An interview with IAC chair Barry Diller on his Paramount bid being "more of a duty than a desire", why Hollywood's hold on entertainment is "gone", and more (Matthew Garrahan/Financial Times)

Mediagazer: An interview with IAC chair Barry Diller on his Paramount bid being “more of a duty than a desire”, why Hollywood's hold on entertainment is “gone”, and more (Matthew Garrahan/Financial Times)

Top News:

Financial Times:

A Venezuelan rights group says the country has cancelled 40+ passports, mostly of journalists and activists, since Nicolás Maduro claimed a re-election victory— Move part of campaign of repression since President Nicolás Maduro claimed re-election win, say rights groups
Discussion: @kenroth, The Art Newspaper and Reuters

Discussion:

Kenneth Roth /
@kenroth: “Venezuela has cancelled the passports of dozens of journalists and activists since Nicolás Maduro claimed a re-election victory, part of...an intensifying campaign of repression against the authoritarian president's opponents.” https://www.ft.com/...

New York Times:

A look at Pod Save America, which gets 20M monthly downloads, and its parent company Crooked Media, as both have grown into institutions in liberal politics— The hosts of the political podcast have outlasted the wave of anti-Trump #Resistance that made it popular. That's where things get complicated.

Discussion:
@bernstein and Fox News

Discussion:

Joe Bernstein /
@bernstein: For @NYTStyles, I profiled @PodSaveAmerica, which has outlived the Resistance moment that made it huge, and, by helping its ever-loyal Democratic audience process its emotions, turned into something genuinely influential https://www.nytimes.com/...

Financial Times:

An interview with IAC chair Barry Diller on his Paramount bid being “more of a duty than a desire”, why Hollywood's hold on entertainment is “gone”, and more— IAC chair hits out at Trump and warns of power shift to Big Tech in film and TV

Semafor:

Q&A with ATTN co-founder and co-CEO Matthew Segal on the current social ecosystem, vertical video optimization, trying to be the “HBO of short-form”, and more— Born in 2014, the media company ATTN is the product of the Facebook video age, and was initially seen …

Rolling Stone:

An interview with Puerto Rican Vtuber Ironmouse on recently breaking the Twitch subscriber record with over 326K subs, misconceptions about Vtubing, and more— The Puerto Rican Vtuber took the all-time subscriber record from Kai Cenat during a marathon of charity streaming

Discussion:
Dexerto, @dredgenv, @rollingstone, @thetexaslopez, @ironmouse, @yochriscruz, Game Rant, Sportskeeda, Dexerto and

Discussion:
@dredgenv: @RollingStone @ironmouse To all doubters: think of vtubers as ventriloquists, the person you see is the puppet, but behind it is the puppet master, the real human being of flesh and blood controlling that puppet through technology (1/2) @rollingstone: Today Puerto Rican Vtuber @ironmouse finished her 40-day journey to surpass Kai Cenat as Twitch's all-time most subscribed-to streamer. But critics are questioning whether she's legit. “I am a real life, human woman.” Read more: https://www.rollingstone.com/ ... [image]

Texas Lopez /
@thetexaslopez: @RollingStone @ironmouse I don't understand how people are confused on this. We've had voice actors for animated films for decades, and we've had CGI models with actors as well for years. This isn't much different and their accomplishments in their field shouldn't be considered much different either. @ironmouse: The subathon has ended. Thank you all so much for changing my life and thank you for being the greatest community in the universe. This past month has been a dream and its all because of you. Thank you all and goodnight. See you on stream again soon. I love you all. [image]

Chris Cruz /
@yochriscruz: Just before the end of her record-breaking subathon, I spoke to the vtuber GOAT @ironmouse about her journey to Twitch stardom and being an inspiration to all. “I am a real life, human woman.” For @RollingStone https://www.rollingstone.com/ ...

