Mediagazer: Mandiant: a Chinese PR firm used newswire services to place pro-Beijing content on the subdomains of 32+ US news outlets, including the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Washington Post)

3:12 AM ET, July 25, 2023

Top News:

Lisa Richwine / Reuters:

The much-hyped “Barbenheimer” opening weekend netted $155M for Barbie and $80.5M for Oppenheimer, for $300M in total in the US and Canada for just the 4th time — The much-hyped “Barbenheimer” box office battle over the weekend proved to be a win for movie theaters that needed to add some sizzle to their summer.

Rebecca Rubin / Variety:
Q&A with Josh Goldstine, Warner Bros. president of global marketing, on Barbie's marketing campaign, which rival studio execs estimate to have cost ~$150M

Discussion: Insider, The Wrap, UPROXX, New York Times and Screen Rant

Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:

Twitter rolls out its updated “interim” X logo, replacing the iconic bird, following Elon Musk's weekend announcement; X.com now redirects to twitter.com — Twitter has removed the iconic bird logo and adopted ‘X’ as its official logo. This move comes after Elon Musk announced the change over the weekend.

Discussion: @elonmusk, @lindayacc, @elonmusk, The Verge, New York Times, @lindayacc, CNN, NBC News, Fast Company, Insider, Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Bloomberg, @chafkin, @martingrasser, NPR, CNBC, CNN, @lindayacc, Forrester, @lindayacc, @espiers, Variety, @rmac18, Engadget, Fortune, TIME, @mrerikjackson, The Hill, KNSD-TV, Vibe, @mollyjongfast, New York Post, @rmac18, @lindayacc, @mabintou, Mother Jones, @jack, The Guardian, Digital Journal, CBS News, Us Weekly, PRWeek, @valueterminal, Gizmodo, @mikeisaac, @mossbergwalt@threads.net, @wagatwe, New York Magazine, @ivanthek, The Daily Beast, @elonmusk, @rmac18, Ars Technica, @carnage4life@threads.net, MediaPost, Poynter, The Register, @news_by_nick, @tomgara, Slate, ABC4 Utah, Agence France-Presse, Fox News, New York Daily News, KGET-TV, Global News, Complete Music Update, Sydney Morning Herald, Hollywood Life, @levie, @tomcoates, @tedlieu, @jdcmedlock, @elonmuskaoc, @emilcdc, @bendreyfuss, @yosephpaulos, @jamestobyne, @karaswisher, @loupas, @jujuujba, @benedictevans, @killedbygoogle, Insider, New York Post, The Guardian, New Republic, Bloomberg, The Hollywood Reporter, Slate, @carnage4life@mas.to, @parkerortolani@threads.net, Times of San Diego, Ad Age, Boing Boing, The A.V. Club, UPROXX, The Week, Consequence, Forbes, Vanity Fair, Metro.co.uk, The Wrap, Billboard, Digital Music News and Reuters, more at Techmeme »

Jon Porter / The Verge:

Spotify confirms raising US Premium to $10.99/month, up from $9.99, the first increase since its US launch in 2011; Duo rises by $2, Family and Student by $1 — After 12 years, the price of Spotify Premium is increasing in the US. The subscription will now cost $10.99 a month, the company announced today.

Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:

TikTok rolls out support for text posts, available via the app's Camera page and letting users add sounds, locations, stickers, and more — As Twitter shoots itself in the foot with a rebrand this morning, TikTok has announced that it's rolling out support for text posts.

Jean Yamamura / The Santa Barbara Independent:

The Santa Barbara News-Press, which has published a paper since 1868 and received a Pulitzer, ceases publication and files for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy — Publisher Ampersand Claims Few Assets and Many Creditors — More than 150 years of history ended on Friday when the Santa Barbara News …

Brian Merchant / Los Angeles Times:

Studio executives embraced Silicon Valley's magical thinking of hypergrowth and disruption for the past 10 years, only to slash worker pay as the boom times end — In one respect, the actors and writers of Hollywood uniting on the picket lines in a historic, industry-shaking strike is a tale as old as time …

Discussion: @andrewbucholtz, @olaasm, @adamconover, @bcmerchant, @ben@werd.social, @rodhilton@mastodon.social, @incitatus@mastodonapp.uk, @carnage4life@mas.to and @peter@thepit.social

Washington Post:
South Korean and Indian filmmakers are hoping the Hollywood strikes will give them more bargaining power with US streaming services and a precedent to follow

Discussion: @jintakhan

David Folkenflik / NPR:

NPR names Edith Chapin as its SVP for news and editor-in-chief; she's been serving in the position on an acting basis since fall 2022, after joining NPR in 2012 — NPR has moved to shore up its leadership at a time of significant transition, naming veteran news leader Edith Chapin …

Discussion: Current, @isalara, @davidfolkenflik, @elbordeaux, @vivian, @greenfield64 and The Wrap

Catherine Perloff / Adweek:

Mailchimp owner Intuit is launching SMB MediaLabs, which lets advertisers target QuickBooks' 7.1M customers on social media, online publishers, CTV, and more — Targeting QuickBooks' customers across digital media is a promising new revenue line — Financial services giant Intuit …

