WBD's head of ad sales, Jon Steinlauf, announces he is stepping down at the end of 2024 after 32 years at the company (Alex Weprin/The Hollywood Reporter)

Mediagazer: WBD's head of ad sales, Jon Steinlauf, announces he is stepping down at the end of 2024 after 32 years at the company (Alex Weprin/The Hollywood Reporter)

Top News:

ProPublica:

Sources and records: Trump Media has forced out its COO, CPO, and other executives after internal allegations that CEO Devin Nunes is mismanaging the company— Several people involved with the former president's company, operator of Truth Social, believe the departures …
Discussion:

Dan Ladden-Hall /
The Daily Beast: Trump Media's Misery Deepens as Top Execs Depart

Ariel Zilber /
New York Post: Trump Media execs forced out after complaining about CEO Devin Nunes: report

Luke /
@jdluckenbach: Alleged mismanagement by Nunes. One person said they include allegations of misuse of funds, hiring of foreign contractors and interfering with product development.

Robert Faturechi /
@robertfaturechi: NEW: Trump's media company forced out execs after internal allegations that CEO Devin Nunes is mismanaging Truth Social, according to interviews + records. Several people involved believe the ousters are retaliation following “whistleblower” complaint. https://www.propublica.org/...

Brian Stelter /
@brianstelter: ProPublica: Donald Trump's media company “has forced out executives in recent days after internal allegations that its CEO, former Rep. Devin Nunes, is mismanaging the company, according to interviews and records of communications among former employees.” https://www.propublica.org/... DNyuz: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says it's ‘insanely hard’ to build a business — and ignorance is a ‘superpower’ for founders

Jennifer Slack /
@JenniferSlack@mastodon.social: Trump Media fires executive whistleblowers who reported CEO Nunes (remember that weird guy who hated the spoof Nunes' cow account on Twitter?) for a variety of violations. — https://www.propublica.org/... @ProPublica@newsie.social: Top Execs Exit #Trump Media Amid Allegations of CEO's Mismanagement and Retaliation — Several people involved with the former president's company, operator of #TruthSocial, believe the departures were retaliation following internal complaints about CEO Devin Nunes to the company board. …

Bloomberg:

Meta unveils Movie Gen, which creates up to 16-second videos from a text prompt, available to some staff and partners; Meta plans to add it to its apps in 2025— Movie Gen tool can create short videos from a text prompt — Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. debuted a new artificial intelligence tool …

Discussion:
Meta, The Wrap, Variety, Reuters, TechCrunch, The Hollywood Reporter, Neowin, The Verge, DNyuz, New York Times, @jimclydego, @soumithchintala, @dr_cintas, @prashant_1722, @ahmad_al_dahle, @koltregaskes, @prashant_1722, @nearcyan, @aaldahle@threads.net, @kimmonismus, @reece___rogers, @jakebailey@threads.net, @aiatmeta@threads.net, @arankomatsuzaki, @evolving.ai@threads.net, @chriscox@threads.net, @soumithchintala, @_akhaliq, @prashant_1722 and Wired, more at Techmeme »

Discussion:

Todd Spangler /
Variety: Meta Unveils ‘Movie Gen,’ Tool That Creates 16-Second AI-Generated HD Videos

Katie Paul /
Reuters: Meta, challenging OpenAI, announces new AI model that can generate video with sound

Devin Coldewey /
TechCrunch: Meta's Movie Gen model puts out realistic video with sound, so we can finally have infinite Moo Deng

Pradeep Viswanathan /
Neowin: Meta unveils Movie Gen, claiming the most advanced video generation model yet

BGR /
DNyuz: Movie Gen is Meta's new AI video maker, and it may change Instagram and Facebook forever

Jim Monge /
@jimclydego: @AIatMeta introduces “Movie Gen”. A brand new AI video and sound generator. This is mind-blowing. [video]

Soumith Chintala /
@soumithchintala: yes, Meta released a full scientific paper on MovieGen, with a lot of details that'll help the field move forward.

