OpenAI and News Corp strike a content deal valued at over $250 million →

“There are few greater authorities on the planet on the rise of authoritarianism than Masha Gessen.” —SS

“The company in 2022 started labeling state-affiliated media accounts — like those from RT, the global Russian television network, and People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party. It said it would no longer allow videos from such accounts into users’ main feeds if they ‘attempt to reach communities outside their home country on current global events and affairs.’ TikTok also said the accounts would not be permitted to advertise on TikTok outside their home countries, to further reduce their reach.”

“GBH announced layoffs of 31 staff members on Wednesday, representing 4% of its overall workforce…The most dramatic cuts are to programming within the news division, the organization’s largest department with approximately 100 employees.”

“For core audiences, the Post will introduce three additional subscription tiers: ‘Plus,’ a B2C offering with additional editorial content for superfans; ‘Pro,’ a B2B offering with in-depth policy data and analysis (the Post’s answer to Politico Pro and Axios Pro, essentially) for the K Street and Capitol Hill crowd; and ‘Membership,’ which adds access to exclusive events and forums (think: WSJ C.E.O. Council). For non-core audiences, such as younger news consumers who engage with Post content on social media, the Post will also introduce a pay-as-you-go option to access single articles or work from a specific author. “ —LO

“The conceit that any new technology renders all preexisting laws and regulations inapplicable is a profitable one. Hundreds of billions of dollars can be made with the ‘ask forgiveness, not permission’ philosophy. That is what OpenAI is doing now.”

“One staffer says three-quarters of his web pieces never meet the piercing gaze of a copy editor. An unspoken rule, says the staffer, is that only pieces trending on Chartbeat get a (retroactive) look from the copy desk … Despite this mismatch between reportorial output and copy-editing bandwidth, [editor-in-chief Edith] Chapin’s memo makes no mention of the problem, and instead preoccupies itself with high-level oversight, standards and the like. Could it be that the big-dollar funder lacks a passion for copy editing?”