Mediagazer: Sources: Facebook dropped plans to heavily demote content on politics and sensitive topics, after views for “high quality news publishers” fell, and more (Wall Street Journal)

3:40 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 …

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

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

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.

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, @vanityfair, @nbj914 and @joshgerstein

Taylor Lorenz / Washington Post:

After FTX collapsed, “citizen journalists” like @AutismCapital, Coffeezilla, and Doomberg beat out mainstream outlets by alleging wrongdoing and adding analysis — 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

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

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

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: The Streamable, Transmit.Live, Front Office Sports and @ericfranchi

Aisha Majid / Press Gazette:

Analysis: UK's top four regional publishers control 88% of daily print market; Reach and Newsquest account for 32% and 29% of average circulation respectively — Analysis shows the UK's top four regional publishers control close to 90% of the print market.

Discussion: @pressgazette

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More News:

Jennifer Maas / Variety:
Warner Bros. Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels says that the company has already ended its 12 month restructuring phase after merging with WarnerMedia

Discussion: The Streamable, The Wrap, Media Play News, @variety, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, IndieWire and @mtfiii

Daniel Tilles / Notes From Poland:
Private media outlets in Poland republish a report critical of the government by Warner Bros. Discovery-owned TVN, after Poland launched proceedings against TVN

Discussion: @notesfrompoland

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

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

Max Tani / Semafor:
Sources detail the impact of the ransomware attack on The Guardian: the paper nearly didn't print for days, print columnist picture bylines vanished, and more

Discussion: @mattzeitlin, @weldpond, @youngvulgarian, @maxwelltani, @semaforben and @semafor

Kris B. Mamula / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Cars Holding, a subsidiary of Ohio-based Block Communications, plans to acquire weekly tabloid Pittsburgh City Paper from Butler Eagle publisher Eagle Media

Discussion: @ryandeto, @cpotterpgh, @trashyleesuh, @brndnstrssng, @newsmanchris, @anthraxjones, @eefandrews, @kbui1, @astockeywtae, @85mf, @1hoodpower, @mattdpearce and @kmamula1

Denise-Marie Ordway / The Journalist's Resource:
An analysis of 5,847 political news stories from 20 media outlets in 2021: far-left and far-right outlets offer easier-to-read coverage than mainstream outlets

Discussion: @raju, American Press Institute, @kevinloker, @jeremarketer and @007_delic

Earlier Picks:

Bloomberg:
Sources: Sirius XM and Amazon slow podcast dealmaking and Spotify froze its US budget for new podcasts; all three seek to keep 50% of ad revenue vs. 20% before

Discussion: Radio Ink, @dada_drummer, @felixgillette, @bizboyle, @ericspiegelman, @ashleyrcarman, @lucas_shaw and The Information

Naman Ramachandran / Variety:
European entertainment and media organization Antenna Group appoints Linda Jensen as its group CEO; she has held senior positions at HBO Europe and MTV Russia

Ryan Barwick / Marketing Brew:
Vox Media plans to no longer run ads from fossil fuel companies, “kind of formalizing” a policy that SVP AJ Frucci says the publisher has had since early 2021

Discussion: @davidgura, @emorwee, @corbinhiar, @mikemunsell, @cynthiabarnett, @ayanaeliza, @spj_tweets, Digiday, @petercoffin, @billmckibben and @ryanbarwick

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

Discussion: noyb.eu, Data Protection Commission, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Insider, @eric_seufert, @vmanancourt, @jezcorden, NewsLab, @anewman_forward, The Privacy Whisperer, @brentnyt, @nytimesbusiness, @jason_kint, @tamaleaver, @alexgibneyfilm, AppleInsider, Reclaim The Net, MediaPost, MediaNama, Meta, @moreperfectus, @jason_kint, @maxschrems, @douglascarswell, @themusicpimp, @danrussell12000, Digital Music News, @nicholasvinocur, @modestproposal1, @senmarkey, @s8mb, @missig_geek, @profcarroll, @gabrielazanfir, @justinhendrix, @robertjbateman, @noybeu, @carlszabo, @johnnyryan, @glynmoody, @jesselehrich, @brianhonan, @jonathanmendez, @floorter, @thetranscript_, @montezumachavez, @robertjbateman, @dpcireland, @adrianweckler, @adrianweckler, @andymstone, @adrianweckler, @martinsfp, @maxschrems, @johnnyryan, @jason_kint, @ekmokaya, @maxschrems, @maxschrems, Music Ally, scargo, Quartz, AdExchanger, Variety, MarTech, The Record, Gizmodo, IAPP Daily Dashboard, Ad Age, New York Post, The Guardian, BleepingComputer, Engadget, Associated Press, The Information, The Verge, Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch and Observer, more at Techmeme »

Chris Welch / The Verge:
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

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Adweek, Axios, Roku, US - The Official Roku Blog, TechCrunch, The Information, @davezatz, @mcwm, IGN, The Streamable, ScreenRant, Light Reading, Insider, Media Play News, Gizmodo and Engadget

From Techmeme:

Wall Street Journal:
Gina Raimondo says holding back China in the chips race is a “fool's errand”, and investment, more than export controls, will keep US ahead of Beijing

Timothy B. Lee / Ars Technica:
Exploring the scaling challenges of transformer-based LLMs in efficiently processing large amounts of text, as well as potential solutions, such as RAG systems

Reuters:
Albania bans TikTok for a year from January 2025, part of a broader plan to make schools safer following the killing of a 14-year-old near a school in November

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