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:
New Statesman, The Independent, @frasernelson, Spectator, @afneil, @afneil, London Evening Standard, BBC, Bloomberg, @peterjukes, @ian_fraser, @peterjukes, The Spectator Australia, @danwootton, Bloomberg, Reuters, @semaforben, @aphclarkson, @jamesrbuk, @notthatbigian, London Evening Standard, @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
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
New York Times:
Business Insider names Jamie Heller, the business editor of The Wall Street Journal, to lead its newsroom as its next editor in chief — Ms. Heller spent two decades at The Wall Street Journal, most recently leading corporate coverage. — Business Insider is expected to name Jamie Heller …
Discussion:
Business Insider, Ann Blinkhorn on LinkedIn, Axios, Press Gazette, TVNewsCheck, @ajs, @bipressroom, @bristei, @corbinbolies, @benmullin, @hadas_gold, @maxwelltani, @dylanbyers, @realrobcopeland, Reuters, @alexheath@threads.net, Nicholas Carlson on LinkedIn, Adweek and @howelloneill.bsky.social
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 …
Discussion:
Mark Little on LinkedIn, @timkendall_path, @niemanlab, @rosenzweigjane and @martyswant
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, @law360union, @fakebenjay, @newsguild, @law360union and The NewsGuild
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
Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
Audible plans to invite some US-based audiobook narrators to train AI on their voices, to clone the voices for recordings through a royalty-sharing model — The audiobook service is inviting some US-based narrators to train artificial intelligence on their voices
Discussion:
Publishers Weekly, ACX, TechCrunch and The Verge
Dan Milmo / The Guardian:
Ofcom: the internet has replaced TV as UK adults' most popular news source; 71% get news online, 70% via TV, and 52% via social media, up from 47% in 2023 — Media regulator describes change as a ‘generational shift in the balance of news media’ — Online platforms have overtaken TV channels …
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.
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, London Evening Standard and Irish News
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 …
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Jorge Ramos, one of the best-known Spanish-language TV journalists in the US, plans to leave Univision at the end of 2024 — Jorge Ramos, a news anchor who is perhaps the best-known Spanish-language TV journalist in the United States and who has grilled top politicians and covered top world events …
Washington Post:
The US DOJ's case against Google's ad business may benefit Meta, Amazon, and news organizations that pay Google a cut of revenue for brokering their website ads — Federal prosecutors are seeking a divestment of Google's multibillion-dollar online advertising business, saying its monopoly power harms advertisers and publishers.
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