Mediagazer: The Gotham Film and Media Institute lays off the two employees responsible for managing the Project Market for indie films, and cancels the event for 2023 (Eric Kohn/IndieWire)

5:40 PM ET, June 30, 2023

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Andrew Marchand / New York Post:

ESPN lays off on-air commentators, sources say affecting ~20 personalities, including top NBA game analyst Jeff Van Gundy, Max Kellerman, and Keyshawn Johnson — ESPN is laying off some of its biggest stars in a purge that is expected to result in around 20 on-air personalities being let go Friday …

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Jane C. Timm / NBC News:

Fired Fox News producer Abby Grossberg settles her lawsuits against Fox, Tucker Carlson, and several executives for $12M; she had called Fox a toxic workplace — Abby Grossberg, who worked on Tucker Carlson's and Maria Bartiromo's shows, said she was harassed and set up to be a scapegoat in the Dominion defamation suit.

Allison Schiff / AdExchanger:

Email: ad platform MediaMath, which had raised $600M and was reportedly valued at $1B+ in 2018, plans to file for bankruptcy, after acquisition talks fell apart — The house Joe Zawadzki built will be foreclosed. — AdExchanger has learned that the demand-side platform …

Discussion: Digiday, @anthonykatsur, @larakiara, @ad360media, @tkawaja, @martyswant and @digitalshields, more at Techmeme »

Sharon Knolle / The Wrap:

Unionized G/O media employees blast the company, which owns The Onion, Quartz, The Root, Deadspin, and more, over its plans to test AI-created content next week — “Cease [your] plans to litter our websites with AI-generated content,” unionized editorial employees at The Onion, Deadspin and The Root say

The Moscow Times:

Reports: Yevgeny Prigozhin shuts down Patriot Media Group, and Roskomnadzor blocks several of its news outlets; Prigozhin has not confirmed or denied the claims — Wagner mercenary group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin has closed down his St. Petersburg-based media holding, according to multiple media reports published Friday.

Discussion: @emmalbriant, The Kyiv Independent, @ichotiner, @maxseddon and @moscowtimes

Andrew Dalton / Associated Press:

Actors could join writers on strike as soon as June 30 at midnight PDT, but both sides are open to talking past the deadline for SAG-AFTRA's studio negotiations — Hollywood actors may be on the verge of joining screenwriters in what would be the first two-union strike in the industry …

Discussion: Deadline, Variety, CNN, @AP@press.coop, @trevoromunson, The A.V. Club, Reuters, @carolinerenard_, Deadline, The Guardian, Vanity Fair, The Wrap, Los Angeles Times, ComingSoon.net and IGN

Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:

Twitter no longer lets users browse tweets, user profiles, and comment threads on the web without logging in, redirecting all Twitter URLs to the sign in page — If you currently try to access Twitter without logging in to your user account, you may find you're unable to see any of the content …

Kent Walker / Google:

Google tells Canada's government the company will remove Canadian news links from Search, News, and Discover and close News Showcase when Bill C-18 takes effect — President of Global Affairs, Google & Alphabet … The Government of Canada has enacted a new law called Bill C-18 …

Discussion: @googlecanada, @mpelletiercio, The Guardian, NPR, Press Gazette, Editor and Publisher, CTV News, NBC News, Fortune, @ernie@writing.exchange, @ivisonj, @thecoolestcool, NBC 7 San Diego, @tobi, @earleyedition, @jimmy_wales, Forbes, Android Police, @benedictevans, @seyitaylor, @pt, Toronto Star, @tleehumphrey, @matthewstoller, @bendreyfuss, @jessebrown, The Verge, The Overspill, @brooklynmarie, @stephaniecarvin, National Post, @mickeydjuric, @jgarzik, @adamsinger, @progresschamber, @fagstein, @mgeist, @marissenmark, @jeffjarvis, @anjakaradeglija, @rachaelthomasmp, @kristinraworth, Breitbart, News Media Canada, @carnage4life@mas.to, UPI, Cartt.ca, Gizmodo, The Hollywood Reporter, @lachstep.bsky.social, @danyork@mastodon.social, 9to5Google, blog.google, @lauren@mastodon …, Engadget, @caseynewton.bsky.social, The Hill and Bloomberg

Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:

Sources: Spotify is talking to its partners about adding full-length music videos, as part of growing efforts to establish video as a core part of its service — Spotify Technology SA is considering adding full-length music videos to its app, which could help the streaming service better compete …

Discussion: Engadget, 9to5Mac, @tvgrimreaper, @dada_drummer, @ashleyrcarman, Music Business Worldwide, Music Ally and Podnews, more at Techmeme »

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:

An Indian court dismisses Twitter's lawsuit against the government's content rules and fines the company ~$61K for failing to explain its delayed compliance — An Indian court has dismissed Twitter's lawsuit against the federal government that sought to challenge New Delhi's block orders on tweets and accounts.

Discussion: Engadget and Bloomberg, more at Techmeme »

Nitish Pahwa / Slate:

Canada may think Bill C-18 still has more room for negotiation, based on Meta's 2021 deal with Australia, but tech platforms no longer view news as valuable — On June 22, the Canadian Parliament passed Bill C-18, also known as the Online News Act. The new law, according to a government news release …

Discussion: @terronk, @sophienadeau, @slate, @mx_annelise, Variety, @lutherlowe, @lawgeeknz, @cbcwatcher, @pahwa_nitish, @miketmcmullen, @jessebrown and MediaPost, more at Techmeme »

Reuters:

Burkina Faso suspends LCI, saying the French TV news channel's April 2023 report on an insurgency lacked objectivity, the latest in its foreign media crackdown — Burkina Faso's military government has suspended a French television news channel for a report on a jihadist insurgency …

Discussion: The Guardian

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Casey Hall / Reuters:
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Matthew Keys / The Desk:
Sources: Nexstar's WOOD-TV fires two news managers over a memo that urged covering “both sides” of Pride Month; two others were fired for leaks about the memo

Discussion: The Detroit News, CNN, Deadline, @philipskaggs, @indivisiblemich, @marybschneider, @woods8craig, @matthewkeyslive, @chriszoladz, @matthewkeyslive, @artclone1, @matthewkeyslive, @matthewkeyslive and @rosekellywhite

Todd Spangler / Variety:
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Discussion: Complete Music Update, Music Ally, Digital Music News and Music Business Worldwide

Winston Cho / The Hollywood Reporter:
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Discussion: Gizmodo, TorrentFreak, @scott1gray, @aarondenius, @paleofuture, Reuters and @technollama.bsky.social

Dominic Patten / Deadline:
WBD starts rolling out fixes for film and TV credits on Max, breaking out writers, directors, producers, and others instead of grouping them under “Creators”

Discussion: The Streamable, Vulture, The Verge and Variety

William Turvill / Press Gazette:
DMG Media and the News Media Association suggest Apple should be forced to pay for news under the UK's upcoming Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill

Discussion: Media Voices, @pressgazette and @pressgazette

Earlier Picks:

Justin Baragona / The Daily Beast:
Fox News correspondent-at-large Geraldo Rivera, who has been with the network since 2001, says he quit Fox News because he was “fired” from The Five

Eric Kohn / IndieWire:
The Gotham Film and Media Institute lays off the two employees responsible for managing the Project Market for indie films, and cancels the event for 2023

Discussion: @erickohn

Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:
YouTube is running a test globally that limits ad blocker users to three videos, giving them the option to turn off their tool or subscribe to YouTube Premium

John Koblin / New York Times:
While other old TV standbys fall by the wayside, game shows are inexpensive to produce and among the most-watched TV programs, as they appeal to people over 60

Discussion: @nytimesbusiness

Brian Josephs / New York Times:
Mixtape sites democratized releasing music in the CD era, but with the rise of streaming they face the challenge of archiving music that isn't necessarily legal

Discussion: @timlarew and @textfiles.bsky.social, more at Techmeme »

From Techmeme:

Bloomberg:
The Trump administration excludes smartphones, laptops, hard drives, processors, memory chips, and machines used to make semiconductors from reciprocal tariffs

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Meta adds Dina Powell McCormick, who served as deputy national security adviser to Trump in his first term, and Stripe CEO Patrick Collison to its board

Makena Kelly / Wired:
Sources: Palantir is helping DOGE build an API layer above all IRS databases; DOGE wants Palantir's Foundry software to be the “read center of all IRS systems”

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