Mediagazer: A US judge dismisses three artists' AI copyright infringement claims against Midjourney and DeviantArt but allows a direct claim against Stability AI to proceed (Winston Cho/The Hollywood Reporter)

12:45 PM ET, October 31, 2023

Top News:

Israel denies press credentials to seasoned conflict reporter Jesse Rosenfeld after critical coverage and says “Rolling Stone is not a news organization” — The Netanyahu administration has denied a press credential to Jesse Rosenfeld, who has reported on the prime minister and the war

Discussion: The Wrap, @walshfreedom, @christapeterso, @mdslock and @noahshachtman@mstdn.social

Mark Bendeich / Reuters:
The Israel Defense Forces tells Reuters and the AFP that the military “cannot guarantee” their journalists' safety in Gaza, after the outlets sought assurances

Discussion: Mediaite, Nieman Lab, @kevincollier.bsky.social, @angelcomrade.bsky.social, @punksoda.bsky.social, @vegetablegremlin.bsky.social, @blackamazon.bsky.social, HoldtheFrontPage, Committee to Protect … and Associated Press

Reporters Without Borders:
RSF investigation into Reuters reporter Issam Abdallah's death in Lebanon: one car was marked “press” and two strikes ~30 seconds apart hit seven journalists

Discussion: The Times of Israel, scheerpost.com, @rsf_inter, @pressgazette, @guinnesskebab, @mehdirhasan, @malonebarry, @ionacraig, @rsf_inter, @antoinette_news, @malonebarry, The Desk, @mehdirhasan@threads.net, Agence France-Presse and Reuters

New York Times:

KKR completes its $1.62B Simon & Schuster acquisition, marking a major shift in the publishing industry; KKR plans to introduce an employee profit-sharing model — The process of selling Simon & Schuster has been long and tumultuous, and was waylaid by an earlier antitrust suit.

Discussion: Deadline, The Wrap, Publishers Weekly and MediaPost

Mark Stenberg / Medialyte:

Brands removing ads from critical event coverage, like the Israel-Hamas war, leads to inefficient monetization of news publishers' coverage of these news cycles — A song to read by: “Kid Charlemagne,” by Steely Dan — What I'm reading: “The Rachel Papers,” by Martin Amis — The week that was

Discussion: Insider Intelligence

Reuters:
Graphic pro-Israel ads are appearing in kids' video games, like Angry Birds, across Europe; Israel has spent $1.5M on online ads since Hamas' October 7 attack

Discussion: Media Voices, @xzherron, @samiranadkarni and @leenavand

Samuel Earle / The Guardian:

A profile of Paul Marshall, GB News co-owner and founder of UnHerd, one of the biggest websites for political commentary in the UK, as he bids for The Telegraph — UnHerd has quickly become one of the biggest sites for political commentary in the UK, and now the hedge fund founder behind it …

Discussion: Broadband TV News

Joe Pompeo / Vanity Fair:
A look at the prospective acquirers of The Telegraph, a long-standing power broker in conservative UK politics; DMGT would likely bring the newspaper to the US

Discussion: @joepompeo, @joepompeo, @brianstelter and Press Gazette

Jillian Deutsch / Bloomberg:

Meta plans to offer an ad-free option for Instagram and Facebook in the EU, EEA, and Switzerland, charging €9.99/month on the web or €12.99/month on mobile — - Plans cost €9.99 per month on the web, €12.99 on mobile — The model follows increasing EU regulations on data access

Sam Schechner / Wall Street Journal:
Meta plans to temporarily suspend showing ads to all users under 18 in the EU and other parts of Europe starting on November 6, to comply with EU regulations

Discussion: @samschech, @hoofnagle, Observer, MarTech, Music Ally, Insider, Engadget, 9to5Mac, BGR, Politico, @rmendes.net and Ad Age

Jesús Rodríguez / Washington Post:

A profile of Punchbowl News co-founder Jake Sherman, whose play-by-play social media updates of Capitol Hill dramas feed DC's appetite for fresh intel — Jake Sherman wanted the world to know about his team's latest scoop. — BREAKING NEWS: DIANNE FEINSTEIN HAS PASSED AWAY AT 90, he wrote on X.

Discussion: @pkafka, @brianstelter, @kheller, @froomkin, @laurachapin, @kvanvalkenburg, @tvietor08, @charliemagne, @samjmintz, @andrewfeinberg and @protecttruth_

Artnet News:

Three Artforum editors quit after the EIC was fired; artists and art writers have pledged not to write for Penske-owned Artforum, ARTnews, and Art in America — Artists and writers have signed a petition to boycott the publication alongside others owned by Penske Media.

Discussion: @djrupture, @zacharyhsmall and @benmullin

Dan Milmo / The Guardian:

The Guardian says its reputation was hurt after news aggregator Microsoft Start placed an AI-generated poll about a woman's death next to an article about her — Publisher says poll speculating on cause of woman's death that appeared next to Guardian article caused ‘significant reputational damage’

Discussion: The Verge, @alexbruell, @alexbruell and @chrismoranuk

Katie Robertson / New York Times:

News Media Alliance study: AI chatbot developers rely more on articles than generic web content to train AI; NMA says this shows AI companies violate copyright — The News Media Alliance, a trade group that represents newspapers, says that A.I. chatbots use news articles significantly more than generic content online.

