Sources: ex-Warner Music CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. is preparing a bid for National Amusements and has talked with potential backers including Fortress and Roku (Wall Street Journal)

Mediagazer: Sources: ex-Warner Music CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. is preparing a bid for National Amusements and has talked with potential backers including Fortress and Roku (Wall Street Journal)

Top News:

Associated Press:

VP candidates Vance and Walz plan to debate on CBS on October 1, with Norah O'Donnell and Margaret Brennan moderating; Vance says he wants to debate on CNN too— Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Ohio Sen. JD Vance have agreed to debate each other on Oct. 1, setting up a matchup of potential vice presidents …
Discussion: @tim_walz, @jdvance, HuffPost, TVLine, Mediaite, The Wrap, The Hill, CNN, New York Post, CNBC, Breitbart, Politico, Forbes, New Republic, CBS News, Showbiz411, The Daily Beast, ABC7, TVNewsCheck, UPI, Daily Montanan, New York Daily News, Fox News, Minnesota Reformer, Adweek, Deadline, Rolling Stone and Los Angeles Times

Discussion:

Tim Walz /
@tim_walz: See you on October 1, JD.

JD Vance /
@jdvance: The American people deserve as many debates as possible, which is why President Trump has challenged Kamala to three of them already. Not only do I accept the CBS debate on October 1st, I accept the CNN debate on September 18th as well. I look forward to seeing you at both!

Marita Vlachou /
HuffPost: JD Vance Agrees To 2 Debates Against Democratic Rival Tim Walz

Rebecca Iannucci /
TVLine: Tim Walz, J.D. Vance Agree to October Vice Presidential Debate on CBS

Zachary Leeman /
Mediaite: JD Vance and Tim Walz Agree to Debate

Natalie Korach /
The Wrap: JD Vance Agrees to CBS News Debate With Tim Walz

Lauren Sforza /
The Hill: 12:30 Report — VP nominees Walz, Vance set date to debate

Kevin Breuninger /
CNBC: JD Vance accepts VP debate with Tim Walz on Oct. 1, challenges him to accept another

Hannah Knudsen /
Breitbart: JD Vance Presses Tim Walz to Agree to Second Debate

Jared Mitovich /
Politico: Vance agrees to debate Walz in October

Roger Friedman /
Showbiz411: CBS Veep Debate with Tim Walz, JD Vance Set for October 1 in NYC: Will it Matter?

Josh Fiallo /
The Daily Beast: Unprecedented Challenge: JD Vance Tells Tim Walz He Wants a Second Debate

Ted Johnson /
TVNewsCheck: VP Candidates Accept Oct. 1 CBS News Debate; Vance Says He'll Also Do Sept. 18 CNN Event

Ariana Figueroa /
Daily Montanan: Walz agrees to Oct. 1 vice presidential debate on CBS

Dave Goldiner /
New York Daily News: JD Vance accepts Oct. 1 vice presidential debate with Tim Walz on CBS Fox News: JD Vance says he wants a ‘real’ debate with opponent Tim Walz, not a ‘fake news media garbage’ one

Ariana Figueroa /
Minnesota Reformer: Walz agrees to Oct. 1 vice presidential debate on CBS

Ethan Alter /
Adweek: CBS News Invites Tim Walz and J.D. Vance to a Veep Debate

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: ex-Warner Music CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. is preparing a bid for National Amusements and has talked with potential backers including Fortress and Roku— Potential bid could come in together in coming days, ahead of Aug. 21 end of ‘go-shop period’ — Media executive Edgar Bronfman Jr …

Discussion:
The Desk, Bloomberg and @lucas_shaw

Discussion:

Bloomberg:

Some publishers say they can't block the Googlebot crawler that covers AI Overviews without hampering their discoverability, as the crawler also covers Search— Publishers say blocking the company's AI bot could also prevent their sites from showing up in search

Discussion:
The Media Leader, Julia Love on LinkedIn, @pahwa_nitish, The Guardian and New York Post, more at Techmeme »

Discussion:

Julia Love /
Julia Love on LinkedIn: Google's AI Overviews come at steep cost to sites that users would otherwise visit. But publishers say they can't afford to block Google's AI …

Nitish Pahwa /
@pahwa_nitish: like, come on, this is just blatant monopolist behavior: “publishers face a choice between offering up their content for use by AI models that could make their sites obsolete and disappearing from Google search, a top source of traffic.” https://www.bloomberg.com/...

