Mediagazer: Nadine Dorries appointed as UK culture secretary, replacing Oliver Dowden hours before he was due to make a speech about proposed Channel 4 privatization (Manori Ravindran/Variety)

ViacomCBS launches BET Studios, offering Black creatives an equity stake to produce content for outlets within and outside the media conglomerate — The three producers will be equity partners in the venture, which Aisha Summers Burke has been tapped to lead.

Discussion: The Wrap, Variety, Deadline and Realscreen

Joe Pompeo / Vanity Fair:

Profile of veteran Black journalist Kevin Merida who became the executive editor of LA Times in June and says he wants to “redefine what a modern newspaper is” — The new executive editor of the L.A. Times rode a stellar career to helm California's paper of record.

Discussion: @adriana_lacy, @mlcalderone, @joepompeo and @hughhewitt

Brian Welk / The Wrap:

National Association of Broadcasters cancels next month's convention in Las Vegas amid a COVID-19 surge and says it hopes to hold the next event in April 2022 — The National Association of Broadcasters, or NAB, has canceled its 2021 NAB Show that was scheduled for Las Vegas next month amid …

Discussion: Variety, insideradio.com, Radio & Television …, nexttv.com, Light Reading, Deadline, Broadband TV News, Realscreen and Hollywood Reporter

Emma Kelly / Metro.co.uk:

BBC confirms that ex-HuffPost UK EIC Jess Brammar has been appointed to a new role overseeing the BBC's domestic and international news channels — Jess Brammar has been hired by the BBC, following controversy about her potential role at the corporation. — BBC chairman Richard Sharp confirmed today …

Discussion: BBC, Press Gazette, @robmanuel, @lisaocarroll, @jessbrammar, @nmsonline and Guido Fawkes

Corrie Driebusch / Wall Street Journal:

SmartNews, a news aggregation app that shows users articles on the same topic with labels on their political bent, raises $230M at a ~$2B valuation — Tokyo-based news-discovery company is valued at $2 billion in its latest funding round — SmartNews Inc. has raised $230 million …

Discussion: TechCrunch, Axios, SmartNews, Inc. and @anthony, more at Techmeme »

The Guardian:

Police investigating the 2019 killing of journalist Lyra McKee have arrested four men in the Derry area — Police Service of Northern Ireland says the men have been detained under the Terrorism Act — Detectives investigating the killing of the journalist Lyra McKee have arrested four men.

Discussion: BBC, @matthewhughes, PinkNews, UPI, @poppymcp, RTÉ, @peteradamsmith, HoldtheFrontPage, Metro.co.uk, The Irish Times, Reuters, Sky News, @hagan_utv and @psnidcsdistrict

Kerry Flynn / CNN:

Clubhouse hires Nina Gregory, senior editor for NPR's Arts Desk, as its first head of news and media publishers — New York (CNN Business)Live audio app Clubhouse boomed during the early months of the pandemic as people craved social connections and entertainment while spending most of their time isolated and inside.

Discussion: Variety, @christenlien, @justinebateman, @jowyang, @kerrymflynn, @kerrymflynn and @kerrymflynn

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

In a memo, Fox Corp. says around 90% of its employees are vaccinated and it will soon introduce daily COVID-19 testing for those who are not vaccinated — Fox Corp. intends to test unvaccinated employees daily for coronavirus infections, the company disclosed in a memo.

Discussion: CNN, Insider, @ddiamond, Deadline, @oliverdarcy, @brucedawson0xb, @jeffrichgels, @mattsheffield, The Daily Beast, The Hill, Deadline and Mediaite

Sahil Patel / The Information:

Sources: Reddit is on track for more than $350M in ad revenue this year, at least double what it earned in 2020 — The “meme stock” rally that sent shares of companies like GameStop and AMC Entertainment soaring earlier this year was driven in large part by discussion on Reddit …

Discussion: @cindygallop, @sizpatel and @jessicalessin

Elias Leight / Rolling Stone:

Sleep Fruits Music, which plays 30-second clips of rain sounds, has ~10M Spotify streams/day, diminishing the money available for artists recording actual songs — Onlookers in the music industry are not pleased — On an average day on Spotify, megastars like Olivia Rodrigo and Drake routinely rack up the biggest stream counts.

Discussion: @crispinhunt, @benfrigeri_, musically.com, @amyxwang, @annemariebridy, @choi_clint, @jonbern, @imleor and @cheriehu42

Manori Ravindran / Variety:

Nadine Dorries appointed as UK culture secretary, replacing Oliver Dowden hours before he was due to make a speech about proposed Channel 4 privatization — Just 45 minutes before Oliver Dowden was slated to address the British television industry at the Royal Television Society confab in Cambridge …

Discussion: @kevin_maguire, @shonaghosh, @scatatkins, @jimmfelton, @ayocaesar, @10downingstreet, @jimwaterson and Financial Times

Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:

In a lawsuit, a GMA producer claims ABC News retaliated against her after she filed a complaint earlier this year alleging sexual assault by Michael Corn — The claim from a producer on ‘Good Morning America’ comes in an amended version of her lawsuit against the network and her former boss

Discussion: Fox News, The Hill, The Wrap, Deadline, @oliverdarcy and @anthony