Mediagazer: Stephen King reflects on his books being used for AI training, arguing the sum is lesser than its parts, so far, as creativity can't happen without sentience (Stephen King/The Atlantic)

5:55 AM ET, August 26, 2023

Top News:

How Meta and YouTube, battered by content moderation wars, are following X in retreating from policing political misinformation, raising US 2024 election fears — Facebook and YouTube are receding from their role as watchdogs against conspiracy theories ahead of the 2024 presidential election

Ariel Bogle / The Guardian:

The New York Times, CNN, Reuters, and other outlets block OpenAI's GPTBot web crawler from accessing their content; some have also blocked Common Crawl's CCBot — Chicago Tribune and Australian newspapers the Canberra Times and Newcastle Herald also appear to have disallowed web crawler from maker of Chat GPT

Discussion: The Information, @carnage4life@threads.net, @hayskali, @mastermaq, Search Engine Land, @stevesi, @daveleebbg, @rafat, Bloomberg, @ProfJohanna@mastodon.online, @carnage4life@mas.to, MIT Technology Review and Insider, more at Techmeme »

Stephen King / The Atlantic:

Stephen King reflects on his books being used for AI training, arguing the sum is lesser than its parts, so far, as creativity can't happen without sentience — One prominent author responds to the revelation that his writing is being used to coach artificial intelligence. — Self-driving cars.

Discussion: Insider, @galbeckerman, @sstossel, @lmatsakis, @theatlantic, Decrypt, @catcheronthesly, @neilturkewitz, @bcmerchant and The Information

Sherman Smith / Kansas Reflector:

Marion County Sheriff's Office agrees to destroy the files that the police copied from the Marion County Record's computers and illegally kept on a flash drive — Marion County Record reporter Phyllis Zorn and Sheriff Jeff Soyez stand outside the evidence room where an undersheriff signs over newspaper property to a forensic expert.

Discussion: @lawsuitsdevin, @sherman_news, @pressfreedom, Columbia Journalism Review, @black_intellect@mstdn.social, Voice of America and The Daily Beast

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

YouTube offers insights meant to guide Shorts creators, including how the Shorts algorithm differs from long-form YouTube's algorithm and what counts as a view — YouTube this week put out a new video meant to address creators' questions over its short-form video platform, YouTube Shorts.

Discussion: Creator Insider on YouTube, Social Media Today, Tubefilter, YouTube Official Blog, @youtubeliaison, Fede Goldenberg on LinkedIn and MediaPost, more at Techmeme »

Raksha Kumar / Reuters Institute:

Q&A with Kashmir Times Executive Editor Anuradha Bhasin on India blocking The Kashmir Walla's website, the government's push to turn the media into PR, and more — “The message is for all journalists in India. As long as you are toeing the government's line, you will be fine," says Anuradha Bhasin

Discussion: @brownpundit

Reggie Ugwu / New York Times:

Netflix offers its rental-by-mail subscribers their final batch of DVD or Blu-ray discs and up to 10 movies to keep before closing the service on September 29 — The company is shuttering its rental-by-mail service in September, more than 25 years after it launched.

Discussion: Forbes, @jessimckenzi, The Atlantic and Media Play News

Josh Ye / Reuters:

Source: Tencent Music, NetEase's Cloud Music, and others cut streaming features like virtual lucky draws at a hefty cost, amid China's online gambling crackdown — Chinese online content platforms including Tencent Music (1698.HK) and NetEase's Cloud Music (9899.HK) have removed live streaming features …

Discussion: @byjoshye, TechNode, @byjoshye, Music Ally, Digital Music News and Music Business Worldwide

Ben Schoon / 9to5Google:

YouTube plans to let creators upload podcasts via an RSS feed by the end of 2023 and add podcasts to YouTube Music in more countries through the end of 2023 — YouTube Music just launched support for podcasts earlier this year, and that's going to only get better in the months to come as RSS support is apparently coming to the app.

Discussion: TechCrunch, Podnews, @simli.bsky.social, Android Police and Triton Digital

Alex Griffing / Mediaite:

Nielsen: Fox News' first debate of the 2024 Republican presidential primary brought in 12.8M viewers; the 12 debates of the 2016 campaign averaged ~15M viewers — Fox News's first Republican debate of the 2024 presidential election exceeded expectations and brought in 12.8 million total viewers …

Discussion: MediaPost, @bdomenech, @pbump, @brianstelter, The Desk, The Hollywood Reporter, New York Daily News, Media Play News, New York Post, The Hill, Fox News, Washington Post, CBS News, Forbes, Bloomberg, CNN, New York Times and Los Angeles Times

Lisa Richwine / Reuters:
X claims Tucker Carlson's interview with Donald Trump drew 74M+ views, but the number includes users who scrolled past the video or watched for a few seconds