Diana Velásquez Vargas /
Game Rant: Ironmouse Responds to Kai Cenat Comments

Jackie Arias /
Game Rant: Kai Cenat Comments on Ironmouse Subathon Sportskeeda: VTuber community calls out Kai Cenat for comparing Ironmouse to AI while praising her for breaking the Twitch subscriber record

Connor Bennett /
Dexerto: Ironmouse claims breaking Twitch sub record & beating Kai Cenat will help all VTubers

New Yorker:

A profile of Bang Si-hyuk, a South Korean music producer and chairman of Hybe Corporation who is taking his formula for creating K-pop idols like BTS to the US— Chairman Bang, the man behind BTS, is bringing his formula for creating K-pop idols to America. — Scooter Braun was in a tailspin.

Discussion:
@cfnchng, @christataetae, @thelionmutters, @intrnl_mnologue, @sugatheartist and @themarkrussell

Discussion:

Cat-Cat /
@cfnchng: It's a LONG read but eye opening. You'll def feel icky for playing into this machine but we all need the reminder that at the end of the day, it is a business. You might get a subscribe popup but just click away. it doesn't hide the article. https://www.newyorker.com/...

Christia /
@christataetae: Whether you like Bang or not, highly recommend you read. Very much gives an insight into the business, what our guys are dealing with and how fans are..."managed." https://www.newyorker.com/... @thelionmutters: Loved this article by the @NewYorker because it equally exposes the artificiality of K-pop but also why it works and what is great about it. This was a great piece to read. https://www.newyorker.com/... @intrnl_mnologue: Hybe is heavily invested not in music but in perfecting the formula to exploit the parasocial relationship between fans and idols. This is one reason i got turned off by kpop, because it isn't about music, but a business approach to get fans to spend more https://www.newyorker.com/...

Paula /
@sugatheartist: The article titled “The K-Pop King” mainly focuses on praising the talents of Bang Shi Hyuk and 🛴 and their journey together. I'll mention parts I didn't see discussed on Twitter. https://www.newyorker.com/...

Vulture:

The gap between TV show seasons is growing, with an 18-month break the new normal, thanks to the streaming production model and TV shows becoming spectacles— Eighteen-month gaps between seasons are the new normal. Here's why. — By Josef Adalian, Remember Stranger Things?

Discussion:
Screen Rant, Gizmodo and Just Jared

New York Times:

Sources: the Trump campaign contacted X to prevent the circulation of links to the hacked JD Vance dossier posted by journalist Ken Klippenstein— Elon Musk is planting himself in Pennsylvania, has brought his brain trust to help and may even knock on doors himself.

Discussion:
@kenklippenstein, The Independent, Newsweek, @esjesjesj, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Daily Beast, @kenklippenstein, @mac_ryan_@threads.net, HuffPost, Ken Klippenstein, The Verge, Raw Story, The Good in Us, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Guardian, @kenklippenstein, InsideEVs, New Jersey Online, Talking Points Memo, Townhall, Ken Klippenstein, Benzinga, The Information, CNN, Digby's Hullabaloo, New York Magazine, Salon, The Hill, Quartz, Axios, @dangillmor@mastodon.social, The Wrap, Washington Post, Mother Jones, New Republic, @evilgalprods.bsky.social, @TheDailyEdge@universeodon.com, Alternet.org, Mediaite, The Philadelphia Inquirer, emptywheel, @kevincolliernbc@threads.net and Business Insider

Discussion:

Ken Klippenstein /
@kenklippenstein: The “doxxing” nonsense was always a pretext to censor the JD Vance dossier https://x.com/...

Josh Marcus /
The Independent: Trump's niece says Musk now ‘owns’ ex-president: 'He's always been up for sale'

Adeola Adeosun /
Newsweek: Mary Trump Exposes Elon Musk as Uncle Donald's ‘New Owner’ @esjesjesj: This is wild. -Elon suspends Ken Klippenstein for linking to the JD Vance dossier saying it counts as doxxing -It comes out that Trump personally asked Elon to ban Ken -Elon, embarrassed, reinstates Ken -Ken's same link to the dossier is still up It was never about doxxing.

