Top News:
Financial Times:
Sources: Bari Weiss' The Free Press raised about $15M at a ~$100M valuation; Bari Weiss posted an article this week that said the outlet had 800,000+ readers — The fundraise values Bari Weiss's venture at $100mn — US media start-up The Free Press has raised a further round of funding from investors …
Discussion:
@ivanlevingston and @pressgazette
Sareen Habeshian / Axios:
Univision says Harris and Trump will appear at separate town halls in front of a Spanish-speaking audience in October, moderated by journalist Enrique Acevedo — - “There are more than 36 million Hispanics eligible to vote in the U.S., making them the largest minority in the country …
Discussion:
HuffPost, TelevisaUnivision, Adweek, The Hill, Variety, @bsdtectr.bsky.social, @brianstelter, The Wrap, TVLine, The Hollywood Reporter, TVNewsCheck and Deadline
Gordon Rayner / Telegraph:
The Spectator appoints ex-UK cabinet minister Michael Gove as editor, starting on October 8, after its takeover by GB News co-owner Sir Paul Marshall — Former Cabinet minister will take over from Fraser Nelson on Oct 8 - three months after standing down as MP
Discussion:
The Guardian, Press Gazette, Politico, Bloomberg, Associated Press, @davidfolkenflik, @strykermcguire, @warwickmansell, @hasanpatel, @brokenbottleboy, @dhothersall, @carolineslocock, @noahkeate, @danbarker, @rupertmyers, @freddiesayers, @euanrellie, @jonnelledge, @gordonrayner and @gordonrayner
Laura Hazard Owen / Nieman Lab:
Chartbeat: Facebook traffic to 700 US news sites fell 40% from January 2023 to July 2024 to ~500M page views, as page views from Google Search grew 10% to 1.5B — Traffic from Google Discover now exceeds traffic from Google Search for some publishers, but what works there is a bit of a guessing game.
Discussion:
Annemarie Dooling on LinkedIn, Adweek and @laurahazardowen
Dave Collins / Associated Press:
A US bankruptcy judge says he will approve an auction of Alex Jones' Infowars and its assets in November 2024 to help Jones pay $1B+ to Sandy Hook families — Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones ' Infowars media platform and its assets will be sold off piece by piece in auctions this fall …
Discussion:
Forbes, The Daily Beast, Boing Boing, New York Times, Rolling Stone, The Wrap and NPR
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Automattic sends a cease-and-desist letter to WP Engine, alleging unauthorized use of the WordPress trademark, after WP Engine sent a C&D letter on September 23 — The brouhaha in the WordPress community looks likely to escalate into a legal battle around trademarks.
Discussion:
@carnage4life, @carnage4life, Search Engine Journal and TechRadar, more at Techmeme »
Marisa Kabas / The Handbasket:
Q&A with NPR Media Correspondent David Folkenflik on the Olivia Nuzzi and RFK Jr. saga, Ben Smith's defense of Nuzzi and sexual relations with sources, and more — The longtime media reporter sounds off. … Johnson was hired there in 2013 by then-Editor in Chief Ben Smith …
Discussion:
@justinbaragona, @thatjakepc, @mattdpearce, @davidgross_man, @marisakabas2, @nikkimcr, @marisakabas2, @tessaduvall, @leah_sottile, @samwangphd, @davitydave, @youngvulgarian, @marisakabas2, @jokelley, @marisakabas2, @tbridis, @teachequitably1, @tattersking, @radfemme74, Los Angeles Times and The Wrap
Bron Maher / Press Gazette:
Mill Media plans to launch Glasgow-focused title The Bell on September 30 on Ghost, initially without a paywall, and release content three times per week — The new Glasgow-focused title from local newsletter start-up Mill Media will be named The Bell, Press Gazette can reveal.
Discussion:
@mlothianmclean, @mlothianmclean, @millmediauk, @theglasgowbell, @joshi, @mlothianmclean, @alistairkgrant and The Bell
Sara Fischer / Axios:
The International Fund for Public Interest Media plans to raise $150M by mid-2025 to help independent media in 50 low- and mid-income countries over three years — - Of the 40 countries already eligible for funding, 30 will hold elections between 2026 and 2028, the fund notes in its investment thesis.
Discussion:
@sarafischer
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Stability AI says filmmaker James Cameron has joined its board of directors; Stability AI CEO Prem Akkaraju was previously CEO of VFX company WETA Digital — The director says that “the intersection of generative AI and CGI image creation is the next wave” of film technology …
Discussion:
WORLD SCREEN, TVBEurope, Stability AI, AV Club, Rolling Stone, Ars Technica, Forbes, The Verge, Deadline, Destructoid, Reuters, SlashFilm, Variety, IndieWire and The Wrap, more at Techmeme »
Winston Cho / The Hollywood Reporter:
Filing: OpenAI agrees to give representatives for authors suing the company access to review its training data to see if OpenAI used authors' copyrighted works — At a secure room in its San Francisco office, representatives for authors suing OpenAI will examine materials that were used to train its AI system.
Discussion:
Advanced Television, TVNewsCheck and Music Ally, more at Techmeme »
Erik Hayden / The Hollywood Reporter:
Wrapbook, which simplifies the payroll process for TV, film, and commercial productions, raised $20M from Bessemer Ventures at a $750M valuation — The financial services firm plans to grow by more than 100 staffers as it takes aim at private equity owned Cast & Crew and Entertainment Partners.
Discussion:
FinTech Global and WKRN-TV
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