Sources: UK police saw Will Lewis as an impediment to their phone hacking investigation; plaintiffs say Lewis gave the "green light" to delete News Corp. emails (New York Times)

Mediagazer: Sources: UK police saw Will Lewis as an impediment to their phone hacking investigation; plaintiffs say Lewis gave the “green light” to delete News Corp. emails (New York Times)

Top News:

New York Times:

Sources: UK police saw Will Lewis as an impediment to their phone hacking investigation; plaintiffs say Lewis gave the “green light” to delete News Corp. emails— Will Lewis, now the publisher of the Washington Post, was in full crisis mode in 2011.
Discussion: @lizzieohreally, @edmundlee and @jo_becker

Discussion:

Lizzie O'Leary /
@lizzieohreally: Great story but also “operation weeting” and “Barney Ratcliffe” are comically British

Edmund Lee /
@edmundlee: Stellar reporting from @Jo_Becker and @ScheckNYTimes: “...during the crucial early period of the investigation,” Rupert Murdoch's UK company “was deleting data from its servers...” this is regarding the hacking investigation handled by Will Lewis: https://www.nytimes.com/...

Jo Becker /
@jo_becker: My latest, with @schecknyt, on Washington Post publisher Will Lewis and the British phone hacking scandal. Our reporting builds on a decade- plus of coverage by @bynickdavies, who first broke the phone hacking scandal and has been out in front since. https://www.nytimes.com/...

RELATED:
Washington Post:

WaPo and The News Movement, in which Will Lewis holds a stake, agreed in recent months to pursue brand partnerships; TNM made two major pitches involving WaPo— William Lewis holds a stake in a start-up that has reached a deal with The Post to collaborate.

Discussion:
The Atlantic, Politico, Financial Times, @obrien_kat@mastodon.world, @dangillmor@mastodon.social, @davidbeard@threads.net, @farhip, Diane Ravitch's blog, @ianshapira, @dastonerl, @davidrlurie, @zackstanton, @noahshachtman@threads.net, @yonetteajoseph@threads.net and The Daily Beast

Discussion:

Anne Applebaum /
The Atlantic: Readers Don't Trust Dirty Tricks

Jack Shafer /
Politico: For Post's Lewis, Credibility Dies in Silence Financial Times: Washington Post publisher Will Lewis retains links to PR firm that bears his initials @obrien_kat@mastodon.world: The tabloidization of everything is terrible for society, and the Washington Post shouldn't go down that path. — By @anneapplebaum — https://www.theatlantic.com/ ... #journalism #democracy #washingtonpost — [image]

Dan Gillmor /
@dangillmor@mastodon.social: Bezos is ultimately (justly, since he's the owner) responsible for the ongoing mess at the Washington Post. — But it would be smart for some news organization to look deeply into the role of former Microsoft (and Gates foundation) senior executive Patty Stonesifer. …

Dave Beard /
@davidbeard@threads.net: “Whenever Lewis attempts to ignore the fire burning under him by stiffing the press, it only pours nitromethane on the story and encourages reporters to widen their search for answers. You don't have to be a PR executive to figure this out.” - Jack Shafer, @politico

Paul Farhi /
@farhip: And once again, the @washingtonpost's publisher is MIA when his own reporters come knocking: “Lewis declined to respond directly to a list of questions about his business interests and how he has managed potential conflicts.”

Paul Farhi /
@farhip: How many ways can @WashingtonPost publisher William Lewis challenge the paper's traditional ethics and standards? Well, here's a new one: an investment in a company that has done business with the Post, creating a potential conflict with his Post role: https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...

Ian Shapira /
@ianshapira: https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... “Lewis declined to respond directly to a list of questions about his business interests and how he has managed potential conflicts.” @dastonerl: @ianshapira Will Lewis the networker “Dear Friend,” he wrote in his Jan. 27 newsletter, “I feel immensely privileged to have had two parties thrown in my honour this week. ... It was a pleasure to meet so many pillars of Washington's political and media communities.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... @davidrlurie: Lewis, and it appears, the Washington Post, are in business with the Qataris, the leading mass propagandists for Hamas, and owners of Al Jazeera. Washington Post publisher retains ties to past business ventures https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...

