Mediagazer: Sources: Disney is cutting about 140 jobs at Disney Entertainment Television, or about 2% of staff; cuts will fall hardest on NatGeo, Freeform, and ABC stations (Lucas Shaw/Bloomberg)

8:35 AM ET, August 1, 2024

Top News:

Jennifer Jacobs / Bloomberg:

Sources: Russia releases WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich as part of a major multi-country prisoner swap; prisoners are en route to destinations outside Russia — Russia is releasing Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former US Marine Paul Whelan as part of a major prisoner swap with the US …

Discussion: The Mirror, The i Paper, Telegraph, The Independent, The Hill, @hadas_gold, @jamesrbuk, @silviakillings, @jamesrbuk, @conorsen, @srabil, @samberkhead, @ianbremmer, @noahcrothman, TVNewsCheck, Deadline, Reuters and The Moscow Times

Dan Sabbagh / The Guardian:

In a letter to ex-prime minister Gordon Brown, the UK's Met police say a special team is examining claims that Will Lewis helped cover up phone hacking claims — Exclusive: Scotland Yard move on complaint by ex-PM Gordon Brown, who accuses Will Lewis of phone hacking ‘cover-up’ in 2011

Discussion: Washington Post, NPR, CNN, @dangillmor@mastodon.social, @heerjeet, @froomkin, @heinendevon@threads.net, @jeffjarvis, New York Times, @jackshafer, @bgrueskin, The Daily Beast, @davidfolkenflik, @davidfolkenflik, @davidfolkenflik, @davidfolkenflik and @jeffjarvis@mastodon.social

David Folkenflik / NPR:

Lawyers for Prince Harry and others accused WaPo CEO Will Lewis of fabricating a fake security threat 13 years ago in order to delete emails at Murdoch tabloids — LONDON — Attorneys for Prince Harry and prominent U.K. politicians today accused Washington Post chief executive and publisher …

Discussion: The Guardian, Media Nation, @northernlights@mstdn.ca and MediaPost

Alyssa Boyle / AdExchanger:

Outbrain confirms plans to acquire Altice-owned Teads, in a transaction valuing the SSP and video monetization company at $1B+; Outbrain will pay $725M in cash — The rumors are true: Outbrain is buying Teads. — On Thursday, the content recommendation platform announced it will acquire Teads …

Discussion: Digiday, Axios and Outbrain Inc.

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

RAJAR: in Q2, GB News Radio reached 518K people per week on average, overtaking Times Radio for the first time; BBC Radio 2 had a weekly reach of 13.3M people — GB News Radio has overtaken Times Radio's weekly reach for the first time according to the latest RAJAR radio listening figures for Q2 2024.

Discussion: adambowie.com and Press Association

Ted Johnson / Deadline:

In a Q&A at the NABJ convention, Trump questions Kamala Harris' racial identity, calls ABC News' Rachel Scott “very rude”, and complains about audio problems — “I've known her for a long time indirectly, directly, very much,” Trump said. “And she was always of Indian heritage and she was promoting Indian heritage.

Discussion: The Hollywood Reporter, TheGrio, @abbydphillip, ABC News, New York Times, Poynter, @kamalahq, TIME, @natashasalford, CBS News, PolitiFact, @hadas_gold, @kamalahq@threads.net, @brianstelter, @mossbergwalt@threads.net, @cd_hooks, @noahcrothman, @timothystamm101@threads.net, @graceokoro2, @willsommer, @emoltzen@threads.net, @jeffstorobinsky, @hadas_gold, @moniquepressley, @chenueher, @acyn, @griffinkyle@threads.net, @abcworldnewstonight …, @cbcpac, @corbinbolies, @parkermolloy, @hadas_gold, @brianstelter, @trumpstaxes, @sulliview, Washington Post, @steven_beschloss@threads.net, @kenpopehat@threads.net, @hadas_gold, @aprildryan, @kbode@threads.net, @semaforben, @errinhaines, @griffinkyle@threads.net, @keithedwards@threads.net, Axios, WXIA-TV, @goodyk@threads.net, @dkiesow@threads.net, The Daily Beast, Iowa Capital Dispatch, Slate, The Guardian, The 19th, Media Matters for America, NABJ, Fox News, Shari Dunn on LinkedIn, Mother Jones, New York Daily News, TMZ.com, The Wrap, Rolling Stone, Variety, Barrett Media, Semafor, New Republic, Associated Press, San Diego Union-Tribune and ABC7

Jem Aswad / Variety:

Midia Research: songwriters average 9.5% of the $0.004 Spotify pays per stream, and of the over 300 songwriters surveyed, only 10% earn over $30K annually — Back in the days when “music” meant CDs and vinyl, a songwriter could make a decent living: their percentage of a song or songs on the average $18.99 …

Discussion: Music Ally and MIDiA Research Blog

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:

Sources: Disney is cutting about 140 jobs at Disney Entertainment Television, or about 2% of staff; cuts will fall hardest on NatGeo, Freeform, and ABC stations — The company is eliminating about 140 jobs, or about 2% of staff at Disney Entertainment Television, said the people …

Discussion: Reuters, The Wrap, Cord Cutters News, New York Post, Deadline, Quartz, AV Club, Adweek, The Desk, Lucas Shaw on LinkedIn, Los Angeles Times and TVNewsCheck

Mark Kleinman / Sky News:

Sources: hedge fund tycoon and GB News shareholder Paul Marshall is close to a deal to buy The Spectator, separate from The Telegraph, as soon as this month — The GB News shareholder is now the frontrunner to buy one of Britain's most influential political magazines amid an ongoing auction …

Discussion: City A.M., @markkleinmansky, @janemartinson and @markkleinmansky

Tales Azzoni / Associated Press:

The Premier League, Bundesliga, DAZN, Sky, UEFA, CONMEBOL, and others write to X CEO Linda Yaccarino demanding more action against illegal soccer content on X — Some of Europe's main broadcasters and top soccer leagues have sent a letter to the CEO of social media platform X, Linda Yaccarino …

Hanaa' Tameez / Nieman Lab:

Global Project Oasis study: the number of launches of digital news startups has been slowing since 2022 in Europe, Latin America, and North America — The number of digital news startup launches has been slowing since 2022 in Europe, Latin America, and North America, according to the new Global Project Oasis report.

