Mediagazer: A look at Jessica Huseman's Friendly State News, which offers low-cost training to newsrooms and freelancers in concrete journalism skills like FOIA requests (Hanaa' Tameez/Nieman Lab)

Mark Stenberg / Adweek:

Axios Local expands to 11 new cities for a total of 25, with plans for 25 more cities in 2022; CFO says it is on pace to earn $5M in revenue by year end — Axios Local is going bicoastal. The city-based network of free, local newsletters announced Thursday morning that it is expanding to 11 new locations …

Discussion: @jimvandehei, @djtweets, @mikeorren, @jonathanvswan, @ssavitsky, @adweek, @russcontreras, @adamwren and @markstenberg3

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Spotify expands real-time lyrics to all users globally in partnership with Musixmatch, after initially launching in 26 markets — After years of ignoring consumer demand for in-app lyrics, particularly in the U.S., Spotify announced today it will make a new Lyrics feature available to all global users …

Discussion: Spotify, ScreenRant, Fast Company, @eldsjal, RAIN News, XDA Developers, 9to5Mac, Digital Trends, @spotifynews, @richlightshed, The Verge and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

The Marshall Project:

The Marshall Project is launching a newsroom in Cleveland in 2022, which will collaborate with local outlets and is partially funded by a Gund Foundation grant — New support from the Gund Foundation to drive expansion of local investigative reporting — The Marshall Project …

Discussion: Scene and Heard, @danmoulthrop, @schwartzapfel, @davidfolkenflik, @marshallproj, @geraldinesealey and @racheldissell

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

Russian tech exec Aleksej Gubarev drops his defamation lawsuit against BuzzFeed over its publication of Steele dossier — A Russian internet entrepreneur has dropped a four-year legal battle against BuzzFeed over its publication of the so-called Steele dossier, a politically charged compendium …

Discussion: TK News, emptywheel, @emptywheel and @joshgerstein

Reuters:

Rupert Murdoch accuses Google and Facebook of trying to silence conservative voices and cites a lawsuit claiming they colluded on digital ad market manipulation — Rupert Murdoch renewed his attacks on Google and Facebook during News Corp's annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday …

Discussion: Newser, The Guardian, Axios, @martysilkhack, @thetowncrier, Press Gazette, @jonkudelka, Columbia Journalism Review, @mrkrudd, Vanity Fair, New York Post, The Wrap, Insider, Bloomberg, Mumbrella, The Hill and Mediaite

Tarpley Hitt / Gawker:

A look at the issues at Jezebel since G/O Media hired Lea Goldman as deputy editorial director in March; nine writers and editors have left since her hiring — In March, G/O Media — the parent company of several former Gawker Media websites including the feminist blog Jezebel …

Discussion: @gawker, @roslyntalusan, @roslyntalusan, @dhm, @mckinneykelsey, @stephentotilo, @femmefeministe, @roslyntalusan, @libbycwatson, @jenniferreitman, @alex_abads and @andreagonram

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Hulu launches Shop Hulu, a site selling limited-edition collections of clothes and lifestyle products related to its content library — This summer, Netflix launched its own shopping site that allowed fans to purchase apparel, accessories and other lifestyle products from their favorite shows, like “Stranger Things.”

Hanaa' Tameez / Nieman Lab:

A look at Jessica Huseman's Friendly State News, which offers low-cost training to newsrooms and freelancers in concrete journalism skills like FOIA requests — “If I was queen for a day, what I would honestly do is fire every journalism professor and hire adjuncts working in the field.

Discussion: @jessicahuseman

Nadra Nittle / The 19th:

Some librarians fight efforts to ban some books from libraries, with the ALA recording 60% more book challenges in September than a year earlier — “Gender Queer.” “Sex Is a Funny Word.” “The Hate U Give.” — These are just a few of the hundreds of books targeted for banning amid …

Discussion: @misskubelik, @mekki, @misskubelik, @misskubelik, @misskubelik, @amydentata, @nadrakareem and Intellectual Freedom Blog

Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:

Fourthwall, an all-in-one creator commerce service that provides tools to set up merch stores, membership programs, tipping, and more, raises $17M — Let's say you're a YouTube star — honestly, it's not impossible, given that now, some estimate that over 20,000 YouTubers have at least 1 million subscribers.

Discussion: Fast Company, @garrytan, Tubefilter, Fourthwall and @fourthwallhq

Andy Maxwell / TorrentFreak:

Three people in Japan get suspended prison sentences and fines from about $4,400 to $17,500 for uploading 10-minute summary cuts of copyrighted films to YouTube — After being arrested earlier this year, three people have been handed suspended prison sentences and fines for uploading so-called “fast movies” to YouTube.

Discussion: Plagiarism Today

Agence France-Presse:

Google will begin paying Agence France-Presse for content in Europe as part of a five-year partnership, the first with a news agency under a 2019 EU directive — Under the agreement with Google, AFP will also offer fact-checking training on several continents (AFP/Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD)

Discussion: Reuters and @risj_oxford