Business of Media
U.S. accuses Google of abusing monopoly in ad technology
The Justice Department and a group of eight states sued Google on Tuesday, accusing it of illegally abusing a monopoly over the technology that powers online advertising, in the agency’s first antitrust lawsuit against a tech giant under President Biden and an escalation in legal pressure on one of the world’s biggest internet companies, report The New York Times’ David McCabe and Nico Grant.
The lawsuit said Google had “corrupted legitimate competition in the ad tech industry by engaging in a systematic campaign to seize control of the wide swath of high-tech tools used by publishers, advertisers and brokers to facilitate digital advertising.”
The lawsuit asked U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia to force Google to sell its suite of ad technology products, including software for buying and selling ads, a marketplace to complete the transactions and a service for showcasing the ads across the internet. The lawsuit also asked the court to stop the company from engaging in allegedly anticompetitive practices.
It is the fifth antitrust lawsuit filed by U.S. officials against Google since 2020, as lawmakers and regulators around the world try to rein in the power that big tech companies exert over information and commerce online.
More journalists killed in Latin America and Caribbean than Ukraine in 2022
More journalists were killed in Latin America and the Caribbean than in any other part of the world last year, including the Ukraine war zone, the press watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said, reports The Guardian’s Tom Phillips.
In a report released on Tuesday, the group said that, globally, at least 67 journalists and media workers had been killed in 2022, nearly double the 2021 figure of 45.
Almost half of last year’s killings took place in Latin America and the Caribbean, where at least 30 journalists were killed, including the longtime Guardian contributor Dom Phillips.
Verizon loses 80,000 TV subs in fourth quarter, adds broadband users
Verizon lost 80,000 net pay TV subscribers for its Fios consumer video service in the fourth quarter, compared with a loss of 69,000 in the year-ago period, the telecom giant said on Tuesday, reports The Hollywood Reporter’s Georg Szalai.
It ended 2022 with 3.234 million Fios video subscribers in its consumer division, down from 3.573 million as of the end of 2021. The company has in the past often cited “the ongoing shift from traditional linear video to over-the-top offerings” as a key driver of video subscriber declines.
Verizon, led by chairman and CEO Hans Vestberg, gained 59,000 Fios broadband internet subscribers, compared with 55,000 in the year-ago period. “Total broadband net additions of 416,000 was the best total broadband performance in over a decade, reflecting a strong demand for FiOS and fixed wireless products,” the company said. For the full year 2022, Verizon reported 1.29 million broadband user net additions after 409,000 in 2021.
News Brands
Twitter gives Mirror journalists special logos in new verification trial
Twitter is testing a new feature that sees verified journalists identified alongside a logo for their publication, reports Press Gazette’s Bron Maher.
Several Daily Mirror journalists on the platform now have a new symbol showing the Mirror logo next to their blue ticks linking to the brand’s own Twitter account.
Parent company Reach said Twitter invited the Mirror to get involved in the trial run.
So far journalists including Whitehall correspondent Mikey Smith, deputy online political editor Lizzy Buchan, assistant editor Jason Beattie and editor-in-chief Alison Phillips have received the link and logo.
Radio
Nova breakfast star Ben Harvey gives co-host ultimate honour
Nova breakfast star Ben Harvey’s co-host and long-time friend Liam Stapleton will be godfather to his first child – but he’s keeping mum on the gender for now, reports News Corp’s Emily Olle.
Stapleton joked that his godfather title was “revenge” for being snubbed as Harvey’s best man at his wedding to wife Sam in April last year.
“It is true, Ben has asked me, Liam, to be the godfather of the little boy or girl, so I’m very excited – this is my first time being a dad,” Stapleton said.
“I feel like I got a better job – I’m involved in a real human’s life, (his brother) was just involved in the ceremony.”
But Harvey had a quick quip ready in response.
“To me the godparent doesn’t mean anything, that’s why I gave it to Liam,” he joked.
Harvey said the baby’s gender would be revealed on air later in the week, but the couple had “more girl names and only one boy name” ready to go.
See Also: Nova 100’s Ben Harvey reveals he and his wife are expecting their first child
Television
‘I want to be George the Terrible’: Survivor’s greatest villain returns
Before a second has screened, the new season of Australian Survivor – theme: Heroes v Villains – already has a World Championship Wrestling vibe about it, reports Nine Publishing’s Melinda Houston.
In the villains corner, we have season six finalist George Mladenov: “I take a great deal of pride in being known as the greatest ever Survivor villain. But it puts a lot of pressure on me as well. Can the king deliver again?”
And in the heroes corner, it’s writer Benjamin Law: “These are just objectively heroic people. Someone like Jerry who has saved lives and survived unspeakable tragedy. Or Matt, who’s a surf lifesaver. And of course on the villains side you’ve got someone like George, who’s just a diabolical mercenary.”
Modesty – and honesty – prevent Law from describing himself as a hero. At 39 years old going into the competition, he was one of the oldest in his tribe, and to say he was out of his comfort zone would be a gross understatement. “I’m going to be shedding all vanity and ego watching this show because we are stripped of so much,” Law says. “We’re brought to our knees when it comes to emotions – and hunger.”
Mladenov, meanwhile, still relishes being a villain. “What makes a villain on Survivor is someone who is willing to do what it takes to get the job done,” he says. “And despite the fact that I didn’t have the biggest pecs or the biggest biceps, I was the last man standing in the outback [where season six was filmed]. I showed a man with a plan – a villain like me – is the most dangerous kind of person to play Australian Survivor. And I’m really proud of that.”
Meghan Trainor finds sweet treats as a judge on Australian Idol
From making new friends in her fellow judges and discovering her large fan base here, Australian Idol judge Meghan Trainor had the best time unearthing a wealth of new talent, reports News Corp’s Lisa Woolford.
A sweet treat was bonding with her fellow judges as they traversed the country for auditions on the Channel Seven rebooted version of the franchise which was rested in 2009 after seven seasons.
“Honestly, every day felt like the best summer camp travelling all of Australia,” Trainor says.
“I just made new best friends. Kyle and I were cracking up.
“And Amy Shark is my new bestie. I don’t know how I lived life without her. I love her so much. She’s so sweet and so talented, and we laugh all the time on set. Oh, I love her new songs too.”
And then there’s globally lauded singer, musician and actor Harry Connick Jr, who spent three years alongside Jennifer Lopez and Keith Urban on the American panel and now reprises that role on our local version. Trainor hadn’t ever encountered Connick Jr before, let alone spent time with him before the judges gathered in the hotel lobby ahead of their first official meeting
“I met him on this trip and it was like an honour and a dream,” Trainor says, adding with a laugh. “I walked into him and I don’t think he recognised me. I was like ‘hey buddy, so nice to meet you – I’m a huge fan’.”
Cameras roll on While The Men Are Away
Filming for SBS WWII dramedy While The Men Are Away has commenced in Sydney, reports TV Tonight.
Italian star Michela De Rossi (Many Saints of Newark, Briganti) leads the queer revisionist dramedy set in 1940s rural Australia.
While the men are off fighting in WWII, the people who have been excluded from power suddenly find themselves running the show. Two Women’s Land Army recruits from Sydney arrive in the country and undergo a heady course in race relations, rural politics, spirituality, sex, and personal growth – oh, and farming.