Sources: Sony and Apollo sign NDAs but back away from their $26B offer for Paramount's assets, partly due to Sony shareholders' concerns over streaming costs (New York Times)

Mediagazer: Sources: Sony and Apollo sign NDAs but back away from their $26B offer for Paramount's assets, partly due to Sony shareholders' concerns over streaming costs (New York Times)

Top News:

New York Times:

Sources: Sony and Apollo sign NDAs but back away from their $26B offer for Paramount's assets, partly due to Sony shareholders' concerns over streaming costs— The two companies have expressed interest in acquiring the media conglomerate, but are backing away from their $26 billion all-cash offer.
Discussion: The Wrap, Deadline, @benmullin, @shanabellucy and Financial Times

Discussion:

Ross A. Lincoln /
The Wrap: Sony-Apollo Backs Away From $26 Billion Paramount Bid but Paves Way to Continued Deal Talks, NDAs

Jill Goldsmith /
Deadline: Sony & Paramount Sign Non-Disclosure Agreement Allowing Deal Talks To Start, But It's Not Looking Like A $26 Billion Bid For Whole Company Anymore

Ben Mullin /
@benmullin: scoop w/@LaurenSHirsch — Sony and Apollo have signed NDAs with Paramount, a significant step forward in their bid. However, they are backing away from their plan to make a $26 billion, all-cash offer for the company. New structures are being considered: https://www.nytimes.com/... @shanabellucy: @BenMullin @LaurenSHirsch The signing of NDAs signals Sony and Apollo's serious intent, but rethinking the $26B all-cash offer is prudent. Exploring alternative deal structures that unlock value while addressing streaming challenges could lead to a win-win for both sides

Nieman Lab:

Q&A with New Yorker journalist Rachel Aviv on her Lucy Letby article, the cost of trial transcripts in the UK, the police documentary about the case, and more— “So much of the media coverage — and the trial itself — started at the point at which we've determined that [Lucy] …

Discussion:

Laura Wagner /
Washington Post: Why Brits can't read a New Yorker exposé about a British murder case

Gina Rushton /
@ginarush: So many great insights into Aviv's writing process in this interview about the Letby piece https://www.niemanlab.org/...

Sarah Scire /
@sarahscire: The only time I unironically use 🚨 in the @NiemanLab Slack is when new work from @RachelAviv drops. On her reporting methods and why her new blockbuster @NewYorker article is banned in the U.K. https://www.niemanlab.org/... Nieman Journalism Lab on LinkedIn: For her 13,000-plus-word story “A British Nurse Was Found Guilty of Killing Seven Babies. Did She Do It?”, New Yorker staff writer Rachel Aviv drew on text messages …

David Whelan /
@davidpwhelan@mastodon.world: A look at how journalist Rachel Aviv, who wrote the new #NewYorker piece on Lucy Letby (convicted of murder in the UK), approached writing the article: acquiring court transcripts, process, Scrivener, US v UK court information restrictions, info misrepresentation by state authorities. …

TechCrunch:

Reddit reintroduces the awards system it shut down in 2023, ends the replacement Golden Upvotes system, and expands its Contributor Program to 35 countries— Reddit announced on Wednesday that it is reintroducing its awards system after shutting down the program last year.

Discussion:
The Verge and r/reddit, more at Techmeme »

New York Times:

Source: Roku's Sunday morning MLB package is worth $30M over three years, but the MLB can earn more from ads; Peacock paid $30M/year for the package before— Major League Baseball's Sunday morning package on Roku, called “Sunday Leadoff,” is worth a total of $30 million over three years …

Discussion:
Sports Media Watch, @tvgrimreaper and Awful Announcing

Washington Post:

Seven Black and female Chicago Tribune journalists file a federal suit against Alden, claiming it has knowingly paid them less than White and male counterparts— It's the latest revolt by journalists at a newspaper owned by Alden Global Capital. — Chicago Tribune journalists filed suit Thursday …

Discussion:
Boing Boing, Chicago Sun Times, Chicago Tribune, @royalpratt, @ctguild, Associated Press and @jsmithrichards

Discussion:

Rob Beschizza /
Boing Boing: Photographer wins lawsuit against alleged painter who plagiarized her work

