Top News:
Publishers Weekly:
Scholastic apologizes for asking a children's book author to cut language in an author's note about ongoing racism after saying the note might lessen readership — Concerns about censorship at Scholastic's Rising Voices Library, a diversity-focused provider of educational materials …
Sarah E. Needleman / Wall Street Journal:
Parlement Technologies sells Parler to digital media company Starboard, which plans to temporarily shut down the right-wing social network ahead of a relaunch — Social network popular with conservatives will be sold for an undisclosed amount and overhauled for a relaunch
Discussion:
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Washington Post:
Rural Llano County officials in Texas backed away from library closures and book bans, after feeling pressure from national media exposing censorship efforts — It isn't every day that the ruminations of local bureaucrats in a small rural Texas county become national news.
Discussion:
NBC News, The Texas Tribune, @virginiascharff, @katrinanation, @dashkaslater, @petedominick, @ejdionne, @jjabbott, @theplumlinegs, @staceynycdc, @penamerica, @alexanderrusso, @davidpepper, The Daily Beast, @theplumlinegs, @colleengleason, @joycewhitevance, @penamerica, World Socialist Web Site, @theplumlinegs, @theplumlinegs, CNN, Publishers Weekly, Publishers Weekly, Axios, The Hill, Unite Against Book Bans and New York Times
Wall Street Journal:
Montana lawmakers approve a first-of-its-kind bill that bans TikTok and bars app stores from offering the app within the state, starting on January 1, 2024 — Supporters of the first-of-its-kind-bill expect legal challenges if the governor signs the legislation
Discussion:
CNN, CBS News, New York Times, Engadget, NBC News, NPR, New York Daily News, Associated Press, @aclu, @themckenziest, The Wrap, @oablanchard, @statelinx, @hahnscratch, @mattlanza, Variety, @anthonymkreis, The A.V. Club, @chrismessina, @senrickscott, The Hill, @drewharwell, @mrdevinhunter, @film_girl, @stuwoo, @mtagknudsen, South China Morning Post, @kprc2justin, Wired, @tcrawford, National Review, The Verge, Associated Press, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, Insider, 9to5Mac, Gizmodo, Al Jazeera, Associated Press, TheBlaze, Rolling Stone, Digital Music News, NetChoice and MediaPost, more at Techmeme »
Pete Pachal / CoinDesk:
CoinDesk plans to stop using generative AI images and spells out its rules for AI use in different contexts, requiring disclosure for articles but not headlines — Artificial intelligence (AI) tools are changing the way we work - especially the media. Here are the rules of the road for CoinDesk.
Discussion:
Talking Biz News, @bmorrissey, @petepachal and @coindesk
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Instagram updates Reels with a section for trending audio and hashtags, expands gifts to more countries, enhances its editing tools, adds new metrics, and more — As governments around the world express growing concerns about TikTok, its rival Instagram Reels is getting a series of new updates aimed at creators.
Discussion:
Instagram for Creators, @mosseri, Meta, BGR, 9to5Mac, @lovebunnycos, @mattnavarra, @jeffveillette, @nickcicero, Tubefilter, Social Media Today, MediaPost, The Verge and Engadget, more at Techmeme »
Al Jazeera:
El Salvador's El Faro moves most operations, except its newsroom, to Costa Rica and registers as a non-profit, saying it faced Bukele government attacks — The Salvadoran news outlet El Faro says the Bukele government has attacked the country's press and eroded rule of law.
Discussion:
elfaro.net, @duncantucker, @elfaroenglish, Q COSTA RICA, @_elfaro_, @_elfaro_, Democracy Now and @_elfaro_
Andy Maxwell / TorrentFreak:
Noonoo TV, a South Korean movie and TV show piracy platform, shuts down, blaming high bandwidth charges and “pressure”, likely from a new anti-piracy coalition — One month ago, South Korean movie and TV show piracy platform Noonoo TV was riding the crest of a wave along with tens of millions of dedicated fans.
Ryan Barwick / Marketing Brew:
Since cutting Taboola and open-market programmatic ads, Bloomberg has replaced those advertisers with in-house promos worth ~$7.4M over the past few months — Spring cleaning came early for Bloomberg Media. Last fall, the publisher said it would cut ties with the programmatic open marketplace …
Discussion:
Neil Patel, @ckrewson, @outlandishjosh, @marketingbrew and Media Voices
Patrick Frater / Variety:
Comcast invests $200M in James Murdoch and Uday Shankar's Bodhi Tree Systems, which will use the money to buy a minority stake in Indian media group Viacom18 — Comcast, the conglomerate behind NBCUniversal and the Sky European TV giant, is to invest $200 million in Bodhi Tree Systems …
Discussion:
Reuters, The Hindu, Observer, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline and TechCrunch
P R Sanjai / Bloomberg:
Indian streaming service JioCinema plans to add 100+ films and TV series and charge for content; JioCinema had 22M viewers for an IPL cricket match on April 12 — Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's streaming service will add more than 100 films and TV series to its platform, building on the popularity …
Zac Ntim / Deadline:
French fashion house Saint Laurent is launching a production banner headed by its creative director Anthony Vaccarello and debuting two short films at Cannes — French fashion house Saint Laurent is moving into the world of cinema with an official production banner headed by house creative director Anthony Vaccarello.
Discussion:
The Hollywood Reporter, @wwd, WWD, The Wrap and Variety