Alvaro Cintas /
@dr_cintas: 🚨 Meta just announced Meta Movie Gen. It can generate high-quality AI videos from text, sync audio to the video, and even perform video editing. Look at these 10 crazy examples: 1. Fluffy koala bear surfing [video]

Prashant /
@prashant_1722: EXCLUSIVE! The BIGGEST META MOVIE GEN thread.. Best in class video quality now available in the AI video offering. I have compiled the incredible video collection shared by Meta here. Follow and share the thread. Tell me if you have seen anything better. Meta beats KlingAI, [video]

Ahmad Al-Dahle /
@ahmad_al_dahle: I couldn't be more excited to share our latest AI research breakthrough. We call it Meta Movie Gen and it's a collection of state-of-the-art models that combine to deliver the most advanced video generation capability ever created. Check it out: https://ai.meta.com/... [video] @koltregaskes: Meta AI Announces Movie Gen A model that can generate images, video, audio and can edit video with text! This is a full suite AI content generator. [video]

Near /
@nearcyan: meta movie gen announced this morning • 30B video model, 7B upsampler • 1080p 4-16s videos • info on sampling, training, basic dataset curation pipeline details less frequently shared • ‘potential release’ after much time and feedback... page: https://ai.meta.com/... [video]

Ahmad Al-Dahle /
@aaldahle@threads.net: I couldn't be more excited about our latest AI research breakthrough in video generation. We call it Movie Gen - it's a collection of SOTA models that combine to deliver the most advanced video generation capability ever created. • Up to 16s of continuous video generation. … @kimmonismus: Meta has landed an absolute hit today with Meta Movie Gen. Not only is the video quality at Sora level, you can even upload your own photo and integrate it into the video. Here are a few examples. [video]

Reece Rogers /
@reece___rogers: It will be interesting to see how long it takes Meta to make Movie Gen broadly available. The announcement blog vaguely gestures at a “potential future release.” https://www.wired.com/... @WIRED

Jake Bailey /
@jakebailey@threads.net: Pretty insane work by our @aiatmeta team. Wow https://ai.meta.com/... @aiatmeta@threads.net: As part of our continued belief in open science and progressing the state-of-the-art in media generation we've published more details on Movie Gen in a new research paper for the academic community 👉 https://go.fb.me/3qapq2

Aran Komatsuzaki /
@arankomatsuzaki: 🎬 Meta introduces Movie Gen: A Cast of SotA Media Foundation Models - 30B params, 16-second video at 1080p 16fps with synchronized audio - Text-to-video, video personalization, and video editing - Supports personalized video creation using user images - Innovations in [video] @evolving.ai@threads.net: @aiatmeta just dropped a bombshell! Meet Meta Movie Gen - introducing their research for the most advanced media foundation AI models.

Chris Cox /
@chriscox@threads.net: We're sharing our progress today on Movie Gen, our project to develop the state of the art for AI video generation. As of today our evals show it's industry-leading on text-to-video quality across a number of dimensions, with 16s of continuous length, plus a leap forward for the state of the art on video-matched audio …

Soumith Chintala /
@soumithchintala: the MovieGen stack got a huge upgrade. compared to others, the Editing and Personalization features are really on a different level! producing personalized videos from a single photo of a person was quite mind-blowing to me. @_akhaliq: Meta announces Movie Gen A Cast of Media Foundation Models We present Movie Gen, a cast of foundation models that generates high-quality, 1080p HD videos with different aspect ratios and synchronized audio. We also show additional capabilities such as precise instruction-based [video]

Reece Rogers /
Wired: Meta's Movie Gen Makes Convincing AI Video Clips

The Guardian:

A study finds Australia has the second-highest media concentration in the world after Brazil; in the newspaper sector, four companies control 84% of the market— Google and Meta should fund traditional public interest journalism, a new international study reports

Discussion:
@simon_rosenberg, @ruthmahalia, @mediamorphis, Caroline James-Garrod on LinkedIn and Global Media …

Discussion:

Simon Rosenberg /
@simon_rosenberg: “Australia's media concentration ranked second-worst in world” And JFC does it show in the embarrassingly poor quality that passes for most journalism in this country. https://www.theguardian.com/ ...