Kade Heather /
Chicago Sun Times: Chicago Tribune journalists file discrimination suit against paper

Robert Channick /
Chicago Tribune: Chicago Tribune journalists file lawsuit alleging pay discrimination against female and Black employees

Gregory Royal Pratt /
@royalpratt: Our colleagues who are suing Tribune over wage discrimination are some of the bravest folks I know. @ctguild told the company ages ago about outrageous pay gaps and they gaslit our workers while refusing to fix it. I stand with our journalists today/always https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... @ctguild: Today, 7 brave Chicago Tribune employees sued the company for wage discrimination. We support them, admire them & reject the gross unfairness owner Alden has overseen. Together, we will end it. Here's why this matters (1/8): https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...

Jennifer Smith Richards /
@jsmithrichards: I am absolutely in awe of the named plaintiffs — all extraordinary journalists. They are standing up for what is fair and just. Thank you to @ChristyGutowsk1 @DarcelTribune @StaceyWescott1 @Mabuckley88 Terrence James @neacynewslady and Colleen Kujawa. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...

Committee to Protect Journalists:

The CPJ led a coalition of media and civic groups urging the US DOJ to drop charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has a UK hearing on May 20— The Committee to Protect Journalists led a coalition of civil society organizations urging the United States Department of Justice …

Discussion:
Sydney Criminal Lawyers

Discussion:

South China Morning Post:

The US says it is deeply concerned over reports that Zhang Zhan, imprisoned after covering COVID-19 in China, has disappeared after her expected prison release— - Zhang Zhan, arrested in 2020 after reporting on coronavirus in Wuhan, has not been heard from since her expected prison release date, advocates say

Discussion:
@statedeptspox, Daily Mail, UPI, BBC, @ameshaa and @angoffinet

Discussion:

Matthew Miller /
@statedeptspox: The United States is concerned about reports that PRC citizen journalist Zhang Zhan disappeared after her expected release date from prison on May 13. We reiterate our call for the PRC to respect the human rights of all journalists, who should be able to report freely.

Bethan Sexton /
Daily Mail: Fears for missing Wuhan journalist as she vanishes upon prison release after serving four years for filming COVID lab leak

Amesh Adalja /
@ameshaa: “She was the first to face trial for reporting on the pandemic in the central Chinese city and received the harshest punishment” https://www.scmp.com/...

Pew Research Center:

Survey: 39% of Americans say it is at least somewhat important that they get news from journalists who share their political views— Most Americans say it is not important that the news they get comes from journalists who share their political views, age, gender or other traits.

Discussion:
@mediathoughts

The Verge:

Memo: Gannett is adding AI-generated summaries to the top of some stories, with a disclaimer at the bottom; some USA Today stories already show the summaries— Gannett, the media company that owns hundreds of newspapers in the US, is launching a new program that adds AI-generated bullet points …

Discussion:
Dan Ackerman on LinkedIn, Futurism, @roc_howe, @rocnewsguild, @kennysmith@mstdn.social, @miasato.2@threads.net, Futurism and Digiday

Discussion:

Dan Ackerman /
Dan Ackerman on LinkedIn: At first glance, this feels harmless (and maybe that's the point) — auto-generated bullet points that are hand-reviewed before publication. …

Maggie Harrison Dupré /
Futurism: USA Today Using AI to Generate Parts of Articles, Leaked Memo Shows

Steve Howe /
@roc_howe: Why is @rocnewsguild fighting for AI protection in our contract? Because AI is already being used to generate (garbage) content at Gannett properties. This isn't a far-off future concern; this dystopian news landscape is already here. @rocnewsguild: Using bots with artificial intelligence to replace journalists with actual intelligence is clearly a stupid idea for anyone who cares about news and democracy. It's ridiculous that @Gannett, which owns so many local newspapers, is having such a hard time understanding this.

Kenny Smith /
@kennysmith@mstdn.social: Read between the LLM-generated lines. — From: @Mediagazer — https://mstdn.social/...

Mia Sato /
@miasato.2@threads.net: Scoop: Gannett is adding AI-generated summaries to the top of some stories. Sound familiar? Like what a certain search engine is doing to search results?? https://www.theverge.com/...

