Mediagazer: Netflix says it's testing Shuffle Play, which will randomly play a show you're watching, something you've put on a list, or a title similar to stuff you watched (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)

12:30 PM ET, August 19, 2020

Top News:

Brent Lang / Variety:

NBCU vice chairman Ron Meyer steps down after disclosing that he was being extorted over his affair with a woman who threatened to also “falsely implicate” NBCU — Ron Meyer is stepping down as vice chairman of NBCUniversal after disclosing that he reached a private settlement …

Variety:
Sources: NBCU's Ron Meyer had reached a settlement with actress Charlotte Kirk, who was linked to the resignation of Warner Bros. CEO Kevin Tsujihara in 2019

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, MediaPost, Hollywood Reporter, @mattbelloni, @jaxxonhoward, @thedreaclark, Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap, Mediaite, Page Six, Deadline and The Wrap

Peter Weber / The Week:

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticizes NBC News for its “totally false and divisive” tweet saying she did not endorse Joe Biden in her DNC speech — The Democratic National Convention formally nominated Joe Biden as its presidential candidate on Tuesday night …

Discussion: TVNewser, @nbcnews, Mediaite, The Wrap, The Guardian, @aoc, @mplacko, @rwaldin, @yashar, @aoc, @wesleylowery, @aoc, The Independent, @meghanmccain, @yashar and @waltshaub

Alexandra Bruell / Wall Street Journal:

WPP has hired AT&T's Kirk McDonald as chief executive of North America for its GroupM ad-buying unit; McDonald had been interim head of Xandr — Executive move is the latest exit from Warner Media's advertising-technology unit Xandr — WPP PLC has hired AT&T Inc.'s Kirk McDonald …

Discussion: Variety, Talking Biz News, Ad Age, Adweek, @tkawaja, @aripap, @beet_tv, AdExchanger, MediaPost and Business Insider

Aaron Gordon / The Mail:

Motherboard launches an email newsletter about the US Postal Service and a printed zine on the subject delivered monthly by mail, to run through end of November — For years, Motherboard has cared deeply about election security. We were the first to talk to Guccifer 2.0 …

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

Belarusian Association of Journalists: at least 69 journalists were detained since 9 August, the day of the election, with 36 of those beaten and injured — Almost 70 journalists were detained in Belarus and half were beaten and injured after pro-democracy protests began against the contested re-election …

Discussion: Committee to Protect …, @zidanism and The Times

DW.COM:
After initially failing to cover protests, employees of Belarus state broadcaster went on strike Monday and demanded an end to media censorship

Discussion: @christopherjm, @pressfreedom, @lisang, @demianvonosten, @kenroth and The Guardian

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Netflix says it's testing Shuffle Play, which will randomly play a show you're watching, something you've put on a list, or a title similar to stuff you watched — Don't know what you're in the mood to watch? Netflix's new “Shuffle” feature could help. The company confirms it's currently testing …

Discussion: CNN, The Wrap, Gizmodo, Variety, @baekdal, Engadget, @deliacabe, The Independent, Deadline, The Verge and The Streamable

Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:

NPR says 57M people consume NPR content each week, up 10% YoY, with unique weekly visitors to NPR.org up 94% and live stream listeners up 39% YoY — Since the pandemic took hold in the United States, NPR's radio ratings have taken a nosedive. Half of AM/FM listening in the United States takes place …

Discussion: @aguilararturo and @niemanlab

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Interview with Tucker Carlson, who says he has the backing of Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch despite the “constant assault” to take his show off the air — Record ratings usually means record revenue for ad-supported TV shows. — But “Tucker Carlson Tonight” …

Discussion: TVNewser, @erikwemple and @johnnydollar01

The New York Times Company:

NYT announces Headway Initiative, a team producing deeply researched, data-rich stories on economic, social, health, infrastructural, and environmental issues — We are excited to announce a new journalism initiative at The New York Times: Headway. — The New York Times is creating a team …

Discussion: Talking Biz News

Variety:

As the flow of new content dries up, studios are capitalizing on demand from streamers by licensing films for shorter, one to three month runs — When HBO Max debuted in late May, it made a surprise announcement: The eight original “Harry Potter” films — among the biggest-ever movie franchises …

