AT&T-WarnerMedia Plans DC Comics Podcasts on Spotify
Bloomberg: AT&T's Warner Bros. will produce a slate of original scripted podcasts based on DC Comics, the home of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Spotify, the world's largest paid audio service, will get first crack at distributing them under a new multiyear...
Google’s YouTube Unveils New Shoppable Format for Ads
TechCrunch: YouTube announced a new direct response advertising format that will make its video ads more shoppable by adding browsable product images. The move comes as advertisers are trying to find new ways to capture growing interest in e-commerce...
Quibi Founder Continues to Blame Slow Start on Covid-19
Deadline: Jeffrey Katzenberg said the slow start of Quibi since its April 6 launch has provided “almost a beta” period that gives the well-funded start-up a chance to regroup. Katzenberg maintained Quibi is poised for a rebound in the second half of 2020 as states...
Facebook Pulls Trump Ads Featuring Symbol Used by Nazis
CNBC: Facebook has removed ads from President Trump's campaign that contained a symbol associated with Nazis. "We removed these posts and ads for violating our policy against organized hate," said a Facebook spokesman in a...
Twitter Flags New Tweet from Trump as ‘Manipulated Media’
The Hill: Twitter has flagged a tweet from President Trump as containing "manipulated media" after the president tweeted a clip of a black toddler and a white toddler edited to include a CNN chyron reading "terrified todler[sic] runs from racist...
Medium Names Kaepernick as Board Member, New Blogger
CNBC: Colin Kaepernick will join Medium as a board member and will publish his own blog on the site on anti-Black racism and civil rights. Kaepernick, the free-agent National Football League quarterback, will publish "content focused on race and civil rights in...
Bloomberg Media Redesigns CityLab Following Acquisition
Talking Biz News: Bloomberg has relaunched CityLab, which it acquired last year from Atlantic Media. Bloomberg CityLab features redesigned branding, logos and a menu linking to other Bloomberg verticals and the company's data...
Gannett Drops CEO at Operating Company in Streamlining
USA Today: Paul Bascobert, the CEO of Gannett's operating company, will step down after the board eliminated his position to streamline its operating structure. Michael Reed, chairman and CEO of the overall public entity, Gannett, has assumed Bascobert's...
McClatchy Reveals Names of Execs with Top-Dollar Claims
McClatchy DC: Hundreds of former McClatchy and Knight Ridder employees ranging from CEOs to sports columnists were owed supplemental pensions totaling more than $118 million at the end of 2019, according to a document filed in bankruptcy court by...
New York Times, Washington Post Launch Diversity Efforts
Associated Press: The New York Times and the Washington Post both outlined new measures on Thursday aimed at improving diversity in their newsrooms and coverage. It’s the latest action taken by media organizations to address employees protesting racial...
Hearst Magazine Employees Begin Mail-In Voting on Union
New York Post: A mail-in vote has begun to determine whether 500 editorial, video, design, photo and social-media staffers across 28 print and digital brands at Hearst Magazines will be represented by the Writers Guild of America,...
Conde Nast’s ‘Union Busting’ Prompts Protest at Pitchfork
Daily Beast: Employees at music-culture site Pitchfork staged a four-hour work stoppage in protest of what they said were anti-union initiatives taken by the publication and its parent company, magazine publishing giant Conde...
Penske Media Taps Sports Illustrated Alum to Edit Sportico
Talking Biz News: Sportico, the website covering sports business launching from Penske Media, has hired an editor, managing editor and five reporters. Sarah Kwak, the new editor, previously was a senior editor at Sports Illustrated, which she joined in...
G/O Media Promotes Staffer to Editor in Chief of Lifehacker
MediaPost: Alice Bradley is the new editor in chief at Lifehacker, the G/O Media brand focused on advice, tips and how-tos. Bradley has served as the site’s deputy editor for three years. She succeeds Melissa Kirsch, who left in May to join the New York...
