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Voting technology company Smartmatic has filed defamation suits against Newsmax and One America News Network, adding them to a list that already includes Fox News, several of its on-air personalities and pro-Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell. The new suits were filed on the one-year anniversary of Election Day 2020. While Smartmatic has not specified how much money it is demanding from the two networks, it claims conspiracy theories that were aired concerning the work it did during the 2020 election have cut the company's value by $2 billion. "Despite claims to provide viewers with honest, unbiased reporting, these outlets victimized Smartmatic by spreading false information about the company following last year's election, all in their efforts to increase viewership and revenue," J. Erik Connolly, one of the attorneys representing Smartmatic, said in a statement. Dominion, another voting tech company, filed a defamation suit against the two networks in August.
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Facebook is shutting down its facial recognition system. Launched in 2010, the feature has sparked privacy concerns, a class-action lawsuit and various regulatory problems. More than a third of Facebook's users have opted into the system, resulting in what the company says are more than one billion facial recognition templates. While those templates are set to be deleted, Facebook says the software used to operate the system will remain, and that it will not rule out incorporating the system into future products. The change also affects Automatic Alt Text, which is used to provide image descriptions for blind or visually impaired users. "Every new technology brings with it potential for both benefit or concern, and we want to find the right balance," Facebook VP of artificial intelligence Jerome Pesenti in a post on the company's website.
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New York Times paid subscriptions hit the 8.3 million mark at the end of Q3 2021, a 21.6 percent jump from the end of Q3 2020, according to results released on November 3. According to NYT Co. president and chief executive officer Meredith Kopit Levien, there were 455,000 net new digital subscriptions in the quarter—320,000 for the paper's digital news product and 135,000 for its games, cooking and Wirecutter platforms. While print subscription revenues climbed 39.4 percent from Q3 2020, they were still down by 25.4 percent from Q3 2019's numbers. Ad revenue also rose, with digital up 40.2 percent from Q3 2020 and print up by 39.4 percent. However, the Times' earning statement notes that the print figures reflect "the comparison to weak print advertising revenues in the third quarter of 2020." Overall, operating profit jumped 23.7 percent going from $39.6 million Q3 2020 to $49.0 million in Q3 2021.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which has roots going back to 1786, is going out of business, the paper’s owners, Block Communications, announced on Jan. 7... GQ editor Will Welch is stepping down to take on a new Paris-based role with the musician Pharrell, who is also men’s creative director at Louis Vuitton... Semafor says it has raised $30 million on a $330 million valuation, following its first profitable year. 
The Walt Disney Company and OpenAI reach an agreement that will make a set of more than 200 animated, masked and creature characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars available for use by Sora, OpenAI’s short-form generative AI video platform... CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss has moved Tony Dokoupil, a co-host at “CBS Mornings” since 2019, into the anchor’s chair for the “CBS Evening News,” following the departure of John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois... USA Today editor-in-chief Caren Bohan has left the paper.
Michael Kaminer, who was responsible for the Observer’s “Power List” for the past 13 years, has cut ties with the publication... The New York Times Company continues the march toward its goal of 15 million subscribers by the end of 2027... The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is providing more than $6 million in funding to eight organizations working to address the challenges local news and information environments face along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Conservative outlets Fox News, Newsmax and the Daily Caller are holding back from signing Pete Hegseth’s edict restricting press access in the Pentagon... CBS News sees the first executive departure of the Bari Weiss era as head of standards and practices Claudia Milne exits... Indiana University shuts down the print version of The Indiana Daily Student.
Rothschild family plans to unload 26.7 percent stake in The Economist... STAT, a digital media company that focuses the life sciences, brings back Damian Garde, who anchored its biotech newsletter and podcast from 2016 to 2024... High Times officially resumes print publication (following its 2024 shutdown) with the release of a limited-edition, collectible 50th anniversary issue. 
