Mediagazer: 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 (Wikimedia)

7:25 AM ET, April 3, 2025

Top News:

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

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.

Discussion: @tortoise, @plutotlabarbie, @michaelsavage, @jamiesusskind, @mypalfootfoot7, @catneilan, @rsylvestertimes, @jackcarterbenjamin …, @carolecadwalla.bsky.social, @jeffjarvis@mastodon.social and @josiah.writes.news

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, Spotify, The Hollywood Reporter, Ad Age and The Media Leader

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

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 …

Discussion: @eloquence@social.coop, @mhoye@mastodon.social, The Register, @707kat.bsky.social, @carnage4life.bsky.social, Christopher Petrillo on LinkedIn, Ars Technica, TechCrunch and Engadget

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.

Discussion: @kantrowitz, @chriscillizza, @djtweets, @benmullin, @michaelkruse, @tvgrimreaper, @owillis.bsky.social, TVNewsCheck, @jeffjarvis.bsky.social and @benmullin.bsky.social

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

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 …

Mark Mwachiro / Adweek:

QVC launches a 24/7 live shopping stream on TikTok by integrating with TikTok Shop; the stream will include original content just for TikTok — The commerce channel has been on TikTok Shop since August 2024

Discussion: Fast Company, Modern Retail, WWD, TVNewsCheck, Fox Business and CNBC

Naman Ramachandran / Variety:

News Corp finalizes the sale of Australian pay-TV operator Foxtel Group to DAZN in a $2.2B deal after regulatory approval, and will take a 6% stake in DAZN — Billboard Women in Music 2025 — News Corp said Wednesday it has finalized the sale of Australian pay-TV operator Foxtel Group to global sports streaming provider DAZN.

Discussion: Advanced Television, Reuters, The Wrap, MediaPost, The Hollywood Reporter and News Corporation

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 7:25 AM ET, April 3, 2025.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Energy & Commodities Editor, Tokyo — Bloomberg

Politics Reporter, TX — Texas Tribune

Consumer Brands Reporter, GA — AJC

Deputy Editor - Health Care, VA — Politico

Product Editor, CA — CalMatters

Indigenous Affairs Editor, Sydney — Guardian US

China Markets Correspondent, Shanghai — Reuters

Bangor Reporter, ME — Bangor Daily News

Commerce Editor - Health, Remote US — Yahoo

Sports Editor, MI — Detroit News

Managing Editor, Remote US — Velo

Lex Writer, London — FT

See Also:

Mediagazer: site main

Mediagazer River: reverse chronological Mediagazer

Mediagazer Mobile: for phones

Mediagazer Leaderboard: Mediagazer's top sources

Subscribe:

Mediagazer RSS feed

Mediagazer on X

Mediagazer on Mastodon

More News:

Brian Steinberg / Variety:
CNBC strikes distribution deals with Apple and Roku for its $14.99 per month subscription service CNBC+

Discussion: Financial Times, TV Tech, TVNewsCheck, Streaming Better, Deadline, The Streamable, CNBC Press Releases, Cord Cutters News, @bristei.bsky.social and Talking Biz News

Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
Patreon signs podcasting deals with Sony Music and Wondery, and says it now has 6.7M paid podcast subscriptions, generating $472M+ in 2024 revenue, up 35% YoY

Discussion: Patreon, Emily Rasekh on LinkedIn, Tom Werring on LinkedIn and TechCrunch

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
The Telegraph removes a March 22 article claiming campaign group Stop Funding Hate had amplified anti-Semitic social media posts and will pay legal costs

Discussion: @josiah.writes.news

Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:
A look at Direkt36, a member-supported Hungarian investigative news site that recently released a documentary about the wealth in Viktor Orbán's inner circle

Discussion: TVNewsCheck and @amlwhere.bsky.social

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
An NPR document from February 2011 estimated defunding could cut up to $240M from the public radio system and close up to 18% of roughly 1,000 member stations

Discussion: Fox News, @mattgertz, @benmullin, The Washington Free Beacon, Media Nation and Nieman Lab

Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
US nonprofit National Novel Writing Month, recently embroiled in AI and content moderation scandals, shuts down after 25 years, citing financial issues

Discussion: Futurism, @stefan@stefanbohacek.online, The Verge, NaNoWriMo Kilby on YouTube, Publishers Weekly, @matokah.bsky.social and Gizmodo

Earlier Picks:

Wired:
Trump gutting a small federal agency that provides funding to libraries and museums could threaten access to digital services such as the free ebook app Libby

Discussion: @cmonstah.bsky.social, @netaloid.bsky.social, @karayorio.bsky.social, NPR, @james3neal.bsky.social, BOOK RIOT, HuffPost, INDY Week, @peard33.bsky.social, @laurengoode.bsky.social, PBS NewsHour, American Alliance of Museums, ARTnews, Lewiston Sun Journal and New York Times

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
An interview with Vox EIC and Publisher Swati Sharma on a boom in paying readers after Trump's inauguration, building a community, and reaching “news avoiders”

Discussion: American Press Institute

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
In a new paper, Tim O'Reilly and other researchers say OpenAI likely trained GPT-4o on paywalled books from O'Reilly Media without a licensing agreement

Discussion: AI Disclosures Project, The Register, Fast Company, @burningbird.net, Beyond Search and Asimov's Addendum

Katie Strang / New York Times:
How the repetition of a false rumor by ESPN's Pat McAfee, ESPN radio hosts, and others negatively impacted an Ole Miss student, who plans to sue

CNBC:
Newsmax shares jumped 179% on April 1 and have risen 1,500%+ since their March 31 debut, bringing the company's market cap to ~$20.8B, above WBD and Fox Corp

From Techmeme:

Dan Mangan / CNBC:
Trump announces a 90-day tariff pause for some countries and a “lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%”, but raises tariffs on China to 125%

David DiMolfetta / Nextgov/FCW:
President Trump directs the DOJ to investigate former CISA Director Chris Krebs, who was fired after he contradicted Trump's baseless 2020 election fraud claims

Jesse Hamilton / CoinDesk:
The US Senate confirms former SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins as SEC chair, succeeding Gary Gensler; Atkins is widely expected to support crypto-friendly policies

Sister Sites:

Techmeme
Top news and commentary for technology's leaders, from all around the web

memeorandum
What US political commentators are discussing online right now

WeSmirch
The top celebrity news from all around the web on a single page