Mediagazer: Congress leaves out the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act from the US defense spending bill, after intense pushback from industry and advocacy groups (Cristiano Lima/Washington Post)

2:45 PM ET, December 7, 2022

Top News:

Congress leaves out the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act from the US defense spending bill, after intense pushback from industry and advocacy groups — Facebook threatened to block news in the U.S. over the measure, which was under consideration as part of a defense package

Alexandra Bruell / Wall Street Journal:

Sources: The Washington Post is exploring a spinoff or sale of its Arc XP publishing tool, which the company expects to generate $200M+ in ARR by 2027 — Company has embraced digital experimentation under tech-billionaire owner; spinoff of ‘Arc’ business also possible

Discussion: @anthony, @sarafischer, @ckrewson, @froomkin and @asharma, more at Techmeme »

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Memo: The Washington Post plans to discontinue its ad tech arm Zeus as a standalone business and its internal ad team will use the self-serve ad tool Zeus Prime — The Washington Post will no longer operate its ad tech division, Zeus, as a standalone business, according to a note sent to employees Tuesday obtained by Axios.

Discussion: @sarafischer, @dylanbyers and @sarafischer

Oliver Darcy / CNN:

Over 1,100 unionized staff at The New York Times plan to go on strike on Thursday; NewsGuild estimates that some major desks could lose 90% of their workforce — New York CNN Business — The New York Times is preparing for more than 1,100 of its union staffers to go on strike for a full …

Discussion: Vanity Fair, @nytimesguild, Axios, Politico, The Hill, @genepark, @seiu, @greenhousenyt, @jeffsharlet, @callakessler, @mlcalderone, @anastasiakeeley, @nickatnews, nyguild.org, @greenhousenyt, @gregthr, @charlottetklein, @brycecovert and Poynter

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press:

The RCFP and over a dozen news organizations urge the US Senate to pass the PRESS Act, which would shield reporters from being forced to reveal sources and more — The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and more than a dozen news organizations are urging the U.S. Senate to pass …

Discussion: Freedom of the Press …, Freedom of the Press …, Al Jazeera, The Reporters Committee …, @trevortimm, @trevortimm and Financial Times

Stephanie Kirchgaessner / The Guardian:

A US judge dismisses a lawsuit claiming Mohammed bin Salman conspired to kill Jamal Khashoggi after the White House said the crown prince had sovereign immunity — Judge says Mohammed bin Salman entitled to sovereign immunity despite ‘credible allegations’ of involvement in journalist's murder

Discussion: @rapplerdotcom, @ajzionts, @farrukh_shamsi, @yanisvaroufakis, @agnescallamard, Newser, @klasfeldreports, @aalodah, Middle East Eye, Associated Press, New York Post, The Hill, The Daily Beast, Insider and Axios

Faiz Siddiqui / Washington Post:

Twitter ads from ~40 major brands including Amazon, Snap, and Uber appeared on the pages of at least two white nationalists, whose accounts Elon Musk restored — Ads from dozens of major brands were appearing on white nationalist and extremist accounts — SAN FRANCISCO …

Discussion: Ars Technica, Gizmodo, @faizsays, The Verge, @brendannyhan, @tedlieu, @esqueer_ and Digiday, more at Techmeme »

Dade Hayes / Deadline:

Ted Sarandos says Netflix has “not seen a profit path” from “renting big-league sports” as their “dramatically expensive” rights have made them a loss leader — Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos affirmed recent comments from the company that they are not …

Discussion: Variety, Sports Illustrated, Awful Announcing, CNBC, Reuters, Barrett Media, Media Play News, Gizmodo, @tvgrimreaper, The Streamable, Ad Age, The Wrap and IndieWire

Aaron Mok / Insider:

Amazon is offering select users $2/month if they let Amazon track which ads the users saw, where they saw them, and when they were viewed — - Amazon's Ad Verification program offers select users $2 per month for sharing their traffic data. — It is part of Amazon's Shopper Panel …

Discussion: Ars Technica, The Hill and Gizmodo

Jim Waterson / The Guardian:

UK Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan says the government and Channel 4 are discussing new funding models that could help the broadcaster avoid privatization — Culture secretary tells MPs she is discussing alternative business models with broadcaster — Channel 4 is discussing …

Discussion: Broadband TV News and Digital TV Europe

Maria Bustillos / Columbia Journalism Review:

The Internet Archive launched Democracy's Library in November, offering a searchable repository of global government publications, a useful tool for reporters — A report on the rare minerals revealed under the melting ice in Greenland. Forms for applying for an “investor visa” in Italy.

