Top News:
Brakkton Booker / Politico:
A profile of Charlamagne tha God, co-host of iHeartRadio's The Breakfast Club and a growing fixture in the US' conservative media for his criticism of Joe Biden — The influential radio host of “The Breakfast Club” is a thorn in the side of Democrats — but he's also representative of one of their biggest problems.
Discussion:
Brakkton Booker on LinkedIn and Inside Radio
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Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
Music industry insiders reflect on the waning influence of popular, human-curated Spotify playlists, as the company shifts towards AI-driven personalization — The streaming giant's shift to automation is impacting the supremacy of curated music selections — Welcome back to Soundbite, and happy New Year!
Christine Burke / Bloomberg:
Radio network Audacy reaches a deal with a supermajority of its debt holders that allows Audacy to reduce its total debt load by 80% to ~$350M — - Deal announced Sunday will reduce total debt load by 80% — Radio, podcast company also files for Chapter 11 protection
Discussion:
Audacy Inc., Axios, CNN, Awful Announcing, CNBC, The Hollywood Reporter, Wall Street Journal, Radio & Television …, @lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw, Variety, Inside Radio, The Wrap, Billboard and RAIN News
Armando Tinoco / Deadline:
In response to Pat McAfee's claims, ESPN says no one is more committed to ESPN's success than Norby Williamson and it will “handle this matter internally” — ESPN is responding to claims made by Pat McAfee that an executive from within the sports network is “trying to sabotage” his show.
Discussion:
ESPN Press Room U.S., The Daily Beast, New York Post, Awful Announcing and Sports Media Watch
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Sharon Knolle / The Wrap:
Pat McAfee, who signed a lucrative deal in 2023 for his YouTube show to air on ESPN, accuses top ESPN executive Norby Williamson of “sabotaging” his program — The former NFL punter accuses Norby Williamson of leaking inaccurate ratings information — Video
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, CNBC, @benjstrauss, CNN, New York Post, Sports Media Watch, Awful Announcing, @benjaminsolak, @darrenrovell, @benhoffmannyt, @leviremmick, @nacholeber, @dhookstead, @rgiii, @anthony_russo97, @awfulannouncing, @claytravis, @adampatricknfl@threads.net, Deadline, Sportico, The Comeback, Mediaite, The Hollywood Reporter, Fox News and Barrett Media
Dan Kennedy / Media Nation:
Cost-cutting by Alden Global Capital and Gannett at legacy newspapers inadvertently created “a call to arms” that helped boost startup local news projects — Is there a silver lining hiding somewhere inside the rise of newspaper ownership by private equity? Brant Houston says yes.
Discussion:
Gateway Journalism Review and Simon Owens's Media Newsletter
Kayleigh Barber / Digiday:
Top execs at Bloomberg, The Atlantic, The Independent, The Wall Street Journal, Time, and Vox Media express caution and sometimes optimism about 2024 ad revenue — Media execs are setting their ad revenue goals for 2024 with an abundance of caution as they wait and see just how much of the …
Discussion:
Nicholas Thompson on LinkedIn
Oliver Darcy / CNN:
Taylor Swift's associates say they are dismayed by an NYT opinion piece that speculated on Swift's sexuality, calling it “invasive, untrue, and inappropriate” — A controversial New York Times opinion piece that openly speculated this week whether Taylor Swift is a closeted queer person …
IEEE Spectrum:
How Midjourney v6 and DALL-E 3 produce “plagiaristic outputs”, even when not directly asked to do so, which could expose users to copyright infringement claims — This is a guest post. The views expressed here are solely those of the authors and do not represent positions of IEEE Spectrum or the IEEE.
Financial Times:
Source: the British Library plans to spend £6M to £7M, or ~40% of its reserves, to recover from an October 2023 cyberattack that took down most of its services — London-based institution faces spending millions of pounds to rebuild most digital services
Discussion:
@patmcfaddenmp, @newyorker, @catbateson, @colm_m, @kenchad, @ramblingsingh, @katherineschof8, @iyalondonwalks, @tomaashby, @jamesofputney, @lottelydia, @onslies, @cath_fletcher, @bookscribbler, @reimenayee, @faraiunvers, @fernriddell, Richard Kirk on LinkedIn, @stephenkb, @gabbystorey, @jamesrbuk, @hetanshah, @prachisrivas@masto.ai, @rafeuddin_, The Guardian and The Guardian, more at Techmeme »
Wall Street Journal:
A look at the ambitious bid to turn around the Golden Globes, as a source say CBS is paying a significantly lower licensing fee than the ~$60M NBC used to pay — The Golden Globes are back with new owners, new prizes and a new network. Now they need viewers to tune back in.
Discussion:
Observer, Associated Press, Vanity Fair, Golden Globes, The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters, New York Post, @albertfong98, Vogue, E! Online, CBS News, KTFT, New York Times, Awardsdaily, Forbes, Fox News and Variety
Scott Roxborough / The Hollywood Reporter:
Universal had the largest share of 2023's global box office, after releasing 24 films that made $4.91B, dethroning Disney, which had the top spot since 2016 — Box office jumped more than 8 percent to $1.35 billion but remained well below pre-COVID levels. — Thank you Barbenheimer.
RELATED:
Robert D. McFadden / New York Times:
Joseph Lelyveld, The New York Times executive editor from 1994 to 2001 and Pulitzer Prize winner, dies at 86 from complications of Parkinson's disease — As executive editor from 1994 to 2001, he oversaw a period of growth, expanding national and international readerships …
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