Zack Stanton /
@zackstanton: Hmm. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... [image]

Noah Shachtman /
@noahshachtman@threads.net: Does this seem kosher to you? https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...

Yonette Joseph /
@yonetteajoseph@threads.net: Nice to see Wapo going hard on this line of reporting. A digital start-up launched by Washington Post publisher William Lewis entered into a deal with The Post that allows the two companies to pursue deals together. Lewis still holds a financial stake in the firm, the News Movement, which he co-founded in 2020. …

Norman Pearlstine /
The Daily Beast: Why Jeff Bezos Is Failing The Washington Post

The Atlantic:
Scrutiny of Will Lewis' past is essential because WaPo's credibility has been built upon readers' trust that its reporters don't engage in deceptive practices

Discussion:
@nxthompson: “Threats against journalists are rising. The Post and other newsrooms should defend the values and practices that produce journalism in the public interest, and that cynical forces would like to see swept away.” https://www.theatlantic.com/ ...

Jill Geisler /
@jillgeisler: Important read: @clearing_fog: 📝 The fact that WaPo CEO Will Lewis and others used hacked/stolen data to create damaging stories about people at a Murdoch outlet in the UK is relevant for another reason: There is credible evidence that the “Hunter laptop” story from Murdoch's NYPost was the exact same thing.

Adrienne LaFrance /
@adriennelaf: The great @mccrummens won a Pulitzer for her investigative work at the Washington Post. Here's her latest, on how Will Lewis lost the newsroom, and why it matters: https://www.theatlantic.com/ ... [image]

Jeff Jarvis /
@jeffjarvis@threads.net: Yes. And the Murdochians must go. @_eileenie_@threads.net: The controversy around Lewis is not some small matter of different journalistic methods. The reputation of the Post newsroom has been built upon readers' trust that reporters do not pay sources, much less steal documents, hack computers, or engage in other deceptive news-gathering practices …

Lydia Polgreen /
@lpolgreen@threads.net: A sort of “savvy” take has emerged that American journalists take themselves too seriously and a bit of British cheek would help shake them out of their torpor. This is a helpful antidote to that lazy POV: https://www.theatlantic.com/ ...

Edward Luce /
Financial Times: The story we're missing on the Washington Post

The Verge:

The RIAA files two copyright-infringement cases against the AI music services Suno and Udio; Udio was used to create the viral song BBL Drizzy— A group of record labels including the big three — Universal Music Group (UMG), Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Records …

Discussion:
CNN, Fast Company, @robertfreundlaw, @tb_num, @emilylazar_sm, @ednewtonrex, @abelowrob, @future_of_music, @kerrymuzzey, @rahll, @mitch_glazier, @riaa, @human_artistry, @riaa, @rachelmetz, @human_artistry, @dada_drummer, @patrickmoorhead, @justinebateman, @dada_drummer, @riaa, @mattbelloni, @rachelmetz, Bloomberg, Quartz, Music Technology Policy, The Wrap, Ars Technica, @riaa, Consequence, Reuters, Engadget, @lucas_shaw, @GossiTheDog@cyberplace.social, @carnage4life, @reckless1280@threads.net, @jason_koebler, Music Business Worldwide, Digital Music News, Wired, Rolling Stone, Billboard, Drew Thurlow on LinkedIn, Variety, Music Ally, 404 Media, CMU, @andybaio@xoxo.zone, @miasato.2@threads.net and @carnage4life, more at Techmeme »

Discussion:

Samantha Murphy Kelly /
CNN: Viral ‘BBL Drizzy’ AI Drake diss track company gets sued

Jessica Bursztynsky /
Fast Company: Record labels sue AI companies Suno and Uncharted Labs

Rob Freund /
@robertfreundlaw: Good news! Major record labels sued Suno and Udio today. The labels accuse both Plagiarism Machines of training their services on “copyrighted sound recording en masse.” Both services refused to disclose their training source materials, citing “trade secrets” and “public data” [image]

