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12:50 PM ET, August 4, 2025

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 Top News: 
Sara Fischer / Axios:
New York Post plans to launch a new, daily Los Angeles-based newspaper called “The California Post” in early 2026, with News Corp. veteran Nick Papps as EIC  —  - Los Angeles is home to the second-largest concentration of Post readers, per News Corp.
Jessica Roy / The Information:
A look at newsletter platform Beehiiv, which has hit $30M in ARR and fees starting at $43/month for 1,000 subscribers, unlike Substack, which takes a 10% cut  —  Last August, when CNN's Oliver Darcy decided he wanted to leave the network and launch Status, an email newsletter focused on the media industry …
Bloomberg:
Amazon says it is closing its Wondery podcast studio and will break up its operations as part of a broad reorganization; a source says ~110 will lose their jobs  —  As podcasting becomes video-oriented, Amazon is shuffling Wondery into Audible and a new “creator services” team while cutting approximately 110 staff members
Wall Street Journal:
Disney is grappling with using AI in its filmmaking process while protecting its characters against it, plus legal uncertainty, fan backlash, and union concerns  —  The stakes are especially high for the studio, caught between how to use artificial intelligence in the filmmaking process …
Nicole Sperling / New York Times:
A profile of Netflix VP Brandon Riegg, who oversees unscripted series, sports, documentary series, and gaming, as the company pushes into live shows and sports  —  Netflix's head of nonfiction series and sports, Brandon Riegg.  Early in his Netflix career he had a memorable flop.
Amelia Gentleman / The Guardian:
Children's Commissioner for England Rachel de Souza criticizes a Channel 4 documentary on porn star Bonnie Blue for “glamorising and normalising” extreme porn  —  Programme about performer Bonnie Blue condemned for ‘glamorising and normalising’ extreme pornography
Dan Milmo / The Guardian:
The UK Online Safety Act's approach to keeping children safe online has become a rallying point for the right in the UK and the US over alleged censorship  —  Farage accuses government of being ‘so below the belt’ as right wing doubles down on censorship claims  —  The UK's Online Safety Act has been greatly anticipated.
RELATED:
BBC:
In the UK, X and Reddit are blocking wide-ranging content, including about parliamentary debates, Ukraine, and Gaza, to comply with the Online Safety Act
CPB:
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting says it is shutting down after losing federal funding and is “committed to fulfilling its fiduciary responsibilities”  —  The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) announced today that it will begin an orderly wind-down of its operations following …
Discussion: IndieWire, @thathappylab.bsky.social, The Federalist, JONATHAN TURLEY, TODAY.com, Decode TV, CBS News, @scottnover, semipublic.co, USA Today, WORLD SCREEN, @banksyfella.bsky.social, NPR, @carnage4life@mas.to, @wexler, Fox News, @mikeisaac, @whstancil, @philipaklein, @annewritesreylo.bsky.social, @scottedelman.bsky.social, WKYC-TV, Must Read Alaska, Deseret News, Breitbart, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, The Hollywood Reporter, The Washington Free Beacon, Curb Cuts, Plain Dealer, Digital Music News, The A.V. Club, Ars Technica, Washington Times, Gizmodo, The Mahablog, ZeroHedge News, Fast Company, Straight Arrow News, NC Newsline, @lanceulanoff@threads.com, New York Sun, Hollywood Life, @edeggans.bsky.social, Newser, NPR, Adweek, Free Press Action Fund Feed, Raw Story, MLive.com, RedState, KIII-TV, HotAir, twitchy.com, Poynter, Associated Press, Billboard, The Daily Signal, The National Pulse, Washington Examiner, Blaze Media, Daily Caller News Foundation, Bleeding Cool News, Wall Street Journal, @schmittwitt.bsky.social, NBC News, Townhall, Consequence, TV Tech, Radio & Television …, TheDesk.net, New York Daily News, Mediaite, @scottnover.bsky.social, Inside Radio, Washington Post, @sorayanadiamcdonald.com, Advocate, Axios, Variety, Bloomberg, The Wrap, @airbagmoments.bsky.social, Deadline, @dianabutlerbass.bsky.social, @robxlii.bsky.social, @nicdawes.bsky.social, @smi.bsky.social, The Follow, New Republic, The Gateway Pundit, The Independent, The Hill, Anthropology …, Al Jazeera, Cleolinda everywhere and r/radio
Daniel Frankel / StreamTV Insider:
EchoStar reports losing 383K subscribers in Q2 for ~7.1M in total and pay TV revenue down 8% YoY to $2.5B; Sling TV lost 109K subscribers for a total of 1.78M  —  EchoStar Dish Network Sling TV quarterly earnings  —  In the words of one prominent analyst, it's no longer a question …
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Regal Cinemas will distribute a new Dude Perfect documentary on 800+ screens, including rivals AMC and Cinemark, as it looks beyond Hollywood for content  —  The second-largest US theater chain is releasing a documentary about the YouTube group Dude Perfect on hundreds of screens
New York Times:
How the Bloomberg podcast Odd Lots, hosted by Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway, has attracted a wide audience by offering in-depth analysis of economic trends  —  “Odd Lots” goes deep on lentils in Saskatchewan, the global tractor supply and trucking markets.  Is it the skeleton key to understanding this strange economic moment?
Max Tani / Semafor:
In a letter to NYT leadership, ~50 unionized culture staffers express shock and concern over the reassignment of critics, as the section shifts toward video  —  The Scoop  —  A shakeup of the New York Times culture section has promoted a fierce internal backlash in a letter of complaint …
Discussion: @maxwelltani and @faintghostglow
 
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 More News: 
Nnamdi Egwuonwu / NBC News:
The Senate confirms former Fox News host and prosecutor Jeanine Pirro as US attorney for DC; she had been serving in the role on an interim basis since May
Emily Baker-White / Forbes:
A profile of Rumble founder Chris Pavlovski, who declined an offer to become CEO of Truth Social and opted to provide services to the platform through Rumble
 Earlier Picks: 
The Moscow Times:
Derk Sauer, a Dutch media entrepreneur who founded The Moscow Times and later supported Russian journalists in exile, died at 72 from sailing accident injuries
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Trump Media reports Q2 net sales up 5.5% YoY to $883.3K, a net loss of $20M, vs. a $16.4M net loss in Q2 2024, and $3.1B in cash and investments, up ~800% YoY
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
South Park will be leaving HBO Max on August 5 after Paramount+ secured exclusive global streaming rights; HBO Max has been the US home for the past five years
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Instagram now requires users to have a public account with 1,000+ followers to go live, aligning with TikTok; previously, the feature was open to all users
 

 
From Techmeme:

Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:
Sources: Meta is considering deep budget cuts to its metaverse efforts in 2026, potentially as high as 30% and most likely including layoffs as early as January

Kif Leswing / CNBC:
Apple says general counsel Kate Adams and policy chief Lisa Jackson will retire, and Jennifer Newstead, Meta's former chief legal officer, will replace Adams

Will Oremus / Washington Post:
Two studies suggest AI chatbots can shift political views more effectively than TV campaign ads, especially by presenting many claims, regardless of accuracy
 
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