Thomas Barrabi /
New York Post: Justice Department considering push for historic break up of Google after landmark antitrust ruling: report

CapRadio:

Jun Reina, the former manager of California public radio station CapRadio, received $460K in mysterious payments, per an unredacted consulting firm report— Ever since news broke late last year about CapRadio's financial troubles, audience members, staffers and employees of Sacramento State …

Discussion:
Mike Kessler on LinkedIn, @byrobinepley, Current, @davidfolkenflik and @omarsrashad

Discussion:

Mike Kessler /
Mike Kessler on LinkedIn: For all you public media nerds, this one is a big deal. Reporters at CapRadio reveal their former boss as an alleged key player in the station's recent financial crisis. …

Robin Epley /
@byrobinepley: it's pretty dope that one of the best sources of reporting on the CapRadio finances scandal has been... CapRadio. Kudos to all the journalists there, who have always been fantastic, and continue to be. They deserve/d so much better from their employers than what they got.

Julian Wyllie /
Current: Former CapRadio GM Jun Reina allegedly received more than $450,000 in unsupported payments, according to new report

David Folkenflik /
@davidfolkenflik: This is an extraordinary story involving mismanagement and investigations of potential criminality at a mid-sized public radio station in Sacramento -kudos to reporters for following trail at own station https://www.capradio.org/...

Omar S. Rashad /
@omarsrashad: Wow, $460K went to the general manager of CapRadio?? That's most of the $760K in unsupported payments “that couldn't be backed up with an expense report or receipts.” This is deeply disturbing, and why can't Jun Reina find his cell phone all of a sudden?? https://www.capradio.org/... [image]

Nieman Lab:

Q&A with Ear Hustle's Earlonne Woods and Bruce Wallace on producing podcasts in prison, the expansion to a women's prison, creating a training program, and more— The studio, at the California Institution for Women, will bring more incarcerated women's voices to the podcast — and kickstart an ambitious training program.

Discussion:
@reportertracy

Discussion:

Tracy Simmons /
@reportertracy: Cool news from Ear Hustle fans with @antwanbankswil1 They're expanding and bringing more incarcerated women's voices to the podcast, empowering women to tell their own stories. Looking forward to these important perspectives! https://www.niemanlab.org/... #CriminalJusticeReform

Deadline:

DLT Entertainment buys TV production company Juniper from BBC Chair Samir Shah, who was forced to step down from Juniper to avoid a conflict of interest— Financial terms of the deal weren't announced, but London-based DLT said the acquisition marked “a significant expansion of its portfolio in the factual programming space.”

Discussion:
Advanced Television

Variety:

How David Zaslav's famously hard-nosed approach to negotiations has alienated contributors to WBD's cash flow, including advertisers, sports leagues, and more— In recent days, it's become clear that the pink glow from that box office juggernaut has long since faded.

Discussion:
@bristei, TVNewsCheck and Business Insider

Discussion:

Brian Steinberg /
@bristei: ALL THAT ZAS: Warner Bros. Discovery CEO's tough tactics have many of the company's key partners — including advertisers, the NBA and Hollywood — zigging... https://variety.com/... via @variety

Talia Lakritz /
Business Insider: Here's what Barbie looked like the year you were born

CNN:

A look at the five-person Gen Z team running Kamala Harris' TikTok account @KamalaHQ, capitalizing on the VP's viral moments and averaging 6M views per post— Vice President Kamala Harris, quoting her mother, told a group of newly sworn-in commissioners for a White House initiative …

Discussion:

Mary Ziegler /
New York Times: Kamala Harris Needs to Seize the Narrative on Abortion

Sarafina Chitika /
@sarafinachitika: ...anyways if you want to read about a campaign that's actually good at being online (and using the internet to talk to real voters, not billionaires) here you go: @CNN on @KamalaHQ 👇🏾 https://www.cnn.com/...