Tommy Beringer /
@tb_num: The music industry is actually fine with AI believe it or not but they aren't fine with stealing. Before the dust settles new legal revenue streams will emerge from this AND/OR in a plot twist we might even see the record labels acquire Udio and Suno. I hear people compare @emilylazar_sm: Hey big tech.... Love ya but please stop f*cking over the creatives. All 3 major labels are suing AI music generators Suno & Udio. The RIAA is coordinating the lawsuits on behalf of Sony, Warner & UMG claiming the generators trained their AI on copyrighted music. Music isn't

Ed Newton-Rex /
@ednewtonrex: The 3 major record labels are suing AI music companies Suno and Udio. Here are the two lawsuits in full. - They accuse Suno & Udio of “willful copyright infringement on an almost unimaginable scale” - They provide evidence that both companies trained on their music, including

Rob Abelow /
@abelowrob: BREAKING: All 3 major labels are suing AI music generators Suno & Udio. The RIAA is coordinating the lawsuits on behalf of Sony, Warner & UMG. Hammer, dropped. Here's the details: Today, two federal copyright infringement lawsuits were filed: 1. against Suno in the District @future_of_music: As expected, the major labels have sued two AI music companies, Suno and Udio, allleging copyright infringement with intent to “saturate the market with machine-generated content that will directly compete with, cheapen and ultimately drown out the genuine sound recordings.”

Kerry Muzzey /
@kerrymuzzey: Are we placing bets that the labels just want part ownership, Suno & Udio go public, labels sell their shares and make billions? I don't think labels are suing to stop it, I think labels are suing to get in on the action. Too cynical?

Reid Southen /
@rahll: That was fast. Still waiting for the film studios to catch up. https://www.wired.com/... [image]

Mitch Glazier /
@mitch_glazier: (1/8) Today, a group of music companies filed important new lawsuits against two AI music companies, Suno and Udio. I explained why this case matters so much in Billboard today. https://www.billboard.com/... @riaa: Name that tune 🎶! Sound familiar? That's because @suno_ai_ is training AI on copyrighted works... 🎧: https://suno.com/... 🎧: https://suno.com/... 🎧: https://suno.com/... Learn more about our legal action against Suno: https://www.riaa.com/... [image] @human_artistry: 🚨Huge news: @RIAA has filed suit against two AI giants for “mass infringement” of copyright, outlining damning evidence of widespread copying. This is a major step forward in the fight for responsible AI in creative spaces 👏

@riaa:
We stand behind artists and their invaluable creations. The RIAA has filed two major copyright infringement lawsuits against @suno_ai_ and @udiomusic for using copyrighted sound recordings without permission.

@riaa:
“Unlicensed services like Suno and Udio that claim it's ‘fair’ to copy an artist's life's work and exploit it for their own profit without consent or pay set back the promise of genuinely innovative AI for us all.” RIAA Chairman and CEO @mitch_glazier

Rachel Metz /
@rachelmetz: A hot one at the intersection of music and AI from me and @ashleyrcarman: record labels including Sony, Warner, and UMG are suing music-generating startups Suno and Udio for training their AI models on the labels' songs. Gift link! https://www.bloomberg.com/...

Rachel Metz /
@rachelmetz: The labels are asking for damages of as much as $150k per work infringed; considering how large datasets must be to train this kind of AI system, that could, potentially, mean the startups owe a LOT of money if a judge finds their practices don't amount to fair use.

@human_artistry:
Statement from HAC Senior Advisor, Dr. Moiya McTier, on the @RIAA lawsuit against AI giants Suno & Udio, which alleges widespread copyright infringement with damning evidence: [image]

Damon K /
@dada_drummer: Here we go... will they cut us a better deal than Napster-to-Apple-to-Spotify...?

Patrick Moorhead /
@patrickmoorhead: @rachelmetz @ashleyrcarman Amazing how closely this trend follows the early search days. (I worked at AltaVista, the losing search engine.)

