Top News:
Christopher Mathias / HuffPost:
Investigation: Richard Hanania, a Substack writer also published in WaPo, NYT, WSJ, and more, wrote for white supremacist outlets in the 2010s using a pen name — Hanania is championed by tech moguls and a U.S. senator, but HuffPost found he used a pen name to become an important figure in the “alt-right.”
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The Wrap:
Memo: The WGA says the two sides remain too far apart after the August 4 meeting with the AMPTP, accusing the AMPTP of violating its own media blackout request — In a letter to members, WGA accuses studios of leaking details about ‘confidential’ meet-up — Hopes for renewed contract talks between …
Discussion:
IndieWire, Screen Rant, Vanity Fair, Los Angeles Times, TVLine, Variety, TV Insider, The Hollywood Reporter, The Verge, IGN, Bloomberg, CBS News, @genemaddaus, Puck, Deadline, Fortune, Collider, @genemaddaus and Reuters
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The Hollywood Reporter:
Charities say Hollywood food insecurity is rising as strikes drag on, so nonprofits are boosting food and financial aid for writers, actors, and support staff — As the labor impasse continues, charities say growing numbers of the industry's most vulnerable are unable to feed themselves …
Discussion:
Deadline, Fortune, Vanity Fair and Bloomberg
Deadline:
Thousands of WGA and SAG-AFTRA members picket NBCUniversal, after union members filed NLRB complaints saying the studio interfered with prior picketing activity — This is Day 95 of the WGA strike and Day 22 of the SAG-AFTRA strike — NBCUniversal has been at the center of a number …
Discussion:
Rolling Stone, @slack2thefuture, Fans for the WGA, Deadline, @sonyasteele@mastodon.social, Forbes, The Wrap and Los Angeles Times
André Beganski / Decrypt:
The New York Times is fighting a gag order imposed on FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried after he shared former lover Caroline Ellison's writings with the outlet — The Gray Lady's letter follows a report that landed Bankman-Fried back in court. … The New York Times pushed back on Thursday …
Discussion:
ABC News, @zguz, @decryptmedia, @elonmusk, @zguz, @zguz, The New York Times Company, Reuters, CryptoSlate, US Department of Justice, Cointelegraph, Molly White, CourtListener and CoinDesk
Casey Newton / Platformer:
US state laws restricting access to porn circumvent First Amendment protections that prevent the government from deciding which content is “harmful to minors” — Anti-speech laws are spreading from states to Congress, and the future of online speech could hang in the balance
Richard Lawler / The Verge:
X delays its Ads Revenue Sharing program's payouts that were set for the week of July 31, saying the volume of people signing up “has exceeded our expectations” — In news that isn't very surprising given the recent history of Twitter, which Elon Musk is currently rebranding to X …
Khadijah Khogeer / NBC News:
Journalists at Vancouver-based IndigiNews and Ontario-based The Sarnia Journal say Meta's news block is reducing their sites' visitors and hurting their outlets — Meta recently began blocking news from Instagram and Facebook in Canada in response to the Online News Act.
Discussion:
@tehuti88
Canadian Association of Broadcasters:
North American broadcasters say Meta's news ban in Canada is “monopolistic” and urge lawmakers to support rules letting publishers negotiate with tech platforms — In response to Meta blocking news on Facebook and Instagram for Canadian users after the passage of Canada's Online News Act …
Discussion:
New York Times, Next TV, Inside Radio and Radio & Television …
Joe Amditis / Center for Cooperative Media:
A look at LocalLens, a completely AI-driven website generating coverage of local government whose stated goal is to serve as a starting point for journalists — It's not journalism, but does it have a role to play in the information ecosystem? — Imagine you're using a metal detector …
Discussion:
@_jeffpierce, @jsamditis, @spsullivan, @spsullivan, @jozsefmeszaros.bsky.social, @ndiakopoulos and Politico
Bobby Allyn / NPR:
Background actors describe studios scanning their bodies and worrying over the lack of control of their digital likenesses, a key issue in the SAG-AFTRA strike — After four weeks of working as a background actor on the Disney+ series WandaVision during the pandemic, Alexandria Rubalcaba …
Discussion:
The A.V. Club, New York Times, ComingSoon.net, Screen Rant, Comic Book, @kagan@wandering.shop, @phillewis.bsky.social, @baldur@toot.cafe, IGN, SlashFilm, @WarnerCrocker@mastodon.social, @azalben.bsky.social, @black_intellect@mstdn.social, @labuzamovies.bsky.social, @JoParkerBear@universeodon.com and @lilithsaintcrow …
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Wall Street Journal:
Sources: private equity firm KKR is in advanced talks to acquire Simon & Schuster from Paramount for ~$1.65B; a judge blocked Penguin Random House's bid in 2022 — Book publisher was put up for sale for the second time after a judge blocked a previous deal with Penguin Random House
David Sharman / HoldtheFrontPage:
With online page views declining, UK-based Reach launches a voluntary redundancy scheme for editorial staff after undertaking multiple rounds of cuts in H1 2023 — A decline in online page views has prompted a regional publisher to launch a voluntary redundancy scheme for editorial staff.