newsmakers

newsmakers

Film academy chief responds to criticism

LOS ANGELES

Responding for the first time to the firestorm of criticism over the lack of diversity in this year’s Oscar nominations, film academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs says the all-white acting slate inspires her to accelerate the academy’s push to be more inclusive. She also hopes the film industry as a whole will continue to strive for greater diversity.

The first black president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences spoke out Friday night in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press.

All 20 of this year’s acting contenders are white, and there are no women in the directing or writing categories.

On Zuckerberg’s list: ‘The Better Angels’

NEW YORK

Mark Zuckerberg has made his next book-club pick. The Facebook CEO announced Saturday he would take on Steven Pinker’s “The Better Angels of Our Nature,” a widely discussed 2011 book that contends violence has decreased in modern times and the world has become more humane.

Associated Press