Justine Bateman /
@justinebateman: Ironically, these are arms of two of the biggest film studios (one formerly and the other currently): Universal Music Group and Sony Music. The film studios, on the other hand, are desperate to use #AI, so they do nothing to stop their own copyright infringement.

Damon K /
@dada_drummer: What's crucial to me is for all of us to ask the major labels: are you acting here to protect artists? Or are you acting to protect your copyrights? Cause the history of major labels and streaming technology has proven that these two interests are not always the same...

@riaa:
Tell me you use copyrighted recordings without telling me you use copyrighted recordings... 🎵 Listen to these AI samples from @udiomusic... Oh wait, they took them down. But check out the prompts used to create the recordings. Find out more: https://www.riaa.com/... [image]

Matthew Belloni /
@mattbelloni: Your move, Hollywood...

Rachel Metz /
@rachelmetz: UPDATE: Suno cofounder/ceo Mikey Shulman told us in a statement that Suno's technology is “transformative,” and “designed to generate completely new outputs, not to memorize and regurgitate pre-existing content” (he also noted that it doesn't let people prompt w/ artist names.)⤵️ [image]

Britney Nguyen /
Quartz: Record labels are suing AI music companies for ‘en masse’ copyright infringement

Chris Castle /
Music Technology Policy: The Fire Next Time: Labels Bring the Heat against Suno and Udio for Responsible AI

Natalie Korach /
The Wrap: Recording Industry Association Sues AI Companies for Copyright Infringement

@riaa:
“These are straightforward cases of copyright infringement involving unlicensed copying of sound recordings on a massive scale,” RIAA chief legal officer Ken Doroshow

Will Shanklin /
Engadget: Record labels sue AI music generators for ‘massive infringement of recorded music’

Lucas Shaw /
@lucas_shaw: 🚨 Record labels are suing two of the biggest music AI startups for violating their copyrights. @ashleyrcarman / @rachelmetz https://www.bloomberg.com/...

Kevin Beaumont /
@GossiTheDog@cyberplace.social: lol, not a surprise Suno are being sued. I used Suno via Microsoft Copilot (it's baked in) to make the Snowflake happy little cyber incident song - but while doing so realised they appear to have trained it on big songs, as it generates banger after banger. — https://www.404media.co/...

Dare Obasanjo /
@carnage4life: AI training data on copyrighted works then competing with those same workers is becoming a theme. We're already seeing in it happen with content marketers but it won't stop there. https://www.theverge.com/...

Nilay Patel /
@reckless1280@threads.net: The entire AI industry rests on a copyright house of cards, part 204349 https://www.theverge.com/...

Jason Koebler /
@jason_koebler: Pretty amazing stuff from the Udio/Suno lawsuits. Record labels were able to basically recreate versions of very famous songs with highly specific prompts, then linked to them in the lawsuits. I made a short compilation here: https://www.404media.co/... [video]

Daniel Tencer /
Music Business Worldwide: MAJOR RECORD COMPANIES SUE AI MUSIC GENERATORS SUNO, UDIO FOR ‘MASS INFRINGEMENT’ OF COPYRIGHT

Paul Resnikoff /
Digital Music News: UMG, WMG, Sony Music File Litigation Against AI Music Services Suno and Udio for Massive Copyright Infringement

Kate Knibbs /
Wired: US Record Labels Sue AI Music Generators Suno and Udio for Copyright Infringement

Ethan Millman /
Rolling Stone: AI's Most Ambitious Music Generators Accused of ‘Massive’ Infringement In New Lawsuit

Kristin Robinson /
Billboard: Major Labels Sue AI Firms Suno and Udio for Alleged Copyright Infringement

Drew Thurlow /
Drew Thurlow on LinkedIn: In a surprise to no one, Suno & Udio are being sued by the Recording Industry Association of America® (RIAA) for copyright infringement. …

Stuart Dredge /
Music Ally: Labels body RIAA sues AI music firms Suno and Udio for copyright infringement

Chris Cooke /
CMU: Suno and Udio's “lawless” behaviour cheapens human creativity with sound-a-likes and knock-offs says watershed RIAA lawsuit

Andy Baio /
@andybaio@xoxo.zone: A coalition of major record labels, including UMG, Capitol, Atlantic, Rhino, and Warner, is suing the two biggest AI music startups, Suno and Udio, for mass copyright infringement. This is the most well-funded defendant so far to try to stop commercial services from training AI models on their work, and looking to set a precedent that it isn't fair use. https://www.theverge.com/...