Maggie Harrison Dupré /
Futurism: Gannett Staff Furious Over Contract Allowing AI “to Generate News Content”

Sara Guaglione /
Digiday: Gannett's new contract language around AI unsettles local union

Reuters:

OpenAI and Reddit partner to bring Reddit content to OpenAI tools including ChatGPT via Reddit's Data API and to add AI features to Reddit; RDDT is up 12%+— Reddit (RDDT.N) has partnered with OpenAI to bring the social media platform's content to popular chatbot ChatGPT …

Discussion: @reddit,
The Verge, Joel Deutscher on LinkedIn, CNBC, Reddit Upvoted, Conan Hines on LinkedIn, Quartz, Ars Technica, Amanda Guisbond on LinkedIn, Sherwood News, The Register, Glenn Gabe on LinkedIn, Fast Company, Associated Press, @lilyraynyc, @mikeisaac, @kyliebytes, @andrewcurran_, @haydenfield, @shiringhaffary, @leanmediaorg, @kantrowitz, @ryanjones, @lilyraynyc, @openai, @sipi@union.place, Search Engine Journal, Norman Brauns on LinkedIn, Reuters, Engadget, @juliancday@writing.exchange, Axios, Benzinga, @crumbler@threads.net, Wall Street Journal, VentureBeat, Bloomberg, The Hollywood Reporter and @aarongreenspan.com, more at Techmeme »

Discussion: @reddit:

Emilia David /
The Verge: OpenAI strikes Reddit deal to train its AI on your posts

Joel Deutscher /
Joel Deutscher on LinkedIn: Big news today for OpenAI and Reddit today. No, this isn't an impressive tech demo, though it might be more important. …

Hayden Field /
CNBC: Reddit soars after announcing OpenAI deal that allows use of its data for training AI models

Conan Hines /
Conan Hines on LinkedIn: I've been screaming for months how if LLMs just had more AITA posts and shower thoughts we'd be at AGI already. Thank you OpenAI and Reddit, Inc. for listening 🙏

Rocio Fabbro /
Quartz: OpenAI will use Reddit content to train ChatGPT

Scharon Harding /
Ars Technica: OpenAI will use Reddit posts to train ChatGPT under new deal

Amanda Guisbond /
Amanda Guisbond on LinkedIn: Whoa. This is a big deal. And an opportunity for #healthcare innovators to take advantage of ChatGPT's integration of Reddit data …

Jamie Wilde /
Sherwood News: Hey ChatGPT, AITA?

Brandon Vigliarolo /
The Register: Reddit goes AI agnostic, signs data training deal with OpenAI

Glenn Gabe /
Glenn Gabe on LinkedIn: If you don't like how Reddit has surged recently in Google, then you definitely aren't going to like this news. …

Christopher Zara /
Fast Company: Reddit stock price sees fresh high after content deal with ChatGPT maker OpenAI

Lily Ray /
@lilyraynyc: Damn... Reddit data is apparently a goldmine for LLMs. Now BOTH Google and OpenAI are training their models on... Reddit content? What could possibly go wrong?

Rat King /
@mikeisaac: significant! Looks like OAI and Reddit reached an API deal — Reddit gains $$$ and mod tools, OAI gains new conversation data curious how users take this....

Kylie Robison /
@kyliebytes: reddit really making the most out of data licensing deals at the bloomberg tech event, they did a poll on what would be reddit's biggest source of revenue (ads, data licensing deals etc) and ads won by far but i voted data licensing lol

Andrew Curran /
@andrewcurran_: The reddit post. They already allow Google to use their content for training data for Gemini. This seems to imply OpenAI can also train off user posts going forward. The Alphabet data-access contract pays out $60 million a year. No numbers on this one yet. [image]

Hayden Field /
@haydenfield: Reddit shares surged 11% in extended trading on Thursday after the social media company announced a partnership with OpenAI, which will allow the ChatGPT-maker to train its AI models on Reddit content. https://www.cnbc.com/...

Shirin Ghaffary /
@shiringhaffary: OpenAI is on a roll with media/publishing deals: Reddit, Dotdash Meredith, Financial Times, all announced within the past several weeks @leanmediaorg: This is what every large news and digital content publisher should have started working on 18 months ago. Few have. Theres an opportunity for smaller/indie publishers as well, but only after significant standardization of structured data or CMS content, maybe as a consortium.

