Top News:
Jim Waterson / The Guardian:
Former BBC presenter Emily Maitlis calls BBC board member Robbie Gibb an “agent of the Conservative party” who is “acting as the arbiter of BBC impartiality” — Former Newsnight presenter says former No 10 communications chief Sir Robbie Gibb on board acting as ‘arbiter of impartiality’
Discussion:
BBC, @alextaylornews, @mediaguido, @femi_sorry, @skynews, @darrengrimes_, @aljhlester, @owenjones84, @campbellclaret, @markoosterveen, @manveenrana, @mikegalsworthy, @peterjukes, @jamesoflynn, @nigella_lawson, @robwilson_rdg, @naj562, @johnbarnesuk, @mrjamesob, @colin1866, @phelpsiesarah, @jayrosen_nyu, @chakrabortty, @shahmiruk, @annettedittert, @louiserawauthor, @brianukulele, @fitzpas, @georgiebingham, @skynews, @mattthr, @dminghella, @jonsopel, @tomlondon6, @chakrabortty and @jeffreynewman
RELATED:
Hope King / Axios:
Marginal MediaWorks agrees to acquire Fresno Unlimited, which wants to use AI trained on public consumer interest data to help studios green light projects — A new tie-up between a startup content studio and a data science startup aims to flip the way Hollywood green lights movies and shows.
Jeremy Fuster / The Wrap:
Rotten Tomatoes: among 100+ critics it added over the past year, 74% are from underrepresented groups, 48% are women, 38% PoC, and 34% from new media platforms — Rotten Tomatoes will expand its efforts to increase diversity among film and TV critics, with the review website announcing …
Mark Stenberg / Adweek:
Subscription management platform Zuora reaches a deal to acquire Zephr, which provides paywall software to News Corp, Tribune Publishing, and others, for $44M — Zephr will bring its dynamic paywall technology to the subscriptions company — The subscription management platform Zuora …
Discussion:
Business Wire, @bmorrissey and @markstenberg3
Andrew Kersley / Press Gazette:
An interview with NowThis' president on how the outlet became the largest news brand on TikTok with ~9M followers, developing original programming, and more — The president of US-based brand Now This has spoken to Press Gazette about how it became the most-viewed US-based news and politics brand on Facebook, Youtube and Twitter.
Discussion:
Simon Owens's Media Newsletter, @pressgazette, @simonowens, @michellemanafy, @pressgazette and @mediaguy19
Annabel Ross / VICE:
Interviews with 22 current and former staffers at Beatport, an electronic dance music-oriented online store, show incidents of racism, sexism, and bullying — The powerhouse dance music retailer preached inclusivity and diversity, but ex-staffers say bullying, sexism, and casual racism was pervasive.
Discussion:
@annabel_ross, @vice, @katalunia030, @_alexamaro, @iamlouislaroche and @kurosarakokuou
Todd Spangler / Variety:
NBCU says current seasons of NBC shows will stream on Peacock Premium the day after airing starting September 19, after it reclaimed rights from Hulu — Fans of NBC current-season shows will no longer find them on Hulu as of next month — they'll be flying over to NBCUniversal's Peacock.
Joe Coscarelli / New York Times:
Capitol Music Group severs ties with FN Meka, a virtual “robot rapper” powered partly by AI with 10M+ TikTok followers, after backlash over racial stereotypes — The record company apologized to “the Black community” for insensitivity in promoting an AI-backed artist that critics said was …
Discussion:
Vibe, Variety, UPROXX, The FADER, @modernistwitch, @mrchuckd, @passionweiss, @reptilianhybrid, @natealyn, @fakeshoredrive, @billboard, Complete Music Update, Music Ally, @eileenguo, @jherskowitz, @heranmamo, @joecoscarelli, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Music Business Worldwide, The FADER, Hip-Hop Wired, AfroTech, Input, Fortune, Pitchfork, Stereogum, UPROXX, Yahoo News, The A.V. Club, The Hill, The Wrap, Los Angeles Times, Insider, Rolling Stone, Billboard and Consequence
Dan Misener / Bumper:
Study of Spotify's podcast recommendations finds white noise episodes are among top recs and 14% of recommended episodes are Spotify originals and exclusives — I've long been interested in Spotify's podcast recommendation system, mostly because it uses a different strategy than its competitors.
Discussion:
@michellemanafy, @evoterra, Reclaim The Net and Remote Notes
Manori Ravindran / Variety:
Sources: Soumya Sriraman, who led Amazon's US Prime Video Channels business, steps down after two years; Sriraman was formerly the CEO of BritBox — Soumya Sriraman, the former BritBox CEO who joined Amazon to lead its Prime Video Channels business in the U.S., is stepping down after two years at the SVOD.
Discussion:
TechCrunch and The Streamable
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
India's richest man, Gautam Adani, acquires a ~29.18% stake in NDTV using decade-old options and plans to acquire another 26%; NDTV says it did not give consent — Adani Group said Tuesday it will buy a majority stake in NDTV, a high-profile Indian news organization, in an apparent hostile takeover …
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Scroll.in, The Hindu, Scroll, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, @mkvenu1, @blitzkreigm, @ensaluja, Variety, The Hindu, Livemint, The New Indian Express, The Signal, Financial Times and Bloomberg
Adam Kovacevich / Chamber of Progress:
The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act would support Breitbart, Newsmax, and hedge funds; other bills may help local journalism without paying for hate — Bill would require Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft to pay and link to right-wing news — Congressional Democrats are in array.