“In January, Torres made history as the first Brazilian actor to win a Golden Globe. Brazilian fans have been euphoric ever since, exalting every social media post about her and the film with likes in the millions.” - Los Angeles Times (MSN)
The FCC's Brendan Carr this week leaked word to right wing propaganda mill Newsmax that he’s tasked the FCC’s enforcement bureau with launching an investigation into whether Comcast is breaking any laws (they’re not) by still having references to diversity initiatives on their website. - Techdirt
"(The) public radio and television station based in Springfield, Mass. laid off 13% of its employees on Wednesday. It's the station’s second round of layoffs since 2023, when it cut a fifth of its staff and eliminated its weekly public affairs television show Connecting Point." - WBUR (Boston)
"'The bloom is off the rose of rom-coms,' says Paul Dergarabedian, Comscore’s senior media analyst. 'There was a period in which they couldn’t miss. But then there were a number that were absolutely awful, and streaming changed things. Now you need spectacle to get audiences into theaters.'" - Variety
"Musk commented on a social media post by U.S. Special Envoy Richard Grenell, ... who said the radio networks are 'state-owned media' and 'are a relic of the past.' 'Yes, shut them down,' Musk wrote in his reply to the post. “Europe is free now … Nobody listens to them anymore." - Inside Radio
“In order to best ensure we are in compliance with the President’s executive order around Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion we have closed our DEI office. The staff members who served in that office are leaving PBS. - The Hollywood Reporter
"Public radio news/talk stations KWMU (90.7) St. Louis and KCUR (89.3) Kansas City have announced plans to separate from the control of and operation by the University of Missouri-St. Louis and the University of Missouri-Kansas City, respectively." - Inside Radio
Google owns the most popular browser, on top of which is what its developers call the “omnibox” — the box that used to be the address bar, but which the company has turned into an all-purpose interface for routing users into search, around the web, through their own data. - Intelligencer (MSN)
Out of the 100 top-grossing films of last year, women led 42% of the films, the same percentage as their male counterparts, with 16% led by ensembles. - The Guardian
"People now watch so many programs at so many different times in so many different ways — via antenna, cable, app or a website, as well as live, recorded or on demand — that it is increasingly challenging for the industry to agree on the best way to measure viewership." - The New York Times
Here reflects an aspiration of Hollywood executives and some above-the-line talent to wield AI to create big films on (relatively) small budgets and help them skirt the headwinds of craft labor backlash. At the same time, the ways AI surfaces on-screen demonstrate the messy realities. - LA Review of Books
"WikiTok, where users can swipe through an endless stream of Wikipedia article stubs in a manner similar to the interface for TikTok, (is) a neat way to stumble upon interesting information randomly, learn new things, and spend spare moments of boredom without reaching for an algorithmically addictive social media app." - Ars Technica
In focusing on how AI might disrupt existing workflows, Hollywood is missing a far more profound shift: AI is not just a tool—it is an entirely new storytelling medium. - Shelly Palmer
