The National Press Club is hosting a screening of Netflix's "Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press" on Oct. 19 at 6:30 p.m. at its Washington headquarters, followed by a panel discussion about the issues raised by the documentary.
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The film tells the story of the libel suit filed by wrestler Hulk Hogan against Gawker Media over the posting of a sex tape featuring Hogan—a suit that ended with a $140 million judgment against Gawker, putting the company out of business. It also addresses the purchase of the Las Vegas Review-Journal by gambling magnate Sheldon Adelson, who has donated millions to the GOP.
Directed by Brian Knappenberger, who owns and operates Los Angeles-based production and post-production company Luminant Media, “Nobody Speak” investigates the increasingly powerful role that private, monied interests play in the media, and asks if that constitutes a danger to press freedom.
The panel discussion following the film, sponsored by the NPC Journalism Institute, will feature Knappenberger, as well as Margaret Sullivan, media editor for the Washington Post and former public editor of the New York Times, and Elizabeth Spiers, the founding editor of Gawker.
WNET, the nation’s largest public media company, names Edward O’Keefe its next president and CEO, effective September 21. O’Keefe succeeds Neal Shapiro, who becomes president emeritus and will retire at the end of the year... The Stealth Bot Prohibition Act, which would empower news publishers and other content providers to defend themselves by mandating transparency for all bots crawling their sites, in introduced in the House by Rep. Laurel Lee (R-FL) and Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC)... Google gets socked by European Union regulators with a $1 billion fine for using the platform’s dominance as a search engine to illegally undercut competition.
Boston Globe Media acquires InstaTrac, a company that provides subscription-based services aimed at making government information easier to find, track, and understand... AARP names former New Republic CEO and publisher Michael Caruso as its SVP and chief content officer, unifying the organization's portfolio of media, live events and digital platforms... The Fund for American Studies, an educational nonprofit, awards its inaugural Journalism Excellence Fellowships.
Trump Media and Technology Group Corp. has replaced CEO and former California Congressman Devin Nunes with Kevin McGurn, a seasoned media sales executive.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is being bought by the Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism, a nonprofit that is the parent organization of the Baltimore Banner... The British Broadcasting Corporation is axing approximately 2,000 jobs, about 10 percent of its work force... Snap, the company behind Snapchat, is also succumbing to layoff fever, announcing plans to lay off 16 percent of its employees, about 1,000 people.
CBS News Radio will go off the air on May 22, part of the axe-swinging managerial plan put into play by CBS editor-in-chief Bari Weiss... The Economist, which was first published in 1843, is changing hands. Canadian billionaire Stephen Smith has agreed to acquire a 26.9 percent stake in the publication from Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, her family and family foundation... Nexstar Media Group says it has closed its acquisition of TEGNA, the broadcast, digital media and marketing services company that was formed in 2015, when the Gannett Company split into two publicly traded companies.