Discussion: News/Media Alliance, more at Techmeme »

Winston Cho / The Hollywood Reporter:

A US judge dismisses three artists' AI copyright infringement claims against Midjourney and DeviantArt but allows a direct claim against Stability AI to proceed — While a federal judge advanced an infringement claim against Stability AI, he dismissed the rest of the lawsuit.

Discussion: Plagiarism Today, Reuters, @copyrightlately, @copyrightlately, @jess_miers, The Tinfoil Hat Crowd, @copyrightlately, @jess_miers, VentureBeat, @robertfreundlaw, Courthouse News Service, Billboard and Boing Boing, more at Techmeme »

Mia Sato / The Verge:

TikTok and DistroKid sign a deal to bring songs by independent artists to TikTok Music; DistroKid artists already have the option to add their music to TikTok — Independent artists using DistroKid to share their music will now have another avenue on TikTok.

Discussion: TechCrunch and Music Business Worldwide

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:

Q&A with Elle UK EIC Kenya Hunt on how the £149/year membership program Elle Collective can counter falling newsstand revenue, the future of magazines, and more — Elle UK editor in chief Kenya Hunt explains why the future is bright for Elle magazine.

Discussion: @pressgazette

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More News:

Jennifer Maas / Variety:
Sony Pictures Television's head of production Ed Lammi plans to retire at the end of 2023, after 36 years at the studio and 28 years in his current position

Discussion: WORLD SCREEN and The Wrap

Julie DiCaro / Deadspin:
ESPN confirms digitally altering a clip of NBA player Damian Lillard from 2020 and posting the new video after the Bucks' opening night win against Philadelphia

Discussion: @sportscenter, @weathersbywi, @epro.social, @plugsupporter, @squaresense, @apenbrink, @kegness_, @lexholl12, SI, @crystalpepsiis.bsky.social, @sazeracla.bsky.social, FTVLive, @leerosenberg.bsky.social and @crystalpepsi.bsky.social

Reuters:
Moldova blocks the websites of the Interfax, TASS, and other Russian outlets, accusing them of being part of an info war to overthrow its pro-Western government

Discussion: Broadband TV News, @kyivindependent, Balkan Insight, @kevglobal and @iamdenya_de

Digiday:
GroupM North America CEO Kirk McDonald steps down and plans to leave at 2023's end after three years, replaced by Mindshare CEO Adam Gerhart on an interim basis

Discussion: @michaelburgi, Beet.TV, Ad Age, Variety, Insider and MediaPost

Josh Eidelson / Bloomberg:
Most of the NYT's 700 tech staff held a half-day work stoppage on October 30, over a return-to-office order that management didn't negotiate in good faith

Discussion: Reuters, Axios, @jessicanix_, @palewire, @anastasiakeeley, @josheidelson, @josheidelson, The NewsGuild and @beep@follow.ethanmarcotte.com

Earlier Picks:

Max Tani / Semafor:
Sources: at a private meeting with bank executives last week, Biden fumed at The New York Times for saying an Israeli airstrike caused the Gaza hospital blast

Discussion: New York Post, GB News, Poynter, @shalomlipner, Fox News, @danielyrubin, @brianstelter, @semaforben@threads.net, @dankennedy_nu@threads.net and Mediaite

Megan Graham / Wall Street Journal:
Ad holding company Omnicom plans to acquire Flywheel, the digital commerce arm of UK-based B2B media, events, and analytics company Ascential, for ~$835M

Discussion: Ad Age, The Drum, @omnicom, @itsmanibro, @footsiebets, @tacoenthusiast2, @colinalewis, @bd2k, @megancgraham, MediaPost, AdExchanger, Adweek and PR Newswire

Steven Kurutz / New York Times:
A look at blue-collar influencers, including a trucker, a shepherd, and a fisherman, who have amassed large audiences by posting short videos of their workday

Discussion: @jamesafmorse, @gw_gallery, @seangraf and @mike_isaac@threads.net

David Montgomery / YouGov:
YouGov survey of 29,397 Americans: 85% own at least one physical book, 20% own one to 10, 14% own 11 to 25, and 13% own 26 to 50; 9% say they own 100+ e-books

Discussion: @michellemanafy@journa.host, @dhmontgomery and @yougovamerica

From Techmeme:

Gavin Anderegg / anderegg.ca:
Bluesky is working to become fully decentralized but it could take years amid financial concerns as it makes money only by selling domains for usernames

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: ByteDance is valuing itself at about $300B as part of a recent buyback offer, one of its highest valuations ever

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: T-Mobile's network was among the systems hacked by the China-linked Salt Typhoon group, and some foreign telecommunications firms were also compromised

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