Mediagazer: TechCrunch+'s founding editor about its launch to complement TechCrunch's ads and events revenue and its failure due to issues with finding business reporters (Danny Crichton/Securities)

12:50 PM ET, February 5, 2024

Top News:

Microsoft strikes an AI deal with Semafor for a breaking news feed called Signals; Ben Smith says it will be written by journalists, using AI as a research tool — Collaboration comes as tech giant faces multibillion-dollar lawsuit from the New York Times Microsoft is working with media start …

Discussion: Semafor, Report for America, Nieman Lab, @annaknicolaou, @justin_b_smith, MIT Technology Review, Engadget, @naomi_rovnick and @semaforben, more at Techmeme »

Noreen Gillespie / Microsoft On the Issues:

Microsoft announces AI partnerships with the Craig Newmark School of Journalism, the Online News Association, the GroundTruth Project, and Nota — What will the newsroom of the future look like? — Today, Microsoft is launching several collaborations with news organizations to adopt generative AI.

Discussion: Kevin Grant on LinkedIn, Noreen Gillespie on LinkedIn, Teresa Hutson on LinkedIn, Neowin and Online News Association

Chris McGreal / The Guardian:

Sources describe internal discontent about CNN's Gaza coverage and complaints about editorial policies preferring Israeli claims over Palestinian perspectives — Insiders say pressure from the top results in credulous reporting of Israeli claims and silencing of Palestinian perspectives

Discussion: New York Post, @jayrosen_nyu, @glynmoody@mastodon.social, @shreeparadkar, Caitlin Johnstone, Columbia Journalism Review, @awinston, @RealJournalism@mastodon … and Mediaite

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

CBS News confirms that President Biden will not do a pre-game Super Bowl interview with CBS, the second year in a row that he has turned down the opportunity — An interview with the U.S. President in the hours before the Super Bowl has become a tradition in recent decades.

Max Tani / Semafor:

How Condé Nast bought and destroyed Pitchfork by absorbing its creative teams and trying to fit it into the audience-driven terms of programmatic ad sales — The News — In 2015, Condé Nast was nearing a deal to buy the music site Pitchfork, its first major editorial acquisition in years.

Discussion: @semaforben, @sam_schulman, @michaelroston, @mazi_emekar, @Zeb_Larson@zirk.us, @timothypmurphy, @thorntonmcenery, @mikeisaac, @maxwelltani and @ositanwanevu

Politico:

Mayor of Dearborn says police increased their presence as a “direct result” of a WSJ opinion piece that described the Michigan city as “America's jihad capital” — The move is in response to a Wall Street Journal opinion piece. — DEARBORN, Mich. — Dearborn …

Discussion: Detroit Free Press, @deanobeidallah, Newser, The Hill, The Daily Beast and CBS News

Financial Times:

Sources: the UK shelved plans to publish rules on the training of AI models using copyrighted material, after artists and tech groups failed to agree terms — Government-led talks stall as artists and tech groups fail to agree terms over access to copyrighted work

Discussion: Antreas Athanassopoulos on LinkedIn and CMU, more at Techmeme »

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:

UK's Reach strikes a deal with Amazon for “contextual” first-party data to target online ads, as the media industry responds to end of third party cookies — Media sector scrambles to deal with fallout from phase out of cross-website trackers — Tech giant Amazon has struck …

Discussion: Jamie Drucker on LinkedIn, @katebevan, @rasmus_kleis, @baekdal and Search Engine Land

Financial Times:

A look at the potential deal between Skydance and Shari Redstone's National Amusements, as a tough media industry landscape forces Redstone to consider offers — Interest from Skydance and other bidders could split shareholders in studio behind ‘The Godfather’

Rebecca Jennings / Vox:

How the creator economy is forcing writers and artists to build personal brands and become influencers, making many artists uncomfortable and feel like sellouts — So you want to be an artist. Do you have to start a TikTok? — When Rachael Kay Albers was shopping around her book proposal …

Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:

Freely, a free UK streaming service backed by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and Channel 5 that will deliver live TV over broadband, plans to launch in Q2 2024 — With more than half of U.K. homes expecting to watch TV exclusively via broadband by 2030, it “will bring live and on-demand content together …

Discussion: Variety and WORLD SCREEN

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:

A look at UMG's TikTok retreat, stemming from issues like low payouts and a lack of assurances on fighting deepfakes, and TikTok's role in the music industry — We're about to find out how important TikTok is to the music industry. — Happy Grammy Sunday to those of you who celebrate.

