / Associated Press:
A US bankruptcy court trustee discloses plans to shut down Infowars and liquidate its assets to help pay the $1.5B in lawsuit judgments that Alex Jones owes — A U.S. bankruptcy court trustee is planning to shut down conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' Infowars media platform and liquidate …
Discussion:
The Guardian, CNN, Boing Boing, HuffPost, @rpsagainsttrump, The Hill, Axios, Washington Examiner, The Daily Beast, New Republic and Mediaite
Oliver Wiseman / The Free Press:
Former NPR editor Uri Berliner, who wrote a Free Press essay criticizing NPR, is joining The Free Press as senior editor, after resigning from NPR in April — Is dropshipping a scam? Why did Niall Ferguson's debut Free Press column provoke so many responses? Why are Americans divided on foreign policy?
Discussion:
Fox News, Mediaite, The Wrap, @mikedrucker and @bariweiss
New York Times:
Sources: UK police saw Will Lewis as an impediment to their phone hacking investigation; plaintiffs say Lewis gave the “green light” to delete News Corp. emails — Will Lewis, now the publisher of the Washington Post, was in full crisis mode in 2011.
Discussion:
Vanity Fair, @lizzieohreally, @jbenton, @chrchristensen, @karaswisher, @jeffjarvis, @bgrueskin, @arusbridger, @edmundlee, @davidfolkenflik, @ericuman, @jo_becker, @jswatz_tx@threads.net, @harrymccracken@mastodon …, @obrien_kat@mastodon.world, @dangillmor@mastodon.social and @davidbeard@threads.net
Carl Franzen / VentureBeat:
ElevenLabs debuts its first iOS app, which turns any English-language text, including from PDFs and ePubs, into narrations by one of its “human-like voices” — If you've ever started reading an article on your iPhone only to have to drive somewhere, walk, bike, do chores …
Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:
CNN is in charge of every aspect of Thursday's Biden-Trump debate, a major shift from previous years; rival channels will leave CNN's on-air watermark untouched — One network is in charge of every aspect of the Biden-Trump debate, a major shift from previous years. Tens of millions of viewers are expected to be watching.
Discussion:
Fox Business, Axios, Reclaim The Net, The Hill, TVNewsCheck, @katierogers, Adweek, @matthewkeyslive, @bristei, @scarylawyerguy, @farhip, @markjacob16, @fcchambers, @jeremymbarr, @kairyssdal, @ronfilipkowski, @protecttruth@mastodon.online, Politico, Washington Examiner, Gizmodo, @nminow@c.im, New York Post, Poynter and Mediaite
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Todd Spangler / Variety:
Prices of ad-free Paramount+ With Showtime plan will rise by $1 to $12.99/month, and of Paramount+ Essential plan with ads by $2 to $7.99, starting August 20 — As Paramount Global looks to push its streaming business into the black, it's hiking the prices for most Paramount+ plans later this summer.
Discussion:
The Streamable, The Verge, Los Angeles Times, Comic Book, Fox Business, Reuters, Bloomberg, Engadget, BGR, CNBC, ComingSoon.net, Adweek, TVLine, The Wrap, IndieWire, Deadline and Quartz
Dan Primack / Axios:
Filing: Vivek Ramaswamy's BuzzFeed stake grew to 8.9%; sources: Ramaswamy recently met Jonah Peretti and wants Patrick Bet-David and two others on the board — - Ramaswamy has continued to increase his stake, this morning disclosing that it's risen to 8.9%.
Discussion:
@theclubmember04, @claytravis, @danprimack, Fox Business, New York Post and Business Insider
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