Mediagazer: Profile of FaZe Clan, an e-sports collective of 85 professional gamers and content creators, backed by big-time music investors, which has become a cultural hit (Dan Rys/Billboard)

2:15 AM ET, July 28, 2020

Top News:

Oliver Darcy / CNN:

After pushback, Sinclair says it will not move forward with airing a segment featuring discredited researcher of the conspiracy theory-driven “Plandemic” — New York (CNN)The Sinclair Broadcast Group (SBGI) said Monday it will not move forward with airing a segment featuring …

Discussion: @oliverdarcy, Vox, Bloomberg, Raw Story, Talking Points Memo, @zeeshanaleem, @blackamazon, Deadline, Mediaite, @davidclinchnews, @bittrscrptreadr, The Hill, @allisonlcarter, @jayrosen_nyu, The Wrap and Poynter

Matt Donnelly / Variety:

Internal memo: The Ellen DeGeneres Show is under an internal investigation by WarnerMedia following reports of problems including racism and intimidation — “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” has become the subject of an internal investigation by WarnerMedia following numerous accounts of workplace problems …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Breitbart, Collider, @matthewkeyslive, Deadline, Hollywood Reporter, The A.V. Club, Vulture, @phil_lewis_, Us Weekly, People.com, @variety, Fox News, @mattdonnelly, The Wrap and New York Post

Ken Doctor / Nieman Lab:

Q&A with the new CEO of NYT Meredith Levien on establishing the paper as a world-class digital product and technology company — Meredith Kopit Levien knew early on that she'd like to head up a news publishing company. She just never expected she would end up as the CEO of The New York Times …

Discussion: @jayrosen_nyu, @ronypatra, @jayrosen_nyu, @cyrilsam, @laurahazardowen and @niemanlab

Georgia Wells / Wall Street Journal:

Match Group names ex-CBS Interactive boss Jim Lanzone as Tinder's new CEO, beginning August 3 — Match Group's flagship dating app is navigating changes to online dating during the Covid-19 pandemic — Match Group Inc. MTCH 1.56% is naming a new chief executive for the company's flagship dating app Tinder …

Discussion: The Wrap, Variety, MediaPost, @austin_rief, Deadline, @sarafischer, Hollywood Reporter, Reuters, @georgia_wells, @kantrowitz and Fortune, more at Techmeme »

LMC Site:

Local Media Consortium to launch The Matchup, a collaborative online sports platform, with some beta markets launching this month and full coverage by Jan. 2021 — Online sports collaboration offers 78 million enthusiasts multi-market access to content about their favorite teams, players and topics

Discussion: The Keyword, @mikeorren, @glenngabe, @jeffjarvis, @mikeorren, @lmconsortium, @arctictony, Engadget, @aaronwall, @jayrosen_nyu, @kerrymflynn, @jaycodon, The Streamable and Variety

Kevin Draper / New York Times:

With regional sports networks slimming their crews amid production restrictions for MLB telecasts, broadcast workers worry the changes could become permanent — Could changes to telecasts made during the coronavirus pandemic become permanent? — Major League Baseball's abbreviated 60-game season …

Discussion: @kevinmdraper, @robcrilly, @iatse, @dpeaflcio and Awful Announcing

Reid Nakamura / The Wrap:

Oprah to launch a new interview show at Apple TV+ called The Oprah Conversation on July 30, with the debut episode featuring author Professor Ibram X. Kendi — “The Oprah Conversation” premieres Thursday, July 30 — Oprah Winfrey is launching a new interview show at Apple TV+, the streaming service announced Monday.

Discussion: Variety, USA Today, AppleInsider, People.com, Reuters, TVLine, Collider, Multichannel News, TechCrunch, Oprah Magazine, Vulture, Celebrity, 9to5Mac, Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, MacRumors, Los Angeles Times and Axios

Steven Perlberg / Digiday:

Profile of Chartbeat founder Tony Haile and his new startup, Scroll, which offers an ad-free, $5/month bundle of 300 publishers and is off to a slow start — Tony Haile is one of the most well-liked personalities in media, a smooth-talking Brit who can gossip with reporters …

Discussion: @simonowens, @jason_kint, @perlberg and @raju

Dan Rys / Billboard:

Profile of FaZe Clan, an e-sports collective of 85 professional gamers and content creators, backed by big-time music investors, which has become a cultural hit — Esports company FaZe Clan is emerging as a cultural behemoth as gamers move from the basement into the entertainment business

Discussion: @chelseynorthern, @billboard and @freshtine_

Rebecca Rubin / Variety:

Warner Bros to release Tenet internationally on August 26 before opening in select cities in N. America on September 4, but has no plans for China — “Tenet” may still be able to salvage a summer release after all — at least outside of the United States.

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, @adam_orth, @carriesnotscary, @benfritz, Rolling Stone, Engadget, @nibellion, @broadnola, @jenelleriley, @variety, TechCrunch, The Week, The Verge, Vanity Fair, The A.V. Club, io9, The Wrap and The Independent

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

By persuading Trump that he's succeeding and blocking outside criticisms, Fox News could be helping destroy Trump's reelection hopes — It would be a peculiarly apt form of poetic justice if the entity that has done so much to help President Trump run this country into the ground …

Discussion: @jayrosen_nyu, @amy_siskind, @sjdemas, @theplumlinegs, @urocklive1, @thestefansmith and ABC News

Hollywood Reporter:

BBC Studios and ITV say they plan to bring streaming service BritBox to up to 25 countries, starting with a planned launch in Australia later in 2020 — “BritBox will seek to broaden its global footprint across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, South America and Africa."

