Rachel Smolkin, SVP of global news for CNN Digital, is leaving to become president and CEO of Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB)

Mediagazer: Rachel Smolkin, SVP of global news for CNN Digital, is leaving to become president and CEO of Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB)

Top News:

New York Times:

Sources: Washington Post CEO Will Lewis criticized Sally Buzbee's judgment in publishing a May 2024 article about a UK phone-hacking lawsuit that involved him— Will Lewis, the chief executive of The Washington Post, objected to coverage of a legal development involving him in a phone hacking case.
Discussion: Media Nation, Talking Points Memo, @pkafka, @paulvieira, @benmullin, @katie_robertson, @harrymccracken, @nick_field90, @sulliview, @peterjukes, @karaswisher@threads.net, @tvhilton, @farnazfassihi, @edmundlee, @emilybell, @eisingerj, @nick_field90, @rcmacleod, @eisingerj, @janecoaston, @fredvultee, @silvermanjacob, @farhip, @kevinmdraper, @davidbeard@threads.net, @geisler_jill@threads.net, @davidbeard@threads.net, @jswatz_tx@threads.net, The Wrap, @kennysmith@mstdn.social, Digiday, @edmundlee@threads.net, @mattdpearce@threads.net, Puck, @dangillmor@mastodon.social, @jeffjarvis@mastodon.social, @ChrisBoese@newsie.social and @rogerford.org

Discussion:

Dan Kennedy /
Media Nation: Media notes: Will Lewis' unethical ask, Biden is still old and Hub Blog is back

Josh Marshall /
Talking Points Memo: The Brass's Take on the Shake Up at WaPo

Peter Kafka /
@pkafka: Shout out to @maxwelltani for reporting on the smoke before this week's events. https://www.semafor.com/...

Paul Vieira /
@paulvieira: “We are losing large amounts of money. Your audience has halved in recent years. People are not reading your stuff.” https://www.nytimes.com/...

Ben Mullin /
@benmullin: scoop: Former Post Executive Editor Sally Buzbee clashed with its chief executive, Will Lewis, over her decision to publish a story that included allegations he was involved in attempts to cover up the phone-hacking scandal w/ @katie_robertson https://www.nytimes.com/...

Katie Robertson /
@katie_robertson: SCOOP w/ @benmullin: Washington Post CEO Will Lewis and editor Sally Buzbee clashed over an article about a phone-hacking lawsuit mentioning him in the weeks before she abruptly departed, contributing to tensions between the two https://www.nytimes.com/...

Harry McCracken /
@harrymccracken: Never good news when the CEO chimes in on a particular story in the works, even if it doesn't involve him. (Trust me, I know.)

Nick Field /
@nick_field90: “Mr. Lewis told Ms. Buzbee the case involving him did not merit coverage, the people said. When Ms. Buzbee said The Post would publish an article anyway, he said her decision represented a lapse in judgment and abruptly ended the conversation” https://www.nytimes.com/...

Margaret Sullivan /
@sulliview: ‘Mr. Lewis told Ms. Buzbee the case involving him did not merit coverage’ https://www.nytimes.com/...

Peter Jukes /
@peterjukes: Phone Hacking - the unresolved spectre which hangs over so many senior Murdoch executives - now haunts US news rooms

Kara Swisher /
@karaswisher@threads.net: Technically, this is called the Sally Shiv. https://www.nytimes.com/...

Tom Hilton /
@tvhilton: Someone should lose his job over this, and I'm not naming names but his initials are Will Lewis. And if you're still stumped, here's a hint: he never should have been hired in the first place.

Farnaz Fassihi /
@farnazfassihi: Stunning but not surprising from Murdoch orbit. Will Lewis clashed with the Washington Post editor over coverage of his role in the News Corp phone hacking scandal. So he pushed her out and replaced her with his buddies. https://www.nytimes.com/...

Edmund Lee /
@edmundlee: Hooboy ... @washingtonpost CEO Will Lewis told (now former) editor Sally Buzbee that a story she planned to run naming him as a possible party to a suit involving phone hacking, did not merit coverage. Nice reporting @BenMullin @katie_robertson https://www.nytimes.com/...

Emily Bell /
@emilybell: There are network effects within networks. If you are an ‘entourage’ exec like Will Lewis (ie you bring a long train of people with you rather than working with what's in place) the tribal effects are strong - and work against diversity. You can blame Rupert Murdoch for that too/

Jesse Eisinger /
@eisingerj: *That was my attempt to put it in language Will Lewis might understand. Actually, it may have accelerated Buzbee's exit from the WaPo. Lewis is worried his role in one of the biggest UK media scandals was facing further exposure: https://www.nytimes.com/...

