Media Beat: July 2, 2020

A laugh and a half and the Hot 100

By David Farrell

A laugh and a half and the Hot 100

We thought we'd start off the column with a fistful of wacky humour from the crazies at Hits Daily Double. Kick back, be entertained and think about how we really do do things differently here.

Reality check with Bruce Allen: Did you catch the 2020 Junos?

Lainey Gossip comes clean about her “racist and homophobic blog posts”

The Queen of nasty and praise, Elaine “Lainey” Lui, the Lainey Gossip blogger and eTalk anchor sat down with her “The Social” co-hosts to apologize for racist and homophobic blog posts she wrote in the 2000s.

“Those posts were racist, they were misogynistic, they were homophobic, they were transphobic, they were ugly, they were shameful,” Lui said, referring to said posts. “I am so sorry.”

Wendy Mesley's teeth must be chattering, but that' showbiz for you.

Michael Enright signed off from The Sunday Edition…from his spare bedroom

After 45 years at the Corp., the former Globe and Mail journalist has resigned from his slot hosting the Sunday morning radio show and is expected to return with a new show of his own design. As a farewell to his listeners, the wordsmith penned an essay that can be read on the CBC website. Ever the peacock, always meticulously turned out, the picture of Enright at home that accompanies his essay (link to the embed in the headline above) is pure gold.

Ken Hunt named topper at SJC Media

St. Joseph Communications (SJC), has named Hunt President and Publisher of SJC Media, a division that oversees the company’s fleet of magazines that include Maclean’s, Chatelaine, HELLO! Canada and Quill & Quire. He was named EVP of the Media Group in 2019 and at one time held the post of Publisher at SJC-owned Toronto Life. – Newswire

Eagles Forum concert will debut this weekend … on ESPN

The 26-song collection, complied from three September 2018 shows at the LA arena with Deacon Frey and Vince Gill will debut this Sunday, July 5.

“Music and sports fans have been shut out from live events for more than three months. The premiere of Live from the Forum MMXVIII, this July 4th weekend on ESPN, is the Eagles’ gift to their fans,” said Eagles manager Irving Azoff. "We are honored to be part of ESPN's Sunday night programming, the home of such acclaimed shows as 30 for 30 and The Last Dance."

Amazon’s media business worth $500B

In initiating coverage of Amazon with a “buy” rating on Tuesday, Laura Martin, an analyst at Needham. Martin, notes that several of the company’s media products have “hidden asset values.” Streaming game service Twitch, for example, opens the company up to a younger generation of consumers, while Amazon Music strengthens its position in the home, wrote Martin. She added that 20% of Prime members say the reason they pay for the subscription is for media offerings. – Ari Levy, CNBC

Media giant Tencent spending billions investing in major music companies

Dominating distribution allows it to promote its own labels and increase prices, and therefore to increase the valuation of its own labels. The ubiquity of WeChat in China means that one of TME’s platforms is only ever a couple of clicks away for a billion consumers, whether they are on a messaging, news or an online book site. – Variety

How India’s Jio won Facebook’s heart

India’s wealthiest man turned Jio into a wireless powerhouse by offering cheap high-speed data and free phones. Now Facebook and other investors are pouring money into Jio to get a piece of one of the last big untapped markets. – Wayne Ma & Juro Osawa, The Information

India’s ban of Chinese apps undermines TikTok’s IPO

India's government on Monday said it would block 59 mostly Chinese apps, including popular social platforms such as TikTok and Tencent's WeChat, in the latest economic repercussion to a deadly border clash this month.

Alibaba's UC Browser, fashion vendor Shein and Baidu maps are also on the list of banned apps, which are used both mobile devices and personal computers.

The declaration comes in front of an upcoming IPO of TikTok, 30% [of whose] user base comes from India. – Kiran Sharar, Nikkei Asian Review

Barack Obama says Donald Trump’s covid policy “pisses me off”

During a private fundraiser this week, President Obama lashed out at Trump for his use of racist phrases to describe the coronavirus, saying “I don’t want a country in which the president of the United States is actively trying to promote anti-Asian sentiment and thinks it’s funny. I don’t want that. That still shocks and pisses me off.” – Bill Palmer, Palmer Report

The Voice of America will sound like Trump

Under the president’s control, U.S.-funded broadcasters could turn into a presidential propaganda machine. – Anne Appelbaum, The Atlantic

Vintage Black American radio DJs

That’s the headline in a recent edition of RadioFacts.com. The feature starts off with Martha Jean “The Queen” Steinberg who was “one of the first female disc Radio DJs in the United States, with a program that included the latest R&B hits along with the typical “household hints” programming that was de rigueur at the time for female radio personalities.” Her first radio job was on Memphis’ WDIA in 1954.

Rupert's radio: can Murdoch's Times Radio compete with the BBC?

The biggest and most expensive obstacle to setting up a speech station is the construction of a global news operation, but Times Radio can cannily recycle correspondents from Murdoch print titles. The excellent Newton Dunn has transferred full-time from the Sun, but Times and Sunday Times reporters were called on to animate other news stories, although the word is that they will not be paid extra for this moonlighting. – Mark Lawson, The Guardian

The Rise of the Murdoch Dynasty: Trailer – BBC

Rupert Murdoch is an enigma. He owns The Sun, The Times, The Sunday Times, Fox News and numerous other media outlets across the world and yet his story is rarely told. To some he’s an extraordinary businessman. To others, he’s a darker force. For decades, Murdoch has wielded his influence in politics at the highest level. It’s a story of family, money and power. Now the Beeb has launched a three-part series tells the story of Rupert Murdoch’s Empire, interweaving his behind-the-scenes influence on world events with the personal battle for power at the heart of his own family.

This simple facial recognition search engine can track you down across the internet

PimEyes, a Polish facial recognition website, is a free tool that allows anyone to upload a photo of a person’s face and find more images of that person from publicly accessible websites like Tumblr, YouTube, WordPress blogs, and news outlets. – Dave Gershgorn, Medium

Why it's almost impossible to extract Huawei from telecom networks | WSJ

Cover Your Face – A new Randy Rainbow parody song

The saucy comic's latest parody has Rainbow telling POTUS it’s time to wear a face mask and as per usual, set to a throwback tune from Broadway's past; in this case to Bye Bye Birdie classic Put On A Happy Face–performed in the Broadway show by Dick Van Dyke and Janet Leigh.