Mia Sato /
@miasato.2@threads.net: New: The biggest music labels are suing two AI companies — Udio, the tool behind the viral BBL Drizzy song, and Suno, which has a Microsoft partnership https://www.theverge.com/...

Dare Obasanjo /
@carnage4life: The major record labels are suing two AI music companies for training their LLMs on copyrighted music. The companies responded by saying the music they trained their AIs on are “confidential business information”. 🙃 [image]

Variety:

MTV appears to have fully pulled down MTV News website, scrubbing two decades' worth of content from its archives; Paramount Global shut down MTV News in 2023— Some two decades' worth of content published on MTVNews.com is no longer available after MTV appears to have fully pulled down the site.

Discussion:
@patrickhosken, @brendonkleen14, @kevdgrussing, @film_girl, @jemaswad, @tirhakahlove, @annetdonahue, @meelztv, @jhoffman, @crystalbell, @lymoula, @hiattb and @mirrorman.bsky.social

Discussion:

Patrick Hosken /
@patrickhosken: So, https://mtvnews.com/ no longer exists. Eight years of my life are gone without a trace. All because it didn't fit some executives' bottom lines. Infuriating is too small a word

Brendon Kleen /
@brendonkleen14: The post-Grantland crew that went to MTV News did insane, awesome work and deserved way more time to build Paramount keeps taking Ls

Kevin D. Grüssing /
@kevdgrussing: So the first act of the new 3 headed CEO is to wipe out MTV News' archive for pennies in the couch cushion. Cool stuff!

Christina Warren /
@film_girl: This whole trend of nuking archives or even delisting stuff from Google for SEO reasons that aren't even accurate is so bad for so many reasons. MTV News in the 2010s did some exceptional work and losing it all is so pointlessly dumb.

Jem Aswad /
@jemaswad: This is a travesty: Decades of https://mtvnews.com/ have disappeared from the internet, just like that. My heart goes out to my colleagues, especially @teamshaheem, whose years of Mixtape Mondays and beyond are such an important part of hip-hop history. @tirhakahlove: mtvnews was my first longish term gig. first place i had a consistent check and the first sign that i could do this for the long term. damn near everyone i worked with there is making big waves in media/art against all the odds. this shit stinks.

Anne T Donahue /
@annetdonahue: shameful. and relatedly: mtv news never did get around to formally letting me go alongside everybody in 2017, so i still consider myself milton from office space, stuck somewhere in the basement. @meelztv: We did an episode of Retro Diaries to talk about JAY-Z's 2002 and the primary resource for it was MTV News. The archived articles by Shaheem Reid and others were great first hand resources on how it all went down. They might as well pack MTV up as a whole at this point.

Jordan Hoffman /
@jhoffman: Everything published at MTV News (or Film dot com) has been eliminated. My oral history of GALAXY QUEST lives only at the Wayback Machine archive now. https://web.archive.org/...

Crystal Bell /
@crystalbell: sickening (derogatory) to see the entire @mtvnews archive wiped from the internet. decades of music history gone...including some very early k-pop stories. @lymoula: there was archived stuff on mtv news that was the only way i was able to verify certain key pieces of information throughout the nearly 5 years of doing @RapRankings. this is a massive loss. https://x.com/...

Brian Hiatt /
@hiattb: This is disgraceful. They've completely wiped the MTV News archive. Decades of pop culture history research material gone, and why? https://x.com/...

