Women’s World Cup hardball, Bluesky ahead, deeper AI debates and a new chapter for Wrexham are just a few of the themes in the latest batch of Trippant Takeaways – our round-up of stories that highlight communications trends across sport, tech, entertainment and media.
The Sydney Morning Herald on the Fifa Women’s World Cup blackout
Fifa president Gianni Infantino has raised the prospect of a freeze on live TV coverage of this year’s Women’s World Cup in some of Europe’s biggest countries, complaining that the bids on the table for broadcast rights there are way below expectations.
The Swiss’ hardball approach over a tournament being played through the middle of the night in those countries – Australia and New Zealand are co-hosts – threatens to check the rapid progress of women’s football.
Whether Fifa has misunderstood the commercial dynamics here – having trained the industry “to treat the [Women’s World Cup] as worthless” for so long – or Infantino sees a chance to push fans to the governing body’s Fifa+ platform, this could become a pivotal debate in the development of the women’s game.
Wired and Fast Company on Bluesky
With Twitter in turmoil, former CEO Jack Dorsey has launched his own alternative: Bluesky.
The platform is invite-only for now but the reviews are in – and they’re pretty good. Early users getting hints of the warmer, more open and often weirder experience that once made Twitter so appealing.
Photo by Daddy Mohlala on Unsplash
Photo by Daddy Mohlala on Unsplash
The Ringer on the new symbolism of blue ticks
Back at Twitter, the saga of blue-tick verification – who gets it, who wants it and who is willing to pay for it – wound on tortuously through April.
The upshot is that what was previously a watermark to prevent impersonation is now a badge of honour for a subset of Twitter users: a signifier of support for owner Elon Musk and, most likely, of a political worldview.
TED gets an inside look at ChatGPT
No technology has been more talked-about this year than ChatGPT. And if you’re going to talk about something, there are worse settings in the world than TED.
OpenAI cofounder Greg Brockman gave a presentation to the ideas workshop and spoke to head of TED Chris Anderson about the technical foundations and cultural impact of the chatbot, as well as some of its wider implications.
The New York Times and Sky News on the dangers of AI
For all the excitement over the possibilities of generative AI, there is plenty of trepidation about what could yet be unleashed.
Dr Geoffrey Hinton, a pioneering influence in the field, has left his role at Google so that he can share his misgivings without implicating its programme. He talked at length about his fears to The New York Times.
Meanwhile, Professor Stuart Russell has explained the motivations behind an open letter calling for a pause in AI development, to which he was one of over 1,000 expert signatories.
Rolling Stone and The Drum on the Hollywood’s writers’ strike
The Writers’ Guild of America (WGA) announced this week that its 11,500 members will withdraw their labour in a dispute over the residuals they receive from streaming services, among other concerns. It is the first Hollywood writers’ strike since 2008.
That means no new scripted content – an immediate issue for talk shows and series like Saturday Night Live, which will switch to repeats, and a potential scheduling headache down the line. For now, though, US advertisers are banking on a summer of reality shows and a battery of existing programming to carry their plans through the stoppage.
SportsPro on the NFL Draft
Every spring, teams in the NFL get a chance to reset their hopes and expectations with the addition of new talent, and the league gets to crank out one more massive content set-piece.
SportsPro’s Steve McCaskill charts the evolution of the NFL Draft and sets it in the context of the most powerful media strategy in sport.
The FT on the next chapter of the Wrexham story
AFC Wrexham thrilled a growing army of fans – and owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenny – with their promotion to the English Football League after a 15-year absence.
But this is not yet a Hollywood ending. The Financial Times sports editor Josh Noble travelled to north Wales to capture the mood of a town in a thrilling upswing, and ask what is next for the Wrexham project on the pitch and on TV screens around the world.
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