[Nieman Lab: The Daily Digest]
Wednesday, November 22, 2023 [Iâm a media reporter and a diehard Swiftie. I don’t cover Taylor, but hereâs how I wish someone would]( Sheâs a billionaire, transforming the music industry in real time. Few living celebrities have her scale of cultural influence. Shouldnât someone be, at least, attempting to look without fear or favor to see if sheâs keeping her side of the street clean? By Sophie Culpepper. [How the Kennedy assassination helped make network TV news wealthy]( Until the early 1960s, TV news was seen as a loss leader. By Michael J. Socolow.
What We’re Reading Variety / Brian Steinberg
[Univision CEO defends “non-confrontational” Trump interview amid backlash →](
“We are here to serve our audience, not any political party, any one candidate or partisan groups,” CEO Wade Davis said. He also noted the interview with the former president marked the first time Univision has had a current or former Republican president on its air in 22 years. Washington Post / Will Sommer
[Will ProPublica cross a picket line by publishing its next big scoop? →](
A [long-running strike at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]( is threatening to undermine one of the nonprofit outlet’s investigative partnerships. Organizers of [ProPublicaâs union]( have complained that by helping the Post-Gazette produce articles, ProPublica is helping the newspaperâs management endure the strike. Washington Post / Catherine Belton and Todd C. Frankel
[Deal to sell Forbes collapses after questions about funds and foreign influence →](
The current owner of the U.S. media group, Integrated Whale Media, said it was terminating its agreement to sell Forbes after the buyer, a group led by American tech executive Austin Russell, “couldnât deliver on closing.” The sale had drawn criticism on Capitol Hill and scrutiny by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States over possible foreign involvement. Digiday / Sara Guaglione
[IAC and News Corp call out generative AI companies for scraping their content without compensation →](
Media execs from the two companies reiterated their anger during two recent earnings calls. The Verge / Nilay Patel and Alex Heath
[Sam Altman to return as CEO of OpenAI five days after secretive boardroom coup →](
After [a middle-of-the-night staff revolt]( OpenAI said in a statement late Tuesday that it has an âagreement in principleâ for Altman to return alongside a new initial board composed of Bret Taylor, Larry Summers, and Adam DâAngelo. (Tow Center director Emily Bell [noted]( “the board looks like it was created by generative AI – biased to the male and white with obvious ethical flaws.”) Press Gazette / Bron Maher
[The Guardian launches new ad product to allow advertisers to reach readers who’ve opted out of cookies →](
âRight now, about 30% of people on the open web click âreject allâ [when asked if they want to opt-in to cookies]. But when they do that, we canât serve them any advertising â that is until now.â (The publisher also encouraged advertisers to look past the “tofu and oat milk” stereotype of its audience.) New York Times / Michael M. Grynbaum
[Jeff Zucker poised to return to news leading two prominent British outlets →](
In a reversal of [a recent media trend]( the American is “near an agreement” to become “an improbable mogul of British conservative media” as he nears an agreement to gain control of The Daily Telegraph and The Spectator. Zucker, the former president of CNN, reportedly plans to expand the Telegraph into the U.S. Meta
[Meta unveils new tools to support independent research across Facebook and Instagram →](
“Researchers can search, explore and filter that content on both a graphical User Interface (UI) or through a programmatic API.” (See also: [Why researchers want broader access to social media data.]( National Post / Bryan Passifiume
[Canada expands its payroll tax credit for news publishers →](
Qualifying news outlets can now claim up to 35% of up to $85,000 in salary for a qualified employee. Previously, [publishers could claim 25% of up to $55,000 in salary]( per employee. The country also offers [a tax credit to individuals to encourage digital news subscriptions](. WIRED / Lauren Goode
[Del Harvey helped make Twitter’s hardest content moderation calls for 13 years. Now she’s breaking her silence. →](
“When trust and safety is going well, no one thinks about it or talks about it. And when trust and safety is going poorly, itâs usually something that leadership wants to blame on policies. Quite frankly, policies are going to be a Band-Aid if your product isnât being designed in a way that actually doesnât encourage abuse.” [Nieman Lab]( / [Fuego]( [Twitter]( / [Facebook]( [View email in browser]( [Unsubscribe]( You are receiving this daily newsletter because you signed up for for it at www.niemanlab.org. Nieman Journalism Lab Harvard University
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