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, @afneil, Spectator, @afneil, @peterjukes, @ian_fraser, New Statesman, @peterjukes, @danwootton, Irish News, @semaforben, @aphclarkson, @jamesrbuk, @notthatbigian, @colinbraziertv, @sangitamyska, @peterjukes, @rowandean, @twlldun, @nfmusic, @montie, @lefoudubaron, @jdportes, @aphclarkson, @mattwridley, @peterjukes, @semaforben, @danielthomasldn, BBC, The Independent, The Spectator Australia, White \u0026 Case, Irish News, Bloomberg, Telegraph, Sky News, The Times, The i Paper, Bloomberg, New York Times, Press Gazette, London Evening Standard, The Guardian, Reuters 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.
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:
MediaPost, Nieman Lab, @pkafka, @jakesherman, @cgates123, @pkafka@threads.net, @sarafischer, @mossbergwalt@threads.net, @pkafka and Talking Biz News
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
Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch:
A group of Democratic senators asks the FTC and DOJ to probe whether AI tools that summarize online content like news may amount to anticompetitive practices — A group of Democratic senators is urging the FTC and Justice Department to investigate whether AI tools that summarize …
Discussion:
U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, Raptive, Axios, @leftcoastbabe, @shadowhaxor and @bishplsok
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
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
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, @itnewsbot@schleuss.online, @blandpseudonym.bsky.social, Poynter, The Present Age, Awful Announcing and ESPN
Thomas Barrabi / New York Post:
A former News Corp executive testifies in Google's ad antitrust trial that News Corp weighed switching from Google ad tools in 2017 but would have lost $9M — News Corp considered switching away from Google's advertising products in 2017 - but decided against it after determining it would cost …
Discussion:
Reuters, MediaPost, Yahoo Finance, Mumbrella, The Verge, New York Daily News, Digiday, New York Times, The Media Leader, AdExchanger, Adweek and Reuters
Oliver Darcy / Status:
As part of a News Media Alliance lobbying effort, 100+ news executives are visiting Washington, DC, on September 11 to warn lawmakers about AI's impact on media — More than 100 news executives will descend on Capitol Hill to warn lawmakers about the threats A.I. poses to the industry.
Discussion:
Washington Post, CNN and @newsalliance
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, @law360union, The NewsGuild and MediaPost
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 …
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