David Thompson /
The Daily Beast: Donald Trump's Niece Says He Is Now ‘Owned’ by Elon Musk

Ken Klippenstein /
@kenklippenstein: Not a single congressional Democrat has said anything about X coordinating with the Trump campaign to censor the JD Vance Dossier.

Ryan Mac /
@mac_ryan_@threads.net: In an interview, @lulugnavarro asked JD Vance 5 times if he believes Trump lost the 2020 election. He doesn't answer and instead focuses on Twitter's censorship of the Hunter Biden laptop story. — We reported that the Trump campaign connected with X to prevent the circulation of links to hacked campaign material. …

David McAfee /
Raw Story: Trump's niece spills on her uncle's 'devil's bargain' that will help him ‘end’ democracy

Mary L. Trump /
The Good in Us: Donald's New Owner — [Substack was down for a while and is still a little glitchy.

Scott Lemieux /
Lawyers, Guns & Money: The Twitter Files — I briefly alluded to this article yesterday, but it's worth noting …

Oliver Milman /
The Guardian: Trump campaign worked with Musk's X to keep leaked JD Vance file off platform

Ken Klippenstein /
@kenklippenstein: In case you're wondering why my suspension was lifted: https://www.kenklippenstein.com/ ...

Patrick George /
InsideEVs: RoboFlop: Tesla's Cybercab Event Torched By Analysts And Investors

Kevin Manahan /
New Jersey Online: Harris vs. Trump analyst tells panicky Dems: GOP is creating fake polls | ‘Desperate, unhinged, Trumpian’

Brad Slager /
Townhall: Scarborough Sympathizes With Emhoff's Abuse, and Tim Walz Leads the Testosterone Voting Charge!

Rounak Jain /
Benzinga: Elon Musk Collaborated With Trump Campaign To Block Hacked JD Vance Material Off X: Report

Martin Peers /
The Information: Musk's Robotaxi Reveal Is a Dud for Investors

Liam Reilly /
CNN: Trump campaign connected with Elon Musk's X before it blocked links to hacked materials

Jonathan Chait /
New York Magazine: J.D. Vance Says Trump Was Right to Try to Steal the Election, Because of Twitter

Charles R. Davis /
Salon: “I've answered your question with another question”: JD Vance refuses to say if Trump lost in 2020

William Gavin /
Quartz: Elon Musk's X worked with Donald Trump's campaign to downplay hacked materials, report says

Dan Gillmor /
@dangillmor@mastodon.social: Kudos to the NYT when earned, and here's an example — its strong article (free link from me) today about Musk's use of Twitter (and money) to massively intervene in the election on behalf of Trump. — To the journalists who continue to support Musk by actively participating on his rancid site: You should be ashamed. …

Sean Burch /
The Wrap: Elon Musk Is Prepared to Spend at Least $140 Million to Help Elect Donald Trump

Philip Bump /
Washington Post: Vance suggests the left stole 2020 ... by doing what his own campaign did @evilgalprods.bsky.social: so at this very moment Taibbi is teeing up for Twitter Files 2.0, right? — right? [embedded post] @TheDailyEdge@universeodon.com: Elon Musk swore to you the #TwitterFiles wouldn't happen again. — Then the Trump campaign called asking him to censor the JD Vance dossier. https://www.nytimes.com/...

