Mediagazer: Apple quietly launches a catalog of books narrated by AI on its Books app, in a move that publishers, authors, and agents warn may upend the audiobook market (Leyland Cecco/The Guardian)

2:25 PM ET, January 5, 2023

Top News:

Leyland Cecco / The Guardian:

Apple quietly launches a catalog of books narrated by AI on its Books app, in a move that publishers, authors, and agents warn may upend the audiobook market — Exclusive: tech firm quietly launches new audiobook catalogue narrated by AI - but move expected to spark backlash

Dave Biscobing / ABC15:

The Wall Street Journal asks the Phoenix PD to conduct an internal review after an officer handcuffed and detained WSJ reporter Dion Rabouin in November 2022 — PHOENIX — The Wall Street Journal is demanding the Phoenix Police Department conduct an internal review and take action …

Financial Times:

The UK government confirms it will not proceed with Channel 4's privatization, instead opting for reforms to preserve the broadcaster's financial sustainability — Whitehall rejects privatisation in favour of reforms to preserve broadcaster's financial sustainability

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Facebook dropped plans to heavily demote content on politics and sensitive topics, after views for “high quality news publishers” fell, and more — Hitting mute button on political content recommendations brought unintended consequences

Discussion: @jason_kint, @wexler, @mattnavarra, @keachhagey, @emilyglazer, @mattzeitlin and @reaganbrad, more at Techmeme »

Charlotte Klein / Vanity Fair:

NYT is yet to fill its media columnist role one year after Ben Smith left the paper; Sources: Sarah Ellison, Brian Stelter, and Dylan Byers held talks with NYT — One of the highest perches in the industry has been vacant for a year, leaving journalists inside and outside the paper puzzled about management's lack of urgency.

Discussion: @charlottetklein and @joshgerstein

Taylor Lorenz / Washington Post:

After FTX collapsed, citizen journalists, including @AutismCapital, Coffeezilla, and Doomberg, stepped up to cover the saga, often outshining traditional media — A group of online creators has skyrocketed to fame by covering every aspect of the meltdown, but some optimize for attention over accuracy

Discussion: @molly0xfff and @niubi, more at Techmeme »

J. Clara Chan / The Hollywood Reporter:

TikTok plans to license IMDb data to let US and UK users tag movies and TV shows and access an in-app page with information about the titles — Users will be able to tag a specific work and have access to a dedicated in-app page with relevant information about the title, such as cast, crew release date, run time and more.

Discussion: Ad Age, Adweek, TechCrunch, Amazon, Tubefilter, @tiktokcomms, @discussingfilm, @manofbeskar and BGR

Dana Gerber / The Boston Globe:

A look at three independent Marblehead, Massachusetts news outlets launched in 2022 to fill the void left by Gannett making the Marblehead Reporter go regional — In the wake of newspaper closures, three new outlets have sprung up in the North Shore town. — Not quite a year ago, the local news outlook in Marblehead appeared bleak.

Discussion: @virginiabuckin1, @bostonglobe, @jrebosglobe, @jenniferlevitz, @jimdao, @deborahblum, @nytimescramer, @sarahscire, Marblehead Current and Media Nation

Agence France-Presse:

Iran warns France of an “effective and decisive response” after Charlie Hebdo published cartoons depicting Ayatollah Khamenei that were deemed to be insulting — Iran warned France on Wednesday of consequences after satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo published cartoons depicting …

Discussion: Fox News, Ministry of Foreign Affairs …, The Guardian, Associated Press, Politico, The Local, New York Post, The Hill, Politico, Bloomberg and Semafor

Ben Schoon / 9to5Google:

Google says Android TV OS, the underlying platform for Google TV and Android TV, now has 150M monthly active devices, up 36%+ YoY — At CES 2023 this week Google is sharing an update on how many devices are now using Google TV and Android TV, with 150 million devices in the hands of users.

Jessica Toonkel / Wall Street Journal:

An investment group led by LionTree takes a majority stake in Transmit.Live, which develops ad technology for live streaming, valuing the company at $350M — Boutique bank leads group taking majority stake in Transmit.Live — LionTree is betting that live sports is going to continue …

Discussion: @ericfranchi, Transmit.Live and Front Office Sports

Melanie Burney / The Philadelphia Inquirer:

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signs a law requiring public schools to teach media literacy to K-12 students, making NJ the first US state to do so — New Jersey has become the first state in the country to require public schools to teach media literacy to K-12 students as a way to combat misinformation …

Discussion: Politico, State of New Jersey, @cyn_mccrackan@mastodon.world, @tauhidchappell and @phillyinquirer

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Bloomberg:
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Naman Ramachandran / Variety:
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Ryan Barwick / Marketing Brew:
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Vincent Manancourt / Politico:
The Irish DPC fines Meta €390M over GDPR breaches related to its ad and data handling practices, giving the company three months to comply; Meta plans to appeal

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Roku plans to launch its own TVs in spring 2023 across two brands, Roku Select and a higher-end Roku Plus, ranging from 24 inches for $119 to 75 inches for $999

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Raffaele Huang / Wall Street Journal:
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Ryan Morrison / Tom's Guide:
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