Mediagazer: Prince Harry's and Hugh Grant's lawsuits against News Corp's UK papers accuse new Washington Post CEO Will Lewis of phone hacking coverups between 2010 and 2012 (David Folkenflik/NPR)

2:00 PM ET, December 20, 2023

Top News:

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David Folkenflik / NPR:

Prince Harry's and Hugh Grant's lawsuits against News Corp's UK papers accuse new Washington Post CEO Will Lewis of phone hacking coverups between 2010 and 2012 — When Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos wanted an assured hand to right the newspaper's shaky finances, he turned to Will Lewis …

Discussion: @philipsturner, @deggans, @themeredish, @nkulw, @sdkstl and @davidfolkenflik

Bloomberg:

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Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:

After Spotify began offering complimentary audiobooks to subscribers in October 2023, authors demand more transparency about how they will be paid — - Bradley Tusk, an investor and author, is backing new US effort — Coalition of Concerned Creators is demanding more transparency

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Hannah Murphy / Financial Times:

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Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

Ofcom: almost 10% of all complaints sent to the regulator in 2023 were about Israel-Hamas war coverage; GB News had the most-complained about TV show of 2023 — GB News had the most-complained about TV programme of 2023. — Almost one in ten of all complaints sent to broadcast regulator Ofcom …

Discussion: Variety, Ofcom, The Guardian, Mediaite and The Desk

Benjy Sarlin / Semafor:

Substack writers Matthew Yglesias and Brian Beutler plan to launch politics podcast Politix on January 3, covering the 2024 US election from the center-left — In a shock Tuesday night decision, Colorado's Supreme Court booted Donald Trump from the state's Republican primary ballot for his role …

Discussion: Bloomberg, Fox News, Media Matters for America, Mediaite, Politico, Colorado Public Radio, Forbes, FOX31 Denver, Los Angeles Times, CBS News, The Nation, @brianbeutler, The Indian Express, The Daily Beast, Washington Post and NPR

Andreas Wiseman / Deadline:

BAFTA changes the rules for its Best Film category to increase its minimum theatrical screenings requirement from 70 in total to at least 350 screenings — - Audrey Diwan On The Challenge & Liberation Of Making Erotic Drama ‘Emmanuelle’: “I'm Not Trying To Capture Pornography”

Discussion: Variety

Bloomberg:

Sources: ByteDance's 2023 sales surged to $110B+, broadly matching 2022's 30% growth rate, despite economic turbulence in China and scrutiny in the US and India — - TikTok's Chinese owner expects revenue growth of about 30% … The world's most valuable startup's growth broadly matched …

more at Techmeme »

Erik Larson / Bloomberg:

New York AG sues Sirius XM over allegedly making canceling subscriptions to its online radio services harder, including a “frustrating” six-part conversation — A probe by the AG's office found that Sirius trains employees to keep customers seeking to cancel on the phone or in a chat for a …

Discussion: CNN, @mrvangriffin and @newyorkstateag

Alicja Ptak / Notes From Poland:

Poland's new government dismisses the management of TVP, Polskie Radio, and the Polish Press Agency; TVP's website and news channel TVP Info are now offline — Controversy has erupted around Poland's public media, with members of the conservative former ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party …

Discussion: Variety, @danieltilles1, @bdstanley, @stanleysbill, @chrislashhist, @wojciechkosc, @annettedittert, The First News, @notesfrompoland, @wojciechkosc, @danieltilles1, @bdstanley and Reuters

Reuters:
Poland's parliament debates how to restore impartiality to public media; critics say some outlets fell under political influence and TVP Info aired propaganda

Discussion: Agence France-Presse, Politico and Notes From Poland

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Media monitoring startup Meltwater sold an 11% stake for ~$65M to Norwegian private equity firm Verdane at a $592M valuation, down from $1B+ in December 2020 — Meltwater, which first made its name around media monitoring and then got active in business intelligence using AI …

Discussion: Verdane

Pamela McClintock / The Hollywood Reporter:

Gower Street Analytics predicts 2024 global movie ticket sales of $31.5B, down 5% YoY, and 2024 North American box office revenue of $8B, down 11% YoY — Leading London-based box office analytics firm Gower Street attributes the downturn to Hollywood's historic labor strikes and the resulting slowdown in production.

Discussion: Deadline, Bloomberg and Variety

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