Top News:
Max Tani / Semafor:
Sources: CNN is considering hiring a comedian to host a prime time show; executives have floated Bill Maher, Trevor Noah, Jon Stewart, and others — CNN is considering hiring a comedian to host one of its prime time shows. — The “news entertainment” personality could fill the primetime 9 …
New York Times:
As the number of shows and movies depicting real events has grown, screenwriters are taking liberties with the facts, often leading to public spats and lawsuits — The entertainment genre of historical drama is flourishing — and riddled with inaccuracies. The untrue parts are leading to more public spats and lawsuits.
Discussion:
@nytimes, @marshacollier, @mikeaztec28, @bubbaprog and @stormmela
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
The UK's Reach told The Sunday Mirror and Sunday People staff that the two Sunday tabloids will begin sharing most of their content under new cost-saving plans — The Sunday People and Sunday Mirror have been under the same editor since 2014. — The Sunday Mirror and Sunday People newspapers look set …
Discussion:
One Man & His Blog
Chris Kay / Bloomberg:
Reliance and Paramount's Viacom18 buys five-year rights to the new women's Indian Premier League cricket tournament for $116M, after buying the men's IPL rights — Viacom18 Media Pvt., backed by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, scooped up the television and digital broadcasting rights …
Discussion:
@jayshah, Variety, ThePrint, cricket.com, The New Indian Express, @jayshah, @vvslaxman281, @jhulang10, The Indian Express, @imharmanpreet, @rickeyrecricket and TheCricketer
Parham Ghobadi / BBC:
A look at the costs of reporting on Iran for BBC Persian journalists: death threats, online harassment, and threats to family members who remain in the country — In Iran, the anti-government protests of 2022 have continued into the new year. Reporting on one of the biggest international stories …
Michael Schneider / Variety:
Q&A with MGM+ head Michael Wright on rebranding from Epix, plans for eight original series per year under Amazon's ownership, and more — The top-to-bottom rebrand of the service that debuted in October 2009 (as a joint venture among MGM, Paramount Pictures and Lionsgate) …
David Satin / The Streamable:
Parks Associates: 63% of US households with internet have a connected TV, a 65% increase over 2015, and 87% of them subscribe to at least one streaming service — Smart TVs are an increasingly important tool for consumers. They allow users to navigate between their various streaming apps and services …
Discussion:
@harrymccracken, Media Play News, Broadband TV News and Light Reading
Financial Times:
TikTok, Instagram, and other social media apps expect age verification measures in the UK's Online Safety Bill to reduce their user numbers, hurting ad revenue — UK's Online Safety Bill requires stronger age verification measures for platforms including TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat
Discussion:
@the_avpa, ExchangeWire.com, Digiday, Communicate Online, @webdevlaw, What's New in Publishing and Future News, more at Techmeme »
Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:
Comcast-owned Sky plans to offer free Discovery+ access to subscribers in the UK and Ireland, saving them £6.99 per month — “We know value is incredibly important right now,” Comcast-owned Sky says. … “Sky Q, Sky Glass and Sky Stream customers can now sign up for Discovery+ as part …
Discussion:
Broadband TV News, Deadline and Daily Express
Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:
A profile of the Investigative Journalism Foundation, “Canada's ProPublica”, a new nonprofit set to publish investigations and build public interest databases — “Think of us like ProPublica meets OpenSecrets.” That's how editor-in-chief Zane Schwartz describes Canada's newly launched Investigative Journalism Foundation.
Discussion:
@michellemanafy, @zaneschwartz and @fatimabsyed
Brent Lang / Variety:
MoviePass raised a seed of undisclosed size led by Animoca Brands and plans to accelerate its beta movie theatre subscription relaunch and set a Web3 strategy — MoviePass Inc. announced it has raised its seed financing led by Animoca Brands, a Hong Kong-based game software, blockchain and venture capital company.
Discussion:
AppleInsider and Financial Times
Jenny Gross / New York Times:
How Finland, ranked first of 41 European countries in a media literacy survey, teaches students to spot misinformation on social media, starting in preschool — The Nordic country is testing new ways to teach students about propaganda. Here's what other countries can learn from its success.