Betsy Klein /
@betsy_klein: “A like on TikTok is basically seen as an endorsement. You can get 50M views on Tiktok, but if you only get 5,000 likes, then your video's low-key seen as a flop.” Since @BidenHQ became @KamalaHQ, the like-to-view ratio has increased from 10-15% to 15-25%. https://www.cnn.com/...

Matt Navarra /
@mattnavarra@threads.net: Inside the Gen-Z team powering Harris' online remix The Harris digital comms team has 175 staff Her TikTok account is run by a team of 5 Gen-Zer's @kamalahq's TikTok account has published 65 posts in 20 days They generated 385M views, averaging 6 million views per post That's more than double what  …

Makena Kelly /
Wired: Kamala Harris' Campaign Is a Windfall for Influencers @rightardia@mastodon.social: Inside the Gen-Z operation powering Harris' online remix — “For years as vice president, Harris has been quietly laying the digital groundwork behind the scenes — meeting with young voters, social media influencers and several grassroots organizations. …

Axios:

NYT plans to launch a Wirecutter podcast on August 21; its deputy publisher says the brand drove $1B in commerce in 2023 and its newsletter has 2.5M subscribers— - “Wirecutter is not only branching out in terms of its business model, it's also branching out in terms of its platforms,” …

Discussion:

Kayleigh Barber /
Digiday: Media Briefing: Pubs' Q2 earnings look rosy thanks to AI deals and an improved ad market

David Clinch /
@davidclinchnews: For those keeping track, the lesson here is not “do more podcasts,” the lesson is “if you are going to do podcasts, do ones that are directly connected to revenue streams and/or revenue KPIs.” #MediaRevenue

Jessica Joseph /
Jessica Joseph on LinkedIn: August 21st 🎧 Mark your calendars for the debut of our first podcast, The Wirecutter Show! — Huge congratulations to the team behind this endeavor …

Natalie Korach /
The Wrap: The New York Times Launches First Podcast From Wirecutter

Chris Roush /
Talking Biz News: Wirecutter is launching its first podcast

The Hollywood Reporter:

A look at Tving, a streaming JV between three South Korean media firms, which has 30% market share, viewership growth up 6% YoY in H1 2024, and 4.2M subscribers— Tving's share of premium video viewership in Korea grew in the first half of 2024, while Netflix's slipped, even though the global giant remained the market leader.

Discussion:
Variety

Discussion:

New York Times:

New York City's WCBS says it will end its nearly 60-year run as an all-news station this month; the station will become WHSQ and host ESPN New York sports talk— The news radio mainstay is turning its airwaves over to ESPN, ending its continuous coverage of the five boroughs. The Mets broadcasts will remain.

Discussion:
Media Nation, TVNewsCheck, Paul Cohen on LinkedIn and Showbiz411

Discussion:

Dan Kennedy /
Media Nation: Former Kansas police chief hit with felony charge; plus, some local news developments

Paul Cohen /
Paul Cohen on LinkedIn: In yet another blow to the media business, WCBS Radio in New York is switching to an all-sports format by the end of the month. …

TechCrunch:

President Biden speaks at the first White House Creator Economy Conference, with about 100 startup founders, industry stakeholders, and creators in attendance— At the first ever White House Creator Economy Conference, the most popular man to drop by was not a TikTok superstar or a YouTube sensation.

Discussion:
New York Times, Fox News, Sky News, Bloomberg, The Information, Tubefilter, CNBC, Fox News, UPI, The Hill and Deadline, more at Techmeme »

Discussion:

Sapna Maheshwari /
New York Times: Bowling, Selfies and the ‘Dougie’: Biden Woos Influencers at the White House

Jessica Karl /
Bloomberg: Could Joe Biden and Fumio Kishida Join the Creator Economy?

James Hale /
Tubefilter: Biden addresses creators at first-ever White House summit: “They listen to all of you”

Rebecca Picciotto /
CNBC: Biden hosts first Creator Economy Conference for influencers to talk AI, privacy and more

Julia Shapero /
The Hill: White House holds creator conference

Ted Johnson /