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3:45 PM ET, December 16, 2021

Mediagazer

 Top News: 
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Alden sues Lee Enterprises, arguing Lee's board infringed company bylaws by denying Alden's request to nominate three board members due to paperwork issues  —  Alden Global Capital, a hedge fund known for consolidating local news companies for profit, is suing local newspaper company Lee Enterprises …
Andy Greene / Rolling Stone:
Billboard report: Bruce Springsteen sells his publishing catalog to Sony Music and Sony Music Publishing for $500M  —  Bruce Springsteen has sold his publishing catalog to Sony for a reported $500 million, as Billboard reports.  —  The musician has sold his masters to Sony Music …
Han Zhang / The Guardian:
Profile of Hu Xijin, editor of the Global Times, a nationalistic tabloid dubbed “China's Fox News”, as he becomes China's most famous propagandist on Twitter  —  Hu Xijin is China's most famous propagandist.  At the Global Times, he helped establish a chest-thumping new tone …
RELATED:
David Stanway / Reuters:
Hu Xijin announces his retirement as editor-in-chief of Global Times, which is published by CCP outlet People's Daily, but will stay on as a commentator
Discussion: New York Times and Techdirt
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Spotify acquires Australian company Whooshkaa, which helps radio broadcasters and others turn existing content into podcasts and sell ads around them  —  Spotify on Thursday said it acquired Whooshkaa, a podcast technology platform that specializes in technology for radio broadcasters to turn existing content into podcasts.
Washington Post:
The NYT's Project Veritas reporting has now been restrained for 28 days, 14 more than for the Pentagon Papers, although a judge on December 14 gave some leeway  —  Stephen J. Adler, who recently retired as editor in chief of Reuters, is chairman of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press …
Suzanne Vranica / Wall Street Journal:
Talent agency UTA says it has acquired marketing and media consulting firm MediaLink, whose clients include NBCU, AT&T, and Unilever, for $125M  —  The Hollywood talent firm is buying the influential media consulting company as UTA seeks to grow its burgeoning marketing practice
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Spotify rolls out a five-star ratings system for podcasts that will only let users rate a show after listening  —  Spotify is borrowing a page from rival Apple with the addition of a five-star user ratings system for podcasts — a new tool for sorting through the more than 3.2 million podcast titles …
Inside Radio:
Survey of 2,000 US adult podcast listeners finds 52% increased listening time in the past six months, 76% listened to ads, and 73% took an action after an ad  —  Podcast listening is on the rise according to a new study from Acast in partnership with Nielsen.
Reddit:
Reddit confidentially files its S-1 with the SEC for an IPO; the number of shares to be offered and the price range have yet to be determined  —  Reddit, Inc. today announced that it has confidentially submitted a draft registration statement on Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission …
Reuters:
Warner Music Group acquires 300 Entertainment, the music label for Megan Thee Stallion, Fetty Wap, and Mary J. Blige, source says for about $400M  —  Media company Warner Music Group said on Thursday it had acquired 300 Entertainment, the music label behind artists such as Megan Thee Stallion, Fetty Wap and Mary J. Blige.
Discussion: Billboard, Forbes and Variety
New York Times:
For over a year, female journalists in India were targets of an elaborate online scam offering work at Harvard, but who was targeting them and why is unknown  —  For over a year, prominent women in India, including journalists, were reeled into a labyrinthine online scam, offering work with Harvard University.
Alistair Gray / Financial Times:
Lord Rothermere secures enough shareholder votes to take Daily Mail and General Trust private at an £885M valuation  —  Great grandson of newspaper's founder wins enough shareholder support for takeover bid  —  Lord Rothermere has succeeded in his attempt to put the publisher …
Discussion: Wall Street Journal
 
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 More News: 
Alexander Sammon / American Prospect:
Lobbyists for major companies and trade groups covered by DC-based Punchbowl News attended a Washington Football Team game as guests in the outlet's skybox
 Earlier Picks: 
Meg James / Los Angeles Times:
Australia nominates Gina Cass-Gottlieb, a lawyer with strong ties to Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, for new chairwoman of its competition watchdog agency
 

 
From Techmeme:

Joe Rivano Barros / Mission Local:
Waymo says it temporarily suspended its ride-hailing service in San Francisco during a citywide blackout, as downed traffic lights appeared to halt its vehicles

Mitchell Peters / Billboard:
Pirate activist group Anna's Archive says it scraped 86M music files and 256M rows of track metadata from Spotify, and releases them in ~300TB of torrent files

Sri Muppidi / The Information:
Source: OpenAI's share of revenue after the cost of running AI models for paying users has jumped to ~70% in October, up from ~52% at the end of 2024
 
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