Top News:
James Pollard / Associated Press:
Memo: MrBeast plans to hire an HR officer and a CFO and implement safety and sensitivity training, amid allegations of impropriety and unsafe sets — MrBeast has ordered a full assessment of the internal culture in his YouTube empire as well as an investigation into “allegations …
Discussion:
Kotaku, Metro.co.uk, @dexerto, Tubefilter and Deadline
Yasmin Rufo / BBC:
The BBC asks Huw Edwards to return the £200K+ in salary he made between his November arrest and his April resignation; BBC Chair says he “behaved in bad faith” — Huw Edwards has been asked to return his salary paid since his arrest, with the BBC chair telling staff the ex-presenter acted in “bad faith”.
Discussion:
BBC, Reuters, CNN, Julie Temple on LinkedIn, Press Gazette, Financial Times, The Hollywood Reporter, The Guardian and Deadline
Eva Dou / Washington Post:
Trump Media, Truth Social's parent company that has a ~$5B market cap, reports Q2 revenue down 30% YoY to $837K; Trump owns 59.9% of Trump Media's common stock — Donald Trump's company, which operates Truth Social, said it earned $837,000 in quarterly revenue.
Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:
Netflix strikes a deal to have CBS Sports produce the two NFL games to be streamed live on Christmas; on-air talent to call the games will be decided later — The on-air talent that will call the games will be named later — Netflix said it has struck a deal to have CBS Sports produce …
Discussion:
Reuters, Awful Announcing, Sportico, Fox Business, Sports Media Watch and TVNewsCheck
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
A £350M bid for The Telegraph by ad mogul Maurice Saatchi and Lynn Forester de Rothschild fails to make it to a second round in the auction run by RedBird IMI — Sir Paul Marshall reported to be the frontrunner for The Spectator. — Former advertising mogul Lord Saatchi has had a £350m bid to buy The Telegraph rejected.
Discussion:
Sky News and Financial Times
Juliana Kim / NPR:
Microsoft research details Iranian government efforts to interfere with the US election, including four fake outlets likely using AI to plagiarize news content — Groups connected to the Iranian government are using a spectrum of online tactics to interfere with the U.S. presidential election …
Discussion:
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Microsoft On the Issues, The Register, UPI, Fast Company, @savokanikan, Washington Post and CBS News
Nellie Andreeva / Deadline:
Sources: Hearst Television lays off dozens of employees working for its free streaming service Very Local, which launched in 2021, serving 26 US markets — Hearst Television has let go of dozens of employees working for its streaming service Very Local, sources tell Deadline.
Discussion:
The Desk and TVNewsCheck
Todd Spangler / Variety:
WBD pulls the contents of cartoonnetwork.com, which featured full CN episodes and video clips, and redirects visitors to sign up for Max — Cartoon Network has been scrubbed from the web. … The shuttering of the site appears to have happened Thursday, Aug. 8.
Discussion:
The Desk, IndieWire, The Hollywood Reporter, @popbase, IGN, SlashFilm, ComingSoon.net, @blogdiva@mastodon.social, Bleeding Cool News, The Wrap, New York Post, TVNewsCheck, Engadget, AV Club, TVLine, Decider, Teddy Hose on LinkedIn, Cord Cutters News, The Verge, The Media Leader, Consequence and Deadline
Natalie Korach / The Wrap:
Paramount sells entertainment news websites ComicBook and PopCulture to Savage Ventures, which created a joint venture to relaunch Vice digital properties — This comes after Paramount Global's newly appointed co-CEOs detailed a plan including $500 million in cost cuts
Discussion:
@jkschmidt, Breitbart, @rollinbishop, @rollinbishop, @kasey__moore, The Hollywood Reporter and Graphic Policy
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Todd Spangler / Variety:
Paramount Global says it will cut 15% of its US workforce, or about 2,000 employees, in the next few weeks, after cutting about 800 positions in February
Paramount Global says it will cut 15% of its US workforce, or about 2,000 employees, in the next few weeks, after cutting about 800 positions in February
Discussion:
The Guardian, Media Play News, New York Daily News, Fast Company, Patrick Caligiuri on LinkedIn, Fox Business, Wall Street Journal, IGN, @hadas_gold, AdExchanger, StreamTV Insider, CNN, Deadline, Next TV, TVNewsCheck, Cord Cutters News, IndieWire, The Wrap, Bloomberg, Los Angeles Times, Deadline and CNBC
Rani Molla / Sherwood News:
A Q&A with Wikimedia Foundation executives on how AI could make knowledge more accessible to people, the possibility that it discourages volunteers, and more — We spoke with Wikipedia executives who told us AI could jeopardize the encyclopedia's connection with the volunteers who create it.
Discussion:
Diff
Reuters:
Rappler wins an appeal to restore its corporate license as a court rules that the Philippines' SEC overstepped in ordering the outlet's shutdown in 2018 — Philippine Nobel laureate Maria Ressa's news website Rappler won an appeal to restore its corporate licence after a court overturned …
Discussion:
The Guardian, Rappler, Reuters, @kenroth, Al Jazeera, Committee to Protect … and Reporters Without Borders
Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
President of Disney EMEA Jan Koeppen says the company plans to spend at least $5B on content production in the UK and continental Europe in the next five years — Regional chief says UK and continental Europe will play a big role in future box office and streaming hits
Discussion:
Variety, Martin S. on LinkedIn, Craig Higgins on LinkedIn, John Mahtani on LinkedIn, Reuters, Deadline, Deadline and TVNewsCheck
Rishav Chatterjee / Reuters:
News Corp puts its 65% interest in Australian pay TV company Foxtel up for sale, citing third-party interest and a strategic review — Australian pay television company Foxtel, controlled by the Murdoch family and partly by local telecom firm Telstra (TLS.AX), has been put …
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