Discussion: Music Business Worldwide, more at Techmeme »

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 12:50 PM ET, February 5, 2024.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Energy & Commodities Editor, Tokyo — Bloomberg

Politics Reporter, TX — Texas Tribune

Consumer Brands Reporter, GA — AJC

Deputy Editor - Health Care, VA — Politico

Product Editor, CA — CalMatters

Indigenous Affairs Editor, Sydney — Guardian US

China Markets Correspondent, Shanghai — Reuters

Bangor Reporter, ME — Bangor Daily News

Commerce Editor - Health, Remote US — Yahoo

Sports Editor, MI — Detroit News

Deputy Politics Editor, CA — Sacramento Bee

Alphaville Reporter, London — FT

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:

Lachlan Cartwright / The Hollywood Reporter:
Memo: CNN revamps its morning schedule, moving up News Central to 7am ET; This Morning moves to Atlanta, Phil Mattingly and Poppy Harlow will move to new roles

Discussion: Variety, New York Post, Adweek, Los Angeles Times, TVLine, Mediaite, CNN, The Hill, Wall Street Journal, The Wrap, The Daily Beast, @sherman4949, Page Six and Deadline

K.J. Yossman / Variety:
Eurovision organizer European Broadcasting Union launches Eurovision Sport, a free streaming service to complement public service broadcasters' coverage

Discussion: WORLD SCREEN, Associated Press, TVBEurope, Broadband TV News, Deadline and BNN Breaking

Wall Street Journal:
A look at Charter's rise to become the biggest US cable TV provider, with 14.12M subscribers, topping Comcast and highlighting the dire state of cable TV

Discussion: @tvgrimreaper, @patiencehaggin, @patiencehaggin, @david_marcelis, @patiencehaggin, The Desk, Media Play News, Hollywood Reporter and Reuters

Danny Crichton / Securities:
TechCrunch+'s founding editor about its launch to complement TechCrunch's ads and events revenue and its failure due to issues with finding business reporters

Discussion: @sarthakgh, @mjburnsy, @firstadopter@threads.net, @rezendi, @dannycrichton, @kevinsxu, @logtecheric, @wolfejosh, @jryedinak, @jasonlk, @logtecheric and @carnage4life@mas.to

Committee to Protect Journalists:
A look at the deteriorating situation for media in Guinea, where the government has been blocking or suspending outlets and arresting journalists

Discussion: @cpjafrica and @cpjafrica

David Pegg / The Guardian:
Azerbaijan is accused of cracking down on independent media in the run-up to snap elections; 13 journalists, including from Abzas Media, have been detained

Earlier Picks:

Harry McCracken / Fast Company:
Interviews with Disney executives about Apple Vision Pro, how the device is changing the studio's production pipelines, future plans for the device, and more

Discussion: KXAN-TV, Reuters, Pete Voss on LinkedIn, Harry McCracken on LinkedIn, @harrymccracken@mastodon …, TechCrunch, Front Office Sports, Digital Journal and The Verge

Selome Hailu / Variety:
HBO cuts Miloš Biković from The White Lotus cast, after Ukraine accused him of supporting Russia since its war; Biković calls the move a “disturbing precedent”

Discussion: Politico, TV Insider, @twmcltd, @variety, CBR, Business Insider, New York Times, EW.com, New York Post, The Independent, The Daily Beast, TVLine, IndieWire, The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline

Tom Jones / Poynter:
While reporting on a woman who sought assisted suicide, a Boston Globe columnist signed a form helping her to proceed, raising questions about journalism ethics

Discussion: Washington Post, @bostonglobe, @kirkmin, @poynter, @farhip, Media Nation and The Boston Globe

Jonathan Randles / Bloomberg:
Diamond Sports strikes a deal to continue broadcasting Cleveland Guardians, Minnesota Twins, and Texas Rangers games through the upcoming MLB season

Discussion: The Streamable, @matthewtaylormn, @evandrellich, @evandrellich, @tvgrimreaper, Sports Media Watch, Cord Cutters News, Front Office Sports, Awful Announcing, Sportico, Reuters and Barrett Media

Anne Steele / Wall Street Journal:
Spotify and Joe Rogan sign a new multiyear deal, estimated to be worth $250M; Rogan's show will be available across podcast platforms and as videos on YouTube

From Techmeme:

Meta:
Meta launches Llama 4 Maverick with 400B parameters and Scout with 109B parameters and a 10M context window, and previews Behemoth with 2T total parameters

Emanuel Maiberg / 404 Media:
In backing Trump, effective accelerationists like Musk and Andreessen got a “Decel-in-Chief”, who instigated a brain drain and tariffs that hurt tech companies

Makena Kelly / Wired:
Sources: DOGE is hosting a “hackathon” in Washington DC next week to build a “mega API” for accessing all IRS data, with Palantir as a possible partner

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