Bloomberg:

Sources: BuzzFeed is struggling to sell Hot Ones owner First We Feast, which is profitable and has ~$30M revenue per year; interested parties balk at $70M price— - Several parties are interested but balk at $70 million price — Proceeds of about $50 million would help company pay off debt

Discussion:
Business Insider, The Hill, The Desk, Quartz, @tomgara, @ernie.tedium.co, @thejidetaiwo, @lucas_shaw, @webbarr, @drinksthethings.bsky.social, @kevdgrussing and @pkafka

Discussion:

Peter Kafka /
Business Insider: BuzzFeed really needs a ‘Hot Ones’ deal

Tom Gara /
@tomgara: Vivek can reboot Hot Ones as a debate show and each time the sauce gets spicier the guests have to change his mind about an increasingly conservative opinion

Ernie Smith /
@ernie.tedium.co: Complex purchase, complex sale [embedded post]

Lucas Shaw /
@lucas_shaw: Trouble behind the scenes at Hot Ones, the internet's favorite talk show. https://www.bloomberg.com/... @webbarr: seems like a no brainer... what am I missing here? Netflix / Beast (expand demos) / a24 / Fox (Tubi) / hmmm

Tony /
@drinksthethings.bsky.social: amazing that a website that gets $30 million in revenue per year can't be sold for a little over 2x that price. great media landscape we have here [embedded post]

Kevin D. Grüssing /
@kevdgrussing: So Buzzfeed might actually kill Hot Ones just as it gets popular by either killing it off because it asked for too much or to sell it to someone who'll replace Sean Evans which thus will kill the brand.

Peter Kafka /
@pkafka: Hot Ones is a hit for BuzzFeed. But BuzzFeed needs $120 million by December, so make an offer. Next q: Where does BuzzFeed get the rest of the cash it needs? https://www.businessinsider.com/ ...

RELATED:

Axios:

Filing: Vivek Ramaswamy's BuzzFeed stake grew to 8.9%; sources: Ramaswamy recently met Jonah Peretti and wants Patrick Bet-David and two others on the board— - Ramaswamy has continued to increase his stake, this morning disclosing that it's risen to 8.9%.

Discussion:
New York Post, Fox Business, @theclubmember04, @claytravis and @danprimack

Discussion:

Ariel Zilber /
New York Post: Vivek Ramaswamy pushes conservatives for BuzzFeed board — including Clay Travis — raises stake in site: report @theclubmember04: It will be interesting to see what @VivekGRamaswamy does with his Activist stake in $BZFD @BuzzFeed Why such interest in a media company? https://www.axios.com/...

Clay Travis /
@claytravis: Impressed with @VivekGRamaswamy's ideas on BuzzFeed. We need more of a marketplace of ideas in media. Appreciate him putting forward @patrickbetdavid @cbalfe & me as board nominees. PBD and Chris are both super successful media guys and great dudes too: https://www.axios.com/...

New York Times:

Interviews with ~12 media executives, such as Brian Roberts, John Malone, Barry Diller, and Ted Sarandos, about the future of streaming, bundling, ads, and more— Who will survive? Die? Thrive? And how? We talked to nearly a dozen top media executives and asked them to predict what lies ahead.

Discussion:

Sabrina Quagliozzi /
The Media Leader: Streaming war shifts gears: profitability takes center stage (NYT)

David Satin /
The Streamable: Would ‘Spotify for Hollywood’ Satisfy the Demand for Aggregated Streaming?

Elizabeth Newman /
Elizabeth Newman on LinkedIn: As the media landscape evolves, it's important to remember that there is no substitute for a great story, well told. It all starts on the page! …

David Vogler /
David Vogler on LinkedIn: Churn, Baby, Churn. — I've spent the better part of my career either building SVODs or making content to stream on SVODs. …

William /
William on LinkedIn: The New York Times has become the Streaming Wars historian recently. Focused on lost leadership, fruitless competition, expensive tech distractions and lessons ripping it apart. …

Robbie Kellman Baxter /
Robbie Kellman Baxter on LinkedIn: I'll admit it. — I subscribe to Netflix, Amazon, Disney, Hulu, Apple, Peacock, Max, and Paramount+. — But the average American subscribes to 4 streaming services at an average of $61/month. …

