Social Media
Elon Musk threatens to sue Anti-Defamation League over lost X revenue
Elon Musk has threatened to sue the Anti-Defamation League after accusing the US-based civil rights group that campaigns against antisemitism and bigotry of trying to “kill” his X social media platform, reports The Guardian’s Dan Milmo.
The owner of X, formerly known as Twitter, said the ADL was trying to shut down his company by “falsely accusing it and me of being antisemitic”.
In a series of posts on X, Musk said advertising sales for the business were down 60% and “based on what we’ve heard from advertisers, ADL seems to be responsible for most of our revenue loss”.
Meta to wind down Facebook News tab and stop funding Community News Project
Meta will wind down payments for publishers through its Facebook News tab in the UK, France and Germany and stop funding the Community News Project when the current contracts end, reports Press Gazette’s Brohn Maher.
The Community News Project, which first launched in 2019, currently places more than 100 reporters in under-served communities around the country.
Existing community news reporters will continue in their current roles until the contracts end, said the NCTJ, which disburses Meta’s grant funding for the scheme.
Business of Media
Havas has acquired an Australian lobbying firm
Lobbying outfit Australian Public Affairs has been acquired by global communications firm Havas, and will be integrated into its H/Advisors business, reports The Australian’s Cameron England.
APA was founded by Tracey Cain 27 years ago, and Ms Cain, who is its chief executive officer, deputy CEO Phil McCall and chief financial officer Kathryn Higgs will all stay with the business.
The firm will be renamed H/Advisors APA.
See Also: VA Media appoints Organic Pacific and Havas to support its international growth ambitions
Top ASX companies publicly back yes campaign in Voice referendum
The nation’s largest listed companies have overwhelmingly thrown their weight, and millions of dollars in support, behind the Yes campaign supporting an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament, with no publicly-listed companies appearing to be on the record in opposition to the proposed constitutional changes, reports The Australian’s Cameron England.
To date, 13 of the top 20 ASX-listed companies have come out in support of the Voice, with BHP, Rio Tinto and Wesfarmers all kicking in $2m each to back the Yes campaign.
News Brands
The Australian ‘unfairly’ characterised Louise Milligan as lazy and deceitful: Press Council
The Australian “misleadingly and unfairly” led readers to believe the ABC’s award-winning Four Corners journalist Louise Milligan was associated with “bad, lazy, deceitful journalism” in a 2021 editorial, the Australian Press Council has found, reports Crikey’s John Buckley.
The finding comes two years after Milligan first filed a complaint over the piece, which ran on June 8 2021 in both print and online, and claimed reporters at the ABC “decry any form of scrutiny”, particularly when it is published in The Australian.
Television
We all love Bluey. So why was there an Australian kids’ TV crisis meeting?
In Coffs Harbour last week, 260 people gathered to share their love of, and interest in making, Australian children’s television. It was the first ever Australian Children’s Content Summit, and for organiser Suzanne Ryan it was an event that started in something like a state of despair and ended in one of heightened optimism, reports Nine Publishing’s Karl Quinn.
“The whole reason behind the summit was to have something for our industry,” says Ryan, herself a producer for more than 20 years. “We needed it. It’s been a time when people’s businesses have closed, people’s shows have stopped, people have had to take jobs elsewhere.”
This is, she says, a “challenging time” for makers of children’s film and television content in Australia, because the removal in 2020 of obligations on the commercial free-to-air networks to commission and screen such content, and the failure (so far) to regulate the streamers, has led to “market failure”.
Audio
Spotify’s $1 billion podcast bet turns into a Serial drama
Spotify spent more than $1 billion to build a podcasting empire. It struck splashy deals with Kim Kardashian, the Obamas and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. It paid $286 million for a pair of podcast studios and spent $250,000 and more an episode on exclusive shows to lure new listeners, reports The Wall Street Journal’s Anne Steele and Sarah Krouse.
The bet hasn’t paid off.