Mediagazer: US judge sides with Google in a lawsuit brought by Genius, which alleged that Google scraped lyrics in violation of copyright law (Eriq Gardner/Hollywood Reporter)

10:40 PM ET, August 11, 2020

Top News:

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Facebook's new policy will label as political any promoted content by US news outlets with direct ties to political groups and ban them from the News tab — Facebook is rolling out a new policy that will prevent U.S. news publishers with “direct, meaningful ties” to political groups …

Discussion: @emilybell, @dellcam, @arawnsley, @persily, @robpegoraro, @newslitproject, @nickpacilio, @cjr, @mathewi and @kellykborn

Sara Fischer / Axios:

SimilarWeb: ~59% of traffic to Trump's campaign website from May to July came from The Gateway Pundit and Citizen Free Press, a fringe-right news aggregator — Traffic to President Trump's presidential website is more than 4x greater than traffic to Joe Biden's presidential website …

Discussion: @mikemadden and @bencjacobs

New York Times:

A case study of a story about Bible burning in Portland, covered by RT and its Ruptly video service, then amplified by US right-wing media and politicians — WASHINGTON — For some of President Trump's loudest cheerleaders, it was a story too good to check out: Black Lives Matters protesters in Portland …

Discussion: @bymikebaker, @olganyc1211, Oregonian, The Independent, The Hill, @mollyjongfast, @karoli, @jason_kint, @jimrutenberg, @clairecmc, The Slot and @jessedamiani

Isaac Stanley-Becker / Washington Post:

Researchers find network of 178 hyperpartisan low-quality news sites whose underlying purpose is to collect and sell email addresses and other personal info — The reality curated by “The Bearded Patriot” and “The Wolf of Washington” is dismal. — The websites tell of nonstop riots and “crazed leftists.”

Discussion: @isaacstanbecker, @washpostbiz, @davidclinchnews, @josh_braun, @brianstelter, @anneapplebaum, @seth_hettena, @craigsilverman and @dfrlab

Todd Bishop / GeekWire:

In a new filing, Microsoft adds Netflix, Hulu, and Tencent to its list of competitors, saying its gaming services compete with other entertainment providers — Microsoft may be toying with the idea of buying Tik-Tok, but more than ever, its bread-and-butter is basic cloud services and server software for businesses.

Discussion: @pkafka, @toddbishop, @dylanbyers and @jbflint

Rachael Myrow / KQED:

California public radio station KQED announces layoffs of 20 staff to help address a projected $7.1M budget gap, blaming a sharp corporate sponsorship decline — KQED announced Monday it is laying off 20 staff members, representing 5.5% of its workforce, while a handful of other employees had their hours reduced.

Discussion: @sciencequiche, @lilyjamali, @sonipaul, @ezraromero, @chroniclesofazu, @okcouncil, @nickmiller510, @kqed, @mcgowankat, @s_m_i, @science_ari and @peterhartlaub

Reid Nakamura / The Wrap:

The anti-Trump episode of Black-ish that was canned by ABC in 2018 and led its creator Kenya Barris to sign with Netflix finally debuts on Hulu — The canned episode of “Black-ish” that led to a dispute between Disney and creator Kenya Barris, and Barris eventually decamping for a new deal at Netflix …

Discussion: Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Fast Company, Vanity Fair, Los Angeles Times, NME, /Film, @laceyvrose, Paradox Newsletter, Hollywood Reporter, The Verge, Variety, Vanity Fair and Decider

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Fox News to launch live-streaming outlet Fox News International in August for $6.99/month, starting in Mexico and expanding to 20 countries by the end of 2020 — Fox Corp. is joining the parade of big U.S. media companies seeking to stream their best-known content abroad.

Discussion: Mediaite, @perlberg and TVNewser

Bloomberg:

CuriosityStream, a streaming service for documentaries on science and history, has agreed to go public through a ~$330M merger with Software Acquisition Group — CuriosityStream, a streaming platform for documentaries on science, history and other topics, has agreed to go public through …

Discussion: Reuters, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Washington …, PYMNTS.com, @devinmccueemery, Variety, Realscreen, Deadline, @lucas_shaw, Hollywood Reporter, Light Reading and Multichannel News, more at Techmeme »

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:

US judge sides with Google in a lawsuit brought by Genius, which alleged that Google scraped lyrics in violation of copyright law — Google may have been caught “redhanded,” but a federal judge rules that Genius hasn't alleged any viable claims not be preempted by copyright law.

Discussion: TechCrunch, @eringriffith, @eriqgardner and The Verge, more at Techmeme »

Hollywood Reporter:

As part of WarnerMedia's layoffs, most of the staff of the streaming service DC Universe have been laid off, as well as top execs and editors of DC Comics — The majority of staff of the streaming service DC Universe has been laid off, as has editor-in-chief Bob Harras and multiple other executives on the publishing side.

Discussion: /Film, Animation World Network, Forbes, New York Post, Business Insider, Gizmodo, Business Insider, The Playlist, Variety and The A.V. Club

Brian Schwartz / CNBC:

Bill O'Reilly's lawyer says O'Reilly is in final negotiations to host a show in the fall on NY radio station 77 WABC, owned by Trump ally John Catsimatidis — - Former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly is on the brink of landing his own radio show at a station owned by longtime Trump ally John Catsimatidis.

Discussion: The Desk, @azi, @schwartzbcnbc, @gretchencarlson, Radio & Television …, @schwartzbcnbc, @schwartzbcnbc and Mediaite

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Earlier Picks:

Tim Baysinger / The Wrap:
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Kevin Tran / Variety:
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From Techmeme:

Alex Heath / The Verge:
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David Pierce / The Verge:
Google announces a new Platforms and Devices team overseeing Pixel, Android, Chrome, Photos, and more, to integrate AI across its products, led by Rick Osterloh

Ryan Morrison / Tom's Guide:
Microsoft researchers introduce VASA-1, an AI model that creates a realistic talking face video from a portrait photo and an audio file, in research preview

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