publishing
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CNET pauses publication of AI-written stories amid controversy
CNET is pausing releases of AI-written articles after uproars over errors and a lack of disclosure.
Meta is killing off its Instant Articles format for news stories
The company said it 'doesn’t make sense to over invest in areas that don't align with user preferences.'
Medium founder and CEO Ev Williams is stepping down
Twitter co-founder Evan Williams is stepping as CEO of Medium.
Facebook jumpstarts newsletter ambitions with $5 million for indie writers
The company will prioritize reporters who plan to cover marginalized communities.
Details emerge about Facebook's Substack clone for indie writers
A leak has detailed how Facebook's Substack-like publishing platform will work, including tie-ins with Pages and ways to get paid.
Google-backed journalism study points to a local news resurgence
Google-backed local news initiative Project Oasis has found that the amount of small publishers in North America has grown by 50 percent over the past five years despite media outlets facing financial insecurity.
Facebook will roll back its block on news posts in Australia
After blocking news posts in Australia for a few days, Facebook has reversed course.
Facebook blocks users from sharing news links in Australia
Politicians are set to vote on a bill that would force tech giants to pay for content.
New York Times and other US media join The Coalition for App Fairness
Back in September, Epic, Spotify and a variety of other companies both big and small came together to form The Coalition for App Fairness in an effort to pressure Apple and Google to change their app store policies. DCN claims Apple’s practices have negatively affected its members.
Indie history: How shareware helped build Epic Games
"When [Epic] popped up and said, ‘We're redefining the publishing deal,’ it made me chuckle." - Mike Wilson, co-founder of Devolver Digital
Spotify claims it 'overpaid' songwriters and wants its money back
Spotify and music publishers have been in a bit of a tiff for months over a planned royalty rate increase that would require streaming services to pay more to artists. You can bet the company is watching the numbers closely, especially while it appeals the new rules. Spotify now claims that it overpaid songwriters and publishers last year, and now it's asking for its money back, according to Music Business Worldwide.
Bungie will self-publish 'Destiny' in split with Activision
Bungie is about to take greater control of Destiny's... well, destiny. The studio has reached a deal with Activision that will hand over the publishing rights to the shared-world shooter franchise. According to the company, it's "ready" to publish on its own after getting Activision's help over the past eight years. The handover is still in the "early stages," Bungie said, but the aim is to make it "as seamless as possible."
Apple Music sets up publishing division as it chases down Spotify
Apple Music has been on its way to overtake Spotify in terms of subscriber base for a while now. The service got a new boss, Oliver Schusser, this past April, as well. Now, Schusser's first major initiative appears to be the launch of Apple's own music publishing division, headed by Elena Segal, previously the Legal Director of iTunes. As an unnamed source told Music Business Worldwide: "Oliver wants to underline the importance of publishing and songwriters to Apple. That's what this move is all about."
Apple will shut down Texture's terrible Windows app
Apple bought Texture, the 'Netflix for magazines,' back in March as a clear bid to get in on an uncluttered media provider niche. The service gives subscribers unlimited access to a number of publications -- but now, you won't be able to use it on Windows devices. Without explanation, Apple informed users that the Texture app will be pulled from the Microsoft Store after June 30th. As of now, it will still be available for Android, Amazon Fire, and iOS.
Google to stop penalizing paywalled news in search results
Google is relaxing its rules on subscription news stories in a bid to thaw increasingly frosty relationships with prominent media giants. Previously, under Google's "first click free" policy, publishers such as The Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal would have to provide users with a number of free articles every day, or be penalized in Google's search results. Publishers argued that this affected sales and slowed the take-up of online news subscription services at a time when many relied on revenue from content hidden behind paywalls.
Medium adds Bloomberg and other publications to subscription service
In a push to monetize its publishing platform, Medium added a $5 Netflix-style subscription last March. The system includes a way for members to "clap" different posts to give creators a percentage of their membership fee as well. Now Medium is bringing professional publications into the fold with curated selections from the likes of The New York Times, Bloomberg and Rolling Stone tucked behind the subscription paywall.
Facebook will allow news subscriptions on Instant Articles
In the face of mounting pressure from publishers, Facebook is launching a news subscription service. The new feature will essentially allow news outlets to erect a paywall on top of Instant Articles. That way Facebook keeps readers locked to its site, while media companies earn a bit more cash from their content. The social network will begin testing the service in October, according to its head of news partnerships Campbell Brown.
Seminal sci-fi magazine 'Galaxy' is now free online
The next time you watch a big blockbuster sci-fi film like Alien: Covenant, you can thank the original pulp magazines. The written form of the popular genre got its start in comic book-sized magazines like Amazing Stories, Astounding Science Fiction, Galaxy Science Fiction, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. These publications, under the direction of influential editors like John W. Campbell, Jr., helped improve the genre from basic adventure stories to more thoughtful, well-written speculative fiction by authors like Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, and Arthur C. Clarke. It's not an overstatement to say that these magazines created the current science fiction craze. Now, Galaxy Science Fiction, a magazine that published Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451" and Alfred Bester's "The Demolished Man," is available for free online.
How Bandai Namco is (and isn't) changing 'Duelyst'
There's something about Duelyst. Its magic might stem from the fact that it's gorgeous, with floaty, bright pixel art in a rich fantasy world -- or it might be the blend of card-based strategy and turn-based tactics. It might run even deeper than that: Counterplay Games is a 14-person, independent studio co-founded by Keith Lee, the former lead producer on Diablo III, and staffed by veterans of League of Legends, Overwatch and XCOM. Whatever makes Duelyst shine, it certainly caught the eye of Bandai Namco, one of the gaming industry's oldest and largest studios. Bandai Namco just signed on to publish Duelyst, freeing up the developers at Counterplay to focus on, well, development.
Medium’s existential makeover continues with a revamped homepage
Despite its high profile, Medium still hasn't quite figured out what it is in the five years since it launched as a minimalist blogging platform. In the meantime, Medium has pivoted from tech company to publishing service and various shades in between as it tries to draw an audience, fix "a broken system" and eventually turn a profit. In March, Medium announced an ad-free $5 premium tier with curated content and audio stories, but it seems that experiment has already run its course. After just two months, Medium has made the curated homepage available to everyone.
