Top News:
Variety:
Sources: NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke to step down next year, likely to be succeeded by Jeff Shell, now chairman of NBCUniversal Film and Entertainment — Steve Burke is expected to step down as CEO of NBCUniversal next year and is likely to hand the reins to Jeff Shell, who is now chairman of NBCUniversal Film and Entertainment.
Discussion:
New York Post, Fox News, MediaPost, Hollywood Reporter, Multichannel News, @ashkan, CNBC, @donnerkay, NBC News, Deadline and The Wrap
Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:
Judge rules against The Wrap, which sued The Information for allegedly poaching a reporter, in contrast to this week's Netflix/Fox ruling on the same issue — Sharon Waxman falls flat in a poaching suit against The Information just as the entertainment industry witnesses the opposite result in a battle between Fox and Netflix.
Discussion:
BuzzFeed News, @conordougherty and @jessicalessin
Gretchen Carlson / New York Times:
Gretchen Carlson calls on Fox to release employees from NDAs they'd been forced to sign: “buying silence instead of stopping harassment is immoral and unjust” — I still can't talk about what happened to me because of a non-disclosure agreement. — Ms. Carlson is a journalist and author.
Discussion:
Boing Boing, Newser, @jwpetersnyt, @stephenjleblanc, @tamaraholder, @davidfolkenflik, @gretchencarlson, Mediaite, Deadline, The Week and Slate
Jennifer Brett / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Olivia Wilde, the actress who plays the late journalist Kathy Scruggs in the movie Richard Jewell, defends her portrayal of Scruggs in a series of tweets — The actress cites “independent research” which didn't include talking to Scruggs' brother or close friends
Discussion:
NBC News, New York Times, New York Times, Hollywood Reporter, @oliviawilde, @atlantamagazine, @oliviawilde, @oliviawilde, @mattgoldberg, @bluestein, @sdkstl, @wednesdaymartin, @serial_tragedy, @sdkstl, @espiers, @picardonhealth, @slate, @thr, @espiers, @jennifer__brett, @wednesdaymartin, @sdkstl, @espiers, @sdkstl, @suntimes, @mkayandrews, @ajcjillv, @wednesdaymartin, @bluestein, @thr, @yahooent, @atlantamagazine, @_melissagolden_, @jimwindolf, Eldredge Atlanta, Deadline, Slate, Fox News and Hollywood Reporter
Michael Calderone / Politico:
Over 115 newspaper boards called for Clinton's resignation after the Starr report, while only 6 coastal and national outlets have called for Trump's impeachment — While coastal outlets call for Trump's removal, most of those in states Democrats need to win are still on the sidelines.
Discussion:
Orlando Sentinel, @jaketapper, @karoli, @johncutter, The Hill and The Philadelphia Inquirer
Steve Stecklow / Reuters:
Refinitiv, which distributes Reuters news on the Eikon trading platform, has blocked 200+ Reuters stories since August in China, under government pressure — Under pressure from the Chinese government, the financial information provider that distributes Reuters news to investors has blocked …
Discussion:
@edgecliffe, @tmclaughlin3, @gerryshih, @alvinllum, @jerometaylor, @jbhavan, @sindap, @adityakalra, @praveenswami, @stecklow, @mrbeagleman, @greatfirechina, @rachel_cheung1, @xinqisu, @zenjournalist, @farnazfassihi, @mel_huang, @tostevinm, @hkmarksimon, @rover829, @joereuters, @reutersbiz, @reutersbiz, @heathersomervil, @michellenichols, @jersey_janet, @dnvolz, @wsjemre, @reuters, @kenli729 and @anthony
David Cohen / Adweek:
Pandora begins testing interactive voice ad functionality, with Nestlé, Comcast, Unilever, and others participating in the initial test group — The audio streaming service has its own native voice assistant — Audio streaming service Pandora is expanding on the Voice Mode native voice assistant …
Discussion:
MediaPost and @pandorabrands
Kathryn Hopkins / WWD:
David Carey, who left as president of Hearst's Magazines unit in 2018, is returning as SVP of public affairs and comms, shortly after staff launched union plans — His return comes as magazine staffers are trying to form a union, a move executives do not support. — David Carey, pictured in 2016.
Discussion:
New York Post and @wwd
Karlene Lukovitz / MediaPost:
Apptopia estimates that Disney+ has been downloaded 22M+ times on mobile devices since launch; bundling with Hulu and ESPN has upped downloads of the latter two — Disney+, launched four weeks ago, has now been downloaded more than 22 million times to mobile devices alone, estimates independent app-tracking company Apptopia.
Discussion:
Quartz, MacRumors and Digital Trends
Emilio Casalicchio / Politico:
BBC's reputation has been put to the test ahead of UK's general election, making the broadcaster one of the combatants rather than just a neutral arbiter — The broadcaster is fighting to keep up with the changing rules of the political game. — LONDON — The veteran BBC presenter Andrew Neil turned …
Discussion:
Columbia Journalism Review, @politicoeurope, @astroehlein, @lukemcgee and @charliebeckett
Ronan Shields / Adweek:
News Corp, Insider, SHE Media, and Chegg join the independent ad-tech coalition Prebid — Other notable names to join the independent ad-tech coalition include Chegg and SHE Media — As publishers look to reduce their reliance on the ad-tech industry's dominant players …
Discussion:
Business Wire, @slayser8, @rubiconproject and @pbannist
Tyler Falk / Current:
NPR approves new model for calculating member stations' programing fees, shifting one based on their total revenue and audience to one based on donor revenue — NPR's board of directors approved a new method for calculating its member stations' fees for programming and other services, moving to a model based on station donor revenue.
Discussion:
@cassbasler and @nwquah