Mediagazer: Sources: Legendary, which co-financed Dune, is considering suing Warner Bros. over its decision to release movies simultaneously on HBO Max and in cinemas (Variety)

9:10 PM ET, December 7, 2020

Top News:

MSNBC names SVP of News Rashida Jones as its next president, the first Black executive to run a major cable news network; Phil Griffin will leave in January — Mr. Griffin, who has been with the cable news network for 25 years, will leave after the end of January

Variety:

Sources: Legendary, which co-financed Dune, is considering suing Warner Bros. over its decision to release movies simultaneously on HBO Max and in cinemas — Legendary Entertainment, the production company that co-financed “Dune” and “Godzilla vs. Kong,” may take legal action against Warner Bros …

Discussion: Deadline, The Week, @successlon, @omegagormaru, @pkafka, @discussingfilm, /Film, @johnnysobczak, The Wrap, @marisabalkus, @tinycamcorder, IndieWire, ScreenRant, ComingSoon.net and Cord Cutters News

Kim Masters / Hollywood Reporter:
WarnerMedia's decision to debut 2021 films on HBO Max had blindsided creatives and their reps; sources: Warner Bros. COO Carolyn Blackwood came up with the plan

Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:

After Google's announcement in May that it would start blocking “heavy” ads in Chrome, it is now blocking some ads that publishers sell if they hog resources — On some recent business day, The New York Times sold an ad to a company. I can't tell you the name of the company …

Discussion: @pilhofer, Adweek, Chromium Blog, @film_girl, @jarroddicker, @kennwhite and MediaPost

David Smiley / Miami Herald:

Monica R. Richardson has been named the new executive editor of the Miami Herald, the first Black executive editor in its 117-year history — The Miami Herald's parent company named a new executive editor on Monday to lead its newsrooms in Florida — a 30-year veteran of the news business …

Discussion: Al Jazeera, @raju, @newsbysamuels, @mcclatchy, @verambergen, @markseibel, @watchdogdiva, @rana_cash, @tonywhunter, @craigtimes, @newsbysmiley, @elaheizadi, @jewelwickershow, @newsbysmiley and The Wrap

Brian Schwartz / CNBC:

Sources: Michael Pack is planning a purge at USAGM, pushing for the removal of agency officials whom he put on administrative leave, before Biden is sworn in — - President Donald Trump's federal media agency CEO is attempting one last purge before Joe Biden is sworn in as the next commander-in-chief.

Discussion: @schwartzbcnbc

Jane Lytvynenko / BuzzFeed News:

This year, disinformation about the pandemic, BLM protests, and the election divided the US, with “Plandemic” as a case study of social networks' failures — Disinformation and its fallout have defined 2020, the year of the infodemic. Month after month, self-serving social media companies …

Discussion: @defenddemocracy, @pandemic_times, @rasmus_kleis, @austinfrerick, @dr_col_j, @brandyzadrozny, @ashleyn1cole, @katestarbird and @janelytv

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Tom Lowell, formerly a producer of Megyn Kelly's shows, named executive VP and managing editor of news at Fox News, will oversee daytime news editorial content — “From creating the top-rated morning news program 'America's Newsroom' in 2007 to leading newsgathering, Tom has made a formidable impact …

Discussion: nexttv.com, @bristei and The Wrap

Jeff Jones / Knight Foundation:

Survey: 59% of Americans say media was responsible in reporting election results; 63%, including 17% of Republicans, believed media projections of Biden's win — The 2020 election was marked by severe political divisions, a public health crisis, unease about the voting process …

Discussion: Business Insider, Breitbart, @knightfdn, @froomkin, @knightfdn, The Hill, @knightfdn, @jesseholcomb and Poynter

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:

As Trump leaves global press freedom in tatters, Biden needs to be bold, including appointing an envoy for press freedom and reintroducing daily press briefings — When Donald Trump first started accusing the mainstream media of dealing in “fake news,” it was impossible to know the long-term effects of this rhetoric.

Discussion: Fox News, @sulliview and @froomkin

Ben Sisario / New York Times:

Universal Music says it has acquired Bob Dylan's entire music catalog of over 600 songs; the deal is estimated to be worth over $300M — Universal Music purchased his entire songwriting catalog of more than 600 songs in what may be the biggest acquisition ever of a single act's publishing rights.

David Gilbert / VICE:

At Trump's rally in Georgia on Saturday, people were seen distributing a truckload of Epoch Times papers, spreading the same baseless conspiracies as Trump — The Epoch Times is getting its pro-Trump propaganda out the old-fashioned way. — DG — On Saturday evening in Valdosta …

Discussion: @daithaigilbert

Ellen Peirson-Hagger / New Statesman:

Bookshop.org, considered an “ethical” alternative to Amazon, faces increasing skepticism from independent booksellers who say they earn more via direct sales — When Bookshop.org arrived in the UK on 2 November, the announcement was met by a huge amount of public enthusiasm from bookshops …

Discussion: @newstatesman, @stephanieburgis, @anne_coates1, @georgeeaton, @sarahmanavis, @chuckwendig, Bookseller News, @mobylives and @newstatesman

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More News:

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
UK-based Reach says its news website My London, launched in 2019, had 4.8M visitors in October, up 59% YoY, and plans to hire 20 to boost editorial staff by 50%

Discussion: @danrussell12000, @pressgazette, @pressgazette and @pressgazette

Bloomberg:
Sources: Comcast's Sky is considering reducing its workforce in Italy by up to 20%, or around 1,000 jobs, after the pandemic hit revenues

Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:
Dish Network to pay $210M to the US government and four states to settle a lawsuit claiming it made millions of illegal robocalls to sell satellite TV services

Discussion: Silicon Valley Business … and Advanced Television

Dan Seifert / The Verge:
Google starts rolling out Apple Music support to Assistant smart speakers and displays, including its Nest products, in the US, UK, France, Germany, and Japan

Discussion: ScreenRant, The Keyword, @ohmdee, TechCrunch, Android Central and 9to5Google, more at Techmeme »

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
UK's The Times pays £30K in libel damages and apologizes after an article was edited to suggest an advocacy org supported a suspected terror attacker

Discussion: @brokenbottleboy and @jane_redux

Earlier Picks:

Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:
Q&A with NYT's SVP of product engineering Brian Hamman on how the paper prepared for the 2020 election and changes they made to the homepage for the event

Discussion: @niemanlab, @niemanlab and @niemanlab

William Turvill / Press Gazette:
ProPublica's Richard Tofel discusses the Trump Bump: donors rose from ~3K in 2015 to 32K in 2019, when small donations made up 20% of $33.1M in revenue

Financial Times:
Inside Disney's costly online push while its lucrative legacy businesses decline, as sources say the success of Disney+ diminished Disney's interest in Hulu

Discussion: Awful Announcing, @annaknicolaou, @ninjaeconomics, The Streamable, @rasmus_kleis, @financialtimes, @sub8u, @webbarr and @annaknicolaou, more at Techmeme »

Ben Smith / New York Times:
Former colleagues share how a powerful Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter, Michael Fuoco, got away with sexual misconduct for years as his paper, union ignored it

From Techmeme:

Wall Street Journal:
Gina Raimondo says holding back China in the chips race is a “fool's errand”, and investment, more than export controls, will keep US ahead of Beijing

Reuters:
Albania bans TikTok for a year from January 2025, part of a broader plan to make schools safer following the killing of a 14-year-old near a school in November

Paresh Dave / Wired:
Google says it wouldn't force its device makers, browser, and wireless carrier licensees to distribute Gemini to US users for three years, in a proposed remedy

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