Nick Field /
@nick_field90: Exactly an hour after this damning report about Lewis, Dylan Byers published his own Buzbee-damning piece, along with the allegation that the Times piece was an attempt to get ahead of his https://x.com/... [image]

Riley MacLeod /
@rcmacleod: Maybe... don't be in charge of journalism if you don't like journalism, bro? [image]

Jesse Eisinger /
@eisingerj: READ THE STORY WOT GOT BUZBEE FIRED* By @sarahellison & colleagues: https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...

Jane Coaston /
@janecoaston: Which British news executives weren't involved in phone hacking, is this like how every British detective series has a choir competition episode

Fred Vultee /
@fredvultee: Pesky phone-hacking scandal!

Jacob Silverman /
@silvermanjacob: Someone being sued in a phone hacking case shouldn't be running a newspaper. (Besides the fact that this new three silo structure sounds bad!) https://www.nytimes.com/...

Paul Farhi /
@farhip: Hoo boy. If events are accurately described here, this is a massive conflict of interest. https://www.nytimes.com/...

Kevin Draper /
@kevinmdraper: Will Lewis tells Post reporters “people are not reading your stuff” yet cares deeply when Post reporters have the temerity to write about him and a major court case he is involved in: https://www.nytimes.com/... [image]

Dave Beard /
@davidbeard@threads.net: Would the @WashingtonPost publisher be added to a list of executives who UK plaintiffs argued were involved in a plan to conceal evidence of criminal phone hacking? It's not a story; don't cover it, the publisher told editor Sally Buzbee, who departed the Post abruptly.

Jill Geisler /
@geisler_jill@threads.net: Journalistic independence is essential for for trustworthy journalism. Editors defend it, sometimes at great personal cost. https://www.nytimes.com/...

Dave Beard /
@davidbeard@threads.net: Without fear or favor:

John Schwartz /
@jswatz_tx@threads.net: pro tip: if a source tells you a story about them is not really a story, well, it's really a story. https://www.nytimes.com/...

Stephanie Kaloi /
The Wrap: Exited Washington Post Editor Clashed With CEO Over Coverage of His Ties to Murdoch Scandal

Kenny Smith /
@kennysmith@mstdn.social: Though it was not the cause of the Post's changes, it surely did not help their internal dynamic. — From: @Mediagazer — https://mstdn.social/...

Sara Guaglione /
Digiday: The Washington Post's EIC succession plan shakes up newsroom, but does little to curb marketers' news avoidance

Ed Lee /
@edmundlee@threads.net: Hooboy ... @washingtonpost CEO Will Lewis told (now former) editor Sally Buzbee that a story she planned to run naming him as a possible party to a suit involving phone hacking, did not merit coverage. Nice reporting @benjaminmullin @katie_rob https://www.nytimes.com/... @mattdpearce@threads.net: My sympathies with all the Washington Post journalists who are getting confirmation right now that they have better ethics and news judgment than their CEO.

Dylan Byers /
Puck: ‘Post’ Mortem — The real and surprising story behind Sally Buzbee's departure from The Washington Post.

Dan Gillmor /
@dangillmor@mastodon.social: 1. Washington Post CEO came from the Murdoch empire. — 2. He has been implicated in the (still not fully unraveled) UK “phone hacking” scandal that exemplified the sleaziness of the Murdoch empire. — 3. He told Post editor not to publish a story containing references to his alleged involvement. …

Jeff Jarvis /
@jeffjarvis@mastodon.social: Will Lewis at work: — Clash Over Phone Hacking Article Preceded Exit of Washington Post Editor https://www.nytimes.com/...

Chris Boese /
@ChrisBoese@newsie.social: Clash Over Phone Hacking Article Preceded Exit of Washington Post Editor — Will Lewis, the chief executive of The Washington Post, objected to coverage of a legal development involving him in a phone hacking case. — https://www.nytimes.com/...

Roger Ford /
@rogerford.org: Washington Post CEO Will Lewis apparently tried to kill a story about Washington Post CEO Will Lewis being named in Prince Harry's phone-hacking lawsuit. I don't understand how this is not disqualifying to run a major news organization. (Gift link.) www.nytimes.com/2024/06/05/b...

New York Times:

A look at the now-shuttered news site BNN Breaking, which former staff say mostly published AI-generated content; Microsoft had licensed BNN content for MSN.com— The news was featured on MSN.com: “Prominent Irish broadcaster faces trial over alleged sexual misconduct.”

