Top News:
Eric Tucker / Associated Press:
The US DOJ seized two domain names and 968 X accounts that were part of a Russian propaganda effort using fake social profiles, planned by a senior editor at RT — A Russian internet propaganda campaign backed by the Kremlin that spread disinformation in the United States and relied …
Discussion:
Reuters, Engadget, US Department of Justice, Washington Post, @thezedwards, Bloomberg, NPR, PCMag, CNN, Decrypt, @wiczipedia@threads.net, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, @renee.diresta@threads.net, The Record, CyberScoop, The Verge, SiliconANGLE, @renee.diresta@threads.net, @kevincolliernbc@threads.net, @skykiss@sfba.social, @passantino@threads.net, @gregotto, @bing_chris, The Register and MeidasTouch News, more at Techmeme »
Peter Kafka / Business Insider:
David Ellison has repeatedly framed “New Paramount” as partially a tech company, but the company's problem isn't its tech but rather its scale — - David Ellison says the new Paramount will be a “World-Class Media and Technology Enterprise.” — He's Oracle founder Larry Ellison's son …
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Paramount, @derekeb, Variety, Rafael Brown on LinkedIn, @edmundlee@threads.net, @pkafka, New York Times, Bloomberg, The Hollywood Reporter, Observer, Financial Times, Reuters, Newser and Axios
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Axios:
Source: Oracle founder Larry Ellison will invest ~$6B into the Paramount-Skydance deal, with RedBird Capital Partners contributing the remaining $2B — - The Ellisons and RedBird have transactional covenants that require they be consulted on any major business decisions by Paramount in the interim, RedBird's Jeff Shell tells Axios.
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Engadget, Bloomberg, The Hill, @tvgrimreaper, @danprimack, The Wrap, New York Post, Deadline, Los Angeles Times, Business Insider, Slate, Next TV, WORLD SCREEN, Variety, New York Times and The Hollywood Reporter
David Folkenflik / NPR:
Ex-WSJ reporter Stephanie Armour sues the paper, alleging it sought to shed staffers who incur big health care costs by invoking “trumped up performance issues” — A disability discrimination lawsuit filed Tuesday by a veteran reporter who left the Wall Street Journal …
Jason Koebler / 404 Media:
TUAW is back online after shutting down in 2015; new owners seem to be using it as an AI content farm, copying others' posts and using ex-TUAW writers' names — This month, “Christina Warren” started blogging again for The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW), a legendary and long-dead Apple-centric tech news blog …
Discussion:
Engadget, @rawsoncj@threads.net, @dangillmor@mastodon.social, @film_girl@threads.net, @harrymccracken@mastodon …, @waxy@xoxo.zone, @film_girl@threads.net, @jasonkoebler@threads.net, @ichris@mastodon.social, Six Colors, AppleInsider, @rawsoncj@threads.net, @shawnhooper@fosstodon.org, @film_girl and @kevinlovestech@mstdn.ca
Janay Kingsberry / Washington Post:
A look at The Shade Room, which started as an Instagram celebrity gossip page on Black Hollywood and now aims to improve its standards and do original reporting — CEO Angie Nwandu said she wants to grow political coverage on her site that reflects the page's diverse Black audience: “Black people are not a monolith.”
Discussion:
@scottbrodbeck
Sara Fischer / Axios:
WaPo launches Climate Answers, an AI-powered chatbot that responds to questions about climate with info from WaPo articles; it aims to expand to other topics — - The Post is working with several AI firms, including OpenAI and Meta's Llama, to power its own large-language model that surfaces answers …
Committee to Protect Journalists:
A Kenyan court rules that Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif's death at the hands of local police in 2022 was arbitrary and unconstitutional — Kampala, July 8, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes a Kenyan court's Monday ruling that Kenyan authorities violated Pakistani …
Discussion:
The Guardian, BBC, Voice of America and Washington Post
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Chalkbeat plans to launch Healthbeat, covering public health, this summer; Chalkbeat will be housed under the new Civic News Company with EIC Shani O. Hilton — - Chalkbeat, which launched a decade ago by Green and journalist Philissa Cramer, expanded into coverage of voting in 2020 and made …
Aidan Ryan / The Boston Globe:
UVM's Center for Community News receives $7M to expand partnerships between US universities and local news outlets to give students reporting opportunities — As the number of local journalists employed across the country continues to shrink, dozens of colleges are trying to help fill gaps in reporting.
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vermontbiz.com
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Dish-owned streamer Sling TV plans to show pause ads, which could contain a video or static content; users can turn off pause ads from the settings menu — Sling TV will now put ads on your screen when you pause live or on-demand content, according to an announcement from its parent company, Dish.
Discussion:
The Desk, About DISH, The Streamable, Cord Cutters News and Next TV
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Spotify adds the ability for users to leave comments on podcasts, expanding on polls and Q&As; comments will be private by default, and creators can opt out — The company already lets Spotify podcasters offer polls and Q&As, so this new feature could give creators new ways to interact with their audiences.
Discussion:
Engadget, Spotify, TechCrunch, Digital Music News, WinBuzzer, 9to5Mac and Dataconomy, more at Techmeme »
Nikita Mazurov / The Intercept:
Leaked code: NYT tested using OpenAI tech to generate article headlines and help apply its styleguide; NYT says the “experiment was not taken beyond testing” — In the courtroom, the New York Times has taken a hard line against OpenAI. The newspaper sued the artificial …
Discussion:
@florian4gamers, @mvario1, Media Voices and Windows Copilot News
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