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Some journalists call on Kamala Harris to do interviews, which can be useful for stress-testing politicians' positions, though they are not always illuminating — In the three weeks since President Joe Biden announced that he would not seek reelection, the presidential race, you may have noticed …
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NYT plans to launch a Wirecutter podcast on August 21; its deputy publisher says the brand drove $1B in commerce in 2023 and its newsletter has 2.5M subscribers — - “Wirecutter is not only branching out in terms of its business model, it's also branching out in terms of its platforms,” …
Discussion:
The Wrap, The New York Times Company and Talking Biz News


SAG-AFTRA strikes a deal with Narrativ for voice replicas in digital ads, letting union members add themselves to the AI startup's database and negotiate fees — Union says agreement sets ‘a new standard’ for ethical use and makes it easy to performers to give consent and get paid
Discussion:
Reuters and SAG-AFTRA, more at Techmeme »


A look at the growth of free streaming service Tubi, which does not require an account to use, is entirely dependent on ad revenue, and is not yet profitable — Tubi has exploded in popularity over the past 18 months, outpacing some competitors with much bigger budgets.
Discussion:
Cord Cutters News, @mattyglesias, @davidlaz, r/television and r/entertainment


iSpot: tech companies have spent ~$196M in 2024 through to August 8 on US TV ads related to AI, which accounts for ~50% of their total 2024 spend on TV ads — There are so. many. commercials for artificial intelligence. — If you watched the Olympics, you probably saw the commercial …


Jeff German's accused murderer waives further searches of the reporter's electronics, removing the possibility of a fight over access to confidential reporting — Las Vegas LDS Temple decision challenged in court — Ex-NFL player sentenced for death of girlfriend's daughter, 5
Discussion:
Columbia Journalism Review


Meta shuts down CrowdTangle, less than three months before the US election, in favor of the Meta Content Library; Mozilla says 50K+ petitioned against the move — Meta has been bombarded by academics, researchers, politicians and regulators about a tool called CrowdTangle, which most people probably haven't heard of.


Apple approves Spotify updating its app to show in-app pricing information for iPhone users in the EU starting today, after Spotify's yearslong legal battle — Spotify will begin showing in-app pricing information for iPhone users in the European Union starting today, following a yearslong legal battle against Apple.
Discussion:
Reuters, TechCrunch, BGR and MacRumors, more at Techmeme »


A look at right-wing lawmakers' media efforts, including guest-hosting Steve Bannon's show and producing content from their offices, like Matt Gaetz's Firebrand — Steve Bannon is in prison, but his show must go on. Lucky for him, there's a Congress for that.
Discussion:
@grammasaurus@mastodon.social


US District Judge Reed O'Connor recuses himself from X's advertiser lawsuit over an alleged ad boycott; O'Connor held stock in Tesla and Unilever — A U.S. District Judge in Texas has recused himself from a lawsuit filed by Elon Musk's X days after NPR drew scrutiny to the judge's investment …
Discussion:
Quartz, CNBC, Ars Technica, Reuters, The Verge, Los Angeles Times and Ars OpenForum, more at Techmeme »


Sources: after Google's monopoly ruling, the DOJ considers options, including forcing a breakup of the company or requiring it to share more data with rivals — - Antitrust enforcers soliciting input from outside companies — Judge ruled Alphabet unit monopolized online search, ads


The Harris campaign is running Google Search ads with news headlines and descriptions that are edited to make articles from major publishers appear pro-Harris — - According to Google's ad transparency center, the Trump campaign isn't running these types of ads, but this technique has been used by campaigns before.
Discussion:
Reason, @edzitron, @eriqgardner, @mikenellis, New York Post, @noahcrothman, @greg_price11, @sarafischer, @sophiacai99, @bariweiss, @mrarenge, @sarafischer, Breitbart and Fox News