Thursday, November 21, 2024 |
| “I’ve always liked to think of myself as a brain floating through space…[but] our physical condition constrains and expands the way we think about ourselves.” By Neel Dhanesha. |
What We’re ReadingBusiness Insider / Peter Kafka
Meet the man making money for Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, and Bari Weiss →“There are a few personalities who have the ability to create news cycles rather than react to news cycles.”The Pillar / Ed Condon
Catholic news site The Pillar on why it’s doubling down on covering a Vatican sexual abuse story →“If we started The Pillar for anything, it was to report the stories that we could see mattered, and which no one else could or would touch….Since we started reporting on
the Príncipi case, our paying subscribers are down — we’ve lost revenue, noticeably. Reporting the things we know matter, giving them the attention they deserve and refusing to let them go or to be
fobbed off with answers designed to distract might indeed be bad business.”Tech Policy Press / Lisa Macpherson
Why the DOJ’s Google ad tech case matters to you →“Today, Google’s share of the key services in an advertiser’s ad tech stack, all the way through to publishers, ranges from 40-90%. And remember that 15% media commission that lasted for 100 years? The comparison is imperfect, but the DOJ reported that Google now keeps 30% — and sometimes far more—of each advertising dollar flowing from advertisers to website publishers through Google’s ad tech tools. Publishers have needed to build higher paywalls and charge consumers more for subscriptions, increasing barriers to information.”The Financial Times / Daniel Thomas
ProRata.ai valued at $130 million after signing up UK publishers →“ProRata.ai, a US artificial intelligence start-up aiming to bring greater fairness in how media groups are paid for content, has agreed licensing deals with publishers including Daily Mail-owner DMG Media, the Guardian and Sky News. As part of the deal, DMG Media will acquire a stake in ProRata in a funding round that people familiar with the situation said would value the group, which was founded in January, at about $130 million.”New York Times / Charlie Savage
Trump tells Republicans to “kill” a bipartisan federal shield bill for journalists →“The bill, known as the PRESS Act, would codify protections against federal investigators seizing reporters’ records. It is now less likely the legislation will clear the Senate before the current session ends.”WIRED / Guthrie Scrimgeour
The AI reporter that took my old job just got fired →The Garden Island newspaper on the Hawaiian island of Kauai experimented with AI-generated presenters to engage and boost its readership. After two months, the bots have been shelved. The Verge / Lauren Feiner
DOJ says Google must sell Chrome to crack open its search monopoly →“The Department of Justice says that Google must divest the Chrome web browser to restore competition to the online search market, and it left the door open to requiring the company to spin out Android, too. The initial proposed final judgement refines the DOJ’s earlier high-level outline of remedies after Judge Amit Mehta found Google maintained an illegal monopoly in search and search text advertising.”NPR / Terry Gross
Veteran news editor expects Trump “to go after the press in every conceivable way” →“‘I think [Trump’s] salivating for the opportunity to prosecute and imprison journalists for leaks of national security information — or what they would call national security information,’ Marty Baron says. ‘I would expect that he would deny funding to public radio … and TV. And that he will seek to exercise control over the Voice of America and its parent company, the U.S. Agency for Global Media, as he did in his previous administration, trying to turn it into a propaganda outlet.'”The Washington Post / Harrison Smith
Reg Murphy, editor and publisher who survived a kidnapping, dies at 90 →“Reg Murphy, a journalist and publisher who survived a bizarre, politically motivated kidnapping in 1974 while editing the Atlanta Constitution, and who went on to hold top jobs at the San Francisco Examiner, Baltimore Sun and National Geographic Society, died Nov. 9 at his home on St. Simons Island, Georgia. He was 90.”Status / Oliver Darcy
Comcast is running away from the dying cable business →“The new venture is expected to include channels such as MSNBC, CNBC, USA Network, E!, Golf Channel, and more. The Wall Street Journal’s Amol Sharma, who broke the news, reported that Bravo will not be part of the spinoff and will instead stay inside the flagship operation. The ‘Real Housewives’-maker is crucial to powering Peacock with reality-television content.”Press Gazette / Bron Maher
How the U.K.’s largest news publisher is tailoring content for Google Discover →The type of content that does well on
Google Discover is described as “soft-lens: first-person pieces do well, as does lifestyle content and articles about niche interests and sports other than football.'”TechCrunch / Sarah Perez
As Bluesky soars, Threads rolls out custom feeds globally →Threads seems to be moving quickly to slow the momentum of its rival app. Bluesky, which has grown to 20 million users, already offers
custom feeds and other personalization tools.
Nieman Lab / Fuego
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