Bezos accused of ‘wilful blindness’ over use of unlicensed music on Twitch August 10, 2020 Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has found himself under fire by the music industry for an “apparent unwillingness” to counteract use of unlicensed music on streaming platform Twitch. In a letter, seen by City A.M., non-profit organisation the Artist Rights Alliance (ARA) accused Bezos of being ignorant of copyright issues on Twitch, having submitted more than [...]
MPs urge watchdog to probe BBC jobs cuts amid fears over local output August 10, 2020 A group of MPs has urged Ofcom to probe the BBC’s plans to cut hundreds of jobs in its local news division amid concerns the broadcaster is failing in its public service obligations. In a letter to Ofcom chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes, the MPs called for an urgent response to the proposed cuts before [...]
BBC boss apologises over broadcast of racial slur August 9, 2020 BBC director general Lord Tony Hall has apologised and said the broadcaster made a mistake, after a news report containing a racial slur was shown last month. The N-word was used in full in a report by social affairs correspondent Fiona Lamdin about a racially aggravated attack in Bristol, aired by Points West and the [...]
Evening Standard to cull a third of its workforce August 7, 2020 The Evening Standard is preparing to cut around a third of its staff, as the coronavirus pandemic bites on advertising revenue. Around 70 journalists — which amounts to half the paper’s editorial staff — will be affected in the cuts which encompass a total of 115 roles, the Guardian first reported. Circulation of the free [...]
Twitter hack bail hearing ‘Zoombombed’ with porn August 6, 2020 A virtual bail hearing for the American teenager accused of hacking Twitter in a high-profile bitcoin scam last month was interrupted by participants “Zoombombing” the court with pornography. Graham Ivan Clark, the 17-year-old from Florida who is accused of masterminding the biggest Twitter hack in history, appeared in court via Zoom yesterday to appeal his [...]
ITV profit halves during pandemic amid ‘most challenging period in history’ August 6, 2020 ITV has reported a 50 per cent slump in earnings for the six months to 30 June, as the public service broadcaster warned of the “significant impact” of the pandemic, which it said presented “one of the most challenging times in the history of ITV”. The results Adjusted earnings before tax, amortization and depreciation (Ebitda) [...]
Twitter bans Donald Trump’s presidential campaign over coronavirus fake news August 6, 2020 Twitter last night banned Donald Trump’s presidential campaign from tweeting until it agreed to remove a video spouting fake news about coronavirus. In the most sweeping action taken by the social media platform in its 14-year history, Twitter last night temporarily froze the President’s Team Trump campaign account after it was found to breach company [...]
The New York Times’ digital sales overtake print for first time August 5, 2020 The New York Times beat Wall Street expectations in its second-quarter results today, as its digital efforts overtook its print business for the first time. The firm’s digital products, which includes online news, podcasts, recipes and crosswords, gained 669,000 subscribers in the quarter. More than half of the New York Times’ revenue comes from subscriptions, as [...]
BBC hires 800 agents to quell pensioner revolt over licence fee August 5, 2020 The BBC has hired 800 agents to curb a growing revolt over the end of the over-75s licence fee, as it today prepares to send out millions of letters to affected households. The public service broadcaster last week scrapped the free TV licence for pensioners, arguing that the freebie was costing the BBC £745m a [...]
Coronavirus: Screen time soars as adults spend half their day on devices August 5, 2020 A surge in screen time during lockdown saw adults in the UK glued to their devices for more than 40 per cent of the waking day, according to new research. In its annual study of the nation’s media habits, industry watchdog Ofcom found that adults in the UK spent an average of six hours and [...]