Top News:
Casey Newton / Platformer:
Platformer is leaving Substack and migrating to Ghost, saying it doesn't believe Substack will publicly commit to proactively removing pro-Nazi material — After much consideration, we have decided to move Platformer off of Substack. Over the next few days, the publication will migrate …
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Wrap, Rolling Stone, @mossbergwalt@threads.net, Talking Biz News, The Verge, @molly0xfff, @alexcox@mastodon.social, @aaronrosspowell@threads.net, @moskov@threads.net, @dangillmor@mastodon.social, @0x8007000e@threads.net, @jeffjarvis@threads.net, @molly0xfff, @taylorlorenz@threads.net, @jaredlholt, @semaforben@threads.net, @nichcarlson@threads.net, @pkedrosky@threads.net, @edzitron@threads.net, @crumbler@threads.net, @alexkantrowitz@threads.net, @benedictevans@threads.net, @paul_rietschka@threads.net, @crumbler@threads.net, Techdirt, Business Insider and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »
Katie Strang / The Athletic:
Emmy Awards organizer NATAS says ESPN won 30+ Emmys using fake names in its “College GameDay” entries; ESPN blames “a misguided attempt” and returns the awards — In March 2023, Shelley Smith, who worked 26 years as an on-air reporter for ESPN, received a call from Stephanie Druley …
Discussion:
Adweek, FTVLive, New York Post, Mediaite, New York Times, @jemelehill, @film_girl@mastodon.social, @jbflint, @cjscalia, @theathletic, CNN, @sherman4949, @theathletic, Blaze Media, @jasonkirk_fyi, Defector, @sarge__msu, @bkoo, Awful Announcing, TVLine, Deadspin, @goldman@threads.net, The Comeback, Sports Media Watch, The Wrap, Variety, Deadline, Fox News and New York Daily News
David W. Chen / New York Times:
As deepfakes warp elections overseas, US state legislators race to enact laws, with varying penalties, requiring disclosure of the use of AI in political ads — Sophisticated political deepfakes have warped elections overseas. Can U.S. legislators act fast enough to make A.I. campaign ads more transparent?
Discussion:
@votepenelope, more at Techmeme »
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Chavi Mehta / Reuters:
Insider Intelligence: US political ad spend is expected to rise to $12.32B in 2024, up ~30% from 2020, with traditional media accounting for 71.9% of all spend — U.S. political advertising spend will likely jump by nearly a third in 2024 over the previous U.S. presidential election year …
Charisma Madarang / Rolling Stone:
Dudesy, an AI-driven podcast curated by humans, releases an hour-long comedy special featuring an AI-generated recreation of George Carlin, who died in 2008 — The hour-long special arrived from Dudesy, a podcast run by artificial intelligence … Following the special's release …
Discussion:
Variety, Los Angeles Times, @kelly_carlin, @iwriteok, The Guardian, The Daily Beast, @uwebollocks, @elementnumber46, Mashable, The A.V. Club, @whittersrichard, TMZ.com, @kelly_carlin, Mediaite, @danjac@masto.ai, @carnage4life@mas.to, USA Today, Forbes and The Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »
Oliver Darcy / CNN:
Sources: Cheddar News is hanging on by a thin thread, with no more than a half-dozen or so editorial staffers, down from a couple dozen in December 2023 — Not too long ago, on the 25th and 26th floors of the One State Street tower in lower Manhattan, a vibrant newsroom existed.
Discussion:
Talking Biz News and @oliverdarcy@threads.net
Michael Hardy / Texas Monthly:
Houston Landing journalists write to the board to reverse CEO Peter Bhatia firing EIC Mizanur Rahman and an investigative reporter; Bhatia cited a “reset” — Seven months after its official debut, a billionaire-funded media start-up just fired its editor and top investigative reporter.
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, @mattdpearce, @jlbuch, @robertdownen_, @brizzyc, @gusbova, @amandabecker, @mkerrhardy, @michaelgreshko, @juliaguilbeau, @jbenton, @brookekushwaha, Nieman Lab and Poynter
Tom Gerken / BBC:
Many prominent voice actors say they weren't told about the SAG-AFTRA's deal with Replica Studios setting out how AI-generated voices can be used in video games — Prominent voice actors say they weren't told about a landmark deal setting out how voices generated by artificial intelligence (AI) can be used in games.
Discussion:
gamedeveloper, NME, Decrypt, The Verge, GamesHub, Shelly Palmer, CNET and CMU
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Internal memo: Audible is laying off about 5% of its employees, or just over 100 staffers; a source says the layoffs do not affect Audible's content teams — The cutbacks come as other Amazon groups — including Prime Video, Amazon MGM Studios and Twitch — this week are pink-slipping several hundred workers.
Discussion:
Business Insider, Associated Press, The Information, TechCrunch, CNBC, The Hollywood Reporter, Engadget and Digital Music News
John Koblin / New York Times:
Peacock will become the first streamer to exclusively show an NFL playoff game, which cost NBCU $100M+, on January 13; the game airs free in KC and Miami — The game, between the Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins, is the biggest test yet for whether live sports will find a comfortable home on streaming services.
Discussion:
@onikuno, New York Post and Deadspin
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Sources: Pixar may lay off up to 20% of its workforce; Pixar says that number is too high and that the layoffs are not imminent, but will occur later in 2024 — Disney-owned animation studio Pixar is poised to undergo layoffs this year, TechCrunch has learned and the company confirmed.
Discussion:
@animated_antic, @brianpshea, @karlamon9, Eric Calderon on LinkedIn and @carnage4life@mas.to
Michael Flaherty / Axios:
ValueAct says its investment plan for Disney is centered on the company's parks being high-return assets and the expectation that the streaming wars are ending — ValueAct's investment plan for Disney is centered on strong cash flows from its parks and consumer products …
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