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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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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 …
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Los Angeles Times, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, @genemaddaus, Vanity Fair, Collider, @genemaddaus, TV Insider, IndieWire, Deadline, The Verge, IGN, Bloomberg, CBS News, Puck, Deadline, Fortune, TVLine, Screen Rant and Reuters
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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

Thousands of WGA and SAG-AFTRA members picket NBCUniversal, after union members filed NLRB complaints saying the studio interfered with prior picketing activity
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Rolling Stone, @slack2thefuture, Fans for the WGA, Deadline, @sonyasteele@mastodon.social, Forbes, The Wrap and Los Angeles Times


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.
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@tehuti88
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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 …


Russian independent news outlet Meduza says Apple removed its flagship podcast from Apple Podcasts; source: Roskomnadzor asked Apple to remove the show — Meduza has received a notice from Apple, informing our media that our flagship podcast “What Happened” has been removed from the Apple Podcasts streaming platform.


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 …


Investigation: US tech entrepreneur Neville Roy Singham, who funds left-wing outlets globally, works closely with Chinese government media to spread propaganda — The Times unraveled a financial network that stretches from Chicago to Shanghai and uses American nonprofits to push Chinese talking points worldwide.


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


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 …


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


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 …
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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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Texas A&M agrees to pay Black journalist Kathleen McElroy $1M to settle legal claims over her botched hiring; the case led to the resignation of A&M's president — Texas A&M University agreed to pay a prominent Black professor $1 million in a settlement over her failed hiring that led …
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New York Times, Insider, The Guardian, @brizzyc, The Texas A&M …, The Daily Beast, National Review, The Hill, @sdkstl, @bgrueskin, @donmoyn, @donmoyn, @donmoyn, Houston Public Media, @froomkin, @jillgeisler, @mcgeereports, @andrewczhang, @markjacob16, @blackamazon, @jayrosen_nyu, @jayrosen_nyu, @jayrosen_nyu, @shortformernie, @jswatz, @jswatz, @michaelewebber, @jswatz, @bgrueskin, The Texas Tribune, Associated Press, The Wrap and Chron