Mediagazer: California passes a bill exempting some workers from AB5 law, easing limits on freelance writers and editors; bill becomes law immediately if governor signs it (Associated Press)

11:50 AM ET, September 3, 2020

Top News:

Casey Newton / The Verge:

Facebook says it will stop accepting new political ads a week before the US presidential election, as part of steps to protect against election interference — Striking a compromise to prevent election misinformation — Facebook will stop taking new political advertising in the United States …

Steve Kovach / CNBC:

Facebook's new policies on the US election are so narrow that they won't have any real effect on election misinformation that spreads across the site — - Facebook on Thursday said it would ban new political ads in the week before the Nov. 3 presidential election and enforce other policies around mail …

Discussion: About Facebook, Washington Post, Breitbart, Mashable, Forbes and ABC News

Alexandra Bruell / Wall Street Journal:

Some advertisers seek the ability to back out of TV contracts, cancel ads close to air date, or move spending from TV to digital amid pandemic uncertainty — Concerned about the NFL season and a dearth of new entertainment, marketers want flexibility — Advertisers are pressing …

Discussion: @alexbruell, @richlightshed and Front Office Sports

Associated Press:

California passes a bill exempting some workers from AB5 law, easing limits on freelance writers and editors; bill becomes law immediately if governor signs it — SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California lawmakers on Monday OK'd exemptions to about two-dozen more professions …

Discussion: American Press Institute, LAist and courthousenews.com

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Chris Wallace to moderate first presidential debate, Steve Scully the second, and NBC's Kristen Welker the third; USA Today's Susan Page to moderate VP debate — Fox News' Chris Wallace, NBC News' Kirsten Welker, and C-SPAN's Steve Scully will each moderate one of three Presidential Debates leading …

Discussion: Poynter, @stevescully, USA Today, @brianstelter, Los Angeles Times, @maggienyt, @greta, @mschlapp, @tommyxtopher, @cspan, @daveweigel, @cairo67unedited, @yashar, @bristei, @brianstelter, Mediaite, The Wrap and ABC News

Dan McCrum / Financial Times:

How Wirecard tried to stop FT from reporting on fraud at the payments firm, using intimidation, private investigators, and allegations of market manipulation — Intimidation, surveillance and conspiracy theories: inside the FT's five-year investigation of a billion-dollar fraud

Discussion: @mattzeitlin, @fd, @jolyonmaugham, @lionelbarber, @lionelbarber, @jimwaterson, @birdyword, @fd, @tomjharper, @robertshrimsley, @pressgazette and Talking Biz News

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Facebook says Watch now has over 1.25B monthly viewers, counting everyone who streamed for at least one minute — Facebook Watch, the social giant's two-year-old video streaming platform, has become a massive destination — now attracting over 1.25 billion users each month, the company claims.

Discussion: TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

Joe Pompeo / Vanity Fair:

Sources detail how speculation about Dean Baquet's successor at NYT was upended by BLM protests and COVID-19; Sulzberger say he's “in no hurry” to make a change — Even a virtual newsroom can be a hotbed for gossip, with long-running speculation about Dean Baquet's successor …

Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review, @mattgertz, @brianstelter, @mitrakalita, @froomkin, @mlcalderone, @gerryfsmith, @joepompeo and @joepompeo

Boone Ashworth / Wired:

Google updates Your News Update, its Assistant-powered audio news service, with new features including its own “newscaster voice” — The company's latest news product is an ever-replenishing playlist of audio stories—curated, in part, by the wealth of data it has on you.

Discussion: The Keyword, @wired, @benwerd, @techcrunch, TechCrunch, CNET, Engadget and 9to5Google, more at Techmeme »

Ariana Pekary / Columbia Journalism Review:

Ratings-driven programming decisions are the largest obstacle to reliable news and information on cable and broadcast TV — When I was hired as a producer at MSNBC almost seven years ago, I did not own a television. I considered myself an accidental TV producer, having crossed the line …

Discussion: @cjr and @arianapekary

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Weather news companies say they added new topics like indoor humidity and air quality forecasting and started using new tools like drones due to the pandemic — Executives at weather news companies tell Axios that the coronavirus pandemic has forever changed the way they cover the weather.

Discussion: American Press Institute

Institute for Nonprofit News:

The Institute for Nonprofit News announces that many of its 250 members will feed stories to Spotlight News for an election dashboard in its news aggregator app — Spotlight News and the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN) announced today that many of INN's 250 member newsrooms will be aggregating …

Discussion: Spotlight Media Labs and @myspotlightnews

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More News:

BBC:
In first staff address, BBC's Tim Davie rejects subscription fee model and plans to renew commitment to impartiality by enforcing new social media guidelines

Discussion: Press Gazette, Variety and The Guardian

Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Podcast production company Parcast is unionizing under WGA East, making it the third Spotify-owned company, after Gimlet Media and The Ringer, to do so

Discussion: @kerrymflynn and The Wrap

Mark Landler / New York Times:
The BBC, far more trusted than the rest of the British media, faces commercial and cultural headwinds as two Fox-like competitors with 24-hour news develop

Discussion: @rasmus_kleis

Nick Summers / Engadget:
Twitch makes Prime Video Watch Parties, previously confined to top US Twitch creators, available to every creator and viewer on the platform globally

Discussion: TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

David Folkenflik / NPR:
VOA staff say Michael Pack is seeking political influence over coverage, in one instance violating the firewall that assures journalistic independence

Discussion: @brianstelter, Washington Post, @npr, @jbenton, @amy_siskind, @cliffschecter, @shawnpowers, @sulliview and @davidfolkenflik

Earlier Picks:

Naman Ramachandran / Variety:
Indian media conglomerate Zee launches a premium VOD service called Zee Plex, as cinemas remain closed and a spate of Indian films go direct-to-OTT

Joshua Franklin / Reuters:
Sources: PE firm TPG is exploring a sale of Astound that could value the owner of the US network of regional cable TV and internet providers at more than $8B

Discussion: Light Reading

Stephen Battaglio / Los Angeles Times:
With NewsNation, Nexstar plans to air a politically neutral newscast, hiring staff to scrutinize stories for biased language and to monitor fairness of coverage

Discussion: Sherman McCoy's Digital …, @ibishblog, @dave_schilling, @egavactip, @ewerickson, @charrisazrep, @jaycaruso, @sgstorey, @kimmasters, @kimmasters, @maghielse, @ckrewson, @jbarro, @blakehounshell, @kerithburke, @hshaban, @clancyreports and @jayrosen_nyu

Alex Barker / Financial Times:
Google says it will raise the price for ads 2% in UK and 5% in Turkey and Austria to cover the cost of digital services taxes in Europe, starting in November

Discussion: The Verge, @m_kemmerling, @gchelwa, @fairtaxmark, @matthewstoller, @prleblond, Light Reading, The Guardian and AppleInsider

Maria Armental / Wall Street Journal:
Patreon says it has raised $90M at a $1.2B+ pre-money valuation, nearly twice the $660M valuation it had after a funding round last year

Discussion: @jackconte, AdExchanger, The Wrap, Tubefilter, @saarsaar, @thepropermood, Patreon Blog, @caseynewton, @jessicalessin, Variety and The Information

From Techmeme:

Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority:
Source: Google has canceled the development of a second-generation Pixel Tablet, planned for release in 2025, due to concerns that it wouldn't sell very well

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is testing a more conversational version of Siri, dubbed “LLM Siri”, with plans to release it in spring 2026 as part of iOS 19 and macOS 16

The Information:
Sources: OpenAI considered making a browser, discussed deals to power AI features on Samsung devices and search on sites and apps from Condé Nast and others

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