Ruth McHugh-Dillon /
@ruthmahalia: Four companies - News Corp, Nine Entertainment, Seven West Media and Australian Community Media -own 84% of print media in Australia. Only Brazil had a higher media concentration. https://www.theguardian.com/ ...

Dwayne Winseck /
@mediamorphis: Excellent write-up by @meadea in @GuardianAus on @FlewTerry, Cam McTernan, Rob Nicholls & Scott Fitzgerald's recently released study of media concentration in Australia as part of the @GMICProject. https://www.theguardian.com/ ... cc @SSHRC_CRSH @Carleton_U

Caroline James-Garrod /
Caroline James-Garrod on LinkedIn: Dire, albeit unsurprising. — Important new research by Terry Flew and peers, highlighting the alarming scale of news deserts in Australia's local news coverage. …

Bloomberg:

Sources: the NFL is in talks with Skydance Media and its major investor RedBird Capital Partners that could result in a sale of NFL Media and NFL Network— - Discussions revolve around the league's media assets — Earlier conversations with ESPN are said to have stalled

Discussion:

Brendon Kleen /
Awful Announcing: NFL may have found new buyers for its media assets in Skydance, Paramount

Mike Florio /
NBCSports.com: NFL could sell media assets to Skydance, RedBird

Brad Pareso /
Adweek: NFL in Talks With Ellison's Skydance, RedBird About Deals

Dan Rayburn /
Dan Rayburn on LinkedIn: Bloomberg reports that Skydance is in talks with the NFL to purchase the NFL Network, which includes the NFL Network cable channel and NFL Films. …

Peter Kafka /
Business Insider: The most valuable programming on TV is for sale. Why hasn't anyone bought it?

David Satin /
The Streamable: First Paramount, Now NFL Media? Skydance in Talks With NFL to Purchase NFL Network

Randall Williams /
Randall Williams on LinkedIn: I'm back again, this time alongside the pro party pooper that is Lucas Shaw. — Sources tell us the National Football League (NFL) …

Reuters:

Google says it'll stop linking to news and drop its deals with outlets in New Zealand if the country passes a law forcing digital platforms to pay for content— Google said on Friday it will stop linking to New Zealand news articles and ditch the agreements it has with local news organisations …

Discussion:
NZ Herald, KSTP-TV, @jason_kint and Google New Zealand Blog, more at Techmeme »

Discussion:

Shayne Currie /
NZ Herald: Google threatens to remove links to New Zealand news and ditch local agreements as threats ramp up over Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill - Media Insider KSTP-TV: Google says it will stop linking to New Zealand news if a law passes forcing it to pay for content

Jason Kint /
@jason_kint: Google will run the same tired playbook falsely calling this a link tax, threatening to pull from the market. Meanwhile, ignoring it's a smart way to deal with an imbalance in bargaining power, now backed up by courts, to fund a free and plural press, precious to democracy. [image]

The Hollywood Reporter:

WBD's head of ad sales, Jon Steinlauf, announces he is stepping down at the end of 2024 after 32 years at the company— WBD is beginning the search for Steinlauf's replacement. … WBD chief revenue and strategy officer Bruce Campbell announced Steinlauf's looming exit Friday …

Discussion:
The Wrap, Business Insider, TVNewsCheck and Deadline

Discussion:

Lucas Manfredi /
The Wrap: Warner Bros. Discovery Ad Sales Chief Jon Steinlauf to Exit

Lucia Moses /
Business Insider: Warner Bros. Discovery's advertising chief is leaving. Read the memo sent to staff.

