Every generation deserves new technology and a new way to consider its history
With the US set to enter it’s July 4 long weekend, there’s about to be a pretty major slowdown of TV news (though, if there are any consequential pre-weekend bad news dumps, I’ll have a bonus ABW covering that).
With this weekend also marking the 250th anniversary of the United States Declaration of Independence. Day, there are a lot of articles from American culture writers seeking to contextualise what it means to be American/what American culture best represents the country.
The most interesting of these that I’ve read was an op-ed by Paul Buccieri, the president and chairman of A+E Global Media, which includes the History Channel. He has written a piece for The Hollywood Reporter about how with every major technological innovation, it delivers an entirely new way to consider our history and present it in a new, more relevant way.
This summer, history is all around us. Through documentaries, feature films, exhibitions, books, podcasts, shortform videos and historical reenactments, we can find history everywhere. The stories we tell about the past have never been more alive, or more accessible. As media formats have transformed, so too have the possibilities for historical storytelling. The acceleration of technology has been a boon for the world of history, creating new ways to reach audiences hungry to learn more about the past. These formats have also widened the range of stories being told, giving a new generation of history fans the opportunity to discover and share stories about people and events long left out of traditional narratives.
Many people today feel as though we are living through a uniquely uncertain moment, and it’s hard to argue otherwise. Rapid technological change, global disruption, political division and the rise of artificial intelligence are reshaping how we work, communicate and understand our place in the world. But history offers an important corrective: Every generation has confronted moments that felt unprecedented. Every era has wrestled with uncertainty. The feeling of overwhelming change is not new, what changes is how we choose to meet it. Looking backward is not an exercise in nostalgia. It is a means of gaining perspective. It reminds us that progress is rarely linear, but that resilience and ingenuity have consistently carried societies forward, often toward futures that seemed unimaginable at the time.
The invention of personal computers and smartphones shifted the equation entirely, placing the power of media into the hands of nearly everyone. Today, YouTube channels, podcasts, audiobooks, short-form video and a new generation of digital platforms have democratized not just the consumption of history, but the telling of it. The stories being surfaced now, long overlooked, long marginalized, are redefining what history looks like and who gets to be part of it.
General Hospital is weird
I was reading a Variety article about John Oliver’s appearance in General Hospital and was caught reading and re-reading this paragraph about the US daytime soap’s running storyline:
As viewers of the show know by now, Josslyn is the beleaguered daughter of Carly Spencer and has been working as an agent for the World Securities Bureau (WSB), a spy agency preserving order, since the killing of her boyfriend. The WSB is attempting to stop mad scientist Mikkos Cassadine before he uses his freezing machine to destroy the planet.
What the devil? That plot sounds nutso and is pretty far outside the premise of a soap set around a hospital. But, is it the strangest thing ever to happen on the show? This is the same show that involved Colonel Sanders recounting a syndicate of hackers trying to steal his secret recipe. As an aside, he did mention once having powers after an encounter with a warlock…
Nine and Microsoft form new relationship… but what to call it…?
I couldn’t help but chuckle seeing that Australian media company Nine has entered into a new relationship with Microsoft. This deal, lets just call it, say, NineMSN, will allow Microsoft to trawl Nine’s news media publications for use of the material in Microsoft’s Copilot.
Like the early-era internet deal between the two companies, this NineMSN deal (not its actual name) is yet again Nine partnering with the US tech giant to monetise a new era of technology.
From the Nine media release:
The agreement allows Microsoft Copilot to reference the text of Nine’s masthead content (beyond paywalled previews) during AI searches to contextualise and ‘ground’ outputs.
By referencing real-time reports from Nine’s publishing mastheads the system ensures Copilot outputs are grounded in verified facts while including references for its users.
Copilot will display snippets, headlines and summaries and will direct audiences to Nine’s mastheads for the complete story, giving users a gateway to a trusted source.
The agreement covers content from across Nine’s mastheads including The Australian Financial Review, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Brisbane Times and WAToday.
News Desk
Former High School Musical star Ashley Tisdale is EPing a half-hour comedy for Netflix titled Toxic Moms alongside writer Sabrina Jalees and standup Ali Wong. Read: THR
YouTube horror series The Mandela Catalogue has been acquired by Amazon MGM Studios and United Artists in an obvious “We want our Backrooms” deal. Read: The Wrap
US fans of Gilmore Girls may have noticed the show has disappeared from Netflix (the sequel series produced for Netflix remains, however). It is now streaming at Prime Video. Read: Deadline
Friends has just made an unexpected return to most Netflix territories, including Australia. It doesn’t include the US, Canada, or UK. Read: What’s On Netflix
Fired X-Men 97 showrunner Beau DeMayo was interviewed about his exit from Marvel, saying that he was upfront about his work on OnlyFans and that they were okay with it. Read: Vanity Fair
This year marks the 45th anniversary of Donkey Kong, the game that launched Nintendo. Read: Polygon
Production has finished on The X-Files (2027… I presume…) pilot. Read: The Direct
The cast options on NBC series The Hunting Party have ended, bringing its quest for a new network to an end. Read: Deadline
Trailer Park
Baywatch (2027) debuts in January on Fox.
Spooky In Love debuts on Netflix July 18.
When a ghost-seeing heir and an ace prosecutor learn that a single touch makes them a strangely effective duo, they team up to crack unsolved murders.
That’s the newsletter for the today.
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