Mediagazer: A look at the debate over Spotify's Discovery Mode, whereby artists are prioritized for reduced royalties, a key way for Spotify to improve margins (Anna Nicolaou/Financial Times)

2:05 PM ET, July 30, 2021

Top News:

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell says he is pulling ads from Fox News after Fox rejected an ad for a symposium that would “prove” the 2020 election was stolen — Mike Lindell, CEO of MyPillow, says Fox News refused to run ad promoting an event linked to claims of widespread election fraud

Katie Robertson / New York Times:

NYT indefinitely postpones its return to office, planned for Sept. 7, and will require proof of vaccination from those who want to go in voluntarily — The New York Times on Friday indefinitely postponed its planned return to the office as the contagious Delta variant causes a surge in coronavirus cases across the country.

Discussion: Mediaite, The Wrap, NPR, @maggieastor, Gothamist, @farahlearned, @lindseywiebe, @elaheizadi, @hshaban, @flourgrrrl, @willystaley, @kantrowitz, @kenvogel, @anniekarni and Washington Post

Wall Street Journal:

Scarlett Johansson sues Disney for breach of contract over concurrent release of Black Widow to Disney+ and theaters; source: release could cost Johansson $50M+ — Star alleges simultaneous release of the latest Marvel movie in theaters and on Disney+ service was a breach of contract

Discussion: @brooksbarnesnyt, Variety, Variety, @brooksbarnesnyt, The Wrap, ScreenRant, @labuzamovies, UPROXX, Mediaite, Deadline, @anildash, @pkafka, @pkafka, @brooksbarnesnyt, @brooksbarnesnyt, @pkafka, Quartz, @gemofamara, Digital TV Europe, Decider, @iwriteallday_, The Week, The Playlist, Metro.co.uk, @briannawu, @mgsiegler, @rendy_jones, @hannaflint, @hollywood_labor, @maxloomes, @immortaltech, @richlightshed, @812filmreviews, @browntable_ent, @loudmouthjulia, @eriqgardner, @clairewillett, @lucas_shaw, @brooksbarnesnyt, @sepinwall, @leojtravis10, @anthonycwalker, @jonathanbarkan, @studioexec1, @nickusen, @variety, @pkafka, Sir Critic's Critiques, @mariennemaid, @812filmreviews, @jbflint, @jasonhirschhorn, @labuzamovies, @labuzamovies, @richardlnewby, @loudmouthjulia, @loudmouthjulia, @loudmouthjulia, @eriqgardner, @jbflint, @thecomixkid, @rodimusprime, @jay_roque, @gracerandolph, @mattbelloni, @richlightshed, @moviedeathblows, @arc_blog, @andruedwards, @loudmouthjulia, @richlightshed, @richlightshed, @eriqgardner, @eriqgardner, @eriqgardner, @loudmouthjulia, Hollywood Reporter, Insider, What's On Disney Plus, New York Times, UPI, Sputnik News, The Illuminerdi, New York Post, CNN, Axios, /Film, TV Insider, Observer, TechCrunch, The Streamable, Rolling Stone, Gizmodo, The Verge, Cord Cutters News, The A.V. Club, TVLine, Collider, CNBC, IndieWire, ComingSoon.net, CBS Los Angeles and Black Girl Nerds

Gavin Bridge / Variety:

Analysis: so far in 2021, streaming services have released 512 new shows, up 86% on 2019, led by Netflix, as cable networks released 453, down 28% — One of the most bandied about industry phrases of the last decade was “peak TV,” the phenomenon of the seemingly limitless growth of original content on television.

Discussion: @pkedrosky

Anna Nicolaou / Financial Times:

A look at the debate over Spotify's Discovery Mode, whereby artists are prioritized for reduced royalties, a key way for Spotify to improve margins — Executives complain Discovery Mode is payola while one Texas frontman sees it as future — The Josh Abbott Band, formed by a group …

Discussion: musically.com and TechCrunch

Financial Times:

Educational publisher Pearson says it is switching to a subscription model for all of its 1,500 titles, available for $14.99/month through its app — Educational publisher attempts move to Netflix model with access to 1,500 titles for $14.99 a month — Pearson, the educational publisher …

Discussion: The Independent and Bookseller News

Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:

The Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma shares a guide to help journalists with trauma-related stories, including using phrases like “triggered” and “PTSD” — And what does “retraumatizing” mean, anyway? You won't get PTSD reading this story, because when you're done …

Discussion: bookforum.com, @tomcochrun, @solitarywatch, @dmartosko and @denverpratt

Kelly McBride / NPR:

New NPR ethics policy ends a blanket ban on journalists participating in marches or rallies, but in practice requires them to discuss specific cases with bosses — NPR rolled out a substantial update to its ethics policy earlier this month, expressly stating that journalists may participate …

Sarah Bahr / New York Times:

Study: films and TV shows with disability themes rose from 41 in 2000 to 150 in 2020, but 95% of disabled characters are played by actors without disabilities — The study published Wednesday also showed that television is far behind film when it comes to representation of characters with disabilities.

