Mediagazer: Netflix and Legendary Pictures settle Enola Holmes lawsuit with Conan Doyle Estate, which alleged that the movie infringed upon Sherlock Holmes (Eriq Gardner/Hollywood Reporter)

9:50 AM ET, December 21, 2020

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Stephanie Clifford / Elle:

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Ben Smith / New York Times:

Voting machine companies including Smartmatic have hired high-powered libel lawyers and, legal experts say, have strong cases if they sue Fox, Newsmax, and OAN — Voting machine companies threaten “highly dangerous” cases against Fox, Newsmax and OAN, says Floyd Abrams.

Discussion: @llinwood, Business Insider, @mollyjongfast, @brianstelter, @slpng_giants, Mediaite, @leablackmiami, @timobrien, @mikewiseguy, @dandrezner, @froomkin, @badfoxgraphics, @danielchaitin7, @ashkan, @thephilosotroll, @jfkeeler, @joannelipman and @oneunderscore__

Josh Feldman / Mediaite:

Fox News hosts Lou Dobbs, Jeanine Pirro, and Maria Bartiromo aired a fact-check of their own election conspiracies, after Smartmatic threatened legal action — Fox Business host Lou Dobbs has recently taken to raising questions about voting machine companies, which have been cast as complicit …

Mike Fannin / The Kansas City Star:

Kansas City Star publishes a review of its 140-year history, finding coverage “disenfranchised, ignored, and scorned generations of Black Kansas Citians” — Today we are telling the story of a powerful local business that has done wrong. For 140 years, it has been one of the …

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The Guardian:

Citizen Lab: iPhones of dozens of Al Jazeera journalists were hacked using software from NSO Group in an attack likely ordered by Saudi Arabia and UAE — Citizen Lab researchers say cyber-attack using NSO Group software likely ordered by Saudia Arabia and UAE

Cecilia D'Anastasio / Wired:

Cyberpunk 2077's developer hamstrung reviewers by forcing NDAs and sending copies just days before launch to prevent players from seeing the buggy mess — Video game companies are increasingly putting restrictions on what reviewers can show, widening the gap between expectations and reality.

Charles Kaiser / The Guardian:

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Discussion: @vivian, Context is King, @jeffjarvis, @jswatz, @michaelluo, @andrewlavallee, @jayrosen_nyu, @jswatz, @ckummer, @meslackman, @eckholm and @raju

ProPublica:

Leaked docs show how China stage-managed what appeared on its domestic internet to make coronavirus look less severe in the early days of the outbreak — ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they're published.

Pranay Prabhat / NYT Open:

A look at the NYT's first-party data program for its direct-sold ads; NYT says ad campaigns that used it performed as well as those using third-party data — The New York Times launched an advertising data program for our direct-sold ads business that uses our own data and data science techniques.

Discussion: @nytopen

BRANDED:

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Discussion: @swodinsky, @chrysopoetics, @ilhanniaz, @brooklynmarie, @masonpelt, @nandoodles, @cwarzel, @media_evan, @brooklynmarie and adalytics.io

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:

Despite a few bright spots in local journalism like Charlotte Agenda, bought by Axios, and Daily Memphian, 55 news outlets have closed amid the pandemic — You would think that Adam Ganucheau would be feeling upbeat about the state of local journalism. — After all, Mississippi Today …

Discussion: @j_hancock, @fitzprov, @tnlookout, @acnatta, @djtweets, @tylrfishr, @sarabethberman, @amzam, @fheinderyckx, @pilhofer, @ganucheauadam, @taraemcg, @sdnewswatch, @sulliview and The Flack on Stack

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:

Netflix and Legendary Pictures settle Enola Holmes lawsuit with Conan Doyle Estate, which alleged that the movie infringed upon Sherlock Holmes — The short-lived copyright suit alleged that the movie infringed upon Sherlock Holmes even though most of the stories about the famous detective are in the public domain.

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Pranshu Verma / New York Times:
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Discussion: @tomrosenstiel, @timafranklin and @ctguild

Gabby Deutch / NewsGuard:
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Discussion: @rsm, @anirbanroy, @retractionwatch, @daveyalba, @theinclinepgh and @retractionwatch

Andrew Liptak / Polygon:
Several writers of movie tie-in novels say they haven't been paid royalties for their work since Disney acquired Marvel, Lucasfilm, and 20th Century Fox

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Ashley Carman / The Verge:
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USAGM:
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From Techmeme:

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