Mediagazer: Last week, BuzzFeed launched a BuzzFeed Arcade redesign, Vulture released an archive of its game Cinematrix, and Mashable partnered with Arkadium to offer games (Kerry Flynn/Axios)

Top News:

Patrick Svitek / Washington Post:

After raising complaints, Trump says he will participate in the ABC debate with Harris on September 10 and the rules “will be the same as the last CNN debate” — The ABC News-hosted debate is set to take place Sept. 10 in Philadelphia, Trump said Tuesday.

Tom Friend / Sports Business Journal:

Sources: Amazon recently pulled its January 2024 offer to invest $115M in Diamond Sports Group, as the broadcast landscape changed — Amazon recently pulled its eight-month-old offer to infuse Diamond Sports Group with $115M in cash, multiple sources told SBJ, a development that has delayed …

Discussion: StreamTV Insider, Next TV, Front Office Sports, Barrett Media, The Streamable, Awful Announcing, Cord Cutters News, TVNewsCheck and Sports Media Watch

The Guardian:

Venezuelan journalists are using AI avatars to host daily newscasts without putting themselves at risk, as President Nicolás Maduro cracks down on the media — Journalists are using artificial intelligence avatars to combat Maduro's media crackdown since disputed election

Discussion: Fox News, Columbia Journalism Review, @grady_booch, Beyond Search, @niemanlab, Andrew Blakeley on LinkedIn, Jeremy Werner on LinkedIn and LatAm Journalism Review, more at Techmeme »

Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch:

VerSe Innovation, the parent of Indian news aggregator Dailyhunt, buys digital marketing agency Valueleaf for an undisclosed sum in a cash and equity deal — VerSe Innovation, India's content tech unicorn that owns local language news aggregator Dailyhunt, digital newsstand platform Magzter …

Discussion: Entrackr

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:

Sources: Apple is laying off ~100 people in its services group, impacting Apple Books, News, and other teams, a rare move as part of a shift in its priorities — - Layoffs will include some workers in Books and News apps — Company is eliminating about 100 positions in Tuesday's move

Discussion: New York Post, @markgurman, @markgurman, @aaronp613, The Verge, @migueldeicaza.bsky.social and 9to5Mac, more at Techmeme »

April Rubin / Axios:

Snap launches new safety tools and resources for US educators, and says Snapchat has 20M+ US teen users; Pew says 51% of US teens used Snapchat daily in 2023 — - Snapchat was the third most used app among teens in a 2023 Pew study, behind YouTube and Instagram.

Discussion: Christopher Rinkus on LinkedIn

Bron Maher / Press Gazette:

The Daily Telegraph's annual statement shows it had the most UK Editors' Code breaches upheld by IPSO in 2023; IPSO had 8K complaints in 2023 vs. 36K in 2022 — The Daily Telegraph had the most breaches of the Editors' Code upheld by IPSO in 2023, its annual statement to the regulator shows.

The Information:

Memo: TikTok Global Head of Content Nicole Iacopetti plans to leave on September 6, after joining in 2020 from Disney; she helped shape TikTok's news strategy — It's been a tumultuous year for TikTok employees, between a looming potential ban of the app in the U.S. to its first widespread layoffs earlier this year.

Joel Simon / Vanity Fair:

A look at the potential threats posed to US journalists by Donald Trump's possible second term, and proactive safeguards for news outlets — The former director of the Committee to Protect Journalists lays out the grave threats that American news outlets might confront—and offers proactive safeguards.

Discussion: TVNewsCheck, @tilojung, @nanavsliars, @jodieginsberg, @joelsimonsays and @sauthoff.bsky.social

Kerry Flynn / Axios:

Last week, BuzzFeed launched a BuzzFeed Arcade redesign, Vulture released an archive of its game Cinematrix, and Mashable partnered with Arkadium to offer games — - BuzzFeed launched a redesign for BuzzFeed Arcade, home to Pyramid Scheme, AI generators and other games.

Discussion: Mashable, Vulture, @vulture, @mashable, @kerrymflynn and Kerry Flynn on LinkedIn

Reuters:

India's antitrust body clears the $8.5B Reliance-Disney merger, a source says after getting commitments over not raising ad rates on cricket streaming and more — Walt Disney Co (DIS.N) and Reliance Industries (RELI.NS) have won approval for an $8.5 billion merger of their Indian media assets subject …

Discussion: Variety, Deadline, Bloomberg and @adityakalra

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Gallery Media Group CEO Ryan Harwood says GMG, which owns PureWow and 50+ lifestyle brands primarily on social media, aims to end 2024 with $50M in revenue — - Its executives credit cautious spending, smart owners and a relentless focus on their consumers.