Redbox's owner, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, files for bankruptcy protection; Chicken Soup took on $325M in debt when it acquired Redbox in 2022 (Janko Roettgers/The Verge)

Mediagazer: Redbox's owner, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, files for bankruptcy protection; Chicken Soup took on $325M in debt when it acquired Redbox in 2022 (Janko Roettgers/The Verge)

Top News:

Wired:

Quora-owned AI chatbot platform Poe is providing users with downloadable HTML files of paywalled articles from outlets including NYT, Forbes, and The Atlantic— WIRED was able to download stories from publishers like The New York Times and The Atlantic using Poe's Assistant bot.

Variety:

Nielsen: the Biden-Trump debate drew an average audience of 51.3M viewers across 17 networks in the US, down from 2020's first debate, with nearly 73.1M— Networks include CNN, which originated the debate, as well as ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, Scripps News, Telemundo, Univision, BET …
Discussion: MediaPost, Nielsen, @antonej@threads.net, @dylanbyers, @brianstelter, Adweek, New York Times, @parkerortolani@threads.net, CNN, Matthew Keys on LinkedIn, Politico, CBS News, The Desk, New York Post, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Washington Examiner, CNN, Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter

Discussion:

Wayne Friedman /
MediaPost: First Presidential Debate Down 30%: 51.3M Viewers

Antone Johnson /
@antonej@threads.net: So 85% of Americans didn't watch it.

Dylan Byers /
@dylanbyers: CNN Debate *fast national* (not final) ratings in detail: Fox News: 8.82 million CNN: 8.75 million ABC: 8.70 million NBC: 5.17 million CBS: 4.81 million MSNBC: 3.94 million FOX: 3.48 million Fox Business: 372,000 HLN: 251,000 CNN Espanol: 46,000

Brian Stelter /
@brianstelter: This just in from CNN: “A combined 47.9 million total viewers watched the CNN Presidential Debate on television last night” across all the networks where it appeared.

Mark Mwachiro /
Adweek: CNN Presidential Debate Scores 51 Million Viewers Across All Networks [Final Numbers]

Michael M. Grynbaum /
New York Times: 51.3 Million Viewers Tuned In for Shaky Biden and Boisterous Trump

Parker Ortolani /
@parkerortolani@threads.net: oh hey nobody watches debates no one cares no one will remember, said a delusional person

Matthew Keys /
Matthew Keys on LinkedIn: CNN initially published an article claiming it had the highest-rated coverage of the presidential debate on Thursday. …

Jared Mitovich /
Politico: 47.9 million people watched Biden and Trump debate, a steep decline from 2020

Matthew Keys /
The Desk: Fox News grabs highest ratings for CNN Presidential Debate

Ariel Zilber /
New York Post: CNN says Biden-Trump debate draws nearly 48M viewers — most in network's history

Stephen Battaglio /
Los Angeles Times: CNN Biden-Trump debate draws 51.3 million TV viewers, a major drop from 2020

Ross O'Keefe /
Washington Examiner: Biden's nightmare debate brought in 48 million viewers — 25 million fewer than 2020's first matchup

Ted Johnson /
Deadline: CNN Says 47.9 Million Watched Presidential Debate; TV Viewership Drops Considerably From 2020

The Verge:

Redbox's owner, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, files for bankruptcy protection; Chicken Soup took on $325M in debt when it acquired Redbox in 2022— Redbox's owner, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, filed for bankruptcy protection overnight.

Discussion:
Deadline and Cord Cutters News

Nieman Lab:

Spain's El País launched a digital edition to cover the US in Spanish in May with 11 bilingual correspondents; as of April, the outlet had ~366K subscribers— “The best reader is the one who reads you a lot.” — For years and with various levels of success, U.S. news outlets …

Discussion:
@hanaatameez, American Press Institute and LatAm Journalism Review

Discussion:

Hanaa' Tameez /
@hanaatameez: 🇺🇸 New from me: I talked with @jmahrens about the launch of @ELPAIS_USA, the latest edition of @el_pais that aims to cover the US for Spanish-language news consumers. This is likely where I'll be getting my election news through November 🗳️ https://www.niemanlab.org/...

Semafor:

The Wall Street Journal EIC Emma Tucker says she felt vindicated by the debate, after previously facing criticism for coverage of Biden's age and mental acuity— The News — Prominent liberal columnists are calling for President Joe Biden to step aside following a widely-panned debate performance …

Discussion:

Jeremy Barr /
Washington Post: CNN debate moderators didn't fact-check. Not everyone is happy about it. Fox News: Jill Biden must convince her husband to bow out of race following ‘catastrophic’ debate: Liberal columnist

Sammy Gecsoyler /
The Guardian: New York Times first US paper urging Biden to drop out of presidential race

Ryan Lizza /
Politico: The pundit class turned on Biden. Does it matter?

Zachary Faria /
Washington Examiner: Liberal media lied to voters and themselves over Biden mental state

Max Tani /
@maxwelltani: I asked WSJ EIC Emma Tucker if she felt vindicated after tonight by the publication's recent piece about Biden's age, which was the subject of a lot of partisan complaints https://www.semafor.com/... [image]

Steven Nelson /
New York Post: Biden admits 'I don't debate as well as I used to' but ‘I can do this job’ in NC rally

Ben Smith /
@semaforben: Remember how much shit WSJ took for the Biden age story? https://www.semafor.com/... [image]

Ben Smith /
@semaforben: Media wrap from @maxwelltani -Liberal media turns on Biden -WSJ EIC Emma Tucker takes a victory lap -Interview with CNN chief Mark Thompson https://www.semafor.com/...

