A look at The Shade Room, which started as an Instagram celebrity gossip page on Black Hollywood and now aims to improve its standards and do original reporting (Janay Kingsberry/Washington Post)

Mediagazer: A look at The Shade Room, which started as an Instagram celebrity gossip page on Black Hollywood and now aims to improve its standards and do original reporting (Janay Kingsberry/Washington Post)

Top News:

NPR:

Ex-WSJ reporter Stephanie Armour sues the paper, alleging it sought to shed staffers who incur big health care costs by invoking “trumped up performance issues”— A disability discrimination lawsuit filed Tuesday by a veteran reporter who left the Wall Street Journal …
Discussion:

Ted Mann /
@thetrough: “Among the requirements during her 30-day review period: produce a scoop a week.” To rig the game is bad enough, but to be this obvious about it just makes the bosses look stupid. What a shameful way to treat a great reporter. https://www.npr.org/...

David Folkenflik /
@davidfolkenflik: ‘Wall Street Journal’ sued by star reporter for discrimination - ⁦@StephArmour1⁩ alleges paper targeted higher paid staffers with health problems as part of effort to slash costs and layoffs - she left paper in spring My story for NPR https://www.npr.org/...

Kristi E. Swartz /
@bizwriterkristi: 'Armour had been allowed to work from home several days a week to help her manage post traumatic stress disorder and anxiety disorder, both of which constitute disabilities under D.C. human rights law. https://www.npr.org/... @tatecurtis: A profoundly disturbing trend: Weaponizing performance reviews to reduce headcount. https://www.npr.org/...

Allison Prang /
@allisonprang: Good story from @NPR on a lawsuit brought against @WSJ for pushing out one of its own longtime, fantastic reporters, @StephArmour1. There are some crazy tidbits in this story including this one: She was required to produce a scoop per week. https://www.npr.org/... @iape1096: “Before leaving the paper, Armour was the representative of the Journal's newsroom on the union's board of directors.” https://www.npr.org/...

Associated Press:

The US DOJ seized two domain names and 968 X accounts that were part of a Russian propaganda effort using fake social profiles, planned by a senior editor at RT— A Russian internet propaganda campaign backed by the Kremlin that spread disinformation in the United States and relied …

Discussion:
Reuters, The Register, CNN, SiliconANGLE, CyberScoop, @passantino@threads.net, NPR, PCMag, The Verge, @thezedwards, Bloomberg, Decrypt, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, @renee.diresta@threads.net, The Record, CyberScoop, @renee.diresta@threads.net, @kevincolliernbc@threads.net, @skykiss@sfba.social, US Department of Justice, @gregotto, @bing_chris and MeidasTouch News, more at Techmeme »

Discussion:

Matthew Connatser /
The Register: FBI, cyber-cops zap ~1K Russian AI disinfo Twitter bots

Sean Lyngaas /
CNN: Justice Department says it disrupted Russian ‘bot farm’ used to spread propaganda in US

Duncan Riley /
SiliconANGLE: Justice Department seizes domains linked to Russian disinformation campaign

Jon Passantino /
@passantino@threads.net: Whoa. A senior RT editor orchestrated a disinformation scheme that used fake social media accounts to push AI-generated posts targeting Americans https://www.cnn.com/...

Shannon Bond /
NPR: U.S. says Russian bot farm used AI to impersonate Americans

Michael Kan /
PCMag: US Disrupts Russian Bots Spreading Propaganda on Twitter

Gaby Del Valle /
The Verge: DOJ seizes ‘bot farm’ operated by the Russian government

Zach Edwards /
@thezedwards: @Bing_Chris RT is outrageous. Imagine being a western brand still supporting the RT ad tech supply chains @ https://rt.com/ads.txt [image]

Jamie Tarabay /
Bloomberg: US Says Russia Used AI-Powered Bots in Disinformation Scheme

Jason Nelson /
Decrypt: US Disrupts AI-Fueled Russian Bot Farm on Twitter Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: U.S. Says It Disrupted Russian Effort To Spread Disinformation With Fake Social Media Accounts

Renee DiResta /
@renee.diresta@threads.net: 2 - in the olden days we might have gotten a statement or even a data set from Twitter to answer that question and more. Sad those days are over; the fact that DOJ sent these accounts to the company reinforces the value of multi stakeholder collaboration and analysis on inauthentic networks. …

Daryna Antoniuk /
The Record: Russian state media uses covert software for disinformation bots, US warns

Renee DiResta /
@renee.diresta@threads.net: 2 thoughts on this DOJ Russian bot disruption story 1 - that RT operated the tool is very interesting. At SIO we'd long described “covert social” activity (fake accts) as one quadrant within a much broader integrative full spectrum propaganda strategy that Russia (and other states) use, alongside overt state propaganda channels. …

Kevin Collier /
@kevincolliernbc@threads.net: Seizing these guys' domain names has been the main thing that Meta, the company that's most transparent about fighting propaganda campaigns, has urged the US to do. Meta can keep deleting accounts but it costs the Russians more resources to rebuild fake sites. https://www.justice.gov/...

