Check out Mini-Mediagazer for simple mobiles or Mediagazer Mobile for modern smartphones.
8:05 PM ET, January 8, 2024

Mediagazer

 Top News: 
OpenAI:
OpenAI responds to The New York Times' lawsuit: training is fair use and there is an opt-out, “regurgitation” is a rare bug, and NYT “manipulated” its models  —  We support journalism, partner with news organizations, and believe The New York Times lawsuit is without merit.
Casey Newton / Platformer:
Mark Kleinman / Sky News:
Sources: SoundCloud owners Raine Group and Temasek Holdings are preparing for a sale of the music streaming service that could fetch $1B+  —  Backed by Raine Group and Temasek Holdings, SoundCloud is to be put up for sale later this year as its owners anticipate a substantial payday, Sky News learns.
Jon Lafayette / Next TV:
Roxi, a voice-activated video music service backed by Simon Cowell and others, plans to expand from UK to the US in Q1 on most streaming devices and smart TVs  —  Backed by Simon Cowell, Kylie Minogue and Sheryl Crow, streaming service looks to supplant smart speakers
Etan Vlessing / The Hollywood Reporter:
New York Post's Page Six launches a new studio in New York City to shoot its expanding array of celebrity-driven content, with media personality Astra as anchor  —  The tabloid's fabled gossip column has hired media personality Astra as anchor for the New York City facility in the headquarters of News Corp.
Discussion: Observer
Mark Sweney / The Guardian:
Internal memo: Channel 4 CEO Alex Mahon says the broadcaster needs to “accelerate” its digital shift and confirms “an impact on jobs”, citing an ad slump  —  Exclusive: Broadcaster looks to hasten shake-up amid TV advertising slump with most job losses likely to affect London-based workers
Discussion: Mediaite, Deadline and Variety
RELATED:
Alan Blinder / New York Times:
How US News & World Report licenses “badges” that US colleges use to promote their rankings, as critics say the payments incentivize a harmful ranking system  —  U.S. News sells “badges” to colleges, so they can promote their rankings — whether they are 1st, 10th or much, much lower.
Mia Sato / The Verge:
YouTube updates its cyberbullying policy to ban AI-generated content that “realistically simulates” deceased children or victims of crimes or deadly events  —  YouTube is updating its cyberbullying and harassment policies and will no longer allow content that “realistically simulates” …
Discussion: TechCrunch
Max Tani / Semafor:
Sources: Will and Jada Smith's Westbrook struggled to land deals after Will Smith slapped Chris Rock and its 2023 revenue dropped to $100M, forcing steep cuts  —  The Scoop  —  The fall of 2021 was the perfect time for Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith to sell their media company, Westbrook.
Emilia David / The Verge:
Getty Images and Nvidia launch Generative AI by iStock, a text-to-image service that generates stock photos and is aimed at SMBs  —  Getty Images and Nvidia are deepening their AI partnership with the launch of Generative AI by iStock, a text-to-image platform specifically designed to make stock photos.
Sapna Maheshwari / New York Times:
TikTok restricts Creative Center, used by advertisers to track hashtags, after it was used by critics to scrutinize content on the Israel-Hamas war and more  —  People and groups had harnessed the tool to scrutinize content on the site related to the Israel-Hamas war and other topics.
Erik Gruenwedel / Media Play News:
Netflix, Max, and Hulu won a combined 12 awards at the 81st Golden Globes; HBO's final Succession season won four awards and Netflix's Beef won three awards  —  Netflix, Max and Hulu led all streamers with 12 combined key category trophies at the 81st Annual Golden Globe Awards held Jan. 7 in Los Angeles.
RELATED:
 
 Archived Page Info: 
This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 8:05 PM ET, January 8, 2024.

View the current page or another snapshot:


 
 Who's Hiring in Media? 
 
 See Also: 
Mediagazer: site main
Mediagazer River: reverse chronological Mediagazer
Mediagazer Mobile: for phones
Mediagazer Leaderboard: Mediagazer's top sources
 
 Subscribe: 
Mediagazer RSS feed
Mediagazer on X
Mediagazer on Mastodon
 
 
 More News: 
Kateryna Kadabashy / Bloomberg:
MBC Group, the Middle East's biggest broadcaster, rises 20% on its first day of trading on the Saudi exchange, after raising $222M by selling a 10% stake
Discussion: CNN and Reuters
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Mehdi Hasan says he is leaving MSNBC “to look for a new challenge”, after MSNBC cancelled his show in November 2023
 Earlier Picks: 
Max Tani / Semafor:
Axel Springer launches a review of the editorial processes at BI, after a BI story claimed many instances of plagiarism by MIT's Neri Oxman, Bill Ackman's wife
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
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
 

 
From Techmeme:

Nikhilesh De / CoinDesk:
The US Treasury's sanctions watchdog removes Tornado Cash from its global blacklist, after a federal appeals court ruled against the sanctions in November 2024

Bruna Horvath / NBC News:
Lyft says it plans to roll out robotaxis in partnership with May Mobility in Atlanta, starting summer 2025

Financial Times:
Sources: KKR, Coatue, and other ByteDance investors are exploring buying out Chinese investors from TikTok US to assure Trump that it is free of Chinese control

 
Sister Sites:

Techmeme
 Top news and commentary for technology's leaders, from all around the web
memeorandum
 What US political commentators are discussing online right now
WeSmirch
 The top celebrity news from all around the web on a single page