CNN:

In response to the NYT's decision not to issue local endorsements, Ben Smith and other NYC journalists launch a project to do interviews with and vet candidates— New York CNN — — As newspaper editorial boards lose influence, or withdraw from the space altogether, there are openings for others.

Discussion:
@brianstelter@threads.net and

Discussion:

Brian Stelter /
@brianstelter@threads.net: Bigger picture: “This came out of organic conversations among friends about how to fill some of the hole left for independent, experienced journalistic editorial interviews that used to be an important test for public officials,” @semaforben said. …

Brian Stelter /
@brianstelter@threads.net: As newspaper editorial boards lose influence, or withdraw from the space altogether, others are trying to fill the gap. In NYC a who's-who of local journalists are launching the “New York Editorial Board” to interview candidates for higher office... https://www.cnn.com/...

Reuters:

Shares of Nature publisher Springer Nature opened at €24 in its Frankfurt IPO; the academic publisher priced its IPO at €22.5, giving it a ~€4.5B valuation— Springer Nature's (SPGG.DE) shares opened at 24 euros in its Frankfurt initial public offering (IPO) on Friday …

Discussion: LinkedIn
Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Bloomberg and

Discussion:

Pablo Mayo Cerqueiro /
Bloomberg: Springer Nature Gains on German Debut in Win for Europe IPOs José Maria Álvares / LinkedIn: Springer Nature's up to €600mm IPO on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange !

KGW-TV:

Willamette Week's owner plans to launch the Oregon Journalism Project as nonprofit news orgs aim to fill the void left by Oregon's receding print publications— The people behind Willamette Week will soon launch the Oregon Journalism Project, joining a burgeoning group of nonprofit news outfits looking to fill the gaps.

Discussion:
Oregonian

Discussion:

Billboard:

The Recording Academy, the group that votes for Grammys, says it now has over 13,000 voting members; at least 38% are people of color and at least 28% are women— It's a new academy compared to the one that showered Adele and Bruno Mars with Grammys in 2017 and 2018.

Discussion:
GoldDerby, KSTP-TV, Variety, Los Angeles Times, The Hollywood Reporter and GoldDerby

Discussion:

Daniel Montgomery /
GoldDerby: Grammys tout improvements in diversity and gender representation in 2024 membership report

KSTP-TV:
The Grammys' voting body is more diverse, with 66% new members. What does it mean for the awards?

Jem Aswad /
Variety: As Grammy Voting Begins, the Recording Academy Has Added More Than 3,000 Female Voters in Five Years

Mikael Wood /
Los Angeles Times: Recording Academy boots Grammy voters. CEO says awards should be decided by ‘relevant music people’

Mesfin Fekadu /
The Hollywood Reporter: 66 Percent of Current Grammy Voters Have Joined Since 2019: “Most Diverse, Representative Grammy Electorate Ever”

Daniel Montgomery /
GoldDerby: Grammy voting, explained: First-round voting starts October 4

The Verge:

Google rolls out ads in AI Overviews when a user's question has a “commercial angle”, and identifies the ads with a “sponsored” header, on mobile in the US— Google is rolling out ads in AI Overviews, which means you'll now start seeing products in some of the search engine's AI-generated summaries.

Discussion:

Webb Wright /
The Drum: Weekly AI Recap: California AI safety bill dies & Google AI Overviews get ads

Marty Swant /
Digiday: AI Briefing: Pinterest, Microsoft and Google bring new generative ad features for social and search

Michelle Castillo /
PRWeek: Pinterest unveils AI-fueled ad tools

Trishla Ostwal /
Adweek: Publisher Traffic Spiked Thanks to Google's Gen AI Overview Tweaks

RELATED:

TechCrunch:
Google rolls out AI-organized Search results in the US on mobile, showing users AI-aggregated pages of content from forums, articles, YouTube videos, and more

