Mediagazer: A look at the NYT's upheaval over sensitive topics like the Israel-Gaza war and management's push to emphasize neutrality, including via a probe of staff leaks (Alexandra Bruell/Wall Street Journal)

Elizabeth Jensen / New York Times:

Robert MacNeil, who anchored evening newscasts for over two decades on PBS and delivered evenhanded, non-flashy news with Jim Lehrer, dies at 93 — With his longtime co-host Jim Lehrer, he delivered thoughtful reports that stood in stark contrast to the commercial networks' ever more sensational newscasts.

Discussion: Associated Press, The Hill, Washington Post, @judywoodruff, Variety, Deadline, The Daily Caller, Newser and The Hollywood Reporter

Alexandra Bruell / Wall Street Journal:

A look at the NYT's upheaval over sensitive topics like the Israel-Gaza war and management's push to emphasize neutrality, including via a probe of staff leaks — After internal upheaval over coverage of sensitive topics like the Israel-Gaza war, management renews emphasis on independence and neutrality

Discussion: @mlcalderone, @mlcalderone, The Daily Caller, @fxshaw@threads.net, @brianstelter@threads.net, @jeffjarvis, Al Jazeera and @jeffjarvis@mastodon.social

Bloomberg:

Adobe used images created by tools like Midjourney and uploaded to its stock marketplace by users to train Firefly; Adobe says ~5% of images were AI-generated — Company promotes its tool as safe from content scraped from the internet. — When Adobe Inc. released its Firefly image-generating software …

Discussion: Tom's Guide, more at Techmeme »

Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:

A look at faux podcast ads or “UGC ads” where brands pay actors to tape clips that look like podcast recordings in which they promote company products — Brands like the validating veneer of the podcast look without having to pay premium prices for actual spots on shows

Discussion: RAIN News and Simon Owens's Media Newsletter

Matthew Choi / The Texas Tribune:

Two groups have filed a campaign finance complaint with the FEC over $630K that iHeartMedia sent to a PAC dedicated to the reelection of US Sen. Ted Cruz — End Citizens United and the Campaign Legal Center asserted Cruz could have broken campaign finance rules.

Discussion: The Hill, San Antonio Current, News, San Antonio Current, The Daily Beast, RADIO ONLINE, Politico, The Daily Beast and The Verge

Jaffer Zaidi / The Keyword:

Google tests removing links to CA news sites to measure the impact of the California Journalism Preservation Act and pauses investments in the CA news ecosystem — A pending bill in the California state legislature, the California Journalism Preservation Act (CJPA), would create a “link tax” …

Katie Kilkenny / The Hollywood Reporter:

Condé Nast staff marked for layoffs in November are assigned to a “central editorial group” as they await the outcome of their union's contract negotiations — While their union negotiates with top execs about the scale and terms of layoffs, employees who had been working at GQ …

Discussion: @willyblackmore, @joshkovensky and @semaforben

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Appfigures: short drama apps, like ReelShort, collectively made $146M in Q1 2024, up from $1.8M in Q1 2023; Reelshort made $52M in Q1 and DramaBox made $35M — Was Quibi just ahead of its time? Quibi founder Jeffrey Katzenberg ultimately blamed the COVID-19 pandemic for the failure …

Discussion: Appfigures

Michael Schneider / Variety:

Netflix acquires the rights to “Rather”, a documentary about journalist Dan Rather, which will premiere April 24 — Netflix has acquired “Rather,” the documentary about veteran journalist Dan Rather's landmark career in news. The film, which premieres April 24 on the streamer …

Brian Hiatt / Rolling Stone:

A look at Udio, which was founded by four former DeepMind employees in December 2023 and launched a product on April 11 that generates songs from text prompts — Weeks after AI-music generator Suno went viral, a new rival, Udio, is here, backed by tech and music heavyweights.

Discussion: @rollingstone, @hiattb, Kostya Doronin on LinkedIn, Joshua Slobin on LinkedIn, Conrad Withey on LinkedIn, G.I. Sanders on LinkedIn, Tom's Guide, SWAMY WORLD and Digital Music News, more at Techmeme »

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:

Roku says hackers accessed ~576K accounts using credential stuffing, and made purchases in ~400 cases, after a similar breach affecting ~15K accounts in March — The new security incident was discovered a month after the company learned that 15,000 accounts were impacted in a similar breach.

Discussion: CNN, Variety, The Desk, The Streamable, TechCrunch, CBS News, Los Angeles Times, The Verge, Engadget, MobileSyrup, Next TV, The Wrap, Forbes, Deadline, Reuters and Cord Cutters News, more at Techmeme »

Jordan Novet / CNBC:

Last week, LinkedIn began letting advertisers pay to amplify posts from some users through Thought Leader ads, as it enters the market of influencer marketing — Ryan Roslansky, CEO of Microsoft's LinkedIn subsidiary, speaks at a LinkedIn event in San Francisco on Sept. 22, 2016.

Discussion: @apocalypticanow.bsky.social, more at Techmeme »