Laura Wagner / VICE:

A proposed Vox Media settlement of three lawsuits would split $2.5M among 450+ bloggers who managed or wrote for SB Nation; $1.5M would go to legal fees — Hundreds of unpaid and lowly paid bloggers who worked for SB Nation will split $2.5 million. — Laura Wagner

Discussion: bookforum.com, @davidleoni, @alexwatl, @timmarchman, @seth_rosenthal, @jackie_peanuts and Awful Announcing

Blake Schmidt / Bloomberg:

Sources detail how China's Liaison Office in Hong Kong controls newspapers and book publishers to promote the country's agenda and silence dissenting voices — When Hong Kong's richest tycoons declared their support for the city's national security law in June, it wasn't what they said that stood out as much as how they said it.

Discussion: @tinssoldier and @selina_cheng

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More News:

Iris Deng / South China Morning Post:
Taiwan to ban Chinese streaming giants iQiyi and Tencent from September, prohibiting Taiwanese individuals and organizations from working with the companies

Discussion: @therealjoshye and Variety, more at Techmeme »

Nicholas Quah / Nieman Lab:
Vice's VP of audio discusses Vice's audio expansion with 11 hires and the upcoming launch of four podcasts, including the flagship Vice News Reports

Discussion: @shaunagh and @vicecomms

Charlie Warzel / New York Times:
The White House flood of EOs and pronouncements is meant to be exhausting for media and consumers, requiring careful news coverage and mindful readers

Discussion: @jayrosen_nyu, @cwarzel, @sashalyutse, @joesudbay, @edzitron, @slickrockweb, @edzitron, @edzitron, @emilycrockett, @staceynycdc, The Distancer, @grahamwjenkins, @ethanz, @jayrosen_nyu, @brianstelter and @cwarzel

Stephanie Sengwe / The Streamable:
Disney+ is launching in Latin America on November 17

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: ViacomCBS is in talks to sell CNET for ~$500M to Red Ventures, which runs consumer sites Bankrate and Reviews.com, as it looks to shed noncore assets

Discussion: Variety, MediaPost, Digital TV Europe, AdExchanger, @gpingersoll, @aaronwall, @austindlight, @shortformernie, @joshsternberg, @thekenyeung, @pkafka, @benmullin, Radio & Television …, Talking Biz News and The Wrap, more at Techmeme »

Earlier Picks:

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Group Nine's NowThis is launching NowThis Kids aimed at children aged 6 to 11, starting with a YouTube channel, podcast, and newsletter

Discussion: The Wrap, @thewrap, @niemanlab, @naomiwadler, @naomiwadler, @mralexalba, @sarafischer and MediaPost

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Snap is testing a feature that would allow users to share Snapchat content, like original shows and content from its Discover partners, off of the platform

Discussion: @simonowens, @richlightshed and Engadget

Jon Allsop / Columbia Journalism Review:
To avoid airing a Democratic infomercial and lacking breaks in the virtual convention, news shows talked over the DNC production, creating an unwatchable result

Discussion: TVNewser, Deadline, The Wrap, @madebyhistory, @thedarrach, NBC News, Associated Press, @michaelsocolow and Washington Post

Andrew Bucholtz / Awful Announcing:
Former Sports Illustrated owner Meredith is suing its current owner TheMaven for alleged breach of contract, claiming over $1M in unpaid fees

Discussion: Des Moines Register, Barrett Sports Media, @awfulannouncing, @jeffheckelman, @bkoo, @tyschalter, @sportsrapport, @maxwelltani, @bmorrissey, @ckrewson and WWD

From Techmeme:

Alex Heath / The Verge:
Meta details Llama 3: 8B- and 70B-parameter models, a focus on reducing false refusals, and an upcoming model trained on 15T+ tokens that has 400B+ parameters

Raffaele Huang / Wall Street Journal:
Apple removes WhatsApp and Threads from its App Store in China, saying it was ordered to do so by China's cyberspace officials citing national security concerns

Ryan Morrison / Tom's Guide:
Microsoft researchers introduce VASA-1, an AI model that creates a realistic talking face video from a portrait photo and an audio file, in research preview

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