Top News:
New York Times:
Sources: Sewell Chan's departure from CJR comes as the magazine has been running under tight budgetary constraints and was beginning a fundraising campaign — Sewell Chan, who started as executive editor of the publication in September, said his firing after several staff complaints was “baffling.”
Discussion:
Media Nation and @ryangrim
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Jeremy Barr / @jeremymbarr:
[Thread] Columbia University is cutting ties with Sewell Chan, Columbia Journalism Review editor since June 2024; Betsy Morais will serve as interim director — Some news: Columbia University is cutting ties with Sewell Chan, who has been the editor of Columbia Journalism Review since last year
Sewell Chan / Sewell Chan on LinkedIn:
Sewell Chan says the decision to fire him is “quite frankly baffling” and it came after “I had three pointed conversations with staff members in recent weeks” — My statement, part 1: — Yesterday I was fired by Columbia University after eight months as executive editor of the Columbia Journalism Review.
Discussion:
@gary_weiss, @unrealdmgold, @cduhigg, @ericnewcomer, @colligan.bsky.social, @froomkin.bsky.social and The Wrap
Drew Harwell / Washington Post:
A profile of Acyn Torabi, or @Acyn, who joined MeidasTouch in 2023 and is shaping the US liberal media with his fast-cut, viral video posts of political gaffes — Acyn Torabi dominates the internet with fast-cut clips of political mayhem. Are they news, or something else?
Ted Johnson / Deadline:
A federal judge declines the AP challenge to the WH eliminating wire service pool slots, calling the policy “neutral” as it does not punish the AP specifically — A federal judge who ruled that the Trump White House's ban on the Associated Press was a violation …
RELATED:
Ted Johnson / Deadline:
Filing: AP is expected to have a spot in the White House print pool by Sunday, after the WH made wire reporters part of the regular rotation for print reporters
Hassan Ali Kanu / Politico:
In an appeals court hearing on the AP's White House access, the DOJ argued that WH spaces are akin to private spaces to which the president can restrict access
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, @gregoryaight.bsky.social, @michaelbishop.me, The Hill, TVNewsCheck and Reuters
Julian Wyllie / Current:
A look at the public media projects at risk due to DOGE-driven NEH grant cuts, including three American Masters films and a Ken Burns-produced documentary — A forthcoming docuseries on the criminal justice system and three American Masters films are among the public media projects targeted …
Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
UK law enforcement is targeting gangs, rather than consumers, to tackle the boom in “broken” Fire sticks, used to stream sports and other content illegally — Enforcement resources directed at gangs at the top rather than consumers who flout law
Mark Bergen / Bloomberg:
How YouTube is adapting to the AI era; a VP expects that in five years, every video uploaded to YouTube could be dubbed automatically into every spoken language — The video giant, turning 20, tries to keep the content spigot flowing while appeasing its army of broadcasters and copyright holders.
Discussion:
@airbagmoments.bsky.social, Mirror, The Guardian, Mark Bergen on LinkedIn, Barrett Media, Elle and Beyond Search
Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Ted Sarandos says Netflix talent uses “AI tools to do set references, pre-vis, VFX sequence prep, shot planning” and AI can make movies “10% better” — Citing recent comments by James Cameron, Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos said he hopes AI can make films “10% better,” not just “50% cheaper.”
Discussion:
Fox News, Business Insider, IndieWire and Variety
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Caitlin Huston / The Hollywood Reporter:
Ted Sarandos says “as the popularity of video podcasts grows, I suspect you'll see some of them find their way to Netflix”
Discussion:
Hernan Lopez on LinkedIn, @romitmehta.com, TVNewsCheck, Variety and Business Insider
Jill Goldsmith / Deadline:
Filing: Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters saw total compensation of about $61.9M and $60.3M in 2024, up from $49.8M and $40.1M in 2023, respectively
Discussion:
Variety, Cord Cutters News, @nick-lynx.bsky.social, The Hollywood Reporter, Media Play News and The Wrap
Crispian Balmer / Reuters:
Italian newspaper Il Foglio says its monthlong experiment with a four-page daily insert written by AI boosted sales, and plans a weekly AI-written section — Artificial intelligence can write a great book review and is good at irony, but it won't replace quality journalism …
Discussion:
@claeshs.bsky.social
Kristina Fiore / MedPage Today:
US Attorney Ed Martin sent letters to CHEST and at least two other medical journals, calling them “partisans” in scientific debates and asking probing questions — — At least three journals received letters from a U.S. Attorney asking about “competing viewpoints”
Discussion:
Forbes, Barend Mons on LinkedIn, @richardsever.bsky.social, @nschwarz.bsky.social, @dricks.bsky.social, @drlaurahaynes.bsky.social, @kdorg.bsky.social, @melaniebergma18.bsky.social, @ariehkovler, @nicoperrino, @imadelaws, @thefireorg, @awgaffney, @dennismhogan, @_eric_reinhart, @_eric_reinhart, @elainemaisner, @awgaffney, Adventus, @_eric_reinhart, Bloomberg Law, @michaeljstern.bsky.social, @j9austin.bsky.social, NBC News, Alternet.org, @carlbergstrom.com, New York Times, @carlbergstrom.com, Washington Post, Mother Jones, Science, Gizmodo, STAT, American College …, Raw Story and @Nonya_Bidniss@infosec …
Bron Maher / Press Gazette:
How the BBC, NUJ, PPA, OpenAI, and Google have responded to the UK's AI copyright law proposals, including one giving AI companies broad copyright exemptions — Opt-out proposal like burglars being allowed unless banned by sign on front door, one response says.
Discussion:
@pressgazette.co.uk
Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
The Wikimedia Foundation partners with Kaggle to release a dataset of “structured Wikipedia content in English and French” optimized for AI model training — Data science platform Kaggle is hosting a Wikipedia dataset that's specifically optimized for machine learning applications.
Discussion:
@nic221.bsky.social, @kaggle, @jandotai, @davewiner, @chuckreynolds, @ErikJonker@mastodon.social and Gizmodo
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