Mediagazer: The Solomon Star and other newspapers in the Solomon Islands face criticism after accepting funding from China in exchange for positive coverage (Charley Piringi/The Guardian)

People, The Washington Times, MarketWatch, and others fell for an elaborate hoax that claimed Barbie dolls would be plastic free by 2030; most removed the posts — The false campaign by environmental activists claimed that the toy giant was launching a new line of decomposable Barbies and would stop using plastic by 2030.

Discussion: Washington Times, The Wrap, CBS News, The Hill, @corbinhiar, @therockfather, @weareyellowdot, Yahoo Entertainment, @dhlovelife, New York Post and The Toy Book

Emily Longeretta / Variety:

Digital media company Factz acquires celebrity entertainment news site Hollywood Life; founder and EIC Bonnie Fuller leaves the company — Factz, a digital media company, acquired the celebrity entertainment news site HollywoodLife.com on Tuesday. Founder, president and editor-in-chief Bonnie Fuller is no longer part of the company.

Discussion: The Wrap and @ckrewson

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:

PBS announces that The Atlantic EIC Jeffrey Goldberg will be the next moderator of Washington Week, which will be renamed Washington Week With The Atlantic — The Atlantic will co-produce the show, which will be renamed “Washington Week With The Atlantic.” The publication will cover some of the costs and help sell sponsorships.

Discussion: The Hill, Variety, @libertyjunky420, @corbinbolies, @lisadnews, @nxthompson, @ggreenwald, Current, The Atlantic, Deadline, The Daily Beast, The Hollywood Reporter, @benmullin, Semafor and @peterlattman

Alex Ross / New Yorker:

After iTunes failed to save classical music, Apple Music Classical seems an oddly clumsy point of entry, offering some good features but falling short of rivals — As classical listeners shift to streaming, Apple's bespoke app falls short of its smaller-scale competitors.

Discussion: @ionarts, @ajdoug, @oxfordclock and @scurve, more at Techmeme »

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:

Filing: WWE Executive Chairman Vince McMahon faced a search warrant and subpoena in July and is now on medical leave; the merger with Endeavor's UFC is on track — The WWE said in a footnote to a SEC filing that federal agents executed a search warrant and served a federal grand jury subpoena on McMahon July 17.

Discussion: Associated Press, Breitbart, NBC News, New York Daily News, Bleacher Report, WrestleTalk, Sportico, ComingSoon.net and Deadline

Charley Piringi / The Guardian:

The Solomon Star and other newspapers in the Solomon Islands face criticism after accepting funding from China in exchange for positive coverage — The Solomon Star denies accusations of ‘giving away’ its independence by accepting thousands of dollars' worth of equipment

Discussion: @dailypostdan

John Herrman / New York Magazine:

Three theories about how AI will change the news: replace some outlets entirely, be a helpful tool, or turn news organizations into wire services — Here are three theories of the case. — In early July, the Associated Press made a deal with OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, to license …

Discussion: @omkar_raii, @mediaevan, Poynter, @cyrilsam, New York Post and What's New in Publishing

John Koblin / New York Times:

The Writers Guild of America told screenwriters in an email that it agreed to restart talks with Carol Lombardini, the studio negotiator, on Friday, August 4 — A strike by writers and actors has caused nearly a complete production shutdown of scripted entertainment.

Discussion: Screen Rant, CBS News, Deadline, Next TV, @wgaeast, @alexblagg, @ddayen, Los Angeles Times, The A.V. Club, The Hollywood Reporter, Screen Rant and Vanity Fair

Mark Caro / Local News Initiative:

Q&A with ex-Washington Post chief Marty Baron on the need for outlets to figure out a commercially successful model by themselves, the role of owners, and more — In Pt. 1 of interview, Marty Baron calls on journalists to stop the nostalgia and doom-and-gloom and to focus on solving problems and making tough choices

Discussion: @capitalresearch, @jacobin, Poynter, @dicktofel, @palewire, @markcaro, @mollybeck, @petercanellos, @tvgrimreaper, @dicktofel, @timafranklin, @timafranklin, @sarahscire and @ssuttell

Liz Shackleton / Deadline:

MPA: Southeast Asia added only 7K net new streaming subscribers in H1 2023, down from 7M in H2 2022, for 47.6M total; TikTok had 42% of video streaming minutes — Southeast Asia only added 7,000 net new SVOD subscriptions in the first half of 2023, a big slowdown from 7 million new subscribers …

Discussion: WORLD SCREEN and Variety

Emilia David / The Verge:

Meta releases AudioCraft, a new open-source AI model that lets users create music and sounds via prompts, consisting of MusicGen, AudioGen, and EnCodec models — It consists of three AI models, all tackling different areas of sound generation. MusicGen takes text inputs to generate music.

Discussion: Fast Company, Variety, Quartz, TechCrunch, Meta, Engadget and @stockmktnewz, more at Techmeme »

Patrick Frater / Variety:

Pluto TV plans to launch in Australia on August 31 with over 50 FAST channels, as a branded area within Paramount Australian and New Zealand's 10 Play — Comprising more than 50 free ad-supported TV (FAST) channels, Pluto TV will be sold as a dedicated branded area within Paramount Australian …

Discussion: The Hollywood Reporter, WORLD SCREEN, The Desk, Paramount ANZ, Mumbrella and Cord Cutters News