Discussion: Global Project Oasis, @joao_f_pinto, @mattdpearce, @mattdpearce@threads.net, @niemanlab and LatAm Journalism Review

Anna Washenko / Engadget:

A group of US senators unveils the NO FAKES Act, which would make individuals and companies liable for producing, hosting, or sharing unauthorized AI deepfakes — OpenAI joined several entertainment industry groups in backing the NO FAKES Act. — Today, a group of senators introduced the NO FAKES Act …

Discussion: Human Artistry Camp, 9to5Mac, U.S. Senator Christopher Coons …, Inside Radio, @amyklobuchar@threads.net, Rolling Stone, Variety, CMU, Consequence, Billboard and Music Business Worldwide, more at Techmeme »

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More News:

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Sports rights deals are moving money out of Hollywood to leagues: sports make up 40% of Disney's content budget, NBC's NBA deal will replace 150+ hours of shows

Discussion: @tvgrimreaper, @alexweprin, Associated Press and TVNewsCheck

Alex Heath / The Verge:
Reddit CEO Steve Huffman says Microsoft, Anthropic, and Perplexity need to pay to scrape Reddit's data, and blocking them has been “a real pain in the ass”

Discussion: Engadget, Business Insider, Bloomberg, @jwherrman, @jwherrman, Ars Technica and Prof. Ahmed Banafa on LinkedIn, more at Techmeme »

Matthew Keys / The Desk:
A press release, now killed, said “Apex Capital Trust” put in a bid for Paramount, prompting multiple news stories, but background info on the org looks sketchy

Kyle Chayka / New Yorker:
Spotify prioritizes what a user has recently listened to and recommended content, encouraging users to become passive listeners, a form of enshittification

Discussion: Digital Music News, Spotify, The Verge, Jarrett Fuller on LinkedIn, Jon Goldmann on LinkedIn, Dan Klyn on LinkedIn and Kyle Austin on LinkedIn

Tyler Falk / Current:
Survey: noncommercial radio news pay fell 8% YoY and commercial radio news salaries rose 23%+ between the end of 2022 and the end of 2023 in major US markets

Discussion: @currentpubmedia

Al Jazeera:
An Israeli airstrike kills Al Jazeera Arabic journalist Ismail al-Ghoul and his cameraman Rami al-Refee in the Gaza Strip

Discussion: @brizzyc, @pressfreedom, UPI, @hadas_gold, @cfahey@berlin.social, Jacobin, The Desk, @mkpetkova@mastodon.world, Mediaite, Committee to Protect …, The Times of Israel and Reuters

Earlier Picks:

Radio Ink:
Magellan AI: US podcast advertising rose 22% YoY in Q2 with the top 500 podcasts averaging $252K/month each; episode ad loads rose 5.95% YoY to 9.11%

Discussion: AdExchanger, RAIN News, Barrett Media, Inside Radio and Podnews

Calum Jaspan / Sydney Morning Herald:
Australia's Nine publishing staff return to work after a five day strike and accept an improved pay offer of 11.5% over three years, an AI code, and more

Discussion: The Guardian

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
Reach reports overall H1 revenue down 5.2% YoY to £265M, print revenue of £204M, digital revenue of £60M, and adjusted operating profit up 23.1% YoY to £44.5M

Discussion: The Guardian

Yasemin Craggs Mersinoglu / Financial Times:
Ofcom: in 2023, 48% of UK 16- to 24-year-olds watched broadcast TV in an average week, a record low and down from 76% in 2018, as TikTok and YouTube dominate

Discussion: Radio Ink, WORLD SCREEN, ofcom.org.uk, @michellemanafy@journa.host, ofcom.org.uk, The Guardian and Press Gazette

Matt Stevens / New York Times:
Court filings: in Fiona Harvey's defamation lawsuit, Richard Gadd, who created Netflix's Baby Reindeer, says the show is “emotionally true” but “fictionalized”

Discussion: TMZ.com, AV Club, The Mirror, Dexerto, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, GoldDerby, TV Insider and Entertainment Tonight

Carly Thomas / The Hollywood Reporter:
A TikTok account leaked 12+ clips of HBO's House of the Dragon Season 2 finale; HBO said the leak followed a third-party distributor's unintentional release

Discussion: Variety, ComingSoon.net, @jalefkowit@vmst.io, TVNewsCheck, Deadline, TV Insider, AV Club, Screen Rant, Comic Book, The Mirror, Forbes, TVLine, Dexerto, Metro.co.uk and The Wrap

From Techmeme:

Wall Street Journal:
Gina Raimondo says holding back China in the chips race is a “fool's errand”, and investment, more than export controls, will keep US ahead of Beijing

Paresh Dave / Wired:
Google says it wouldn't force its device makers, browser, and wireless carrier licensees to distribute Gemini to US users for three years, in a proposed remedy

Timothy B. Lee / Ars Technica:
Exploring the scaling challenges of transformer-based LLMs in efficiently processing large amounts of text, as well as potential solutions, such as RAG systems

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