Vice Media Probes ‘Toxic’ Work Environment at Refinery29
CNN: Vice Media has launched an internal investigation into allegations of toxic workplace behavior at Refinery29, the female-centric site that the company acquired last year. Findings from the investigation will be used as the basis for "appropriate...
Vox Media, BuzzFeed Among Media Observing Juneteenth
hellajuneteenth: Vox Media and BuzzFeed are among the many companies and organizations that have publicly committed to observing Juneteenth, the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United...
ViacomCBS Unit Rejects Trump Effort to Stop Bolton Book
Washington Post: The Justice Department has sought an emergency order to block the publication of former national security adviser John Bolton's new memoir. Bolton's publisher called the court filing "a frivolous, politically motivated exercise in...
Fox Corp Argues News Channel Host Doesn’t Deliver News
Law360: Fox News told a Manhattan federal judge that its star Tucker Carlson did not slander an ex-Playboy model as an extortionist who targeted President Trump, because no reasonable viewer would believe Carlson was stating facts, just...
Google CEO Sets Goal for Diversity in Leadership by 2025
Reuters: Alphabet's Google announced new goals and policies to address racial issues at its offices, as protests over police brutality against African Americans have carried into discussions about corporate...
Amazon Media Assets Worth $500 Billion in ‘Hidden Value’
CNBC: Amazon's media assets, which include Prime Video, Prime Music and Twitch, are worth about $500 billion, making them almost as valuable as company's giant cloud-computing business, according to Laura Martin, an analyst at...
Spotify to Launch Social-Justice Podcast with Kardashian
MarketWatch: Kim Kardashian West has reached a deal with Spotify for a podcast about her work with the Innocence Project, exploring topics that have come to the forefront of the national conversation. The podcast is part of a push by Spotify to fortify its...
Disney-ABC TV Shows to Address Police Crisis, Pandemic
Wall Street Journal: The racial-justice and law-enforcement crisis as well as the coronavirus pandemic will be featured prominently in ABC's entertainment programming. "It's our job to reflect the society in which we live and yet also to...
ViacomCBS Probes TV Stars on Social Media for Racism
New York Post: CBS, Showtime, MTV and other major TV networks have hired a private investigator to probe their own stars' social media accounts to root out any racist comments. The move comes after a spate of celebrities were recently fired over resurfaced racist...
Netflix Opens to Aspiring Writers in Program with Imagine
Los Angeles Times: Imagine Impact, a Los Angeles-based mentorship program that supports emerging creators, has teamed up with Netflix to develop original content globally from new screenwriters, in an effort to make Hollywood more...
AT&T’s WarnerMedia CEO Seeks a TikTok Teen for Intern
@jasonkilar: "A number of my Twitter followers have teenage kids. Perhaps some of them are ace at TikTok? Please tell them to apply to be a summer intern with us. Great gig for this Covid-19 summer. Ready to raise our TikTok...
ByteDance Expects $500 Million in US Revenue at TikTok
The Information: This year, TikTok aims to generate $500 million in revenue from the US alone. Employees say the efforts to start making money from TikTok are still in their infancy. The coronavirus pandemic is also likely to affect TikTok’s...
Google’s YouTube Accused of Racially Profiling Its Videos
Hollywood Reporter: A group of African American content creators has launched a putative class action against YouTube and its Alphabet parent company for allegedly violating various laws intended to prevent racial...
Netflix CEO, Wife Pledge $120 Million for Black Education
NBC News: Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and his wife, Patty Quillin, announced that they are committing $120 million to the United Negro College Fund and two historically Black colleges as part of the fight for racial justice spurred by the killing of George...
Facebook in Deal to Create Jobs for Journalists in Canada
Canadian Press: Facebook has struck an agreement with the Canadian Press that will create eight new reporting jobs. The digital giant says it will provide $1 million through a one-year fellowship initiative to allow the news agency to hire reporters...
Sinclair to Hire 25 Employees for Headline News Service
Deadline: Sinclair Broadcast Group plans to launch a headline news service in early 2021, with plans to hire 25 new employees. At the start, the service will air weekday mornings from 6 am to 9 am on Sinclair’s CW and MyNetwork TV...