David Badash /
Alternet.org: Elon Musk's X engaged in a ‘pattern of election interference’ to help Trump: reports

David Gilmour /
Mediaite: Trump Campaign and Elon Musk's X Worked Together to Suppress Reporting on Hacked Info: NYT

Will Bunch /
The Philadelphia Inquirer: What does Elon Musk, the world's richest man, want from Pennsylvania ... and America? emptywheel: NYT “Censors” Elon Musk's Jokes about Assassinating the Vice President and His “Censorship” of JD Vance Dossier

Kevin Collier /
@kevincolliernbc@threads.net: Per NYT, X's crackdown on Ken Klippenstein and the Iran-hacked Vance doc came after the Trump campaign reached out. Well within each party's right, but this is the exact same thing Musk, Trump, and the right threw a yearslong fit about over Hunter Biden. — https://www.nytimes.com/... [image]

Adweek:

Filings: G/O Media is suing Paste Media, alleging breach of contract over the sale of Splinter and Jezebel to Paste; Paste's founder says the case lacks merit— The two firms are embroiled in a breach of contract lawsuit in a Delaware court — The digital media firm G/O Media filed …

Discussion:
@adweek and Mark Stenberg on LinkedIn

Discussion:
@adweek: The digital media firm G/O Media filed a lawsuit in Delaware court last month against Paste Media, according to public records obtained by ADWEEK. The lawsuit alleges that Paste Media breached the contract the two parties signed last year when Paste Media acquired the titles

CNN:

The Atlantic says it is increasing its print publication from 10 to 12 issues per year starting in January 2025 and announces some expansions to reporting staff— New York CNN — — The Atlantic is doing something exceedingly unusual for a magazine in 2024: increasing the number of issues it prints.

Discussion:
The Hill, MediaPost, @nxthompson, @carlosnyt, @peterlattman, @joshkraushaar, @adriennelaf, @amberlnettles, @erik_hayden, @skornhaber, @fagstein, @yappelbaum, @basuashis, @sophiegg, @nxthompson, @lkmcgann, @brianstelter, @katepickert, @chrislhayes, Simon Owens's Media Newsletter and The Atlantic

Discussion:

Ashleigh Fields /
The Hill: The Atlantic to return to monthly print publication, expand newsroom @nxthompson: One secondary, but interesting, reason to do this is that it's useful to double down on distribution you can control as AI makes the future structure of the Web increasingly unpredictable.

Carlos Lozada /
@carlosnyt: Love this news. In my mind it has always been and will always be The Atlantic Monthly.

Peter Lattman /
@peterlattman: We're not going back to The Atlantic Monthly, but we're returning to The Atlantic, monthly https://www.cnn.com/...

Josh Kraushaar /
@joshkraushaar: ""The greatness of print and especially a print magazine is that it sits still for you. It doesn't beep and flash and demand that you do things. It's there to be read and enjoyed. People still derive intellectual and aesthetic pleasure from print." https://www.cnn.com/...

Adrienne LaFrance /
@adriennelaf: I am very, very excited about this: https://www.cnn.com/...

Amber /
@amberlnettles: The Atlantic is returning to a monthly schedule for the first time since 2002. This is the latest of print increases I've seen inn 2024, from the Reader returning to weekly, to the Onion, Nylon & Spin returning to print this year. (Reader also increased to 63,000 copies!)

Erik Hayden /
@erik_hayden: The Atlantic expands to ... finally compete with Harper's again on a monthly basis

Spencer Kornhaber /
@skornhaber: Two more issues a year, let's gooo https://www.cnn.com/...

Steve Faguy /
@fagstein: The Atlantic Monthly is going to come out monthly for the first time in more than 20 years.

Yoni Appelbaum /
@yappelbaum: “The acclaimed 167-year-old magazine, once known as The Atlantic Monthly, is increasing its pace of publication from 10 issues to 12, returning to a monthly publication for the first time since 2002.” https://www.cnn.com/...

Ashis Basu /
@basuashis: “The acclaimed 167-year-old magazine, once known as The Atlantic Monthly, is increasing its pace of publication from 10 issues to 12, returning to a monthly publication for the first time since 2002.” @brianstelter

Sophie Gilbert /
@sophiegg: Shout out to all my friends' dads, my dentist, true believers who never stopped calling us The Atlantic MONTHLY https://x.com/...