Stuart Coxe /
Stuart Coxe on LinkedIn: This is a buzzy article about the titans who lead the streaming companies. By the way, they are all white men, which is sort of odd in 2024. …

Dave Mark /
@davemark@mastodon.social: On the magic number of subs a streaming service needs: — “But those subscribers want lots of options, and the costs of making enough programming can be enormous. As a result, a streaming service's profitability depends in large part on how many paying subscribers are needed before those TV shows and movies become cost-effective.” …

Wired:

Some TikTok creators are hosting their own town halls with third-party candidates like RFK Jr., bypassing mainstream media and often platforming conspiracies— TikTok creators are hosting their own town halls with third-party candidates, bypassing mainstream media and platforming conspiracies.

Discussion:
@kellymakena

Discussion:

Makena Kelly /
@kellymakena: RFK Jr. won't be on the debate stage this week, but he's all over TikTok Live. A group of creators has been hosting live town halls with third-party candidates on TikTok, bypassing the media and platforming conspiracies. https://www.wired.com/...

RELATED:

New York Times:
CNN is in charge of every aspect of Thursday's Biden-Trump debate, a major shift from previous years; rival channels will leave CNN's on-air watermark untouched

Discussion:

Isabella Ramírez /
Politico: What to know about the first 2024 presidential debate — Unlike previous debates, there will be no studio audience.

Katie Rogers /
@katierogers: Scenes from Biden debate prep: A movie theater and a hangar at Camp David are morphing into mock debate stages. Brian Deese is returning for econ help. Some of prep will focus on avoiding incumbency traps. “The rust factor is real” says Axelrod. Etc. https://www.nytimes.com/...

Eric Blair /
@protecttruth@mastodon.online: In sum: — CNN has been pushed to the right by its board members and executives. — And so it's really bad that CNN gets to control this extremely consequential debate. — /end — here's the NYT piece: — https://www.nytimes.com/...

Matt Novak /
Gizmodo: How to Watch the Presidential Debate Between Donald Trump and Joe Biden This Week @scarylawyerguy: CNN could have fact checkers in Tapper's ear to do real time corrections or run a crawl at the bottom of the screen throughout the debate. Instead, they're fine letting Trump lie in real time knowing few people will stick around for the post-debate corrections. 🙃

Paul Farhi /
@farhip: Dunno which is the better rule in the @CNN presidential debate: the lack of a studio audience or the moderators' ability to cut off the microphone of whichever candidate doesn't have the floor.

NellMinow /
@nminow@c.im: The writer Nell Minow, a daughter of Newton N. Minow, who devised the first televised events in 1960, noted in an interview that TV networks are ultimately commercial enterprises. “Let's face it: they have shareholders, and they operate as a business,” she said. …

Matthew Keys /
@matthewkeyslive: NEW: Fox News says it will air a simulcast of CNN's Presidential Debate on Thursday, June 27. The network will produce its own pre-debate and post-debate coverage.

Mark Jacob /
@markjacob16: CNN will fact-check the debate when it's over and everyone has switched to another channel.

Brian Steinberg /
@bristei: CNN's requirements to simulcast its 6/27 presidential debate are really onerous, says report in newspaper that declines to note it's controlled by the same family that owns Fox News.... https://nypost.com/... @fcchambers: @kairyssdal Sports commentators can pull up facts like “The last left-handed batter to score a double at home in the bottom of the third when down five runs against the Mets after a rain delay was Dave Lipschitz in 1972” in REAL TIME. And CNN can't fact-check in real time?

Jeremy Barr /
@jeremymbarr: Fox News announces it will be carrying CNN's presidential debate next Thursday, joining ABC News The official name for the presentation will be “FOX News Democracy 2024: CNN Presidential Debate,” which is kind of a mouthful.

Kai Ryssdal /
@kairyssdal: And herein lies the problem “David Chalian, CNN's political director, said that Thursday's live debate “is not the ideal arena for live fact-checking.” Instead, Ms. Bash and Mr. Tapper would focus on “facilitating the debate between these candidates, not being a participant in

Ron Filipkowski /
@ronfilipkowski: Trump agrees to a CNN debate and then his surrogates constantly whine that CNN is hosting the debate.