Discussion: @timesupnow and @awnnetwork_

The Guardian:

News Corp Australia's Daily Telegraph ended a regular column from broadcaster Alan Jones, amid controversy over his COVID-19 and anti-lockdown comments — Veteran broadcaster rejects claims he ‘no longer resonates with readers’ — The Daily Telegraph has ended Alan Jones's regular column amid controversy …

Discussion: Sydney Morning Herald, @blakandblack, @peter_fitz, @mrkrudd, @georgehxanthis, @mfwitches, @btckr, Sky News Australia, Crikey, Reclaim The Net and Mediaweek

Marc Tracy / New York Times:

The Bowie Blade-News, a 41-year-old weekly paper near Washington, DC, closed Thursday, 2 months after Alden Global Capital bought its parent, Tribune Publishing — Since Alden Global Capital bought the Tribune Publishing newspaper chain, newsrooms have shrunk and a Maryland weekly has shut down.

Discussion: MediaPost, @rachaelpacella, @rachaelpacella, @rachaelpacella, @rachaelpacella, @rachaelpacella, @pwgphoto, @dangainor, @chesapeakeguild, @elaheizadi, @heidistevens13, @marcatracy, @penamerica and capitalgazette.com

Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:

The Kansas City Beacon expands to Wichita aiming to create a regional network of nonprofit newsrooms across Kansas and Missouri; it has raised almost $4M so far — When The Beacon launched in Kansas City in March 2020, it was newsletter-only out of necessity.

Discussion: Columbia Journalism Review, @kcbeacon and @niemanlab

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State Government Reporter, WA — Seattle Times

Climate Crisis Columnist — Prospect UK

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Team Editor - Opinion, ON — Toronto Star

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More News:

Jill Goldsmith / Deadline:
Amazon reports Q2 “other” category revenue, which mostly covers its ad business, of $7.9B, up 83% YoY, and subscription services revenue of $7.9B, up 28% YoY

Discussion: MediaPost, Ad Age, The Register, Fast Company, @adage, ZDNet, Ad Age and Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »

Michael King / The Streamable:
Dish and WarnerMedia end a two-and-a-half-year TV carriage dispute, bringing HBO and Cinemax back to Dish TV; Dish customers can also get a discount for HBO Max

Discussion: Advanced Television, The Verge, FierceVideo, Light Reading, Variety, nexttv.com, Cord Cutters News and The Wrap

Dan Kennedy / WGBH.org:
By giving tax credits to support local news outlets, the Local Journalism Sustainability Act avoids direct federal aid that could hurt journalistic independence

Discussion: @dankennedy_nu, @jmhaigh, @dankennedy_nu, @will_bunch and @vwpickard

Jason Gurwin / The Streamable:
Hulu + Live TV is rolling out the NFL Network on its $64.99/month plan starting today; NFL RedZone is available as part of a new $9.99/month sports addition

Discussion: The Desk, Hulu, Awful Announcing, nexttv.com, The Verge and Cord Cutters News

Earlier Picks:

Jacob Borg / Times of Malta:
Public inquiry into the murder of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia finds the state should be held responsible as it fostered a culture of impunity

Discussion: The Guardian, @acaruanagalizia, @acaruanagalizia, @acaruanagalizia, @acaruanagalizia, @acaruanagalizia, @charlieflanagan, @manfredweber, Committee to Protect …, @freepressunltd, @globalfreemedia, @pcaruanagalizia and Al Jazeera

Edmund Lee / @edmundlee:
[Thread] Dow Jones CEO Almar Latour announces the hiring of Aaron Kissel as general manager for WSJ; Kissel was formerly chief product officer at Politico

Discussion: @edmundlee

The New York Times Company:
NYT names Paula Szuchman to its newly created role of director of audio, which spans news and Opinion, as the outlet's audio teams near 100 people

Discussion: insideradio.com, @busta_, @patrickhealynyt, @photo_alice and Talking Biz News

The Wrap:
NBCU's Peacock has 54M total signups, up from 42M at the end of March, 20M monthly active users, and is planning a European expansion via Sky

Discussion: Variety, @mattdeco, @mukund, @sharonwaxman, @eriqgardner, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Hollywood Reporter, MediaPost, The Streamable, The Streamable and Wall Street Journal

From Techmeme:

Kent Walker / The Keyword:
Google says the DOJ's “wildly overbroad proposal goes miles beyond the Court's decision”, would hurt US consumers, and jeopardize the US' global tech leadership

Jay Peters / The Verge:
Adam Mosseri says Threads is rebalancing ranking to prioritize content from people that users follow, warns that creators' “unconnected” reach may go down

Paige Smith / Bloomberg:
The CFPB will supervise tech companies with digital wallets, like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Venmo, with 50M+ annual transactions, treating them more like banks

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