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Wall Street Journal:
Sumner Redstone, the mogul who transformed National Amusements into a media empire that included Viacom, Paramount Pictures, and CBS, has died at 97 — Mr. Redstone built empire of TV, movies and radio that became focus of power struggle — Sumner Redstone, who turned his family's movie-theater company …
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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 …
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, 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.
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 …
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@bymikebaker, Business Insider, @jason_kint, @olganyc1211, @jimrutenberg, @clairecmc, @mollyjongfast, @jessedamiani, @karoli, Oregonian, The Independent, The Hill and The Slot
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, @mathewi, @newslitproject, @cjr, @kellykborn, @dellcam, @arawnsley, @persily, @robpegoraro and @nickpacilio
Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian / Axios:
The Grayzone, founded by Max Blumenthal, has become a favorite of China's state media and government as it denies crimes against humanity affecting Uighurs — A website called The Grayzone has made a name for itself by denying China's campaign of cultural and demographic genocide in Xinjiang.
Discussion:
@davidpaulk, @yair_rosenberg, @im_pulse, @sashru88, @jayshams, @alex, @20committee, @bethanyallenebr and @josh_hammer
Patricia Nilsson / Financial Times:
After a six month break, Time Out plans to resume its print edition only in Madrid, Barcelona, and London and is unlikely to do so in the US or Portugal — Group to exit US and cut jobs in focus on food markets and digital after pandemic — Time Out has published its first magazine following …
Discussion:
@petergriffiths_, @zencudosaas and @plitter
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
Charles Bramesco / The Guardian:
Ramona S. Diaz's new documentary A Thousand Cuts follows Maria Ressa's and Rappler's conflict with Rodrigo Duterte's regime — The journalist who became a target of Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippines president, talks about her surreal present and her uncertain future
Discussion:
@povmagazine, The Daily Beast, New York Times and CNN
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:
@lachlan, @isaacstanbecker, @disinfoindex, @drslayton, @seth_hettena, @dfrlab, @craigsilverman, @josh_braun, @anneapplebaum, @washpostbiz, @davidclinchnews and @brianstelter
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
In iOS 14, Apple News+ publishers' web links are opened in the Apple News app by default for Apple News+ subscribers, though this feature can be turned off — Apple News in iOS 14 and macOS Big Sur has a toggle that's designed to open web links from Apple News+ publishers directly …
Discussion:
Digiday, @arctictony, The Verge, American Press Institute, @charlesarthur, @adrs, What's New in Publishing, A Media Operator, @arctictony, @mattnavarra, @harrymccracken, @claytonmorris, @tomcoates, @jaredcwhite, @alexjamesfitz, @scmitchp, The Loop, @tomgara, @lizmair, @nathanblawrence, @mgsiegler, @tomcoates, @tomcoates, @tomcoates, @dimsartz_, @tomcoates, @krave, @bzamayo, @panzer, @robpegoraro, @eric_seufert, AdExchanger and @om, more at Techmeme »
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