Alex Kantrowitz /
@kantrowitz: Google no happy

Ryan Jones /
@ryanjones: If you thought Reddit and Google was great you're gonna love this Reddit and OpenAI partnership. https://openai.com/... Reddit and OpenAI today announced a partnership to benefit both the Reddit and OpenAI user communities in a number of ways. Learn more on our corporate blog. https://www.redditinc.com/... @openai: We're partnering with Reddit to bring its content to ChatGPT and new products: https://openai.com/...

Matt G. Southern /
Search Engine Journal: ChatGPT To Surface Reddit Content Via Partnership With OpenAI

Norman Brauns /
Norman Brauns on LinkedIn: 👇 OpenAI just struck a deal to bring Reddit content into ChatGPT, and this could be a game-changer for the SEO industry. …

Pranav Dixit /
Engadget: OpenAI strikes deal to put Reddit posts in ChatGPT

Julian Day /
@juliancday@writing.exchange: Deleted my Reddit account ✌️ — https://www.theverge.com/...

Ina Fried /
Axios: OpenAI inks deal to bring Reddit content to ChatGPT

Sarah E. Needleman /
Wall Street Journal: Reddit Signs Data-Licensing Deal With OpenAI

Michael Nuñez /
VentureBeat: OpenAI partners with Reddit to integrate unique user-generated content into ChatGPT

Aaron Greenspan /
@aarongreenspan.com: I hope Redditors like generating Sam's training data for free. [embedded post]

New York Times:

Sources: many NPR employees expressed anger or concern over the Backstop, a new layer of editors who will review all of NPR's journalism before it is released— Many employees have expressed concern that a new group of six editors called the Backstop will be unnecessary and slow down NPR's journalism.

Discussion:
NPR, Inside Radio, Columbia Journalism Review, @lowkell, @lydenfreeagent, @donlinn, @jayrosen_nyu, @obviousdwest@hachyderm.io and Current

Discussion:

Edith Chapin /
NPR: Resources to enhance and strengthen editorial operations

Cameron Joseph /
Columbia Journalism Review: How Biden and Trump kneecapped the media with their debate deal @lowkell: @jayrosen_nyu @BenMullin So, pointing out in good faith that NPR is effectively biased towards the right, due to its relentless false equivalence, is completely ignored. But some unhinged, totally false right-wing screed results in this massive (over) reaction by @npr management. Greeeeaaat...

Jay Rosen /
@jayrosen_nyu: An anonymous funder is donating the money necessary to add a new layer of editorial review to NPR's journalism, @BenMullin reports. https://www.nytimes.com/... Can that really stand? Without knowing who it is, how can we assess the nature of the donor's willingness to help?

Tyler Falk /
Current: NPR will add 11 staff to ‘strengthen’ editorial team

New York Times:

Two voice actors sue AI startup Lovo, saying it illegally used recordings of their voices to make audio clones without their permission; Lovo denies the claims— Two voice actors say an A.I. company created clones of their voices without their permission. Now they're suing.

Discussion:

Paula Zirinsky /
Paula Zirinsky on LinkedIn: A important class action lawsuit filed by Pollock | Cohen LLP on behalf of voice-over actors who had their voices cloned, and then sold by a tech company …

Clare Duffy /
CNN: They claim AI stole their voices. Now they're suing

Albert Fong /
@albertfong98: Is voice over? We've heard and seen AI's ability to replicate images and audio. But voice actors are the latest who find themselves potentially pushed out by the technology https://www.nytimes.com/... @CadeMetz #artificialintelligence #creators #voice

Olav Mitchell Underdal /
@omunderdal: What Do You Do When A.I. Takes Your Voice? - Two voice actors say an A.I. company created clones of their voices without their permission. Now they're suing. The company denies it did anything wrong. via @nytimes: https://www.nytimes.com/... @charlescmann: @MrHWM One thing that gives me confidence about AI is that the industry behind it is filled with people of sterling character who are upfront and transparent about what they're doing. https://www.nytimes.com/... [image]

David Mack /
@davidmackau: this is kinda why so many people had such a visceral reaction to the apple ipad ad: the feeling that tech is just squashing artists and couldn't give a crap https://www.nytimes.com/...

