Top News:
Alexandra Bruell / Wall Street Journal:
BuzzFeed News EIC Karolina Waclawiak says the outlet plans to publish more stories to boost profits, focus on viral topics, and pursue long-form investigations — ‘What we can control is how many stories we publish each day,’ BuzzFeed News editor in chief tells newsroom
Discussion:
@mikeisaac, @brianstelter, @davidmackau, @jasonnark, @danbeucke, @steveashleyplus, @tsuvik, @tianathefirst, @mikeisaac, @mediaevan, @alexbruell, @bsbonner and @mzhemingway
Tim Baysinger / Axios:
Sources: Diamond expects to lose some MLB rights after bankruptcy but could retain the sports rights for the 16 NBA and 12 NHL teams the company currently owns — Diamond Sports Group expects to come out of its bankruptcy process with fewer teams' rights, with the cuts coming from its baseball roster …
Discussion:
Sportico, @jeremydstanley, @benverlander, The Streamable, @kerrymflynn, @kerrymflynn, UPI, Associated Press, Next TV and CNBC
RELATED:
Dietrich Knauth / Reuters:
Diamond Sports, which operates the Bally Sports channels, files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Texas, listing both assets and liabilities between $1B and $10B — Diamond Sports Group, which provides local television broadcasts for nearly half of NBA, NHL and MLB games, filed for U.S. bankruptcy protection …
Discussion:
Business Wire, @ourand_sbj, Bloomberg, CBS News, Axios, MediaPost, @tvgrimreaper, @ourand_sbj, @adater, @ourand_sbj, @loudmouthjulia, @claylepard, @ourand_sbj, Barrett Media, Deadline, MarketWatch and Sportico
Michael J. Socolow / The Conversation:
While Americans across the political spectrum have a growing disdain for journalism, media criticism remains an essential component of a vibrant democracy — Everyone seems to hate what they call “the media.” — Attacking journalism - even accurate and verified reporting - provides a quick lift for politicians.
Discussion:
Columbia Journalism Review, @reditlhabi, @risj_oxford, @michaelsocolow, @klerner, @jackshafer, @naomi_schalit, @niemanlab and Newhouse School …
Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:
The US charges exiled Chinese businessman Guo Wengui, tied to GTV Media, with defrauding his online followers out of $1B+ and arrests him; DOJ seizes $634M — The U.S. government on Wednesday charged exiled Chinese businessman Guo Wengui with fraud, accusing him of orchestrating a conspiracy …
Discussion:
Justice News, New York Times, Insider, Semafor, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Politico, New York Post, @truefactsstated, @ewong, @zevshalev, @therickwilson, @w7voa, @w7voa, @seth_hettena, @semafor, @mattgertz, @sdnynews, The Daily Beast and emptywheel, more at Techmeme »
Jennifer Maas / Variety:
Q&A with new Vice Media co-CEOs Bruce Dixon and Hozefa Lokhandwala on Nancy Dubuc's exit, potential sale and buyers, divesting assets like Refinery29, and more — But despite the newness of their current roles, Lokhandwala and Dixon are already well versed in the inner workings …
Discussion:
Adweek and @kerrymflynn
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Quora launches a $19.99/month tier for its chatbot app Poe, giving users access to bots powered by GPT-4 and Anthropic's Claude+ on iOS or Apple Silicon Macs — Yesterday, OpenAI unveiled its new GPT-4 model and competitor Anthropic unveiled its own ChatGPT competitor Claude.
Discussion:
Axios, more at Techmeme »
Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:
Fortune CEO told staff that Fortune.com pageviews grew 90% YoY in 2022 to around 427M, with syndication revenue up 87% and social referral traffic up 300% — Fortune magazine CEO Alan Murray sent out the following to the staff on Wednesday: — Hello Fortune team!
The Verge:
Sources: Spotify was ready to launch HiFi as a premium tier by the end of 2021 but Apple and Amazon offering lossless audio at no extra charge spoiled its plans — Even though Spotify HiFi still hasn't launched after being announced more than two years ago, some kind of lossless experience …
Discussion:
Gizmodo, Music Ally, @chriswelch, 9to5Mac and The Desk, more at Techmeme »
Colin Mann / Advanced Television:
Aluma Insights: 50%+ of US subscribers to the top 16 SVODs view Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+ as essential and Epix Now, Apple TV+, and Peacock as least essential — New research from Aluma Insights finds two-thirds of US Netflix buyers view the service as indispensable to meeting household video needs.
Discussion:
The Streamable and MediaPost
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Snap plans to begin publishing its guidelines for serving personalized Snapchat content after previously sharing them with publishing partners and some creators — Snapchat on Wednesday said it will begin publishing guidelines that detail what types of content gets algorithmically distributed in its app to users.
Discussion:
TechCrunch and Snap Inc., more at Techmeme »
Jake Kanter / Deadline:
The UK government increases the film and TV expenditure credit from 25% to as much as 34%, with the qualifying threshold for high-end TV shows held at £1M — The British government has provided a boost for the UK film and TV industry by announcing that it is increasing tax breaks and maintaining the qualifying threshold.
Discussion:
The Hollywood Reporter and @jake_kanter