Top News:
Ben Smith / Semafor:
Internal presentation: around 70% of the Los Angeles Times' projected $232.5M in revenue in 2023 comes from print, helping explain the recent cuts to 70 jobs — Progressive media activists, rattled by the collapse of a generation of youth-oriented digital news outlets like Vice and BuzzFeed News …
Discussion:
@maxwelltani, @stufalk, @stufalk and @jeffjarvis
Thomas Germain / Gizmodo:
Some publishers say they have seen a sharp drop in Facebook traffic since May 2023; Echobox: the share of traffic to publisher sites from Facebook fell ~50% YoY — With no communication from the company, publishers relying on Facebook traffic are at the mercy of the inscrutable algorithm, and they say it's punishing them.
Emily Flitter / New York Times:
How government officials have increasingly retaliated against local newspapers over unfavorable coverage, by stripping them of contracts to print public notices — When coverage upsets them, towns and counties are revoking newspapers' lucrative contracts to print public notices. — Reporting from Delhi, N.Y.
Discussion:
@jayrosen_nyu, @dankennedy_nu, @jisraelbalderas, @joelmmathis, @karynregal, @kdkleman, @aarongell, @scottbrodbeck, @rkarpel and @jrcflatheadmemo
Mark Caro / Local News Initiative:
An interview with Stephanie Lulay, one of three co-founders of Block Club Chicago, as the nonprofit outlet hits its fifth anniversary with 29 full-time staffers — Exceeding its DNAinfo origins, Block Club Chicago hits 5th anniversary doubling down on the power of neighborhood reporting
Discussion:
@alexanderrusso, @journogeoffz, @danielkayhertz, @timafranklin, @poynter, @markjacob16 and @poynter
Alex Barinka / Bloomberg:
Snap hopes to use My AI chatbot interactions to personalize ads; 150M+ Snapchat users, or ~20% of MAUs, sent 10B messages to My AI since its late February debut — Snap Inc., the maker of the Snapchat app, is testing ways that its popular new artificial intelligence chatbot can boost the company's advertising business.
Rebecca Tan / Washington Post:
Sources: Meta plans tighter content rules in Vietnam, its seventh largest market, after government requests, and keeps a list of officials not to be criticized — HANOI — When Facebook took off in Vietnam about a decade ago, it was like a “revolution,” said two of the company's early employees in Asia.
Discussion:
@sarahemclaugh, @davidscloud, @thr, @alexdukalskis and @rachel_chason, more at Techmeme »
Marah Eakin / Wired:
How Pixar used neural style transfer, a type of AI used to make photos look like popular artworks, to animate Ember, a lead character in its movie Elemental — It's harder to make fire than you might think. But the Pixar team was determined to do the impossible. — Pixar had a problem.
Discussion:
The Guardian, SlashFilm, Screen Rant, PinkNews, Comic Book, Variety, Looper, IndieWire, GoldDerby and The Walt Disney Company, more at Techmeme »
Megan Graham / Wall Street Journal:
Duolingo says the company significantly scaled back TV ads and its DAUs growing 62% YoY to 20.3M in Q1 2023 is due in part to efficient social media marketing — The language-learning app now relies more on memes—helping it climb to 20 million daily active users
Discussion:
@trengriffin, more at Techmeme »
Jo Ellison / Financial Times:
A look at Vogue Ukraine, which is published under license from Condé Nast by Vanguard Media and has focused on Ukraine's war effort since Russia's invasion — How Vogue Ukraine became an unlikely voice of defiance — There was a huge kerfuffle surrounding the news earlier this month …
Discussion:
@ifmparis
Alexandra Bruell / Wall Street Journal:
Group Black, an investor in Black-owned media, strikes a deal with NBCU to sell ads in Peacock shows popular with Black audiences, keeping most of the revenue — Some marketers have sought ways to invest more advertising dollars in Black-owned media — Comcast's NBCUniversal said Group Black …
Discussion:
@kerrymflynn, @alexbruell and The Hollywood Reporter
Podnews:
Spotify executive Bill Simmons calls Harry and Meghan “grifters” after their $20M deal ends with 12 episodes; sources say some interviews were done by staffers — Archewell, the podcast company owned by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, will not have its contract renewed with Spotify.
Discussion:
Mediaite, CNN, @jodyavirgan, CBS News, @edsbs, @bleez17, @yoda, The Guardian, Variety, Sky News, CNBC, Fortune, TMZ.com, @jerseydeanne, @sonnybunch, @chronotope.aramzs.xyz, The A.V. Club, Deadline, New York Post, The Wrap, UPROXX, Decider, Fox News, SheKnows, Page Six, The Big Lead, Awful Announcing, ET Canada, Complete Music Update and Rolling Stone
Bron Maher / Press Gazette:
Podcasting company Acast launches Acast+ Access to let publishers integrate their pre-existing paywalls into Apple Podcasts and other platforms — The technology means paywalled news outlets may more easily offer podcasts as a members-only benefit. — Podcasting business Acast has launched …
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