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Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Spotify plans to test a free audiobook bundle for its paying subscribers that offers up to 20 hours of content per month, as part of an audiobook push — Audio streamer to test program with listeners to learn about customer demand for audiobooks — Spotify plans to test …
Discussion:
9to5Mac, Gizmodo, The Verge, CMU, Music Ally and The Bookseller, more at Techmeme »
Jim Friedlich / Nieman Reports:
Press Forward is by far the largest coordinated philanthropic effort to support local news, and its $500M commitment could generate billions more in new support — A nonpartisan group of 22 foundations today announced the launch of Press Forward, a nationwide coalition committing …
Discussion:
macfound.org, Werd I/O, Washington Post, Newser, MediaPost, The Hill, Associated Press, Free Press, Second Rough Draft, Nieman Lab, Axios, American Public Media, Poynter, NPR and New York Times
Krystie Lee Yandoli / Rolling Stone:
In a call with Tonight Show staff, Jimmy Fallon said he's “sorry” and didn't mean to “create that type of atmosphere”, after a report detailed a toxic workplace — “Sorry if I embarrassed you and your family and friends...I feel so bad I can't even tell you,” …
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Fox News, Vanity Fair, Global News, Breitbart, The Messenger, @noahshachtman, Deadline, WHDH 7News, The Guardian, @bobmorris@mastodon.social, UPROXX, Consequence, The A.V. Club, TVLine, Screen Rant, Page Six, The Wrap, New York Daily News, 98 Rock Online, al.com, Insider, The Sun and ET Canada
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Krystie Lee Yandoli / Rolling Stone:
Interviews with 16 current and former employees describe a toxic workplace at The Tonight Show, starting with Jimmy Fallon's outbursts and erratic behavior
Discussion:
New York Times, The Wrap, Variety, Mediaite, Los Angeles Times, The Blast, NewsNation, CBS News, Screen Rant, @aodespair, Fox News, NME, UPROXX, @thewrap, ET Canada, @ricardoharvin@mstdn.social, Breitbart, Page Six, New York Post, The Hollywood Reporter, Insider, @ernie@writing.exchange, Vanity Fair, KTVX-TV, @realityblurred@mastodon …, Collider, The Messenger, Us Weekly, IGN, Mercury News, The Daily Beast, IndieWire, @simli.bsky.social, Metro.co.uk, @paulconstant.bsky.social, TVLine, The A.V. Club, Page Six, City A.M., @thefarmerjones.bsky.social, @sydneyy.bsky.social, @noahshachtman@mstdn.social and Boing Boing
Daniel Frankel / Next TV:
In another carriage dispute, Dish Network says Hearst pulled 37 network affiliates in 27 markets off of Dish, calling pay TV negotiations a “broken system” — Hearst is demanding ‘tens of millions of dollars’ in broadcast retransmission rate increases, Dish claims
Discussion:
Awful Announcing, The Wrap, Reuters, The Desk, Radio & Television …, WBBH-TV, DISH Network Corporation, @matthewkeyslive and Cord Cutters News
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
X is showing some ads in users' Following feeds without an “Ad” label, indicated only by clicking on the three-dot menu, which could attract the FTC's attention — X, the company formerly known as Twitter, has been caught running unlabeled ads in users' Following feeds …
Discussion:
Mashable and 9to5Mac, more at Techmeme »
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Roku removes at least 37 original shows from the Roku Channel, including Reno 911! and a remake of The Fugitive, as part of its announced effort to cut costs — Other titles pulled include ‘Children Ruin Everything,’ ‘Most Dangerous Game,’ ‘Andy Cohen Diaries,’ ‘Cup of Joe’ with Joe Jonas
Discussion:
The Desk, Deadline, Lowpass, @pkafka, @devincf, @xpangler, @joelmathis.bsky.social, @uticaeric, SlashFilm, Collider and The A.V. Club
Nieman Lab:
A study of 7,266 users from the US, the Netherlands, and Poland: non-news websites, like entertainment pages, expose people to more politics than news websites — Plus: The catalyzing effect of attacks on journalists, how journalists describe their target audiences, and new evidence of local news nonprofits' impact.
Discussion:
@niemanlab
Robin Kemp / The Clayton Crescent:
Robin Kemp, who founded The Clayton Crescent and covered the 2020 US election in her part of Georgia, closes the outlet and moves to Savannah's The Current — For three years and four months, I have singlehandedly provided high-quality, professional news coverage to, for, and about this community.
Michael Hunter / London Evening Standard:
Concord plans to acquire Round Hill Music Royalty Fund, whose back catalog includes songs from The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Louis Armstrong, for £375M — Star-studded back catalogue including The Beatles and The Rolling Stones and Louis Armstrong to go private — T
Discussion:
Billboard, Music Ally and Reuters
Reuters:
Japanese broadcasters NHK, NTV, TV Asahi, and Fuji TV issue apologies for not covering sexual abuse allegations at a J-pop agency, after the agency apologized — After Japan's top talent agency Johnny & Associates apologised on Thursday for decades of sexual abuses committed by its late founder …
Discussion:
New York Times, Reuters on YouTube, @kizzy224, BBC, BNN Bloomberg, @piyococcochan2, Reuters, Kyodo News+, France 24, Agence France-Presse, The Asahi Shimbun, The Asahi Shimbun, The Guardian, The Japan News, @nakajimayuwuto, @jayallen_uj, @jakeadelstein, Agence France-Presse, NHK WORLD, The Mainichi, BBC News on YouTube, SoraNews24, @kenmogi, @landerswsj, @bill_emmott, The Japan Times, South China Morning Post, @jayallen_uj, Sky News, NME, BBC, @jayallen_uj, Nikkei Asia, Deutsche Welle, The Japan News, The Mainichi, WION, The Japan News, The Japan Times, @martinsfp.bsky.social, La Prensa Latina Media, Associated Press, Bloomberg, Fox News, The Messenger, Variety and r/japan
Sophie Vershbow / Esquire:
Interviews with authors and publishing insiders reveal the broken system of blurbs; a few authors say blurbs helped launch their careers, but hated the process — Do authors actually like the books they endorse—or even read them? Writers, literary agents, and publishing workers …
James B. Stewart / New York Times:
Sources: Mattel stands to earn 5% of Barbie's $2B expected box office revenue, a percentage of the profits as the movie's producer, and payments as the IP owner — The company's approach has paid off to a degree that even the C.E.O. could hardly have believed possible.
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Forbes, Comic Book, Fox Business, Ad Age, ComingSoon.net, Variety, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, The Messenger and Tubefilter
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