Dave Goldiner /
New York Daily News: Democrats openly panic over Biden's debate versus Trump, though some allies insist he's still up to job Associated Press: Biden tries to quell concerns after an unsteady debate showing as he and Trump head to swing states

Peter Wehner /
The Atlantic: Biden's Loved Ones Owe Him the Truth

Robert Kuttner /
American Prospect: A Tarnished Silver Lining

Variety:

Arnaud Lagardère returns as French publishing group Lagardère SA chair and CEO, after appealing an April 29 management ban by a court over embezzlement charges— Arnaud Lagardere, who had stepped down from his executive roles of chairman and CEO of the listed French media …

Discussion:
Le Monde.fr, Deadline and The Bookseller

Discussion:

Jesse Whittock /
Deadline: Arnaud Lagardère Returns To CEO Duties; Nine Network Axes 200 Roles; ‘Big Brother Canada’ Evicted — Global Briefs

Barbara Casassus /
The Bookseller: Arnaud Lagardère returns to executive role at Lagardère

The Hollywood Reporter:

Several current and former Daily Mail employees describe a leadership vacuum in its US newsroom, following the mysterious departure of online EIC Gerard Greaves— Its online editor is MIA (he was last seen frantically deleting emails), his self-appointed replacement is said to be equally erratic …

Discussion:
@mediaevan

Discussion:

Evan DeSimone /
@mediaevan: “Greaves, an old-school Fleet Street editor who had been parachuted into the U.S. to help steady the site in 2022...was last seen in the New York newsroom in late February frantically asking staff for help to delete emails off his computer.” https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/ ...

The Guardian:

Three journalists were turned away from an Azerbaijan energy conference earlier in June, prompting concern over media access ahead of UN climate talks there— Incident reignites concerns over crackdown on media before crucial UN climate talks in Baku later this year

Discussion:
@glynmoody@mastodon.social

Advanced Television:

JustWatch: Netflix led the UK streaming market in Q2 with a 28% share; Prime Video had 27%, Disney+ had 20%, Apple TV+ had 8%, ITVX had 6%, and Now TV had 6%— Netflix continues to hold the reins of the UK streaming market in Q2 2024 with Prime Video closely following behind a 1 per cent gap …

TechCrunch:

The White House will host the first-ever White House Creator Economy Conference in August to “emphasize the Administration's commitment to creators”— President Joe Biden's administration is doubling down on its interest in the creator economy.

Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Fast Company, MediaPost and Gizmodo, more at Techmeme »

Discussion:

Taylor Lorenz /
Washington Post: White House will host creator economy summit in August

Sarah Bregel /
Fast Company: White House to expand its influencer engagement efforts with its first-ever Creator Economy Conference

Colin Kirkland /
MediaPost: White House To Host First ‘Creator Economy Conference’

Matt Novak /
Gizmodo: White House Planning Conference for Social Media Influencers Ahead of TikTok Ban

Reuters:

In a parliamentary hearing, Meta says it is considering blocking news content from Facebook in Australia if the government makes it pay licensing fees— Facebook owner Meta (META.O) is considering blocking news content from the platform in Australia if the government makes it pay licensing fees …

Discussion:
Bloomberg

Discussion:

Ainslie Chandler /
Bloomberg: Australia PM Says Arrogant Meta Should Pay Outlets for News

Nieman Lab:

Tests show that ChatGPT is hallucinating URLs in some citations, directing users to broken links for at least 10 news publications with OpenAI licensing deals— Nieman Lab's tests show ChatGPT is directing users to broken URLs for at least 10 publications with OpenAI licensing deals.

Discussion:

David Whelan /
@davidpwhelan@mastodon.world: Interesting read @niemanlab on results of media platform content partnerships with AI companies: fake URLs and 404s. When it generated relevant URLs, they were NOT to the media partner. So partnership does not seem to result in any better outcome than the AI-generated summary cards (that also inhibit referrer traffic). …

Jared Holt /
@jaredlholt: For all the fears and talks of an “AI-powered future” around the tech industry, the crux of the issue here is that the tech sucks and is being forced out of production anyway, making it the consumer's problem

Andrew Deck /
@decka227: ChatGPT is hallucinating fake URLs for at least 10 publications that have OpenAI licensing deals. I tested the chatbot's ability to cite its news sources for @NiemanLab. It regularly generated broken links to even its partners' biggest investigations. https://www.niemanlab.org/...

Adam Johnson /
@adamjohnsonchi: We must PAUSE this tech imminently, it is mere months from becoming a god-like entity

Andrew Deck /
TVNewsCheck: ChatGPT Is Hallucinating Fake Links To Its News Partners' Biggest Investigations

Pranav Dixit /
Engadget: Please don't get your news from AI chatbots @researchbuzz@researchbuzz.masto.host: Well this is absolutely fucknuts — ‘In my testing, I repeatedly prompted ChatGPT to link out to these publications’ marquee articles, including Pulitzer Prize-winning stories and years-long investigations.... All together, my tests show that ChatGPT is currently unable to reliably link out to even these most noteworthy stories by partner publications.' …