Top News:


Russia frees Evan Gershkovich, RFE/RL reporter Alsu Kurmasheva, and others as part of a prisoner swap involving 24 prisoners and at least six countries — Release of 32-year-old American from Russia secured as part of largest East-West prisoner swap since Cold War
Discussion:
New York Times, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, Adweek, ABC News, CBS News, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The White House, Politico, @katie_robertson, Washington Post, Fox News, The Independent, @annielinskey, Committee to Protect …, Fox Business, Semafor, Reuters, New York Post, The Hill, New Republic, The Sun, Mia Lehmkuhl Libby on LinkedIn, @paulwsj, Emma Tucker on LinkedIn, ABC Columbia, Mediaite, NPR, @billclinton, USAGM, @jamesrbuk, ABC7, @ishaantharoor, Maura Webber Sadovi on LinkedIn, @silviakillings, Melanie Evans on LinkedIn, The Atlantic, El País, @edmundlee@threads.net, Voice of America, Deadline, Reporters Without Borders, @potus@threads.net, Rebecca Feng on LinkedIn, The Information, The Guardian, @conorsen, Amy Dockser Marcus on LinkedIn, @mattdpearce, Vanessa Otero on LinkedIn, @byrontau, Mother Jones, Financial Times, @potus@threads.net, The Reporters Committee …, @srabil, @noahcrothman, Alistair MacDonald on LinkedIn, Elayne Gan on LinkedIn, @paulwsj, @jaketapper, @potus, WFLA, @potus, New York Daily News, @brianbeutler, @terellwright2, @samberkhead, Julie Wernau on LinkedIn, @benjaminwittes@threads.net, @abarbashin, @joannastern, Washington Post, Lisa Barnhart on LinkedIn, The Guardian, Sky News, Hani Durzy on LinkedIn, Boston Herald, The Desk, @ianbremmer, @kaivanshroff@threads.net, @edokeefecbs@threads.net, Poynter, Deutsche Welle, @peterbakernyt, National Review, @yonetteajoseph@threads.net, @nicktimiraos, @natashabertrand, @hadas_gold, @vp@threads.net, HuffPost, Foreign Policy, Associated Press, Forbes, The Guardian, San Diego Union-Tribune, Barrett Media, UPI, Rolling Stone, Meduza.io, BBC, Variety, KPNX, Society of Professional …, CNN, The Mirror, The i Paper, Telegraph, TVNewsCheck, News/Media Alliance and Agence France-Presse, more at Techmeme »
RELATED:


A detailed timeline of Evan Gershkovich's arrest and release and the months of negotiations involving spy agencies, billionaires, politicians, and his mother — The secret negotiations to free The Wall Street Journal's Evan Gershkovich unfolded on three continents, involving spy agencies …
Discussion:
Washington Post, CNN, @davidgura@threads.net, Fox News, @bashowicks@threads.net, The Information, New York Times, New York Post, New Yorker, The Sun, ABC7, Semafor, The Hill, @efindell, Mediaite, Florida Phoenix, Reuters, @Nonilex@masto.ai, Politico, Jamie Heller on LinkedIn, Ben Eisen on LinkedIn, @mikeisaac, Slate, NPR, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, Associated Press and Talking Biz News


Vladimir Kara-Murza, one of the journalists released after being held by Russia, wrote some of his Pulitzer-winning WaPo columns from Moscow's detention center — The Russian journalist, author and opposition politician won a Pulitzer Prize for columns written at a Moscow detention center.
Discussion:
KPNX, Wall Street Journal, Radio Free Europe/Radio … and Washington Post

WSJ Editor Emma Tucker thanks the Biden administration, other governments, especially Germany's, and Evan Gershkovich in the effort to release him and others
Discussion:
MediaPost, The Hill, Kerry Kennedy on LinkedIn, @edmundlee@threads.net, @jbillinson@threads.net, Press Gazette, Fox News, New York Times, New York Post, Nikhil Deogun on LinkedIn, The Sun, Gordon Friedrich on LinkedIn, Talking Biz News, @emmatuckerwsj, Mediaite, Associated Press, The Wrap, TMZ.com, The Guardian, TVNewsCheck, Politico, CBS News, ABC Columbia, Boston Herald and NPR