Discussion:
@structstories and The Desk, more at Techmeme »

Discussion:
@structstories: Fascinating glimpse of the inside of an AI-powered content mill, showing the ease with which these ‘newsrooms’ can be spun up (and shut down). AI makes it easier to produce low quality content, but content produced using AI is not inherently low quality, https://www.nytimes.com/...

OPB:

Rachel Smolkin, SVP of global news for CNN Digital, is leaving to become president and CEO of Oregon Public Broadcasting— today announced that Rachel Smolkin has been chosen as the next president and chief executive officer, bringing a veteran journalist focused on changing audience needs to lead the organization.

Discussion:
CNN, Deadline and @benmullin

Discussion:

David Goldman /
CNN: CNN executive Rachel Smolkin named CEO of Oregon Public Broadcasting

CNN:

The WSJ article on Biden's mental acuity relies largely on comments from Republican sources and Kevin McCarthy, who praised Biden's performance a year prior— The Wall Street Journal owes its readers — and the public — better. — The business broadsheet published and hyped …

Discussion:
Talking Biz News, Fox News, Mediaite, @karlbode.bsky.social, @johnjharwood, @bgrueskin, Poynter, @jonfavs, @hadas_gold, Axios, Media Matters for America, @radiofreetom, @tomricks1, @jrothfeder, @tvmojoe, The Independent, Raw Story, HuffPost, New Republic, NewsNation, The Daily Beast, who13.com and Deadline

Discussion:

Chris Roush /
Talking Biz News: WSJ's coverage of Biden's acuity takes criticism Fox News: Biden White House urged Democrats to call back Wall Street Journal as it reported on president's mental acuity

Alex Griffing /
Mediaite: 'Take That For What It's Worth': WSJ Reporter Says Credibility of Source In Biden Mental Fitness Article Is Questionable

Karl Bode /
@karlbode.bsky.social: The Wall Street Journal is a right wing corporatist rag owned by rupert murdoch, peppered with just enough quality reporting to maintain a veneer of respectability — so watching a lot of hand-wringing over HOW COULD THIS CLUMSY PIECE ABOUT BIDEN'S AGE HAVE HAPPENED is amusing [embedded post]

John Harwood /
@johnjharwood: not that long ago, the only way the WSJ would have published this story is if the lead examples/anecdotes about Biden “slipping” came from fellow Democrats speaking on-the-record

Bill Grueskin /
@bgrueskin: Biden clearly isn't as sharp as he used to be, but the WSJ doesn't do itself a lot of favors by starting its story about his decline with anecdotes from the current and former GOP speakers of the House, two men who are dedicated to defeating him in November. [image]

Jon Favreau /
@jonfavs: Well that's good to hear: “In on-the-record interviews, however, seven GOP senators who've met with Biden lately described him as cogent and well-versed on the issues they discussed.” https://www.politico.com/...

Hadas Gold /
@hadas_gold: .@siobhanehughes on CNN, responding to criticism they didn't include more Dem quotes in the WSJ story on Biden's mental acuity: “My job here is to be the agent of the reader. I am not here to publish the quote provided to me or us by every single Democrat. I just can't do that.”

Dave Lawler /
Axios: WSJ takes on Biden's age, White House fires back

Matt Gertz /
Media Matters for America: The Wall Street Journal's story about Biden “slipping” is comically weak

Tom Nichols /
@radiofreetom: There really is a weird double standard where the media can question Joe Biden's mental acuity because of his age, but when Trump says something completely batshit crazy there is no investigation into whether he is actually emotionally unstable or disordered in some way.

Thomas E. Ricks /
@tomricks1: WSJ vets not impressed by news article on Biden and aging: “Today's WSJ article on Biden never wd have made it thru the Washington buro & page 1 in present form before arrival of Murdoch editor last year. Only on the record quotes are from the current and past GOP speakers.”

Jeffrey Rothfeder /
@jrothfeder: When I was Natl News Editor at Bloomberg News we would not allow anyone with an axe to grind to go anonymous. If you have something contentious to say, put your name and face to it. Say it out loud. This is journalistic malpractice. @tvmojoe: As always, CNN's Oliver Darcy gets it exactly right about the fatal flaw of current mainstream media coverage of this election. Depressing, but right. If you don't already subscribe to his free Reliable Sources newsletter, you really should. [image]

Maya Boddie /
Raw Story: Pence aide turns tables on WSJ over Biden exposé: 'Happy to discuss Trump's mental acuity

Corbin Bolies /
The Daily Beast: ‘Morning Joe’ Skewers WSJ Over ‘Shocking’ Biden Mental Acuity Story

TechCrunch:

Amazon acquires key assets of Indian video streaming service MX Player; a source says the deal values the streamer at <$100M, below its $500M valuation in 2019— Amazon has agreed to acquire key assets of Indian video streaming service MX Player from the local media powerhouse Times Internet …

Financial Times:

Regional UK news startup Mill Media, which offers online newsletters, plans to launch in London, as the Evening Standard scales back, and open a Glasgow office— Regional UK news start-up says there is an opportunity after years of savage cutbacks in local media industry

Discussion:
Mill Media and City A.M.

