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Investigation: Richard Hanania, a Substack writer also published in WaPo, NYT, WSJ, and more, wrote for white supremacist outlets in the 2010s using a pen name — Hanania is championed by tech moguls and a U.S. senator, but HuffPost found he used a pen name to become an important figure in the “alt-right.”
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Memo: The WGA says the two sides remain too far apart after the August 4 meeting with the AMPTP, accusing the AMPTP of violating its own media blackout request — In a letter to members, WGA accuses studios of leaking details about ‘confidential’ meet-up — Hopes for renewed contract talks between …
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IndieWire, Screen Rant, TVLine, Vanity Fair, Los Angeles Times, TV Insider, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, The Verge, IGN, Bloomberg, CBS News, @genemaddaus, Puck, Deadline, Fortune, Collider, @genemaddaus and Reuters
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Charities say food insecurity is rising in Hollywood as strikes linger, so nonprofits are boosting food and financial aid for writers, actors, and support staff — As the labor impasse continues, charities say growing numbers of the industry's most vulnerable are unable to feed themselves …
Discussion:
Deadline, Fortune, Vanity Fair and Bloomberg


Thousands of WGA and SAG-AFTRA members picket NBCUniversal, after union members filed NLRB complaints saying the studio hindered earlier pickets — This is Day 95 of the WGA strike and Day 22 of the SAG-AFTRA strike — NBCUniversal has been at the center of a number of controversies involving …
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Rolling Stone, @slack2thefuture, Fans for the WGA, Deadline, @sonyasteele@mastodon.social, Forbes, The Wrap and Los Angeles Times


The New York Times is fighting a gag order imposed on FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried after he shared former lover Caroline Ellison's writings with the outlet — The Gray Lady's letter follows a report that landed Bankman-Fried back in court. … The New York Times pushed back on Thursday …
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ABC News, @zguz, @decryptmedia, @elonmusk, @zguz, @zguz, The New York Times Company, Reuters, CryptoSlate, US Department of Justice, Cointelegraph, Molly White, CourtListener and CoinDesk


US state laws restricting access to porn circumvent First Amendment protections that prevent the government from deciding which content is “harmful to minors” — Anti-speech laws are spreading from states to Congress, and the future of online speech could hang in the balance


X delays its Ads Revenue Sharing program's payouts that were set for the week of July 31, saying the volume of people signing up “has exceeded our expectations” — In news that isn't very surprising given the recent history of Twitter, which Elon Musk is currently rebranding to X …


Journalists at Vancouver-based IndigiNews and Ontario-based The Sarnia Journal say Meta's news block is reducing their sites' visitors and hurting their outlets — Meta recently began blocking news from Instagram and Facebook in Canada in response to the Online News Act.
Discussion:
@tehuti88


North American broadcasters say Meta's news ban in Canada is “monopolistic” and urge lawmakers to back rules enabling publisher negotiations with tech platforms — In response to Meta blocking news on Facebook and Instagram for Canadian users after the passage of Canada's Online News Act …
Discussion:
New York Times, Next TV, Inside Radio, Radio & Television … and RADIO ONLINE


A look at LocalLens, a completely AI-driven website generating coverage of local government whose stated goal is to serve as a starting point for journalists — It's not journalism, but does it have a role to play in the information ecosystem? — Imagine you're using a metal detector …
Discussion:
@_jeffpierce, @jsamditis, @spsullivan, @spsullivan, @jozsefmeszaros.bsky.social, @ndiakopoulos and Politico


Background actors describe studios scanning their bodies and worrying over the lack of control of their digital likenesses, a key issue in the SAG-AFTRA strike — After four weeks of working as a background actor on the Disney+ series WandaVision during the pandemic, Alexandria Rubalcaba …
Discussion:
The A.V. Club, New York Times, ComingSoon.net, Screen Rant, Comic Book, @kagan@wandering.shop, @phillewis.bsky.social, @baldur@toot.cafe, IGN, SlashFilm, @WarnerCrocker@mastodon.social, @azalben.bsky.social, @black_intellect@mstdn.social, @labuzamovies.bsky.social, @JoParkerBear@universeodon.com and @lilithsaintcrow …
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Sources: private equity firm KKR is in advanced talks to acquire Simon & Schuster from Paramount for ~$1.65B; a judge blocked Penguin Random House's bid in 2022 — Book publisher was put up for sale for the second time after a judge blocked a previous deal with Penguin Random House


With online page views declining, UK-based Reach launches a voluntary redundancy scheme for editorial staff after undertaking multiple rounds of cuts in H1 2023 — A decline in online page views has prompted a regional publisher to launch a voluntary redundancy scheme for editorial staff.