Mediagazer: 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 (Wall Street Journal)

1:40 PM ET, August 5, 2023

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Christopher Mathias / HuffPost:

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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The Wrap:

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The Hollywood Reporter:

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

Deadline:

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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André Beganski / Decrypt:

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Casey Newton / Platformer:

New laws restricting access to porn circumvent First Amendment protections that prevent the government from deciding what 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

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Khadijah Khogeer / NBC News:

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

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Richard Lawler / The Verge:

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 …

Discussion: Insider, @bestofdyingtwitter …, @elonmusk, @helenkennedy, @caseynewton.bsky.social, @carnage4life@mas.to, @rjcc, @rjcc.bsky.social, Techlusive, @enriquebrgn, @mho@social.heise.de, @chrisparkx and @hunterwalk.com, more at Techmeme »

Canadian Association of Broadcasters:

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

Joe Amditis / Center for Cooperative Media:

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

Bobby Allyn / NPR:

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 …

David Robb / Deadline:
SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher says Hollywood's potential misuse of AI is a “deadly cocktail” and a “poison” that needs to be strictly regulated

Discussion: @benzelevansky, @variety, Hollywood Reporter, Variety and Variety

Wall Street Journal:

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

Discussion: Reuters, Financial Times, @geekaren@mstdn.social, The Wrap, New York Times, Publishers Weekly, 24/7 Wall St. and The Bookseller, more at Techmeme »

David Sharman / HoldtheFrontPage:

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.

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