Court filings: AI startups Suno and Udio respond to copyright lawsuits from major music labels, saying their use of proprietary music to train AI is fair use — In their first responses to the sweeping copyright lawsuits that could define AI music, lawyers for Suno and Udio don't exactly hold back.
Discussion:
Suno, @suno_ai_, TechCrunch, Engadget, CMU, Axios, Reuters, 404 Media, TorrentFreak, Rolling Stone and Deadline, more at Techmeme »

Email: Google is adding a 2.5% “Canada DST fee” for ads served in Canada starting October 1 to cover “part of the costs” of new digital services tax legislation — The search giant will start taking an additional 2.5 per cent “Canada DST fee” beginning in October …
Discussion:
Chris Krewson on LinkedIn, Chuck Lapointe on LinkedIn, All The Way Up Media, @muradhem and r/PPC


A US district court judge throws out a jury verdict ordering the NFL to pay $4.7B+ to Sunday Ticket subscribers, finding the verdict was unsupported by evidence — The NFL got a major call overturned: A federal judge Thursday threw out a jury's $4.7 billion award to subscribers …
Discussion:
Reuters, CNN, Bloomberg, New York Times, CBS News, Fox Business, Next TV, Sportico, @mccannsportslaw, @adamschefter, @joepompliano, @eriqgardner, CBSSports.com, New York Post, Deadline, Front Office Sports, Sports Media Watch, Sportico, The Hollywood Reporter, Awful Announcing, The Streamable and Associated Press


About 500 actors and other SAG-AFTRA members picketed outside WB Games in Burbank over contract protections for workers amid the growth of AI — In a replay of last year's strike, hundreds of actors picketed Thursday outside WB Games in Burbank, demanding protection from artificial intelligence.
Discussion:
Reuters, Deadline, Associated Press, BBC and Los Angeles Times


Amazon MGM Studios names Colin Jost as host of its new Jeopardy spinoff show, Pop Culture Jeopardy; production starts in September — The ‘Saturday Night Live’ star has been cast as the host of Prime Video's new ‘Jeopardy!’ series. — Colin Jost's new TV gig: Jeopardy! host.
Discussion:
AV Club, Consequence, Rolling Stone, Deadline, LateNighter, TVLine and TV Insider


Don Lemon sues Elon Musk and X, arguing Musk refused to pay him after a $1.5M/year exclusive X content deal fell apart; Lemon did not sign a formal contract — The former CNN reporter said in a lawsuit that X had refused to pay him after a testy interview with its billionaire owner.
Discussion:
Adweek, The Verge, UPI, Variety, MediaPost, The Daily Beast, CBS News, Engadget, Financial Times, Rolling Stone, Page Six, Los Angeles Times, Vibe, The Wrap, The Hill, TVLine, Bloomberg, Quartz, TMZ.com, Mediaite, @kurtwag8@threads.net, Newser, Reuters, CNN, The Guardian, Barrett Media, Business Insider, TVNewsCheck, The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline, more at Techmeme »


Entertainment news outlets like Pop Base, the Shade Room, and more have been posting nonstop about Kamala Harris, and her campaign aims to leverage the coverage — Celeb-news-only accounts like Pop Crave are suddenly coconut-pilled, posting religiously about the Harris campaign to their millions of followers.
Discussion:
@noahshachtman, @dougheye and Cartoons Hate Her


Gannett Q2: revenue down 4.8% YoY to $639.8M, vs. $645M est., $13.7M net income, vs. $12.7M loss in Q2 2023, digital subs revenue up 22.3%; GCI closed down ~8% — Digital revenue rose 6.2% to account for 44% of all revenue — Gannett Co. Inc.'s stock shed early losses to trade down 10% Thursday …
Discussion:
Providence Business News and Gannett


Apple reports Q3 revenue from Services, which includes Apple TV+ and Apple Music, rose 14% YoY to $24.21B, vs. $23.96B estimated, an all-time record — The company is seeing double digit year growth in its services division, which includes Apple TV+.
Discussion:
CNBC, The Information, Variety, Apple, BGR, 9to5Mac, Deadline and Media Play News, more at Techmeme »


A US appeals court blocks the FCC's reinstatement of net neutrality rules, saying broadband providers are likely to succeed in a legal challenge — A U.S. appeals court on Thursday blocked the Federal Communications Commission's reinstatement of landmark net neutrality rules …