Discussion:

Joshi Herrmann /
Mill Media: Mill Media is expanding! We're hiring roles across five cities

New York Times:

Sources: Costco plans to stop selling books regularly at US stores year-round from January 2025, and will instead sell them during the holiday shopping period— The decision, which will be implemented in January 2025, could significantly impact publishers.

Discussion:

Bill Wolfsthal /
Bill Wolfsthal on LinkedIn: Really bad news for publishers, sales reps, ReaderLink, authors, and book lovers. For a generation Pennie Clark Ianniciello helped make Costco … @nytimes: Costco plans to stop selling books regularly at stores around the U.S., four publishing executives who had been informed of the warehouse retailer's plans said. https://www.nytimes.com/...

Mike Pearl /
@mikeleepearl.bsky.social: Oh no, wherever will I buy my $80 guides to fad diets and my box sets of hastily written faux reference books about the history of the Harry Potter-verse? [embedded post]

Matt Novak /
@paleofuture.bsky.social: “Costco's shift away from books came largely because of the labor required to stock books, the executives said. Copies have to be laid out by hand, rather than just rolled out on a pallet as other products often are at Costco.” [embedded post]

Jeff Jarvis /
@jeffjarvis@threads.net: I see this as commentary on mass culture: diminished value to Costco & its customers of best-sellers; the problem handling individual titles vs. books by the pallet. Bad for the industry but has no impact on almost all authors. Costco Plans to Stop Selling Books Year-Round https://www.nytimes.com/...

John Branch /
@johnbranchnyt@threads.net: As a former merchandise manager at Costco, and an author lucky enough to have books sold there, this makes me sad. Books were a huge seller years ago. But they were labor-intensive and a pain to stock. (Come to think of it, maybe I should have written this story.) https://www.nytimes.com/...

Katlyn Brieskorn /
WFLA-TV: Costco reportedly plans to stop selling books year-round

Nikkei Asia:

An analysis finds 90K+ images of popular anime characters on generative AI image sharing sites; ~2.5K images had multiple similarities to the original artwork— —An animator working for a Tokyo-based production company — “This Pikachu” was drawn by generative AI.

Discussion:
Nikkei Asia and @hrfm_yamamoto

Discussion:

Press Gazette:

How New Zealand's Stuff is using a sentiment tracker, which asks readers for their response to stories, and a softer explainer-style for contentious stories— New Zealand's Stuff “abandoned” the traditional inverted pyramid structure for its “most contentious” stories as part of its battle against news avoidance.

Discussion:
@pressgazette

Discussion:
@pressgazette: The Stuff newsroom has “abandoned the inverted pyramid for some of the most contentious stories and politics stories and planning stories, things that would often sew division, and taken more of a real-time explainer approach to structuring those stories” https://pressgazette.co.uk/...

The Wall Street Journal:

Vice founder Shane Smith returns as Vice News EIC, but with no management responsibilities, and will host a series of shows and create social media content— Shane Smith is sorry, but not sorry. The 54-year-old co-founder of Vice Media said he has few regrets as he embarks on a new role at the company …

Discussion:
The Ankler, Columbia Journalism Review, @iboudreau.bsky.social, @noescapevg.bsky.social, @hadas_gold, The Wrap, @karlbode.bsky.social, Deadline, Rolling Stone, @bold.bsky.social, @mobute.bsky.social, @lifewinning.com, @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social, The Hollywood Reporter, @davidjroth.bsky.social and @lopatto.bsky.social

Discussion:

Sean McNulty /
The Ankler: ☀️What WBD Knows About NBA Viewers No One Else Does

Mathew Ingram /
Columbia Journalism Review: On a congressional COVID hearing, and weaponized uncertainty

Ian Boudreau /
@iboudreau.bsky.social: Come on [embedded post]

Hadas Gold /
@hadas_gold: Getting flashbacks.... https://www.wsj.com/...