Discussion: Intuit SMB MediaLabs, @lefterisjp, @catherineperlo1, @johnathanbarnes and @sean_kaushal

Sports Business Journal:

Sources: MLS Season Pass is nearing 1M subs including season-ticket holders; team execs say they are frustrated due to lack of transparency in viewership stats — Apple's Eddy Cue began speaking to a room filled with MLS owners and executives last week in Washington, D.C. …

Discussion: @turnersavesthat, @GreenFire@mstdn.social, Awful Announcing, @worldsoccertalk, The Streamable, @tvanswerman, @alexmsilverman, 9to5Mac, @griffin_author, @tvgrimreaper, @zone_nhl, @jheaps4 and @usmnt_thoughts

Washington Post:

Mandiant: a Chinese PR firm used newswire services to place pro-Beijing content on the subdomains of 32+ US news outlets, including the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette — Welcome to The Cybersecurity 202! Tim here. If you're remotely interested in boxing, or maybe even if you aren't, you'll definitely want to be watching Saturday night.

Discussion: @nakashimae, @nakashimae, CNN, @nakashimae, @nakashimae, @ericgarland, @heminator and Mandiant

New York Times:

Sources: Altice USA is exploring a sale and other strategic options for Cheddar News; Altice USA acquired the streaming news network for $200M in 2019 — Rebranding the social network as X marks the billionaire's latest gamble to reinvent the company, after buying it last year for $44 billion.

Discussion: @bmorrissey, @tomgara, @dannygroner, Semafor, @ryanvailbrown, @benmullin, @seangriffey, The Wrap, @scottnover, Insider and @sherman4949

Washington Post:

The previous big strikes reshaped Hollywood and fueled reality TV's rise; the current ones will likely turn established actors into TikTok stars and vice versa — The last big strikes reshaped the movie business and fueled the rise of reality TV. The latest walkout likely …

Discussion: Digiday, Rolling Stone, The Information, Study Hall, Foreign Policy, Deadline and The A.V. Club

Mark Stenberg / Adweek:

Court docs reveal Vice's financial struggles and fundraising history; Vice held $834M in debt in May 2023, raising $1.3B+ in debt and equity funding since 2017 — New documents reveal a yearslong slide into increasing financial desperation — The digital media company Vice filed …

Discussion: United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, @markstenberg3 and @adamry_n

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More News:

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:
The Telegraph Media Group reports 2022 revenues up 4% YoY to £254.2M, digital subscription revenue up 31% YoY to £57.9M, and subscriptions up 2% YoY to 734K

Discussion: The Guardian, Reuters, Financial Times, London Evening Standard, Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, The Times and @guardiannews

Thomas Buckley / Bloomberg:
Sources: Disney is reviewing its film release schedule for the rest of 2023 and may delay some titles because striking actors won't help promote the pictures

Discussion: @tvgrimreaper and @bart_smith

Jesse Whittock / Deadline:
Internal memo: WBD President of International TV Distribution Robert Blair plans to leave the company after 25 years due to a “necessary structural change”

Discussion: @jelmes_tv, @variety, Broadcast, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and Cord Cutters News

BBC:
BBC newsreader George Alagiah, who joined the broadcaster as a foreign correspondent in 1989 and presented BBC News at Six for the past 20 years, dies at 67

Discussion: BBC, @markaustintv, The Guardian, @bbcpress, @chrisckmedia, @nickbryantny, @scottygb, @sarfrazmanzoor, @mariannaspring, @sangitamyska, @clairehopkin.bsky.social, @johnsimpsonnews, @pressgazette, @rhonddabryant, @mrneilmorrow, Variety, Sky News and Press Gazette

Earlier Picks:

Natalie Pressman / CBC News:
Canada's smaller news outlets, like Cabin Radio, the Northwest Territories' only entirely-online news organization, worry about the Online News Act's impact

Discussion: @gregorytaylor1

Patrick Sykes / Bloomberg:
Turkish shows, initially made for domestic audiences, are at the forefront of state broadcaster TRT's global expansion, as Turkey tries to extend its soft power

Ben Smith / Semafor:
Sources: IAC, News Corp, the NYT, and other publishers are forming a coalition to push for AI laws and lead a lawsuit against AI firms who trained on their data

Discussion: The Overspill, @ernie@writing.exchange, @moorehn, @adamkovac, @natfriedman, @michaelgreshko, @_zeets, @hingumtringum, @sirdigalot, @mediaevan, @natfriedman, @jl_zamith, Vanity Fair and CNET

Brian Veseling / WAN-IFRA:
A look at Argentina's Clarín, which has 30M monthly readers and 700K subscribers, as the outlet looks to diversify their offerings and expand into other markets

From Techmeme:

Bloomberg:
Polymarket says the FBI seized CEO Shayne Coplan's phone and electronics; source: the DOJ is investigating Polymarket for allegedly accepting bets from US users

Ramish Zafar / Wccftech:
AMD says it will lay off ~4% of its global staff to align “resources with our largest growth opportunities”; SEC filing: AMD had 26,000 staff at the end of 2023

Bloomberg:
Sources: OpenAI plans to launch a new AI agent codenamed Operator, which can use a computer to take actions on a person's behalf, in January 2025

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