Discussion: @andykowl and @internetarchive

John Seabrook / New Yorker:

How a young generation of musicians uses TikTok, amassing huge followings but making little money, while some older musicians remain opposed to the platform — The social-media platform is transforming the music industry. Is that a good thing? … In December, 2020, after spending nine months …

Discussion: CNET, Wall Street Journal, Deep Voices, @flomachinenews, @1236, @flomachinenews, @danishacarter4, @newyorker, @hkanji, The Music Network, The Information, Substack, Beyond Search and Slice of Shy

Meduza.io:

Q&A with Dozhd CEO Natalia Sindeeva on cable accounting for ~20% of revenue, regretting firing a journalist expressing support for Russian troops, and more — On the morning of December 6, Latvian authorities revoked the broadcast license of the independent Russian TV channel Dozhd (TV Rain).

Discussion: @mdomanskaosw

Anatoly Kurmanaev / New York Times:
Latvia revokes the broadcasting license of Russian independent TV channel Dozhd, aka TV Rain, in exile since February 2022, over “threats to national security”

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More News:

J. Clara Chan / The Hollywood Reporter:
Vox Media promotes podcast executives Ray Chao and Nishat Kurwa to new SVP roles overseeing its podcast network's video content and programming, respectively

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Apple plans to launch Apple Sing, which turns songs on Apple Music into karaoke tracks of sorts, later in December on iPhone 11 and newer, iPad, and Apple TV 4K

Discussion: @indianidle, Complete Music Update, @stevemoser, CNET, Music Ally, @pitdesi, Billboard, Wired, NPR, Gizmodo, ScreenRant, 9to5Mac, The Verge and Digital Music News

The 19th:
How Black Twitter and Black blogs raised the attention Shanquella Robinson's death received in mainstream news outlets, which often overlook marginalized groups

Discussion: @eramshaw, @19thnews, @amzam, @dslakoffphd, @resistbot, @juliachanb, @jamilsmith and @19thnews

Los Angeles Times:
Amazon Studios unveils Stage 15, a newly transformed 34K-square-foot virtual production stage in Culver City featuring 3K+ LED panels and motion capture cameras

Discussion: @megjameslat, @anoushasakoui and Forbes

Nilay Patel / The Verge:
Q&A with analyst Julia Alexander on Bob Chapek's missteps, including reorganizing Disney and his subscriber focus, how Bob Iger can course correct, and more

Discussion: @film_girl, @sarthakgh, @aexm, Deadline and @loudmouthjulia

David Gritten / BBC:
Al Jazeera files a case against the IDF at the International Criminal Court over the killing of journalist Shireen Abu Aqla; Israel doesn't recognize the ICC

Discussion: The Guardian, Al Jazeera, Mediaite, Agence France-Presse, Reporters Without Borders, Semafor and CNN

Earlier Picks:

StreetInsider.com:
Filing: BuzzFeed plans to lay off ~12% of its staff, citing the economy, its Complex Media acquisition, and the audience shift to short-form, vertical video

Discussion: CNN, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Observer, Axios, @anthony, Adweek, @oliverdarcy, @variety, Media Voices, @timcast, @carlquintanilla, @tamikacody, @kerrymflynn, @tamikacody, @kelsaywhat, @kelsaywhat, Deadline, @corbinbolies, @zerohedge, @mayazi, @anthony, @deitaone, The Information, CNBC, Reuters, The Wrap and MediaPost

Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Snapchat partners with Adidas to launch a Bitmoji Fashion Drop, giving users a limited time to buy an item they can only acquire with Snap Tokens, a first

Discussion: @joshconstine, Music Ally, @mattnavarra, Ad Age and Adweek

Sam Schechner / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: EU privacy regulators rule that Meta's TOS should not require that users agree to personalized ads based on their online activity; Meta can appeal

Discussion: Pluralistic, MarketWatch, Ars Technica, noyb.eu, @jason_kint, @indiaer, @jason_kint, Gizmodo, @anthony, @samschech, The Information, Reuters, CNET and TechCrunch

Todd Spangler / Variety:
HBO Max returns to Amazon's Prime Video Channels in the US, after losing ~5M subscribers following the two companies failing to reach a deal in September 2021

Sara Fischer / Axios:
General Electric buys 22 full-page and five partial-page color ads in The New York Times, the first time one advertiser has taken over all its print real estate

Discussion: American Press Institute, @generalelectric, @carlquintanilla, @pressgazette, @tomgara, @tbrown633, @nytadvertising, @janebsinger, @micahstockett and MediaPost

NewsGuard:
Analysis: the US had 1,202 partisan-backed news sites masquerading as local news outlets as of November 2022, vs. 1,230 daily newspapers left in the country

Discussion: @stevenwaldman, @penamerica, @jbruce218, @cbcfletch, @mmbrussell, Poynter and The Rural Blog

From Techmeme:

Meta:
Meta launches Llama 4 Maverick with 400B parameters and Scout with 109B parameters and a 10M context window, and previews Behemoth with 2T total parameters

Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft unveils a demo of Quake II generated using its Muse AI model, with limited playability in a browser, as part of the company's Copilot for Gaming push

Xinmei Shen / South China Morning Post:
DeepSeek and Tsinghua University researchers detail an approach combining reasoning methods to let LLMs deliver better and faster results to general queries

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