Sharon Knolle /
The Wrap: Shane Smith Returns to Vice as Editor-in-Chief, Sets New Podcast With Bill Maher

Bruce Haring /
Deadline: Shane Smith To Tackle New Programming At Vice, Including Show With Bill Maher

Charisma Madarang /
Rolling Stone: Shane Smith Returns to Vice After Company Bankruptcy, Sets Podcast With Bill Maher @mobute.bsky.social: When I think about Shane Smith, I always think about how meaningful and familiar he was to millions of people, who were always eager for more of the writing and videos he was famous for. “Did you hear? New Shane Smith dropped today,” my friends would often say to me.

Ingrid Burrington /
@lifewinning.com: Love this coming out as Eddie Huang works on a revenge documentary about trying to get his IP back from them lol

Hamilton Nolan /
@hamiltonnolan.bsky.social: I expect this Shane Smith and Bill Maher podcast to cut through all the BS that the media puts out there

Alex Weprin /
The Hollywood Reporter: Shane Smith to Return to Making Content for Vice, Will Host Podcast for Bill Maher's Club Random @davidjroth.bsky.social: I don't work there anymore and haven't for years but I do hope that Shane finally gets to live his dream of working with the Saudi royal family. I hope he has a really meaningful collaboration with them.

Reuters:

Four educational publishers sue Google, accusing it of promoting pirated copies of their textbooks and ignoring copyright infringement notices— Google (GOOGL.O) was hit with a lawsuit on Wednesday by educational publishers Cengage, Macmillan Learning, McGraw Hill and Elsevier accusing …

Discussion:
Publishers Weekly, Publishing Perspectives, Bloomberg Law and Search Engine Land

Discussion:

Jim Milliot /
Publishers Weekly: Publishers Sue Google over Pirate Sites

Porter Anderson /
Publishing Perspectives: Major Publishers Sue Google Over Ads for Pirated Ebooks

TechCrunch:

Stability AI releases Stable Audio Open, a text-to-audio model for generating up to 47 seconds of samples and sound effects, prohibited for commercial use— Stability AI, the startup behind the AI-powered art generator Stable Diffusion, has released an open AI model for generating sounds …

Discussion:
Music Ally, @iscienceluvr, @stabilityai, @hugovntr, @benjedwards, @andymac3d, @minimaxir, @simonw, @nickadobos, @Tamasg@mindly.social and Stability AI, more at Techmeme »

Discussion:

Stuart Dredge /
Music Ally: Stability AI's new audio model focuses on samples and sounds

Tanishq Mathew Abraham, Ph.D. /
@iscienceluvr: Stability AI releases Stable Audio Open announcement: https://stability.ai/... model weights: https://huggingface.co/... Weights for Stable Audio model trained on audio data from FreeSound and the Free Music Archive, can generate up to 47 seconds of audio. The model specialises in [image] @stabilityai: We're excited to announce Stable Audio Open, an open source model optimised for generating short audio samples, sound effects and production elements using text prompts. This release marks a key milestone as we further open portions of our generative audio capabilities to [image]

Hugo Ventura /
@hugovntr: Stability release a slimmer version of their Audio model, under a non-commercial license (reminds me of SD3...) Anyhow, this is a new fun toy to play with, so enjoy!

Benj Edwards /
@benjedwards: @simonw The word “Open” has sort of become like greenwashing in software. The appearance of doing good without necessarily doing it

Andy McNamara /
@andymac3d: I'm a big fan of Stable Audio (use it a lot!) and seems to fly under the radar more than most other popular AI audio generators like Suno. Worth a look as it can do some cool stuff inc. using your own custom audio. Oh yes, its free and trained on open source data! Yay!

Max Woolf /
@minimaxir: @simonw I'm not a fan of HN's repeated insistance that “open source only means 100% reproducible”, but “open” should mean that the model can be used without hitting roadblocks, with noncommercial use only being a giant roadblock.

Simon Willison /
@simonw: I really wish Stability would stop abusing the term “open source” like this - it's under a custom non-commercial license “Openly licensed” or “open weights” are fine alternatives

Nick Dobos /
@nickadobos: Non-commercial license. Stability is dead lol. Remember when I said bearish on open source models? It's cuz business models are equally as important as the technical models

Tamas G /
@Tamasg@mindly.social: Stability AI releases a sound generator (May not be as good as Eleven Labs as it is for noncomercial use, but worth a try as it uses royalty-free audio) https://techcrunch.com/... demo Space: https://huggingface.co/... model: https://huggingface.co/... Stability AI: Introducing Stable Audio Open - An Open Source Model for Audio Samples and Sound Design