Mediagazer: Spotify's Premium Family Plan is getting parental controls with an explicit content filter and a Family Mix personalized playlist for the whole family (Steve Dent/Engadget)

1:10 PM ET, August 19, 2019

Top News:

Mark Halperin, who faced multiple accusations of sexual misconduct and harassment in 2017, signs a book deal with publisher Regan Arts — News of the “Game Change” author's deal with Regan Arts came as a shock to his accusers, and prominent Democrats interviewed in the book have been scrambling to explain themselves.

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:

Mark Halperin doesn't deserve a comeback book because he hasn't made amends, and Democratic strategists hurt the #MeToo movement by talking to him for the book — Want to make a comeback? — First make amends. — Mark Halperin, the author and media commentator who stepped …

Discussion: Politico, @mlcalderone and Mediaite

Alexandra Steigrad / New York Post:

Sources say WarnerMedia execs were blindsided by new HBO streaming plans, describe how WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey's harsh management style is alienating staff — Plans by HBO's new parent company to launch a Netflix rival is coming under fire from insiders — many of whom are pointing the finger at their new boss, John Stankey.

Discussion: MediaPost

Steve Dent / Engadget:

Spotify's Premium Family Plan is getting parental controls with an explicit content filter and a Family Mix personalized playlist for the whole family — Spotify is rolling out a new Premium Family Plan with a much-awaited setting. Parents will now have the ability to filter out songs with swearing …

Discussion: Spotify, RAIN News and Variety, more at Techmeme »

Chris Welch / The Verge:

Disney+ to launch in Canada, the Netherlands, Australia, and New Zealand along with the US in November, will stream on all major platforms except Fire TV — Disney today confirmed its first global launches for the company's upcoming Disney+ subscription service, and it outlined which devices …

Discussion: Variety, TechCrunch, Broadcasting & Cable, The Streamable, 9to5Mac and MacRumors, more at Techmeme »

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Roku Channel adds an ad-supported kids section with 7K free TV episodes and movies from 20 partners — Roku's home entertainment hub, The Roku Channel, is expanding into kids' programming. The company this morning announced plans to aggregate kids and family movies and TV alongside …

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable, MediaPost, The Verge, The Wrap and Variety, more at Techmeme »

Marcela Kunova / Journalism.co.uk:

Polish journalism org The Outriders starts Media Garage, a program to help four media organizations in Ukraine and Moldova with editorial, revenue strategies — Round one of Media Garage aims to turn around four struggling Central and Eastern European newsrooms to help strengthen democracy in the region

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:

While not a substitute for formal news conferences or press briefings, Trump has held more short Q&A sessions than any of his predecessors — President Trump on Tuesday stopped to chat with reporters at Morristown Municipal Airport in New Jersey. He made news.

Discussion: @dangillmor

Victoria Kwan / First Draft:

How journalists can avoid amplifying misinformation, given their reporting can improve search engine rankings and increase the visibility for bad info — When it comes to websites with masked motives, can coverage do more harm than good? Recent discussions at First Draft tried to address this inherent problem.

Discussion: @victoriakwan_, @firstdraftnews and @firstdraftnews

Ian Burrell / The Drum:

HuffPost UK EIC Jimmy Leach on his former role as a UK Foreign Office diplomat, the Verizon Media ecosystem, HuffPost's female-focused newsroom, and more — Having been a Foreign Office diplomat and a senior official at Downing Street, Jimmy Leach, the new editor-in-chief of HuffPost UK …

Jeff Blumenthal / Philadelphia Business Journal:

American City Business Journals acquires BizEquity, a SaaS company offering business valuation tools and more to financial institutions and wealth managers — As part of the deal, the parent company of the Philadelphia Business Journal will make a “significant” capital investment in BizEquity to accelerate its growth.

Discussion: @rafat

@pinboard:

[Thread] Twitter has been running ads from Chinese state news agency Xinhua that aim to discredit protesters in Hong-Kong — Every day I go out and see stuff with my own eyes, and then I go to report it on Twitter and see promoted tweets saying the opposite of what I saw. Twitter is taking money from Chinese propaganda outfits and running these promoted tweets against the top Hong Kong protest hashtags pic.twitter.com/6Wb0Km6GOb