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Wall Street Journal:
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
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Wall Street Journal:
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 …
Wall Street Journal:
WSJ Editor Emma Tucker thanks the Biden administration, other governments, especially Germany's, and Evan Gershkovich in the effort to release him and others — Today is a joyous day for the safe return of our colleague Evan Gershkovich, who left a Russian aircraft moments ago in Turkey's capital …
Discussion:
New York Times, Fox News, Mediaite, Press Gazette, Talking Biz News, New York Post, Associated Press, @edmundlee@threads.net, @jbillinson@threads.net, TMZ.com, The Guardian, The Hill, Nikhil Deogun on LinkedIn, Gordon Friedrich on LinkedIn, The Wrap, TVNewsCheck, Politico, CBS News, Boston Herald and NPR
Kate Conger / New York Times:
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.
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The Verge, Business Insider, The Hill, TVLine, The Wrap, Vibe, Reuters, Barrett Media, Financial Times, Mediaite, Los Angeles Times, CNN, The Daily Beast, CBS News, Variety, Newser, TVNewsCheck, Engadget, Rolling Stone, Bloomberg, Quartz, TMZ.com, Page Six, The Guardian, The Hollywood Reporter, @kurtwag8@threads.net and Deadline, more at Techmeme »
Bill Donahue / Billboard:
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, Axios, TorrentFreak, Reuters, CMU and Rolling Stone
Akash Sriram / Reuters:
Snap reports Q2 revenue up 16% YoY to $1.24B vs. $1.25B est., DAUs up 9% YoY to 432M, and forecasts Q3 sales below expectations; SNAP drops 20%+ after hours — Snap (SNAP.N) forecast current-quarter sales and adjusted core earnings below market expectations on Thursday as the Snapchat owner grapples …
Discussion:
Snap Inc. and Deadline, more at Techmeme »
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Amazon misses Q2 estimates, reporting $147.98B in revenue vs $148.56B expected, $12.8B in ad revenue vs $13B estimated, and gives weaker-than-expected guidance — Amazon missed on revenue in its second-quarter earnings report on Thursday and issued a weaker-than-expected forecast for the current period.
Discussion:
Variety and Amazon.com, Inc., more at Techmeme »
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
WBD, Disney, and Fox plan to launch their joint sports streaming venture Venu for $42.99 per month initially, with a seven-day free trial, expected in fall 2024 — Streaming sports on a stand-alone basis won't be cheap. … The service is expected to debut in the fall in conjunction with the start of the next NFL season.
Discussion:
The Desk, CNBC, StreamTV Insider, Engadget, The Streamable, The Verge, CNBC, Front Office Sports, The Hollywood Reporter, Quartz, Newser, Barrett Media, Radio & Television …, Associated Press, Deadline, Consequence, The Wrap, 9to5Mac, IndieWire, Next TV, Business Insider, ESPN Press Room U.S., Los Angeles Times, TVLine, CBS News and Media Play News, more at Techmeme »
Noah Shachtman / Vanity Fair:
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
Jesse Whittock / Deadline:
Ligue de Football Professionnel confirms a five-year deal with DAZN to broadcast the majority of France's Ligue 1 soccer; BeIN has rights to one match per week — Sports streamer DAZN is the new home of top-division soccer in France after tying up a five-year deal worth a reporting €500M ($540M).
Discussion:
Advanced Television
John Koblin / New York Times:
CBS News names John Dickerson, its lead political analyst, and Maurice DuBois, an anchor for an NY affiliate, as Evening News anchors replacing Norah O'Donnell — The pair are part of a broader shake-up at the show, which includes the addition of Lonnie Quinn as a regular weather anchor.
Natalie Korach / The Wrap:
SiriusXM plans to launch a premium podcast subscription service through Apple Podcasts for $5.99 per month or $44.99 annually, starting August 5 — The offering is intended to diversify the platform's podcast revenue stream while expanding the listener base
Discussion:
The Streamable, Digital Music News, Radio Ink, Reuters, Engadget, The Hollywood Reporter and Barrett Media
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