Avi Bar-Zeev /
Avi Bar-Zeev on LinkedIn: One of the factors for determining whether a particular GenAI infringes the IP rights of the human talent input as training data is whether …

Marilyn Simes /
Marilyn Simes on LinkedIn: Digital Instincts recently finished editing a video for one of our clients at L'Oréal. We thought about using an AI voice to narrate the video's content. …

Frank Verderosa /
Frank Verderosa on LinkedIn: Sure, this sucks. Getting paid a pittance and then having your voice cloned without knowing is everyone's worst nightmare. But my hot-takes here are: …

Jacob Bryant /
The Wrap: Voiceover Actors Sue AI Startup Lovo for Stealing Their Voices ‘Without Permission or Proper Compensation’

Winston Cho /
The Hollywood Reporter: Actors Hit AI Startup With Class Action Lawsuit Over Voice Theft

@stevenwaldman:

The California Senate Appropriations Committee approves a bill imposing fees on Alphabet, Meta, and Amazon to pay for local news through employment tax credits— The California Senate Appropriations Committee minutes ago approved Sen. Glazer's bill to put a fee on Alphabet, Meta & Amazon to pay for reviving local news (through employment tax credits). 1st time such a fee would be dedicated to saving local news. https://www.rebuildlocalnews.org/ ...

Discussion:
@danibergstrom and @mattdpearce

Discussion:

Danielle Bergstrom /
@danibergstrom: We @fresnoland signed on in support of this bill. The state uses tax credits all the time to incentivize different priority industries and local journalism should be no exception. TY to Sen. Caballero for her support.

Matt Pearce /
@mattdpearce: SB 1327 advances in California, which is considering two massive Big Tech bills to fund journalism jobs. Big deal.

RELATED:

Gothamist:
New York's $90M employment tax credit for local news outlets currently excludes publicly traded TV and radio companies as well as nonprofit news outlets

Discussion:
Variety, @wesleylowery, @nicdawes, @baekdal, @vitalcitynyc, @civiletti, @nicdawes, @joncampbellny, @giambusso and @christrobbins

Discussion:

Nick Vivarelli /
Variety: Italian Film Business Lashes Out at Political Delay

Wesley /
@wesleylowery: As a proponent of funneling public money to support journalism, I urge us all to...read the text of bills before lobbying for their passage!!! https://gothamist.com/...

Nicholas Dawes /
@nicdawes: New York communities need a diverse ecosystem of news outlets that meet them where they are, on the platforms of their choice, for profit, nonprofit, cooperative. This subsidy props up one (important) slice of sector at the expense of audiences hungry for quality news.

Nicholas Dawes /
@nicdawes: The structure of the credit excludes nonprofits, which are doing some of the most vital accountability reporting and community journalism, and it shuts out publicly owned broadcasters while leaving a giant loophole open for listed print chains.

Thomas Baekdal /
@baekdal: We sadly see this with almost all of these types of efforts. @vitalcitynyc: Read @dicktofel dissecting the credit in Vital City: https://www.vitalcitynyc.org/ ...

Denise Civiletti /
@civiletti: Great to see some actual reporting on what really went down with this. The law left out for-profit digital news like @RiverheadLOCAL too. @Gothamist @JonCampbellNY https://gothamist.com/...

Nicholas Dawes /
@nicdawes: New York's tax credit for local journalism could have been a shining example of content-neutral policy support. Instead it's a carve-out for legacy newspapers that leaves vital digital and nonprofit players in the cold https://gothamist.com/...

Jon Campbell /
@joncampbellny: The biggest ?: Whether for-profit, digital outlets will be eligible. That's up to Empire State Development, which will craft regulations. It depends whether ESD considers them “print media.” (There's some precedent for that.) https://gothamist.com/... https://gothamist.com/...

David Giambusso /
@giambusso: Appreciate the sentiment but also ... the f-ck outta here. Non-profit newsrooms are doing G-d's work and need help. (Please donate to @wnyc @gothamist and other non-profit news outlets like @Documentedny and @THECITYNY ) https://gothamist.com/... via @gothamist

Christopher Robbins /