Discussion: @tuckercarlson, Mediaite, @elonmusk, New York Daily News, @brianstelter, @jason_kint, @brianstelter, Politico, Vanity Fair, d2384, Los Angeles Times, Forbes, The Hill, The Guardian, Mastodon, New Republic, The Wrap, The Daily Beast, New York Times, Adweek, The Wrap, Slate and Advocate

Jimmy Vielkind / Wall Street Journal:

Sources: the FBI and German investigators are probing the possible poisonings of two Russian journalists and a Russian activist — Three women say they suffered a sudden onset of unusual symptoms; FBI and German investigators conducting probes — The FBI and German investigators are probing …

Discussion: The i Paper, The Daily Beast and Los Angeles Times

Katharine Trendacosta / Defector:

Hollywood trade publications have long been seen as PR tools for studios, but their stories during the WGA strike have absolutely shattered their credibility — If you were on the website-formally-known-as-Twitter last week, first of all, my condolences, we are in hell together, and second …

Discussion: Rolling Stone, @slack2thefuture, @k_trendacosta, @trevoremetcalfe, @k_trendacosta, @mikeisaac, @mikeisaac, The Wrap, Variety, New York Daily News and Bloomberg

Sharon Waxman / The Wrap:
Instead of calming strike tensions, CEOs who met with the WGA's negotiators riled things up, revealing ego-driven decision-making; the union responded angrily

Ainsley Harris / Fast Company:

How YouTube plans to integrate creators into its NFL Sunday Ticket programming, as the company looks to be a “one-stop shop for multiple types of video content” — College football's brightest stars, dressed in their snappiest suits, assembled beneath gray skies and the beaux-arts grandeur …

Discussion: Variety, Barrett Media, Tubefilter, @afarles, CNET and The Desk

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More News:

@futuromedia:
Futuro Media, a nonprofit that produces the radio show Latino USA and other Latino-focused content, announces layoffs, citing “months of economic uncertainty”

Discussion: @lourdesgnavarro, @nopalitamami, International Journalists …, @penileyramirez, @karenattiah, @byfernandas, @tanzinavega, Inside Radio, Los Angeles Times, @carloseats, @lopezcruzado, @sylvesterd, @madisonmcvan, @juandr47, @whosworld, @reynaldoleanos and NPR

Peter White / Deadline:
Memo: Fifth Season, formerly known as Endeavor Content, cuts 30 jobs, or ~12% of its staff, citing “the ongoing dispute between the AMPTP and WGA & SAG-AFTRA”

Discussion: The Wrap, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter

Sahil Patel / The Information:
Sources: Amazon has had early talks with Disney about working on a streaming version of ESPN, possibly helping with distribution while taking a minority stake

Discussion: MediaPost, The Streamable, Awful Announcing, Cord Cutters News, @rawkuz99, @aagave, Barrett Media and Reuters

Kaya Yurieff / The Information:
The Creators Guild of America, a nonprofit advocacy group with YouTuber Justine Ezarik and lawyer Paige Kaplan on its board, debuts to back creators' interests

Discussion: Tubefilter, @kyurieff and @ericnewcomer

Earlier Picks:

Nicola Agius / Search Engine Land:
Reddit increases the number of interest categories that advertisers can target from 66 to 152 and plans to add even more topics and subjects in the coming weeks

Discussion: Social Media Today and Google Help Center

David Pierce / The Verge:
For Amazon's second season streaming Thursday Night Football, the company plans more AI tools in Prime Vision, more Black Friday shopping integrations, and HDR

Discussion: CNET, TechCrunch, Shelly Palmer, @reckless1280@threads.net, Rolling Stone and The Streamable

Gerry Smith / Bloomberg:
Memo: Vice Media is moving out of its Brooklyn offices to save on costs after bankruptcy; most of the staff will work remotely until Vice finds a new NYC office

Discussion: @pkafka, @benmullin and @maxwelltani

Pamela McClintock / The Hollywood Reporter:
Barbie becomes 2023's top-grossing movie in North America, grossing $575.4M in 34 days; The Super Mario Bros. Movie grossed $574.3M in 140 days in North America

Discussion: Insider, The Wrap, Gizmodo, Billboard, Deadline, Variety, ET Canada, The Playlist, The A.V. Club, ComingSoon.net, Screen Rant, CNN, Collider, TIME and Comic Book

From Techmeme:

Richard Lawler / The Verge:
Okta fixes a flaw present since July 23, 2024, that let users log in under specific circumstances with any password if the account's username had 52+ characters

Jeffrey Dastin / Reuters:
Intel's CEO scraps forecast of selling $500M+ worth of Gaudi AI chips in 2024, blaming slower uptake on Gaudi 2 to Gaudi 3 transition and software ease of use

Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Popular photo editing company Pixelmator says it has signed an agreement to be acquired by Apple, pending regulatory approval, “to reach an even wider audience”

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