David Gilmour /
Mediaite: Ex-Clinton Advisor: If ‘Really Old’ Candidates Are A Problem ‘Everyone Is Out of Luck’ No Matter Who Wins Election

Evan Osnos /
New Yorker: What Can We Expect from the Biden-Trump Debate?

Associated Press:

A US bankruptcy court trustee discloses plans to shut down Infowars and liquidate its assets to help pay the $1.5B in lawsuit judgments that Alex Jones owes— A U.S. bankruptcy court trustee is planning to shut down conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' Infowars media platform and liquidate …

Discussion:
Mediaite, New Republic and @rpsagainsttrump

Discussion:

Alex Griffing /
Mediaite: Alex Jones's Conspiracy Theory Empire to Be Liquidated to Pay Sandy Hook Victims He Defamed

Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling /
New Republic: Here's How Alex Jones's Empire of Lies Will End

Bloomberg:

Sources: Netflix has discussed creating free versions of its service in some markets, namely in Europe and Asia, but is not considering a free plan in the US— While Netflix is the biggest streaming service in Hollywood, it is barely in the top 10 for advertisers.

Discussion:
The Streamable, Comic Book, Lucas Shaw on LinkedIn and BGR

Discussion:

David Satin /
The Streamable: Netflix Reportedly Considering Free Plans in Some Countries; Could They Come to the United States?

Cameron Bonomolo /
Comic Book: Netflix Considering a Free Streaming Option, but There's a Catch

Lucas Shaw /
Lucas Shaw on LinkedIn: Speaking to executives at Cannes, they outlined 4 must-buys in video: Amazon, Comcast/NBCU, Disney and YouTube. …

Deadline:

Sony Pictures Networks India names Disney+ Hotstar content chief Gaurav Banerjee as its new Managing Director and CEO— Sony Pictures Networks India has named Disney+ Hotstar content chief Gaurav Banerjee as its new Managing Director and CEO. — He'll replace N.P. Singh …

Discussion:
Variety and WORLD SCREEN

Variety:

Prices of ad-free Paramount+ With Showtime plan will rise by $1 to $12.99/month, and of Paramount+ Essential plan with ads by $2 to $7.99, starting August 20— As Paramount Global looks to push its streaming business into the black, it's hiking the prices for most Paramount+ plans later this summer.

Discussion:
The Verge, The Desk, CNBC, The Streamable, Adweek, TVLine, The Wrap, Comic Book, Fox Business, Bloomberg, IndieWire, Cord Cutters News, Engadget, Quartz, BGR, ComingSoon.net and Deadline

Discussion:

Charles Pulliam-Moore /
The Verge: Paramount Plus is getting yet another price hike

Matthew Keys /
The Desk: Paramount to increase price of Paramount Plus this summer

Lillian Rizzo /
CNBC: Paramount+ to increase prices for its streaming plans

Bill Bradley /
Adweek: Paramount+ Price Increase Continues Streaming Trend of Pushing Subscribers to Ad Tier

Ryan Schwartz /
TVLine: Paramount+ Announces Price Hikes — Here's How Much It'll Cost You to Stream Without Ads

Lucas Manfredi /
The Wrap: Paramount+ Joins Max, Peacock in Raising Prices

Russ Burlingame /
Comic Book: Paramount+ Price Increase Coming This Summer

Tony Maglio /
IndieWire: Paramount+ Is Raising Prices

Luke Bouma /
Cord Cutters News: Paramount+ is Raising Its Price

Lawrence Bonk /
Engadget: Paramount+ is raising prices again for all of the Tulsa King fans out there

Miranda Neubauer /
Quartz: Paramount+ is getting on the streaming price hike bandwagon

Jacob Siegal /
BGR: Paramount+ will increase the price of most plans in August

Brandon Schreur /
ComingSoon.net: Paramount+ Price Increase Set for Ad and Showtime Tiers

Jill Goldsmith /