Discussion:
MEDIANAMA, Adweek, Bloomberg, Chris Andrew on LinkedIn, SE Ranking Blog, The Drum, @mizshellytee.bsky.social, Semafor, @xodaniwrites.bsky.social, @feralhattie.bsky.social, @dshieldspgh.bsky.social, Search Engine Land, The Information, @bookjockeyalex.bsky.social, @wagatwe.com and 9to5Google

Discussion:

Kamya Pandey /
MEDIANAMA: Google Rolls Out Ads in AI-Generated Search Results for Mobile Users in the US

Brad Pareso /
Adweek: Publisher Traffic Spiked Thanks to Google's Gen AI Overview Tweaks as Ad Rollout Begins

Curtis Heinzl /
Bloomberg: Google Begins Wide Rollout of Ads in AI Overview Search Results

Chris Andrew /
Chris Andrew on LinkedIn: Sponsored content is appearing in Google AI Summaries. As AI summaries cannibalize traditional organic search results we'll see the new paid formats rolling out. …

Webb Wright /
The Drum: Google launches ads in AI Overviews as it pushes onward in the generative AI race

Shelly /
@mizshellytee.bsky.social: Today's a good day to switch your default search engine to something else, if you haven't already. [embedded post] @xodaniwrites.bsky.social: Even with human editors, the headline can make or break a piece. [embedded post] @feralhattie.bsky.social: Just in time to lend a smidge, a dollop, a hint of added election chaos! Thanks awfully, goog [embedded post]

Dan Shields /
@dshieldspgh.bsky.social: <insert thisisfine.gif> [embedded post]

Danny Goodwin /
Search Engine Land: Google AI Overview ads launch on mobile in U.S.

Alex Brown /
@bookjockeyalex.bsky.social: please. i'm begging you to stop. no one wants this. [embedded post]

TechCrunch:

CJEU rules that social networks, such as Facebook, cannot keep using people's data for ad targeting indefinitely, siding with privacy campaigner Max Schrems— The European Union's top court has sided with a privacy challenge to Meta's data retention policies.

Discussion:
noyb, RTÉ, Associated Press, BBC, BNN Bloomberg, Fortune, @eucourtpress, Politico, @jbhall56@infosec.exchange and Hacker News, more at Techmeme »

Discussion:
Associated Press: Austrian activist Schrems wins privacy case against Meta over personal data on sexual orientation

Samuel Stolton /
BNN Bloomberg: Meta Ordered to Limit Use of Sexuality Data By Top EU Court

David Meyer /
Fortune: Meta faces new limits on ad-targeting in Europe as nemesis Max Schrems wins again at EU's highest court @eucourtpress: #ECJ: An online social network such as @Facebook cannot use all of the #PersonalData obtained for the purposes of targeted advertising, without restriction as to time and without distinction as to type of data 👉 https://curia.europa.eu/...

Jeff Hall /
@jbhall56@infosec.exchange: The European Union's top court has sided with a privacy challenge to Meta's data retention policies. It ruled on Friday that social networks, such as Facebook, cannot keep using people's information for ad targeting indefinitely. https://techcrunch.com/...

Voice of America:

The US Embassy in Cambodia calls for the release of Mech Dara, one of the country's last independent journalists, who has been arrested on incitement charges— Cambodia this week has seen an outpouring of support from journalists, media groups and embassies for Mech Dara …

Discussion:
The Hill, @usembphnompenh, Adweek and The Diplomat

Discussion:

Dominick Mastrangelo /
The Hill: US calls for release of award-winning Cambodian journalist @usembphnompenh: We are deeply troubled by the arrest of Mech Dara and call for his release. He is a leading voice against human trafficking & online scams, a 2023 🇺🇸 @StatDept TIP Hero & an advocate for freedom of expression-guaranteed in the constitution. We encourage authorities to engage w/

Brad Pareso /
Adweek: US Calls for Release of Award-Winning Cambodian Journalist

David Hutt /