Top News:
Financial Times:
GB News and UnHerd owner Paul Marshall acquires The Spectator for £100M and plans to expand the magazine overseas; Spectator chair Andrew Neil resigns — Acquisition bolsters hedge fund boss's position as one of UK's most influential right-leaning media barons
Discussion:
@frasernelson, Spectator, @afneil, @afneil, @peterjukes, @ian_fraser, Bloomberg, BBC, New Statesman, @peterjukes, The Spectator Australia, @danwootton, Irish News, Bloomberg, Reuters, @semaforben, @aphclarkson, @jamesrbuk, @notthatbigian, London Evening Standard, The Independent, @colinbraziertv, Press Gazette, @sangitamyska, @peterjukes, @rowandean, @twlldun, @nfmusic, The i Paper, @montie, @lefoudubaron, @jdportes, @aphclarkson, Irish News, Sky News, @mattwridley, @peterjukes, Telegraph, @semaforben, @danielthomasldn, New York Times, The Guardian, White \u0026 Case, The Times and Guido Fawkes
Sara Fischer / Axios:
The New York Times Tech Guild, which represents 600+ employees, votes to authorize a strike after over two years of stalled contract talks with NYT management — - The Wirecutter union held a five-day walkout over the Black Friday holiday weekend in 2021 and struck a deal with management days later.
Discussion:
@beep@follow.ethanmarcotte.com and @nytguildtech, more at Techmeme »
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Veteran journalist Peter Kafka is reviving his old Recode Media podcast under a new name, Channels, starting September 11 with the Vox Media podcast network — - He also worked out an arrangement with Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff where he'll own the podcast, giving him freedom and flexibility.
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, @cgates123, @sarafischer, @jakesherman, @mossbergwalt@threads.net, @pkafka, @pkafka, Talking Biz News and @pkafka@threads.net
Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
UK culture secretary Lisa Nandy is considering mutualizing the BBC, giving direct ownership to license-fee payers, as part of a review of funding options — Culture secretary Lisa Nandy says ‘nothing off table’ as government and broadcaster prepare for talks over funding
Discussion:
@mediareformuk and London Evening Standard
Richard J. Tofel / Second Rough Draft:
An interview with The Minnesota Star Tribune CEO Steve Grove on the newspaper's reboot, becoming a “paper of relevancy”, ending political endorsements, and more — From paper of record to paper of relevancy … RT: So, Steve, you announced five focus areas for your coverage …
Discussion:
@grove
Wes Davis / The Verge:
ESPN's AI-generated articles recapping women's soccer games are bland and basic, failing to note key moments like one player's final game and emotional farewell — This weekend, ESPN began publishing AI-generated recaps of women's soccer games, with more sports to come.
Discussion:
Defector, Poynter, The Present Age, Awful Announcing and ESPN
Lauren Johnson / Adweek:
Amazon says it is testing sponsored ads in chats with Rufus, its AI-powered shopping assistant, in the US — But ad buyers are cautious about the placements — Amazon is starting to plug ads into generative AI. — Sponsored ads—Amazon's core search ad format—could start appearing …
Discussion:
Adam Epstein on LinkedIn and Jeremy Dodge on LinkedIn
Jack Apollo George / The Guardian:
A writer who works for a tech company describes how he helps train AI models how to write, by making up pretend responses to hypothetical chatbot questions — Journalists and other writers are employed to improve the quality of chatbot replies. The irony of working for an industry …
Sammy Gecsoyler / The Guardian:
A UK inquest finds “insufficient evidence” to rule that a man's suicide was due to a 2019 appearance on the Jeremy Kyle Show, which was subsequently canceled — Coroner finds ‘insufficient evidence’ that appearance on ITV show led Steve Dymond to take his own life
Discussion:
BBC, Irish News, London Evening Standard and @Lazarou@mastodon.social
Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:
Unionized editorial workers at LexisNexis-owned Law360 go on strike after failing to reach an agreement on a new contract; the union represents ~250 people — The unionized editorial workers at LexisNexis-owned Law360 went on strike at midnight after the union was able to reach an agreement on a new contract with management.
Discussion:
The NewsGuild, @claire_bushey, @fakebenjay, @newsguild, @law360union, The NewsGuild and @law360union
Sara Fischer / Axios:
The Los Angeles Local News Initiative, which plans a nonprofit news org to support local newsrooms in LA, raised $15M from media leaders and philanthropists — - The research included input from 900 L.A. residents about gaps in community coverage, said Monica Lozano, the Initiative's board chair …
Nilay Patel / The Verge:
Q&A with Mike Krieger on his new role as chief product officer at Anthropic, co-founding and selling news app Artifact, copyright issues, AI content, and more — Anthropic's new chief product officer on the promise and limits of chatbots like Claude and what's next for generative AI.
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