Kailee /
@skykiss@sfba.social: Russian internet propaganda campaign backed by the Kremlin spread disinformation in the United States and relied on artificial intelligence has been disrupted, the Justice Department said Tuesday in announcing the seizure of 1,000 bogus social media accounts. … US Department of Justice: Justice Department Leads Efforts Among Federal, International, and Private Sector Partners to Disrupt Covert Russian Government-Operated Social Media Bot Farm

Greg Otto /
@gregotto: Wow not even back a week and CyberScoop is already getting better answers from the Russians than the MaInStrEaM MeDiA https://cyberscoop.com/... [image]

Chris Bing /
@bing_chris: A story in two parts: “Farming is a beloved pastime for millions of Russians” [image]

Ron Filipkowski /
MeidasTouch News: DOJ Shuts Down Russian Bot Operation on X

404 Media:

TUAW is back online after shutting down in 2015; new owners seem to be using it as an AI content farm, copying others' posts and using ex-TUAW writers' names— TUAW, a site that was shut down 10 years ago, was sold to a private equity firm, then to a company in Hong Kong …

Discussion:

Karissa Bell /
Engadget: Apple blog TUAW returns as an AI content farm @kevinlovestech@mstdn.ca: @shawnhooper Saw that story! Incredible! Makes me think every writer should have ownership of their work, and take it with them when they leave, especially now with AI theft like this! — Publish the archive themselves using Authory, Ghost, or something else. Keep control over it. — Thoughts? …

Shawn Hooper /
@shawnhooper@fosstodon.org: TUAW, a site that was shut down 10 years ago, was sold to a private equity firm, then to a company in Hong Kong, and has now stolen its old workers' identities and is running their old work through #AI summarizers. — https://www.404media.co/...

Chris Enns /
@ichris@mastodon.social: I hate AI crap like this so much: A Beloved Tech Blog Is Now Publishing AI Articles Under the Names of Its Old Human Staff https://www.404media.co/...

Chris Rawson /
@rawsoncj@threads.net: I wrote for tuaw.com from 2009 until 2015, when our malevolent overlords at AOL closed shop on us. The site lived on in a dusty Engadget archive... until now. TUAW has relaunched as an AI slop site. Apparently, I now wrote for the site starting in 2004. …

Chris Rawson /
@rawsoncj@threads.net: Engadget has now picked up on the AI-powered zombification of TUAW and the borderline(?) identity theft of its former authors, including me. This century is so dumb. What a time to be alive. https://www.engadget.com/... @waxy@xoxo.zone: TUAW relaunched as zombie content farm with AI articles under the names of its old staff: the new domain owners even generated AI photos for each author, despite not buying rights to any of the content https://www.404media.co/...

Christina Warren /
@film_girl@threads.net: Thank you @jasonkoebler and the people at @404mediaco for writing about this! https://www.404media.co/...

Jason Koebler /
@jasonkoebler@threads.net: Beloved Apple blog TUAW was shut down in 2015, sold to private equity, then sold to a company in Hong Kong. It recently relaunched as an AI content farm using the stolen identities and bylines of its former human staff. A nightmare: https://www.404media.co/...

Christina Warren /
@film_girl: So someone bought the TUAW domain, populated it with AI-generated slop, and then reused my name from a job I had when I was 21 years old to try to pull some SEO scam that won't even work in 2024 because Google changed its algo. Assholes! H/t @gruber [image]

Dan Gillmor /
@dangillmor@mastodon.social: Hong Kong clamps down on the speech of people who believe in human rights. — Hong Kong also permits thieving plagiarists to buy the expired domain name of a once-great tech blog and launch an “AI” bullshit factory that uses the names of people who wrote for the blog. — https://www.404media.co/...

