By David Farrell
Has the Twit outfoxed Rupert, the nonagenarian
Elon Musk has displaced Rupert Murdoch and Fox News as the king of conservative media in recent weeks.
Why it matters: Fox News used to be the place where conservatives went to break news. But the right-wing ecosystem has turned on the network, leaving Twitter as the center of media gravity for the Republican Party just as the 2024 election heats up. – Sara Fischer & Mike Allen, Axios
Ford to keep tuning into AM radio for 2024
The automaker will restore AM radio service on all 2024 Ford and Lincoln models and restore it on two electric vehicles via an over-the-air software update. – Michael Marinez, Automotive News Canada
Seeing stories of kindness may counteract the negative effects of consuming bad news
“This shows us there’s something unique about kindness which may buffer the effects of negative news on our mental health.” – Kathryn Buchanan, NiemanLab
What C-11 means for online media
Have something to say about all this? Now’s the time. The CRTC is accepting comments from the public until June 27 and holding a public hearing in November. To submit your comments, you can fill out this form or mail comments to CRTC, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0N2. Note that all information submitted, including contact information, becomes part of the public record.
In the notice of consultation, the CRTC sets out 39 questions to answer. Answer one, some or all of those questions as you want. But remember that what you suggest must still respect the letter and spirit of the law.
A separate notice covers what should be exempted from certain regulations, and another covers mandatory registration of online streaming services operating in Canada. Those have separate forms to submit comments, which are due June 12.
When submitting comments, remember that quality matters over quantity. You can submit a petition with a thousand signatures on it, but one submission with well-reasoned arguments will work much better in swaying the commissioners. – Steve Faguy, Fagstein
Streaming platforms must promote Canadian films globally in English, French and Indigenous languages
In a consultation document published Friday, the commission says promoting Canadian and Indigenous content domestically and internationally and making it easy to find is one of its policy objectives. The CRTC is looking for input on how it can ensure streaming platforms “make Canadian and Indigenous audio and video programming available in Canada and abroad.” – Marie Woolf, The Globe and Mail
Vice Media Group files for bankruptcy protection
Vice Media Group, popular for websites such as Vice and Motherboard, filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday to engineer its sale to a group of lenders, capping years of financial difficulties and top-executive departures.
Vice, with headquarters in New York City, was among a group of fast-rising digital media ventures that once commanded rich valuations as they courted millennial audiences. It rose to prominence alongside its co-founder, Shane Smith, who built his media empire from a single Canadian magazine in Montreal. – Thomson Reuters
Shelagh Rogers saying goodbye to CBC after 'thrilling' 43-year broadcast career
Rogers has been a broadcasting icon at the CBC with a standout career that has spanned more than four decades. With countless media interviews under her belt, her journalist instinct, heartfelt empathy and uncanny knack for understanding the human narrative has endeared Rogers to Canadian radio audiences.
After a 15-year run, Rogers' final episode as host of The Next Chapter will air on June 24. – CBC
Notable
Should the CRTC ban Fox from Canada’s airwaves? … How the CRTC deals with the Egale versus Fox matter will give a clear indication of the extent to which this Commission and its new chair, Vicky Eatrides, intend to meddle with content. The matter is all the more compelling now that Bill C-11 has defined the Internet’s audio/visual content as broadcasting and given the CRTC the power to regulate it, too. – Peter Menzies, The Globe and Mail
It’s not just newspaper journalists who are disappearing: BuzzFeed News has closed. Vice News is struggling – Paul Berton, The Hamilton Spectator
Guardian editor reveals investigations and ‘legal attacks’ drive reader contributions: "The harder the investigation, the more challenging, the more legal attacks we have, the more the readers come and back us." – William Turvill, Press Gazette UK
TV News may face resistance from advertisers: The polarization of US society is causing unease with advertisers, and now more of the news networks are finding ways to match advertisers with audiences without having to be placed next to segments that might turn controversial. – Variety
Google’s new generative AI search engine should terrify the media: … By doing the “heavy lifting” itself—by using a Chatbot-like interface to save users another click—Google could leave these primary sources out of the equation, diminishing their ability to remain standalone entities, or even exist at all. – Alex Kantrowitz, Slate
AI presents political peril for 2024 with threat to mislead voters: The implications for the 2024 campaigns and elections are as large as they are troubling: Generative AI can not only rapidly produce targeted campaign emails, texts or videos, it also could be used to mislead voters, impersonate candidates and undermine elections on a scale and at a speed not yet seen. – David Klepper & Ali Swenson, AP
Barry Diller on AI: “You can’t have fair use when there is an unfair machine that knows no bounds,” Diller said, speaking at the Sir Harry Evans Global Summit in Investigative Journalism in London, according to Financial Times. – Ray Schultz, Publisher’s Daily
US pay-TV subs fall to lowest levels since 1992: Cable TV operators’ rate of decline in Q1 reached -9.9% year over year, while satellite providers DirecTV and Dish Network fell -13.4%. In addition, so-called “virtual MVPDs” (multichannel video programming distributors) lost 264,000 customers in Q1, among the worst quarters to date for the segment. – Todd Spangler, Variety
Inside Tucker Carlson’s battle to trade his $20M Fox News salary for a Twitter show. – Tatiana Siegel, Variety
Paramount shuts down MTV News: Paramount Global — the conglomerate that owns MTV and a host of other networks — announced this week that it was shuttering MTV News amid widespread cutbacks, it triggered a flood of fond recollections about MTV News, and the on-air personalities — like Tabitha Soren and SuChin Pak who defined the brand — who encouraged young people to care as much about social issues as the lineup at Lollapalooza. – Meredith Blake, Los Angeles Times
Call Me Fred (CMF Radio) is a UK-based website that is rich in stories about notable songs that allows one to search titles and find explanations related to the song. It’s not as detailed as SongFacts, but it does include Canadian and global charts and a Music News section.
Doug Rushkoff Is Ready to Renounce the Digital Revolution: The former techno-optimist has taken a decisive political left turn. He says it’s the only human option. – Malcolm Harris, Wired
Dominion’s CEO says its legal costs in its lawsuit against Fox News reached “tens of millions of dollars a month” – Press Gazette
Your DNA can now be pulled from thin air. Privacy Experts Are Worried. – Elizabeth Anne Brown, The New York Times
The metaverse was supposed to be the future of the internet. Is that dream now dead? In February, Meta announced it was focusing on AI technology, which some in the industry took as a sign that Mark Zuckerberg is burying his dream of the metaverse. In fact, Meta is still alive and moving forward. – Joshua Chong, Toronto Star
Has copyright caught up with the AI Act? – Freshfields, Bruckhaus, Deringer
Let’s get real about Canada’s lack of investment in R&D – David Parkinson, The Globe and Mail
