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USC School of Cinematic Arts suspends Les Moonves from its board of councilors and says it will discuss further action in October — In light of the recent allegations against Leslie Moonves, the USC School of Cinematic Arts has released a statement announcing its decision to suspend the CBS CEO from their Board of Councilors.
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Ad Age, Deadline, Fortune, Hollywood Reporter, Broadcasting & Cable, The Wrap, Variety, @dylanbyers, HuffPost, KTLA, Los Angeles Times, Mediaite and Deadline
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CBS says it is hiring two law firms to investigate allegations in the media against Leslie Moonves, CBS News, and cultural issues at all levels of the company
Discussion:
Hollywood Reporter, Variety, BuzzFeed News and Reuters


Facebook extends its Local News Accelerator through the end of the year, launches a $3.5M Membership Accelerator program to help outlets with membership models — Today, we're excited to announce an additional $4.5 million investment in programs that support news publishers.
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NC Local News Lab Fund announces $500K in grants to support 10 local independent journalism, reporting, and collaboration projects — How can we help local news survive, transform, and thrive? This question will not be answered by one person, one organization, or one innovation.
Discussion:
Raleigh News & Observer, @jcstearns, @centercoopmedia, Word on the Street and @gteresa


Spotify has removed some episodes of “The Alex Jones Show” for violating policies around hate speech, but the podcast is still available on the service — The music streaming service has been the target of public outrage for carrying Jones's show.
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Bloomberg, Variety, The Verge, The Daily Beast, Business Insider, Gizmodo, The Hill, @lucas_shaw, Mashable, Fortune, The Wrap, @fraying, @fraying, Mediaite and HuffPost, more at Techmeme »
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The family of Sandy Hook victim Noah Pozner say they are unable to visit his grave due to harassment from InfoWars fans
Discussion:
Boing Boing, @nymag, The A.V. Club, The FADER, Observer, The Wrap, Fox News Insider, Mediaite, @mikeisaac, The Week, @mikedelmoro, @steventurous, Reuters, @danpfeiffer, @mehdirhasan, @dgardner, @chrisinsilico, @noahshachtman, @rafsanchez, @michaelskolnik, @anildash, @jillfilipovic, @evan_rosenfeld, @shannoncoulter, @smenor, @slpng_giants, @davidfrum and @spacekatgal


Sources: Condé Nast plans to put Brides, Golf Digest, and W up for sale after losing $120M in 2017 due to a sharp decline in ad revenue from print — Anna Wintour is staying, but the once-plush company behind Vogue and The New Yorker lost $120 million last year.
Discussion:
New York Post, @nytimesbusiness, Ad Age, Adweek, Fashionista, @tomgara, @edmundlee, @nbj914, The Wrap, @sapna and The Business of Fashion


Sources: Google is developing a news aggregation app for use in China that will comply with the country's strict censorship laws — Google is developing a news-aggregation app for use in China that will comply with the country's strict censorship laws, part of a plan to re-enter …
Discussion:
Bloomberg, TechCrunch, New York Times, MediaNama, Fortune, Vanity Fair, @amir, Beyond Search, TechNode, Entrackr, Techdirt and The Intercept, more at Techmeme »


Activists accuse Facebook of suppressing free speech when it removed an event listing it said was part of a disinformation campaign with possible ties to Russia — SAN FRANCISCO — Left-leaning political activists accused Facebook of suppressing free speech when the social media giant removed …


The emergence of the gun-loving QAnon conspiracy theorists at a Trump rally is dangerous; Trump should stop the anti-media rhetoric at these rallies — Hostility toward the media at Donald Trump's rallies is nothing new. It infected the presidential campaign and has marred every raucous gathering of supporters since the election.
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Washington Post, HuffPost, The Hill, The Federalist, RealClearPolitics, NPR, New York Times, @danrather, Washington Post, The Wrap, @ennisnyt, @michaelskolnik, @theplumlinegs, @armandodkos, @mkraju, @theplumlinegs, Axios, @karaswisher, @theplumlinegs, @nycsouthpaw, @jayrosen_nyu, @johnrobinson, @swin24, @jamilsmith, @dabeard, @tcbrown88, @publishorperish, @johnbridges and @sulliview


Source: Nicole Kidman is in talks to play Gretchen Carlson in upcoming movie about disgraced ex-Fox News Chief Roger Ailes — Nicole Kidman is in talks to play former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson in “Fair and Balanced,” Annapurna's upcoming movie about disgraced Fox News Chief Roger Ailes.
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Hollywood Reporter, @nycsouthpaw, Deadline, /Film, Mashable, The Wrap, ScreenRant, The Playlist, Business Insider, IndieWire, Collider, TVNewser, @mrsamherbst, The Daily Caller, @thrmattbelloni and Just Jared


Vizio launches WatchFree, a free, ad-supported streaming service powered by Pluto TV that offers access to over 100 channels — Think there are too many streaming services? How about one more? Today, Vizio says it's launching its own streaming service called WatchFree that will be available …


Apple's plans to cut apps out of its affiliate program may shut down independent iOS news sites like TouchArcade and AppShopper — Sites like TouchArcade and AppShopper may take big hits — Today, Apple announced that it plans to remove apps and in-app purchases from its iTunes Affiliate Program by October 1st.
Discussion:
@markgurman, SlashGear, @toucharcade, @markgurman, 9to5Mac and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »


CNN will broadcast the final series of Anthony Bourdain's “Parts Unknown” in the fall — Nearly eight weeks have passed since CNN broke the news on the morning of June 8 that Anthony Bourdain committed suicide in France while filming his hit series “Parts Unknown.”
Discussion:
IndieWire, The Week, /Film, TVNewser, Mashable, The A.V. Club, The Wrap, Eater, Business Insider, TVWeek.com, Fast Company, Fortune, Vanity Fair and TV Tattle


During earnings call, Apple's Tim Cook says the new TV execs the company hired last year are working on a secret project but wouldn't share details — Apple's definitely working on something when it come to TV — but it's still not ready to tell us about it.
Discussion:
FierceVideo, The Loop, CNBC and @cnet
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