Business Insider:

David Ellison has repeatedly framed “New Paramount” as partially a tech company, but the company's problem isn't its tech but rather its scale— - David Ellison says the new Paramount will be a “World-Class Media and Technology Enterprise.” — He's Oracle founder Larry Ellison's son …

Discussion:
Paramount, Variety, Rafael Brown on LinkedIn, New York Times, Observer, @edmundlee@threads.net, Bloomberg, The Hollywood Reporter, Financial Times, @pkafka, Reuters, Newser, Axios and Reuters

Discussion:

Todd Spangler /
Variety: Paramount-Skydance Merger: 5 Burning Questions About the Deal

Rafael Brown /
Rafael Brown on LinkedIn: David Ellison, former CEO of Skydance, now chairman and CEO of Paramount, and son of Oracle CEO Larry Ellison appears to be teaming up with his dad …

Brooks Barnes /
New York Times: A Diminished Hollywood Welcomes a New Mogul

Alexandra Tremayne-Pengelly /
Observer: David Ellison Has Ambitious Plans for Paramount Following the Skydance Merger

Ed Lee /
@edmundlee@threads.net: The narrative on @skydance / @paramountco deal is Hollywood goes big tech, but what Ellison really bought is @CBS — $16B in profit since 2021, while the movie studio only made $360mm (including $119mm loss in 2023). Ellison is a legit movie guy. …

Peter Kafka /
@pkafka: Paramount is going to compete with tech companies by becoming a tech company, says its owner-to-be. Which is what his team was whispering about back in April, when it also didn't really make sense. Drumroll for the link!

Dawn Chmielewski /
Reuters: Skydance's David Ellison describes Paramount's tech-media hybrid future

Jenn Gidman /
Newser: Say Hello to the ‘New Paramount’ — And goodbye to the reign of the Redstone family, as Paramount plans its merger with Skydance

Dawn Chmielewski /
Reuters: Paramount Global and Skydance Media announce a merger of the two companies, ending months of chaotic talks; a memo says the deal is expected to close in H1 2025

RELATED:
Axios: Source: Oracle founder Larry Ellison will invest ~$6B into the Paramount-Skydance deal, with RedBird Capital Partners contributing the remaining $2B

Discussion:
Engadget, Bloomberg, @tvgrimreaper, @danprimack, The Hill, The Wrap, New York Post, Deadline, Los Angeles Times, Business Insider, Slate, Next TV, WORLD SCREEN, Variety, New York Times and The Hollywood Reporter

Discussion:

Mariella Moon /
Engadget: Paramount and Skydance will merge to create new tech-media giant

Christopher Palmeri /
Bloomberg: Paramount Merger Is Latest Prize for RedBird Dealmaker Cardinale

Dan Primack /
@danprimack: Small scoop on Paramount deal: Larry Ellison and his fam are investing $6 billion of the $8 billion purchase price, w/ RedBird contributing the remainder. KKR not putting in new $$. Earlier reporting on that was wrong. $PARA https://www.axios.com/...

Alexandra Steigrad /
New York Post: Skydance CEO David Ellison — and scandal-scarred media exec Jeff Shell — signal $2B in cost cuts for Paramount

Dade Hayes /
Deadline: Paramount-Skydance Deal: Top Execs On Wooing Talent, Boosting Streaming And The Mantra That Persuaded Shari Redstone: “Don't Take It Private, Break It Up And Kill It”

Samantha Masunaga /
Los Angeles Times: David Ellison is taking control of Paramount. Now the real work begins

Paige Bruton /
Business Insider: Meet David Ellison, Larry Ellison's son who is about to take over at Paramount

Alex Kirshner /
Slate: The Slow-Motion Paramount Saga Is Over. A New Rich Kid Will Take Control of the Iconic Brand.

Jon Lafayette /
Next TV: David Ellison Spells Out Goals for ‘New Paramount’

Mansha Daswani /
WORLD SCREEN: Paramount & Skydance Clinch Merger Deal

Todd Spangler /
Variety: Paramount Global Will Pay Skydance $400 Million Breakup Fee if It Lands a Better Offer

Benjamin Mullin /
New York Times: Meet David Ellison, Paramount's Future Boss and Hollywood's Newest Mogul

Washington Post:

A look at The Shade Room, which started as an Instagram celebrity gossip page on Black Hollywood and now aims to improve its standards and do original reporting— CEO Angie Nwandu said she wants to grow political coverage on her site that reflects the page's diverse Black audience: “Black people are not a monolith.”

Axios:

WaPo launches Climate Answers, an AI-powered chatbot that responds to questions about climate with info from WaPo articles; it aims to expand to other topics— - The Post is working with several AI firms, including OpenAI and Meta's Llama, to power its own large-language model that surfaces answers …

Discussion:
@paintedsky.ca: While this* will likely do absolutely nothing in the larger scheme of things, at least it made me feel maybe 1% better — *I wrote a letter to the editor of the Washington Post [images]

Charles Logan /
@charleswlogan.bsky.social: Famously environmentally-friendly AI answering questions about climate. No notes! — www.axios.com/2024/07/09/w...