Discussion: Telegraph, Televisual, MediaPost, Digital TV Europe, Deadline and Variety

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Indigenous Affairs Editor, Sydney — Guardian US

China Markets Correspondent, Shanghai — Reuters

Bangor Reporter, ME — Bangor Daily News

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More News:

Sahil Patel / Wall Street Journal:
Ad tech company Simulmedia is testing 15 or 30 second ads in videogames played on consoles, giving players points or other rewards in exchange for watching them

Discussion: @sizpatel and MediaPost

Paul Bond / Newsweek:
A new film taking a positive look at Roger Ailes, featuring interviews with Trump, Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly and narrated by Jon Voight, to debut on Friday

Discussion: @brianstelter

MJ Lee / CNN:
Sources: Democratic National Convention will feature just two hours of prime time programming, from 9pm to 11pm ET, on the four nights between August 17 and 20

Discussion: Breitbart, @mj_lee and Fox News

The New York Times Company:
The New York Times announces that Jyoti Thottam will be the new deputy Op-Ed editor

Discussion: @ishaantharoor, @froomkin and @nytimespr

Lindsey Ellefson / The Wrap:
Hearst denies O Magazine will cease print at end of 2020, says the magazine will continue to publish online and it is evaluating print frequency beyond December

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, People.com, The Grapevine, @barry_yeoman, Jezebel, New York Post, Entertainment Tonight, Fox Business, Newser, @chantalfdez, @theperezhilton, @leratomannya, @publisherslunch, @marareinstein, @lapresmidi, MediaPost and The Business of Fashion

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:
Zenith: global ad spending will decline 9.1% in 2020, driven by the pandemic, including a 7% drop in the US; digital ads will rise to 51% of spending

Discussion: @larryschweikart, @thr and @joshsternberg

Matthew Lysiak / Vanity Fair:
An excerpt from The Drudge Revolution by Matthew Lysiak shows how Matt Drudge boosted Jared Kushner and battled Bannon in the early days of Trump presidency

Discussion: @mlcalderone and @alexpalombo

Earlier Picks:

Jon Fingas / Engadget:
Local Scripps-owned stations in 42 markets, including NYC, have gone dark on Dish Network after the companies failed to reach a deal on carriage rates

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
IFJ survey of 558 female journalists from 52 countries shows 56% think COVID-19 has increased gender inequality in the industry

Discussion: Nieman Lab, @ifjglobal, @ifjglobal, @ifjglobal, @ifjglobal and IFJ

Jessica Wakeman / Patreon:
Profile of NYT Style's editor Choire Sicha, well-liked by most, as the section confronts the pandemic's unique coverage demands

Discussion: @studyhallxyz, @_grendan, @studyhallxyz, @studyhallxyz, @jordannovet, @tolles, @markberman, @studyhallxyz, @hhavrilesky, @jessbidgood, @benyt, @studyhallxyz, @mccanner and @simonowens

Sonam Vashi / Columbia Journalism Review:
A hotline run by advocacy org Freedom for Immigrants has become crucial to journalists for gaining firsthand accounts from inside US immigrant detention centers

Discussion: @cjr, @gijn, @migrantfreedom, @cmargalaz, @sonamvashi and @usprojectcjr

Justin Baragona / The Daily Beast:
Fox News host Jesse Watters tries to walk back praise for pro-Trump conspiracy theory QAnon, after telling Eric Trump that Q “uncovered a lot of great stuff”

Discussion: @ztpetrizzo, Axios, The Daily Beast, New York Magazine, Vanity Fair, CNN, @davidfolkenflik, Newser, @mollyjongfast, Talking Points Memo, Associated Press, INSIDER and Rolling Stone

Anton Troianovski / New York Times:
Facebook hired StopFake in Ukraine to flag Russian disinfo, but critics accuse the fact-checking group of ties to the far right and of bias in its fact-checking

Discussion: @antontroian, @antontroian, @antontroian, @maximeristavi and @arictoler

Gerry Smith / Bloomberg:
Amazon Prime won't stream Yankees games this season as planned, after Yankees' YES Network decided to keep match-ups in the shortened season for itself

Discussion: Cord Cutters News, @richmacleod, Engadget, @newsynick, The Streamable, Front Office Sports and The Desk

From Techmeme:

Meta:
Meta launches Llama 4 Maverick with 400B parameters and Scout with 109B parameters and a 10M context window, and previews Behemoth with 2T total parameters

Emanuel Maiberg / 404 Media:
In backing Trump, effective accelerationists like Musk and Andreessen got a “Decel-in-Chief”, who instigated a brain drain and tariffs that hurt tech companies

TechCrunch:
SensorTower: users in India have spent $8M on ChatGPT subscriptions through IAP since 2023, not including web app purchases, versus ~$330M spent by US users

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