Top News:
Bloomberg:
AI video startup Runway raised $308M led by General Atlantic, sources say at a $3B+ valuation, and plans to hire more filmmakers, screenwriters, and others — The deal, which is set to be announced Thursday, pushes Runway's value to just over $3 billion, according to people familiar …
Discussion:
TechCrunch and The Verge, more at Techmeme »
Bron Maher / Press Gazette:
Newsquest's editorial development director says it now employs 36 “AI-assisted” reporters, freeing up the rest of the newsroom to “be out pounding the beat” — Regional publishing giant Newsquest now employs 36 “AI-assisted” reporters across its titles, its editorial development director has said.
Discussion:
What's New in Publishing
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
A look at CBS' bet on its massive overhaul of the Evening News, with greater emphasis on in-depth reporting on the ground from places beyond NYC, DC, and LA — Billboard Women in Music 2025 — The venerable “CBS Evening News” has, for many of its viewers, been something consumed along with dinner.
Discussion:
Nicole Vap on LinkedIn, Carlos P. Beltran on LinkedIn, @bristei and @bristei
Naman Ramachandran / Variety:
Australian PM Anthony Albanese asserts his support for local content quotas on streaming platforms, despite pushing their implementation back from July 1 — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has doubled down on the government's commitment to implement local content quotas for streaming platforms …
Jessica Testa / New York Times:
Spotify rolls out new ad tools, including an AI tool in the US and Canada to generate scripts and voiceovers, and pitches itself to advertisers as “nutritional” — After finally achieving profitability, the streaming platform wants to be a healthy alternative to “doom scrolling.”
Discussion:
Adweek, Music Ally, The Hollywood Reporter, Ad Age, Spotify and The Media Leader
Kaya Yurieff / The Information:
Source: President Trump plans to announce TikTok America, a company that is ~50% owned by US investors and 19.9% by ByteDance, which would license the algorithm — President Donald Trump plans to announce later on Wednesday his plan for a new company called TikTok America …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Axios, Wired, Music Ally, Like & Subscribe …, Status, San Francisco Business Times, Seattle Business Journal, Washington Post, Capital Brief, Financial Times, 9to5Mac, The Verge, @philthepill.online, @saintnick98.bsky.social, @rrrvvvwww.bsky.social, Paola Marzario on LinkedIn, @sophienadeau.bsky.social, CNBC, Yahoo Finance, UPI, @tomjanmeeus.bsky.social, NewsNation, CBS News, New York Times, Digital Music News and Reuters, more at Techmeme »
Wikimedia:
Wikimedia says bandwidth usage for multimedia content grew 50% since January 2024, driven by AI training bots; 65% of resource-consuming traffic comes from bots — Since the beginning of 2024, the demand for the content created by the Wikimedia volunteer community - especially for the 144 million images …
Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:
Tortoise Media names Times journalist Rachel Sylvester as The Observer's political editor; a source says 50%+ of Observer staff have decided to leave — Tortoise Media has announced the recruitment of Times journalist Rachel Sylvester as political editor of The Observer as it gears up to take over the title later this month.
Pranav Mukul / The Economic Times:
Bengaluru-based Pratilipi, which runs Pratilipi Comics, podcasting studio IVM, and more, raised a $20M Series E at a $100M valuation, down from $265M in 2021 — The deal, however, has been struck at a significantly lower post-funding valuation of $100 million, as per cofounder and CEO Ranjeet Pratap Singh.
Discussion:
YourStory.com
Brendan Ruberry / Semafor:
Users complain that three well-known sites that help avoid paywalls, including archive.is, redirected them to Russia's RT for at least five days as of Tuesday — The Scoop — Three well-known sites that help users avoid paywalls mysteriously redirected users to Russian state-controlled …
Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
A look at the ascent of true crime podcaster John Allen, known as MrBallen, and the success of Ballen Studios, which employs 70 people and produces seven shows — John Allen, known online as MrBallen, operates a 70-person company with his Pulitzer Prize-winning family on staff.
Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
After leaving Meet the Press, Chuck Todd is embarking on a career as a media entrepreneur, and plans to hire other hosts for a podcast and video network — After leaving NBC News in January, the former “Meet the Press” moderator is starting a new chapter as a media entrepreneur.
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