Top News:
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Disney sent a cease-and-desist letter to ByteDance, claiming it infringed on Disney's works to train its Seedance 2.0 video generation model without pay — The Walt Disney Company on Friday sent a cease-and-desist letter to ByteDance, alleging the Chinese tech giant has been infringing …
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Gene Maddaus / Variety:
The MPA urges ByteDance to curb its AI video model Seedance 2.0, after an AI-generated video of Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt fighting on a rooftop went viral
Discussion:
The Guardian, TVBEurope, CinemaBlend, Instapundit, TechRadar, Entertainment Weekly, Deseret News, The Gateway Pundit, The Wrap, Blaze Media, Screen Rant, Los Angeles Times, @jonathanjarry.bsky.social, San Francisco Chronicle, Business Insider, Breitbart, Deadline, South China Morning Post, Dexerto, Page Six, World of Reel, Crooks and Liars, Screen, PiunikaWeb, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap and GamesRadar
Scott Shambaugh / The Shamblog:
A now-removed Ars Technica article, covering how an AI agent wrote a hit piece about an open source project maintainer, seems to have included AI hallucinations — Context: An AI agent of unknown ownership autonomously wrote and published a personalized hit piece about me after I rejected its code …
Discussion:
The Shamblog, Wall Street Journal, Scott Shambaugh on LinkedIn, @davidcrespo.bsky.social, @kendraserra.bsky.social, @librarian.bsky.social, Scott Shambaugh on LinkedIn, Abhinaba Naskar on LinkedIn, Kautuk Pandey on LinkedIn, @antisomniac.bsky.social, @ironyuppie.com, @librarian.bsky.social, @kendraserra.bsky.social, @elfsternberg.bsky.social, GitHub, @andybalaam@mastodon.social, James Cuff on LinkedIn, Vijay Balasubramaniyan on LinkedIn, @maoltuile.bsky.social, @kendraserra.bsky.social, Paul Ford on LinkedIn, @mordecwhy.bsky.social, @ciphergoth, @googleoss, @engineersneedart.com, @dancow.bsky.social, > nick, Matt Mullenweg, The Decoder, Ars Technica, @larsmb@mastodon.online, @harld@masto.ai, Decrypt, Fast Company, @clauswilke.com, @enikofox.com, @secretaboutbox.bsky.social, @alexhanna.bsky.social, The Decoder, The Register, WinBuzzer and Adweek, more at Techmeme »
CNN:
Don Lemon pleads not guilty to two federal charges stemming from his reporting at an anti-ICE protest in a Minnesota church — Don Lemon pleaded not guilty Friday to federal charges following his arrest last month in connection with a protest at a church in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Discussion:
Deadline, Straight Arrow News, Democracy Forward, New York Times, Washington Post, RedState, MPR News, HotAir, NBC News, Alpha News MN, Mediaite, New York Daily News, The Gateway Pundit, New York Post, twitchy.com, KSTP-TV, Courthouse News Service, The National Pulse, Washington Times, The Hill, The Guardian, Barrett Media, The Hollywood Reporter, The Daily Wire, TV Insider, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, TMZ.com, Axios, Fox News, Advocate, @froomkin.bsky.social, MS NOW, Bloomberg, NewsNation, Washington Examiner, Blaze Media, Just Jared, Sahan Journal, @jackjenkins.me, @washingtonpost.com, WWL-TV, Twin Cities, FOX 10 Phoenix, Reuters and Joe.My.God.
Isma'il Kushkush / Nieman Reports:
A look at the dearth of media coverage of Sudan's civil war, started in 2023; report: 32 journalists have been killed and 90% of outlets damaged or destroyed — Sudan's journalists risk their lives to tell the story of their homeland as the world turns away
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times
Dan Kennedy / Media Nation:
While announcing its sports buildup, Banner EIC Audrey Cooper noted the civic value: “At a time when so much pulls communities apart, sports bring us together” — The gutting of The Washington Post may prove to be an opportunity for The Baltimore Banner.
Discussion:
The Conversation, @postguild, Nieman Lab, The Verge, @jayrosen.bsky.social, @dankennedy.net and Poynter
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Jessica Toonkel / Wall Street Journal:
Memo: LA Olympics Chair Casey Wasserman is putting his talent agency up for sale after his ties to Epstein surfaced and high-profile talent departed the firm — Wasserman has said he ‘never had a personal or business relationship with Jeffrey Epstein’ and told staff he felt that he had ‘become a distraction’ to the firm's work
Discussion:
The Wrap, Business Insider, Washington Examiner, Associated Press, NBC News, NewsMax.com, Page Six, Front Office Sports, FOX 11 Los Angeles, Bloomberg, Fortune, @wsj, Los Angeles Times, Variety, Reuters, NBC Bay Area, Stereogum, Consequence, Rolling Stone, New York Times, The Hill, Billboard, LAist and Daily Mail
Alexandra Steigrad / New York Post:
Source: New York Daily News is cutting six of 10 national desk staffers, one metro reporter, seven print production people, and two photo department staffers — The owner of the New York Daily News fired 16 people this week - a “Valentine's Day massacre” that leaves the paper with a skeleton staff …
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Memo: Paramount names former Trump administration attorney Rene Augustine as its senior vice president of global public policy, amid a takeover battle for WBD — Rene Augustine worked with Makan Delrahim, Paramount's top lawyer, at the Justice Department and most recently served in advisory roles to the Kennedy Center
Discussion:
Deadline, TheDesk.net, @bselena.bsky.social, Reuters and The Wrap
Financial Times:
Sources: OpenAI is charging $60 per 1,000 impressions for ads in ChatGPT, a high price similar to Netflix's rate when it introduced ads — In May 2024, the big question for OpenAI was how it would make money with its revolutionary ChatGPT tool. At a talk at Harvard, chief executive Sam Altman …
Discussion:
Enrico Zelocchi on LinkedIn, more at Techmeme »
George Winslow / TV Tech:
Cineverse says it is acquiring IndiCue, a profitable CTV ad tech company, for $22M plus up to $18M in earnout as Cineverse focuses on streaming infrastructure — As a result of the deal, Cineverse expects to get a majority of its revenue from technology and streaming infrastructure solutions by 2027
Discussion:
Cineverse, TheDesk.net, NCS | NewscastStudio, Advanced Television, Deadline and Media Play News
New York Times:
A Q&A with NYT reporters on handling the Epstein files, including creating tools to make them searchable, prepping for the release, and dealing with redactions — Two dozen journalists. A pile of pages that would reach the top of the Empire State Building. And an effort to find the next revelation in a sprawling case.
Scott Nover / Washington Post:
The Richmond Free Press, a 34-year-old Black-owned weekly, shuts down due to falling ad revenue as the Black press suffers from the dispersion of its readership — The Richmond Free Press cited declining advertising in announcing the end of its three-decade run in Virginia's capital city.
Discussion:
LGBTQ Nation, @scottnover.bsky.social and Richmond Free Press
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