Neil Stenhouse /
@nstenhouse.bsky.social: Darn it. Was hoping the Climate Answers AI would be able to tell me this [embedded post]

Magdalena Donea /
@maggy.kia.net: This is the closest I could get it to answer any kind of question about its own footprint (I had to word it super generically before it stopped telling me it doesn't know anything about that) and... well: [embedded post]

Sara Fischer /
@sarafischer: New: @washingtonpost has created its own AI chatbot that answers Qs based only on its own journalism —Chatbot will initially answer only Qs on Climate, but WaPo hopes to expand to other topics —WaPo has quietly added AI summaries to ~10% of articles https://www.axios.com/...

Committee to Protect Journalists:

A Kenyan court rules that Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif's death at the hands of local police in 2022 was arbitrary and unconstitutional— Kampala, July 8, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes a Kenyan court's Monday ruling that Kenyan authorities violated Pakistani …

Discussion:
BBC, Voice of America and Washington Post

Discussion:

Sarah Zaman /
Voice of America: Kenyan court rules police acted out of line in killing of Pakistani journalist

Axios:

Chalkbeat plans to launch Healthbeat, covering public health, this summer; Chalkbeat will be housed under the new Civic News Company with EIC Shani O. Hilton— - Chalkbeat, which launched a decade ago by Green and journalist Philissa Cramer, expanded into coverage of voting in 2020 and made …

The Boston Globe:

UVM's Center for Community News receives $7M to expand partnerships between US universities and local news outlets to give students reporting opportunities— As the number of local journalists employed across the country continues to shrink, dozens of colleges are trying to help fill gaps in reporting.

Discussion:
vermontbiz.com

The Verge:

Dish-owned streamer Sling TV plans to show pause ads, which could contain a video or static content; users can turn off pause ads from the settings menu— Sling TV will now put ads on your screen when you pause live or on-demand content, according to an announcement from its parent company, Dish.

Discussion:
The Desk, Cord Cutters News, About DISH, The Streamable and Next TV

Discussion:

Matthew Keys /
The Desk: Dish Media debuts “pause ads” on Sling TV About DISH: DISH Media Unveils Pause Ads, Bolstering Interactive, Customized Ad Solutions on Sling TV

Jon Lafayette /
Next TV: Dish Media Rolls Out Pause Ads on Sling TV

The Verge:

Spotify adds the ability for users to leave comments on podcasts, expanding on polls and Q&As; comments will be private by default, and creators can opt out— The company already lets Spotify podcasters offer polls and Q&As, so this new feature could give creators new ways to interact with their audiences.

Discussion:
Engadget, Spotify, TechCrunch, Digital Music News, WinBuzzer, 9to5Mac and Dataconomy, more at Techmeme »

Discussion:

Mariella Moon /
Engadget: Spotify is launching a comment section for podcasts

Sarah Perez /
TechCrunch: Chasing YouTube, Spotify adds comments to podcasts

Ashley King /
Digital Music News: Joe Rogan Wanted Podcast Comments on Spotify Years Ago — Now It's Finally Happening

Luke Jones /
WinBuzzer: Spotify Introduces Comment Section for Podcasts

Ryan Christoffel /
9to5Mac: Podcasts now support comments on Spotify; should Apple do the same?

Eray Eliaçık /
Dataconomy: Yes, Crunchyroll comments gone, and here is why

Bloomberg:

Switzerland announces an advertising ban on Russian outlets Voice of Europe, RIA Novosti, Izvestia, and Rossiyskaya Gazeta, but lets them continue broadcasting— Switzerland will allow four Russian media outlets to continue broadcasting even after they were banned by the European Union.

The Intercept:

Leaked code: NYT tested using OpenAI tech to generate article headlines and help apply its styleguide; NYT says the “experiment was not taken beyond testing”— In the courtroom, the New York Times has taken a hard line against OpenAI. The newspaper sued the artificial …

Discussion:
@florian4gamers, Media Voices and @mvario1

Discussion:

Florian Mueller /
@florian4gamers: Suing and/or using OpenAI.

Michael Vario /
@mvario1: A.I. couldn't do a worse job than the NY Times editors are currently doing... The New York Times Is Suing OpenAI — and Experimenting With It for Writing Headlines and Copy Editing https://theintercept.com/...

RELATED:

Entrepreneur:
OpenAI last week requested NYT documents, including reporters' notes and interview memos, to show that its articles are original; NYT calls it harassment

Discussion:
@bobbyallyn, @loudmouthjulia, @rahll and Ianka Fleerackers on LinkedIn

Discussion:

Bobby Allyn /
@bobbyallyn: OpenAI's legal team trying to get all “reporter's notes” in discovery in NYT lawsuit. [image]

Julia Alexander /
@loudmouthjulia: Completely missed OpenAI was demanding to see NYT reporters' “notes, interview memos, records of materials cited or other ‘files’” to prove articles are original as it pertains to the copyright suit. And cites the WBD/The Batman copyright case as precedent https://storage.courtlistener.com/ ...

Reid Southen /