Top News:
Paul Farhi / Washington Post:
VOA management took months to address the fact that an executive producer and a freelancer regularly plagiarized others' work, despite being alerted by staff — Last summer, a Voice of America staffer noticed something odd in the radio scripts that a Paris-based freelancer was submitting …
Discussion:
@blmohr
Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:
Fox News has regained its dominance of Nielsen ratings by elevating pro-Trump pundits like Dan Bongino while sidelining liberal voices and Trump critics — Donna Brazile, a Democratic analyst, has left the Murdoch-owned network as some hosts and journalists who questioned Donald Trump have exited or been sidelined.
Discussion:
Variety, Mediaite, The Wrap, @charlesarthur, @whatthebit, @jannwolfe, @tripgabriel, @ichotiner, @varadmehta, @badfoxgraphics, @grynbaum, @naima, @oliverdarcy and Hollywood Reporter
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Google is nearing a settlement of an antitrust case in France alleging it abused its power in online ads, and is likely pay a fine and make changes — French investigation alleged Google's ad server favored its own ad exchange — Alphabet Inc.'s Google is nearing a settlement …
Discussion:
New York Post, @martinapennisi, @geradinlaw, Light Reading, Ad Age and @jason_kint, more at Techmeme »
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Clubhouse has hired Kelly Stoetzel, head of conferences and speaker curation at TED, to lead efforts to attract “thoughtful people” like authors and scientists — Clubhouse has hired Kelly Stoetzel, a 17-year veteran of TED and the executive responsible for lining up the company's famous TED Talks.
Carrie DeCell / Knight First Amendment Institute:
In a court filing, the Biden administration indicates it will defend a Trump-era rule that requires US visa applicants to register their social media handles — Indicates that it may retain Trump-era requirement — In a terse court filing today, the Biden administration indicated …
Discussion:
@harshwords222, @harshwords222, @cmd_dc, @cmd_dc, @harshwords222, @harshwords222, @cmd_dc, @harshwords222 and @cmd_dc, more at Techmeme »
Kenneth Li / Reuters:
Reuters has postponed the launch of its paywall after a dispute with data provider Refinitiv over whether the move would breach a deal between the companies — (Reuters) - Reuters News postponed the launch of its website paywall following a dispute with financial data provider Refinitiv …
Discussion:
Financial Times, @kenli729, MediaPost, @gaberivera, @ivanthek, @alex, @jackshafer, @felixsalmon and Talking Biz News
Brent Lang / Variety:
Lionsgate beat estimates with Q4 revenue of $876.4M, down 7.2% YoY; Starz streaming subscribers grew 69% YoY to 16.7M globally; motion picture revenue fell 25%+ — The better-than-expected results come as Lionsgate is seen as a potential acquisition target for tech giants and media conglomerates looking to get bigger.
Discussion:
Marketing Science, MediaPost, @loudmouthjulia, Deadline, investors.lionsgate.com, Los Angeles Business Journal and The Wrap
Richard J. Tofel / Second Rough Draft:
National funding for local news has grown, but the Tribune deal showed few local funders stepping up, which are needed to save or revive local news — There has been an explosion in funding for local news, but most of it is national. — 14 hr ago — Welcome to Second Rough Draft …
Discussion:
@evanasmith, @saksappeal, @benyt and @nicdawes
Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple tried to buy rap battle livestreaming service Verzuz before it was acquired in March by Triller — - Tech giant floated a lower price for Timbaland's platform — Talks show Apple's continued interest in social music offering — Apple Inc. aimed to purchase …
Discussion:
9to5Mac and @gilliantan, more at Techmeme »
Kate Kaye / Digiday:
Google says it won't build itself Privacy Sandbox backdoors, but whether it will allow itself to use individual-level data from Chrome users remains unclear — Google promised on Thursday it won't carve out separate rules for itself as it forces data privacy restrictions on others navigating …
Discussion:
@kyotonio, @robinberjon and MediaPost
Sara Guaglione / Digiday:
CNN says the 5 Things podcast accounts for 43% of its total podcast downloads, as it plans to expand the 5 Things newsletter and turn it into a franchise — CNN Digital is stretching its 5 Things email newsletter from a daily article roundup into its own franchise.
Ayushman Kaul / DFRLab:
A Toronto PR firm created news and fact-checking sites pretending to originate from India, which were amplified on social media by dozens of Indian embassies — Site published spurious fact-checks & other content that were amplified by over 50 Indian diplomatic accounts on Twitter & Facebook
Discussion:
Twelve Thirty Six, @churumuri, The India Cable, @joeycoleman, @dfrlab, @dfrlab, @architmeta, @dfrlab, @etbrooking, @bendobrown, @rezhasan, @kursed and @dfrlab
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