Top News:
Reuters:
Reuters says a strike on a hotel in eastern Ukraine killed Ryan Evans, who was a safety adviser for the agency, and two journalists were hospitalized — Ryan Evans, a member of the Reuters team covering the war in Ukraine, was killed and two Reuters journalists were injured in a strike …
Discussion:
Reuters, Washington Post, Al Jazeera, BBC, Deadline, London Evening Standard, Committee to Protect …, @beaking_news, TVNewsCheck, @zelenskyyua, @kyivindependent_official …, @tggrove, Reporters Without Borders, @reuterszengerle, @christopherjm, @marikakatanuma, Associated Press, @williamsjon, The Wrap, @w7voa@journa.host, Voice of America, New York Post, Financial Times, CBS News, Metro.co.uk, Bloomberg and Talking Biz News
Mia Sato / The Verge:
Gannett is shutting down its product reviews site Reviewed, sources say on November 1; staff previously accused Gannett of publishing AI-generated reviews — Newspaper giant Gannett is shutting down Reviewed, its product reviews site, effective November 1st, according to sources familiar with the decision.
Discussion:
Dan Ackerman on LinkedIn, NewsGuild of New York, @ckrewson, @jeremymbarr, @andyorin, Marshall Nyman on LinkedIn, @danack@threads.net, @miarsato, @loudmouthjulia, @jaronschneider@threads.net, @daveleebbg@threads.net, @baekdal, @loudmouthjulia, @michaelbishop.me, @thomasgermain and @jhilburg
New York Times:
Edgar Bronfman Jr. drops his 11th-hour bid to take control of Paramount and buy National Amusements, all but ensuring Paramount will be acquired by Skydance — Mr. Bronfman has frantically put a bid together over the last week even as Paramount raised questions about his financing.
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Axios, Variety, The Wrap, Wall Street Journal, The Desk, New York Post, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, Cord Cutters News, @benmullin, @mediaevan, @royprice, @sarafischer, @oliverdarcy@threads.net, @benmullin, @beckyquick, Los Angeles Times, Media Play News and The Streamable
Politico:
Sources: the Harris-Trump negotiations for the ABC debate on September 10 have hit an impasse; the Harris campaign says they want open mics during the debate — With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine — DRIVING THE DAY — SCOOP: IS THIS THING ON?
Discussion:
Washington Post, Fox News, @nbcpolitics, CNN, Mediaite, @brianefallon, New York Times, Associated Press, @katesullivandc, The Guardian, @yair_rosenberg, The Daily Beast, @tommyxtopher, Vanity Fair, New Republic, @blueboxdave, @vincecoglianese, Fortune, Rolling Stone, New Jersey Online, Raw Story, @scarylawyerguy, @keithboykin, Mother Jones, @kneerecon, @selinawangtv, @kaitlancollins, @maxkennerly, @selinawangtv, Deadline, @skylerforny, New York Post, @metzgov, @sahilkapur, @samstein, @eugenedaniels2, Forbes, @justinbaragona, The Hill, The Wrap, CBS News, HuffPost, @brianefallon and Al Jazeera
Bloomberg:
Sources: Paramount is moving ahead with asset disposals, including a potential sale of 12 TV stations that it considers non-core, which could fetch $500M to $1B — - Independent stations could fetch $500 million to $1 billion — Paramount remains the subject of an ongoing takeover saga
Discussion:
The Wrap, The Desk, Cord Cutters News, @matthewkeyslive and @michellef_davis
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Memo: ESPN outlines a reorganization, including promoting David Roberts to oversee sports news and entertainment, and plans to cut “a few dedicated colleagues” — The Disney-owned sports media giant promoted Mike McQuade and David Roberts to oversee sports, news …
Discussion:
Sports Media Watch, The Wrap, @bristei, Variety, Sportico, Deadline, Front Office Sports and Awful Announcing
Sam Buckingham-Jones / Australian Financial Review:
Sources: Google aims to slash what it spends on deals with some Australian outlets under the News Media Bargaining Code, after Meta said it wouldn't renew deals — Google is trying to reduce what it spends on commercial deals with some smaller digital news publishers, amid growing calls …
Discussion:
Capital Brief, Brendan Giles on LinkedIn and The San Francisco Standard, more at Techmeme »
Siobhan Hughes / Wall Street Journal:
In a letter to US Rep. Jim Jordan, Mark Zuckerberg says he regrets Meta wasn't more outspoken about the Biden admin's pressure to restrict some COVID-19 content — Meta CEO also says he won't repeat 2020 efforts to fund local elections, which Republicans criticized as ‘Zuckerbucks’
Maxwell Zeff / TechCrunch:
Viggle, developer of 3D-video foundation model JST-1, raised a $19M Series A led by a16z; Viggle says the model is trained on public sources, including YouTube — You might not know Viggle AI, but you've likely seen the viral memes it created. The Canadian AI startup is responsible …
Discussion:
BetaKit, @venturetwins, @allenlau, Viggle AI and @trisalvagni.bsky.social, more at Techmeme »
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Tidal introduces free tools to let US songwriters track royalties and claim and manage their catalog on the service — Music streaming service Tidal has launched new features that let artists track royalties and manage the music they have songwriting credits for on the platform.
Discussion:
TIDAL, Digital Music News, Music Business Worldwide, Slate, @tidal, BetaNews and Silicon UK
Max Tani / Semafor:
Sources: ABC News adjusted 538's US election model after taking it down for nearly a month; Nate Silver and Nate Cohn criticize ABC over a lack of transparency — The Scoop — The most scrutinized election forecast model in the US is back online after a mysterious month-long hiatus.
Discussion:
The Wrap, @lxeagle17, ABC News, @briangaar, @semaforben, @nate_cohn, @walthickey, @nick_field90, Newsweek, @nate_cohn, @maxwelltani, @mikeroe, @natesilver538, @mappingfl and FiveThirtyEight
Bloomberg:
Despite some global box office hits, China has been a total washout for US studios this summer; 80%+ of China's box office is now generated by homegrown movies — Ticket sales are down, and fans aren't turning out for US films like they used to — We'll run through why the Chinese box office …
Discussion:
@thedragonfeeder and @lucas_shaw