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Filings: three Alex Jones companies, including Infowars, filed for bankruptcy protection in Texas on Sunday, after they were found liable in Sandy Hook lawsuits — Companies owned by far-right radio host Alex Jones filed for bankruptcy after being hit by a flurry of lawsuits.
Discussion:
Reuters, New York Times, CBS News, @cwarzel, CNET, @gideonrachman, @fred_guttenberg, @naveedajamali, @harrylitman, @michaelcohen212, Vanity Fair, @piersmorgan, @jeffjarvis, @anthony, @jeremynewberger, @brianstelter, @emptywheel, @jamesrbuk, Fortune, @neontaster, Gizmodo, @kylegriffin1, @owillis, @katiephang, @newtownaction, Financial Times, New York Post, Rolling Stone, @cfarivar, @briannawu, @paulbernaluk, Protocol and NPR


Report: Microsoft is working on a program to let select brands advertise within free-to-play Xbox games, such as on a billboard, and won't take a revenue cut — The ads supposedly wouldn't disrupt gameplay — Microsoft is reportedly working on a program that will let brands showcase …


A US appeals court reaffirms that scraping publicly accessible content on the internet is legal, ending a landmark case LinkedIn brought against rival Hiq Labs — Good news for archivists, academics, researchers and journalists: Scraping publicly accessible data is legal, according to a U.S. appeals court ruling.
Discussion:
@johnmaeda, Protocol, @chrismessina, @adamsinger, @nicoaferr, @zackwhittaker, @seldo, @jhong, @themarkup, @jbenton, MediaPost and @alexmleo, more at Techmeme »


Kantar: UK users canceled ~1.5M subscriptions to Disney+, Apple TV+, Now, and others in Q1 2022, due to inflation; 58% of households kept at least one service — About 1.5mn accounts terminated within three months as inflation squeezes finances — British households have cancelled video subscriptions …
Discussion:
@unloveablesteve, @simonjharris, @john_stepek, @carlquintanilla and @avasantina


Legacy local newspapers should eliminate national news and use the freed-up money and space to produce more local content, making themselves more distinctive — Thinking about the problem of local news from the supply side — Welcome to Second Rough Draft, a newsletter about journalism in our time …
Discussion:
@mike_canan, @jamcnn, @jere_hester and Nieman Lab


Stem, which offers music rights management software for independent artists, raises $20M from QED Investors and Block, bringing its total funding to nearly $40M — Jordan Higa was waiting for her flight when she stopped to ask her travel companion how much they would spend on tickets to see BTS perform live.
Discussion:
Axios, @qedinvestors, @stem, Variety, Music Business Worldwide and @lucas_shaw


How Barnes & Noble, with book sales up 14% from pre-pandemic, went from a threat to industry anchor by letting store managers choose books to promote and more — To independent booksellers, the enormous chain was once a threat. Now it's vital to their survival. And it's doing well.


French music streaming service Deezer plans to go public via a SPAC merger at a €1.05B valuation and says it has 9.6M subscribers and had €400M in 2021 revenue — French music streaming service is merging with a special-purpose acquisition company, aiming to go public


Spotify says it may restrict and limit the reach of content that comes close to the line under its Platform Rules but doesn't meet the threshold of removal — After Spotify's Joe Rogan Experience released a widely derided episode that made covid vaccines sound as safe as Russian roulette …
Discussion:
@blackamazon, @jbenton, @janinezacharia, @tiagodf, @niemanlab, @jbenton and @joefav


Netflix debuts the Exploding Kittens animated comedy series and a game for Android and iOS, launching a series and a game across a single IP for the first time — The streaming industry has grown exponentially in the past several years. Where there was once only Netflix, now there's Disney Plus …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, The Wrap, Engadget, The Verge, SlashFilm, Variety, The Streamable and 9to5Mac


Photojournalist David Hume Kennerly on the power of graphic images in Ukraine and other conflicts: “The best photographs of war might make us want to look away” — The following images depict graphic violence. — A couple of weeks ago I came across the graphic images …
Discussion:
@anncurry, @cliffordlevy, @peterbakernyt, @dabeard, @natashakhanhk, @kennerly and @nickkristof


Paramount agrees to pay $14.75M to CBS shareholders in a lawsuit claiming CBS misled investors by not disclosing sexual misconduct allegations against Moonves — Paramount Global (PARA.O) has agreed to pay $14.75 million to shareholders of the former CBS Corp in a proposed class action claiming …
Discussion:
The Wrap, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, New York Post and Variety