Mediagazer: The LA Times sports columnist Arash Markazi announced his resignation, after being placed on paid leave in July amid alleged plagiarism and other ethical lapses (Ben Koo/Awful Announcing)

10:50 PM ET, August 14, 2020

Top News:

Sources: as ViacomCBS expands CBS All Access with programming from Viacom and Paramount, it is considering rebranding the streaming service to Paramount+ — ‘Paramount+’ tops shortlist as battle with Disney moves centre stage in attempt to lift shares — ViacomCBS is considering a plan …

Discussion: @mattgarrahan, The Desk, @sherman4949, @mgsiegler, @film_girl, @annaknicolaou, @tvmojoe and The Streamable

Bloomberg:

ViacomCBS shares rose as much as 5.8% on Friday following a researcher's report that an activist investor may be gathering a significant stake — - Credit Suisse trades hint that shareholder is amassing stake — But any activist would have to win over Shari Redstone

Discussion: @scottporch

Ben Koo / Awful Announcing:

The LA Times sports columnist Arash Markazi announced his resignation, after being placed on paid leave in July amid alleged plagiarism and other ethical lapses — Sources indicated to Awful Announcing that Markazi's exit was being brokered behind the scenes between the paper's lawyers …

Discussion: @laurawags, The Wrap and @bkoo, Thanks:@matthewkeyslive

Victoria Song / Gizmodo:

The death of Bon Appétit shows why media companies, which have no idea what makes videos work, failed with their half-baked plans to pivot to video — There are a zillion reasons why I have been mourning the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen. The one that hurts most is that the slow …

CNN:

Interview with Apple Daily owner Jimmy Lai, who says his arrest was a “symbolic exercise” by China to show that Hong Kong's new national security law has teeth — Hong Kong (CNN Business)Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai has called his arrest a “symbolic exercise” …

Discussion: @jennicnn and @jgriffiths

Jacob Bernstein / New York Times:

W magazine will now be called W Media after being sold to Bustle Media Group and investors including film and TV producer Jason Blum — The movie and television producer Jason Blum, the racecar driver Lewis Hamilton and the model Kaia Gerber will also be investors.

Discussion: MediaPost, @eiffeltyler, Adweek and @kerrymflynn

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Facing saturation and stiff competition in the US, media giants including Fox News and ViacomCBS are planning to launch new streaming services internationally — Facing saturation and stiff competition in the U.S., media giants are planning to launch new streaming services internationally to accrue more subscribers.

Discussion: MediaPost

Kristen Hare / Poynter:

Santa Cruz Local, a startup that focuses on county-level public policy reporting, has grown amid the pandemic to 500 paying members and 3,800 newsletter subs — Santa Cruz Local nearly doubled paying members since the coronavirus pandemic … “Hey everyone.

Discussion: American Press Institute, @anikaanand00, @sbaxter_sc, @phillipadsmith, @needhibhalla, @kristenhare, @karambutan, @ckrewson, @jmpasko96 and @kdeanct

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:

US Court of Appeals rules Charter can charge Netflix, other streaming services for network interconnection, despite merger conditions prohibiting the practice — Court kills ban on interconnection fees because FCC didn't defend merger condition. — Charter can charge Netflix …

Discussion: Multichannel News, MediaPost, @karlbode and Fast Company

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Warner Music acquires IMGN, which creates and tracks viral social media content in categories like e-sports, gaming, and ASMR, source says for just under $100M — It's a whole new playing field these days for music labels and publishers, and today one of the big three made an acquisition …

Discussion: @montelogik, @noahmallin, @briansolis and @itsthatmanhowie, more at Techmeme »

Press Gazette:

More than 2,000 jobs at UK-based news organizations have been cut during the COVID-19 crisis so far, with a large proportion of editorial staff affected — More than 2,000 jobs at UK-based news organisations have been put at risk during the Covid-19 crisis so far, with more expected to follow.

BuzzFeed News:

Facebook's employees and third-party fact-checkers say Facebook has sometimes overruled decisions on divisive content with little transparency — On May 8, Prager University, a nonprofit conservative media outlet, published a video on Facebook that incorrectly claimed “there is no evidence …

Discussion: @rmac18, @taraemcg, @prageru, @craigsilverman and @slpng_giants, more at Techmeme »

Spencer Hsu / Washington Post:

USAGM removed seven top execs on Wednesday after suspending their security clearances, citing security concerns over hiring of foreign workers — Members of Congress on Thursday condemned a leadership purge at the parent agency of Voice of America, escalating criticism that a new chief executive appointed …

Discussion: @karenkornbluh and @vivian

Daniel Lippman / Politico:
USAGM has hired Frank Wuco, a former talk radio host who has called Obama a Kenyan and Nancy Pelosi a Botox-using Nazi, among other incendiary statements

Discussion: @alanmillernlp, KIFI-TV, @muslimadvocates, @awarriorscholar, Gizmodo, @mmasnick, @schwartzbcnbc, @gavinsblog, @ambdana, @dlippman, @dlippman, @media_evan and The Guardian

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State Government Reporter, WA — Seattle Times

Climate Crisis Columnist — Prospect UK

Multimedia Journalist, CA — Paramount

Community Engagement Mgr., DC — Freedom Forum

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More News:

Elaine Low / Variety:
Len Amato, president of HBO Films, Miniseries, and Cinemax, is leaving, as Cinemax works on phasing out original programming and HBO focuses on acquired content

Discussion: The Wrap and Hollywood Reporter

Press Gazette:
UK court rules that Reach must pay damages of £49,000 to a school teacher following defamatory articles in The Sunday Mirror, Mirror Online, and Kent Live

Discussion: bailii.org

Diana Kuryshko / BBC:
How Nexta, with a small editorial team of four in Warsaw and no website, is using its Telegram channel with 1.5M subscribers to bypass news blackout in Belarus

Discussion: @notesfrompoland and @mjluxmoore

Patrick Frater / Variety:
Baidu's video streaming service iQIYI says it is being probed by SEC, after a report in April accused it of inflating its 2019 revenue by around $1.13B

more at Techmeme »

Aaron Mak / Slate:
Google's Ad Exchange is demonetizing pages that merely mention issues of race and LGBTQ rights, classifying them as “dangerous or derogatory content”

Discussion: @michellemanafy, @evelyndouek, @angelsdiaz_, @evelyndouek, @josh_levin, @slate, @jon_fischer and @hypervisible, more at Techmeme »

Earlier Picks:

Christopher Palmeri / Bloomberg:
Disney shut down more than 20 foreign channels last week and took a $4.9B charge against earnings to instead focus on international streaming via its Star brand

Discussion: The Strategy Club, @archivistpulp and @ballmatthew

Digiday:
Sources at publications partnering with Apple News+ say Apple did not tell them about changes that force News+ users into its app instead of to publisher sites

Discussion: @arctictony, @arctictony, @arctictony, Press Gazette, @nevadapress, @maxwillens, @digiday, @arctictony, @arctictony, @larakiara, @larakiara and AppleInsider

Tommy Christopher / Mediaite:
Newsweek stands by an op-ed by a former Kamala Harris opponent that used arcane arguments to question Harris' eligibility for VP

Discussion: The Atlantic, @nancycoopernyc, @isaacdovere, @blakehounshell, Newsweek, Slate, Newsweek, @craigipedia, Reason, @jonathanalter, The Objective, The Banter, Vox, POLITIC, @graubart, @richsignorelli, @anildash, @katestarbird, @katestarbird, @katestarbird, @taniel, @kat__stafford, @jonlemire, @alexkotch, @alexkotch, @alexkotch, @brhodes, @jayrosen_nyu, @donwinslow, @jrubinblogger, @robinkirk, @teri_kanefield, @teri_kanefield, @joycewhitevance, @teri_kanefield, @redtraccoon, @josh_hammer, @yarotrof, @bungdan, @ischafer, @malcolmnance, @mpinoe, @asharangappa_, @goldietaylor, @kyle_feldscher, @jbkjbk1234, @jessicahuseman, @mollyjongfast, @benyt, @jbenton, @jacobfhsmith, @nc_cyberlaw, @zunguzungu, @jimswiftdc, @markjacob16, @normative, @mmcauliff, @craigipedia, @jbendery, @normative, @normative, @melissaryan, @craigipedia, @connieschultz, @angryblacklady, @marthasjones_, @deniseshearin, @kurteichenwald, @reignofapril, @soledadobrien, @jemelehill, @johnwdean, @juliettekayyem, @jbouie, @davidfolkenflik, Newser, The Wrap, Axios, Newsweek, The Mary Sue, Devil's Tower, New York Times, Raw Story and Neeha Curtis

Frank Pallotta / CNN:
AMC will reopen more than 100 theaters on August 20 and expects to open two-thirds of its 600+ US theaters by September 3, when Tenet comes out

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple to launch “Apple One”, tiered subscription bundles, which will include Music, TV+, News+, and a new virtual fitness service, as early as October

From Techmeme:

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Anthropic raised another $4B from Amazon, will make AWS its primary training partner, and is working with Annapurna Labs to develop new Trainium accelerators

Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft releases the first beta preview of its Recall AI feature for Copilot Plus PCs, including Click to Do, a feature similar to Google's Circle to Search

Andy Greenberg / Wired:
Researchers detail a “nearest neighbor attack” by Russia's APT28, which remotely breached a target's Wi-Fi by hijacking a laptop in a building across the street

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