@nxthompson:
Some cool news that runs counter to so many trends in media. After a nice run of journalistic and economic success, we're increasing the number of print issues each year. We'll once again be The Atlantic monthly ... https://www.cnn.com/...

Brian Stelter /
@brianstelter: “The greatness of print and especially a print magazine is that it sits still for you,” @JeffreyGoldberg says. “It doesn't beep and flash and demand that you do things. It's there to be read and enjoyed.” https://www.cnn.com/...

Kate Pickert /
@katepickert: Best magazine in America right now. This is absolutely thrilling. Well done, @JeffreyGoldberg and team.

Chris Hayes /
@chrislhayes: Something I write about in the https://thesirenscallbook.com/ is that the future is paper.

The Torment Nexus:

Matt Mullenweg's WP Engine feud not only has the appearance of a significant conflict of interest but has also dragged the WordPress community into a legal mess— I realize that many people may not know or care who or what Matt Mullenweg and WordPress are, or why some people are upset about them …

Discussion:
Matt Mullenweg: Everyone's An Owner — Last Friday we said goodbye to 159 colleagues as part of our alignment offer.

Iain Poulson /
ACF: Installing and Upgrading to the Latest Version of ACF

Rajendra Zore /
@rajendrazore: @mathewi One of the best articles I've read so far—no bias, no BS, just straight facts. That last part really hits hard. “looks like a multimillionaire corporate executive who has come to see a nonprofit, open-source community as an extension of himself, with his own needs or desires as

Matt Mullenweg /
@photomatt: @mathewi Here's some notes a colleague put together, I hope you consider them: https://docs.google.com/...

Mathew Ingram /
@mathewi: An update to my post on WordPress: Matt (or his team) sent me a Google Doc with responses to some of the points I raised. I've updated the post with a link to that Doc and my response. This is the Ghost version but it is also on my blog and at Substack https://torment-nexus.mathewingram.com/ ...

Mathew Ingram /
@mathewi: @photomatt Thanks — forgive me if I feel that most, if not all, of these are semantic differences and that you have completely missed the larger point that I (and others who care about WordPress) are trying to make about your behavior

Mathew Ingram /
@mathewi: New from me at The Torment Nexus: Is Matt Mullenweg defending WordPress or sabotaging it? https://torment-nexus.mathewingram.com/ ...

Mathew Ingram /
@mathewi: @photomatt I've read and/or listened to almost everything you have written or said about all of this, and I think you've made your position and feelings pretty clear. But I'm open to talking about it if you want to

Matt Mullenweg /
@photomatt: @mathewi That's fine, we can agree to disagree, and check back where things end up in a few weeks.

Matt Mullenweg /
@photomatt: @mathewi That's a really bad take, and I wish you had at least tried to call me before writing it.

Annemarie Bridy /
@AnnemarieBridy@mastodon.social: Here's a fair summary and assessment of the recent series of unfortunate events at WordPress/Automattic from @mathewi. It captures my own thoughts and, yes, feelings about it pretty perfectly. — Is Matt Mullenweg defending WordPress or sabotaging it? — https://torment-nexus.mathewingram.com/ ... @jbz@indieweb.social: Is Matt Mullenweg defending WordPress or sabotaging it? — Mathew Ingram — https://torment-nexus.mathewingram.com/ ... #wordpress #opensource

Dan Kennedy /
@dankennedy_nu@journa.host: I've been using WordPress since 2005. @mathewi has written the clearest explanation I've seen of the mess involving wordpress-dot-org, wordpress-dot-com and WP Engine. Fortunately I'm not a WP Engine customer, though they seem to have done nothing wrong. https://torment-nexus.mathewingram.com/ ...

Dave Winer /
daveverse: I have bad luck hooking up to platforms

New York Times:

WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich, imprisoned in Russia for more than a year, is writing a memoir about his time in prison and Russia's slide toward autocracy— The memoir, which will cover his time in prison and Russia's move toward autocracy, will be published by Crown, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

Discussion: