Mediagazer: UCLA's Hollywood Diversity Report finds that among 2022's top 100 original streaming films, 64% had casts with at least 30% POC vs. 57% for theatrical films (Jeremy Fuster/The Wrap)

2:25 PM ET, March 31, 2023

Top News:

Top editors of 38 news organizations around the world sign a letter condemning the detention of WSJ's Evan Gershkovich and calling for his immediate release — The editors condemned Mr. Gershkovich's detention in a letter to the Russian ambassador to the U.S.

Discussion: Committee to Protect …, The New York Times Company, CNN, @larryryckman, @pressfreedom, @sgurman, @wsj, @leisel_leisel, @jimmyvielkind, @asharma, @trippmickle, @jbflint, @dollydeighton, Poynter and Puck

BuzzFeed News:

The NYT, LAT, and WaPo won't buy Twitter Blue; NYT, LAT, BuzzFeed, and Politico won't reimburse reporters for Blue, but Semafor and other small outlets plan to — BuzzFeed isn't ponying up, but for other outlets, paying might make sense. — Pranav Dixit

Discussion: Axios, @oliverdarcy, The Comeback, CNN, @maxwelltani, @oliverdarcy, @jessespector, @rmac18, @roslyntalusan, @bdherzinger, @thekidskoob, @ryangrim, @claire_goforth, @thomaschattwill, @timfullerton, @skooks, @paleofuture, @boydhilton, @davidclinchnews, @williamshatner, @stevelackmeyer, @ndrew_lawrence, @stevanzetti, @dancow, Vox, @moorehn, @andrewmarchand, @jbenton, @mattnavarra, @roslyntalusan, @katebevan, @studentactivism, @bobmoorenews, @johniadarola, @mikeisaac, @spj_tweets, @tinu, @helenkennedy, @kt_so_it_goes, @cfidd, @pkafka, @charles_gaba, @dellcam, @scottnover, @benjysarlin, @wfkars, @chrismessina, @kimmasters, @bruce_arthur, @scottnover, @scalzi, @ewong, @jacobrubashkin, @oliverdarcy, @nicosgonzalez, @andybcampbell, @joshtpm, @themaxburns, @moorehn, @adrianweckler, @wtfis2bdone, @ryanhanrahan, @lxeagle17, Boing Boing, The Wrap, @hammancheez@c.im, Awful Announcing and Social Media Today, more at Techmeme »

New York Times:
Document: Twitter plans to exempt its top 500 advertisers and 10K most-followed, previously verified organizations from paying $1,000 per month for a checkmark

Safi Bugel / The Guardian:

Gal-Dem, an outlet for women and non-binary POC, is closing after eight years, citing the difficulty of relying on partnerships and its membership model — After eight years of operation, staff statement blames financial challenge of running independent media outlet

New York Times:

Fox News hosts rally around Trump following his indictment, denouncing it as politically motivated and as a cause for potential unrest — Despite recent criticism, the network's star personalities joined other leading conservatives in denouncing the indictment as politically motivated and a possible cause for unrest.

Alyssa Boyle / AdExchanger:

A new bipartisan Senate bill, almost identical to a 2022 bill, would force companies with $20B+ in annual digital ad revenue to sell part of their business — Say hello to the US government's latest attempt to force antitrust regulations on the digital advertising industry. — It might sound familiar.

Discussion: AdExchanger, @senmikelee, @swodinsky, Reuters, Marketing Brew, Mike Lee US Senator for Utah, Digiday, @jason_kint, @digiphile, @berinszoka, @jason_kint, @jason_kint, @dcnorg and NetChoice

Jeremy Fuster / The Wrap:

UCLA's Hollywood Diversity Report finds that among 2022's top 100 original streaming films, 64% had casts with at least 30% POC vs. 57% for theatrical films — The share of women and people of color in key positions on theatrical releases slide back to 2019 levels in latest annual report

Discussion: @indiewire, @dranachristina, @beingjanine, New York Daily News and @thewrap

Mike Hume / Washington Post:

The Washington Post vows to continue covering gaming even as its gaming news hub Launcher, which began in 2019, officially closes on March 31 — It's not over. Yes, Launcher is ending — officially closing as a subsection of The Post on March 31 following a series of newsroom layoffs — but the mission does not die.

Discussion: @walldo, @rcmacleod, @rcmacleod, @rcmacleod, @teddyamen and @launcherwp

Bloomberg:

Russia's Federal Security Service detains Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich on suspicion of “espionage in the interests of the American government” — Russia's Federal Security Service said it detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich in Yekaterinburg …

Discussion: New York Times, Human Rights Watch, Wall Street Journal, Wall Street Journal, Talking Biz News, The Desk, Associated Press, @polinaivanovva, The Moscow Times, @sulliview, @repmcgovern, @congressmanraja, @nytimes, @francescaebel, @dylanbyers, @govmurphy, @billbrowder, @pressfreedom, @dylanbyers, @presssec, @christopherjm, @dwnews, @pressfreedom, Axios, @maxseddon, @pressfreedom, @michaeldweiss, @sarahrainsford, @annanemtsova, @shustry, @asluhn, @maxseddon, @lindakinstler, @jazzedloon, @georebekah, @jimsciutto, @jfberke, @kevinrothrock, @r__politik, @neilphauer, @kevinrothrock, @neilphauer, @felix_light, @leonidragozin, @neilphauer, @lolgop, @brendancarrfcc, @freedomofpress, @timobrien, @tpcarney, @rohded, @newsguild, @mgongadze, The Daily Beast, European Federation …, @clancyreports, @natashabertrand, @jeffsonnenfeld, @followtheh, @billpascrell, @akurmanaev, @mattmcbradley, @oliverdarcy, @domenpresern, @kaitlancollins, CNBC, @billbrowder, @domenpresern, @moorehn, SABEW, Reuters, The Guardian, MediaPost, The Hill, New York Post, New York Magazine, Financial Times, New York Daily News, Committee to Protect …, Washington Post, The Guardian and Reuters

Jeffrey Rousseau / GamesIndustry.biz:

Roblox will now hide advertisements from users 13 and younger, nearly a year after nonprofit Truth in Advertising filed an FTC complaint against it — Changes come nearly a year after advertising watchdog filed an FTC complaint over company's ad policies — Roblox will now hide advertisements …

more at Techmeme »

Luke Winkie / Slate:

Interviews with writers who publish daily Wordle clue guides, published by a slew of outlets since they reliably generate substantial traffic — Sam Hill, an editor at the technology website Digital Trends, has penned 647 articles about Wordle. Each of them follows the same basic format …

Discussion: @jbenton, @luke_winkie, @iethics and Mashable

Alan Jones / AOL:

BBC journalists are set to stage a 24-hour strike on May 5 to coincide with the reporting of local election results, after a first walkout on March 15 — BBC journalists in England are to stage a 24-hour strike from midnight on May 5 to coincide with the reporting of local election results, in a dispute over cuts to local radio.

Discussion: The Guardian, RadioToday and HoldtheFrontPage

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Sources: crypto outlet The Block has laid off roughly one-third of staff, including interim CEO Bobby Moran, and promoted head of research Larry Cermak to CEO — The Block, a crypto media company that got caught up in a funding scandal related to disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried …

Discussion: @kylesgibson, @timccopeland and @pressgazette

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BBC:
BBC appoints ex-ITN CEO John Hardie to lead an independent review of its social media guidelines for freelance, non-news presenters after the Gary Lineker furor

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Ben Cohen / Wall Street Journal:
Apple's classical music app fixes the genre's main problem of search and discovery using metadata from Amsterdam-based Primephonic, which Apple acquired in 2021

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Twitter:
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Jeremy Fuster / The Wrap:
Hollywood producers and unions say COVID-19 safety protocols will end after May 11, the same day the Biden administration lifts the national pandemic emergency

Discussion: @lidsville, Variety, Deadline, Los Angeles Times and The Hollywood Reporter

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Netflix restructures to make fewer, but better, movies, and will combine its small and midsize film units; executives Lisa Nishimura and Ian Bricke are leaving

Discussion: Variety, Engadget, @lucas_shaw, @bqprime, @susanlitv, @variety_pats, @lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw, @jenny8lee, @masasoncap, @stanphylcap, Fox Business, The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, Media Play News and Collider

Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
YouTube adds Shorts data to its Total Reach metric for artists and says fan-created Shorts increased the average artist's unique viewers by 80%+ in January 2023

Discussion: YouTube Official Blog, Complete Music Update, @nealmohan, Communicate Online, @mattnavarra, Tubefilter, Music Ally, Billboard and Forbes

Earlier Picks:

Rebekah Valentine / IGN:
ESA cancels E3 2023, after Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, and Ubisoft announced they would not attend the event originally scheduled for June 13 to June 16

Faisal Mahmud / Al Jazeera:
Bangladeshi police arrest Prothom Alo correspondent Shamsuzzaman Shams under the Digital Security Act after he wrote about rising food prices in the country

Discussion: @mg2411, @maarafat71, @bjimbd, @profhuq, @nomhossain, @masalabai and Committee to Protect …

Anna Nicolaou / Financial Times:
Succession's last season may mark the end of “peak TV” as big media groups slow spending growth; Ampere: US TV show orders fell 23% YoY in January and February

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Karissa Bell / Engadget:
Invite-only Twitter alternative T2 plans to let Twitter users who are about to lose their checkmark on April 1 to carry over the verification to its service

Discussion: Barrett Media, @gabor, @martinsfp, @gabor, Daily Mail and TechCrunch

Issac J. Bailey / Nieman Reports:
The Dominion lawsuit exposes Fox News as an entertainment network masquerading as a news outlet, as executives approve hosts spreading lies to keep ratings high

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Karissa Bell / Engadget:
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From Techmeme:

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: China's muted response to TikTok bill reflects the view that TikTok is of less strategic value than Huawei; China prefers TikTok US closure to sale

Emanuel Maiberg / 404 Media:
Apple removes three AI image generation apps from the App Store after a 404 Media probe found the apps advertised being able to create nonconsensual nude images

Dustin Volz / Wall Street Journal:
Sam Altman, Satya Nadella, Sundar Pichai, Jensen Huang, and others join a board for advising the DHS on deploying AI safely within US critical infrastructure

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