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Google signs an agreement with French media creating a framework for payment for publisher content and has reached agreements with three major newspapers — Google has reached an agreement with an association of French publishers over how it will be pay for reuse of snippets of their content.
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Reuters, Bloomberg and Engadget, more at Techmeme »
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Google announces a global deal with Reuters for News Showcase, which pays publishers for content highlighted in panels in News, Discover, and search results — The events of this past year have proven that providing access to diverse, high-quality news sources is more important than ever.
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@stephenjadler

Michael Pack, the head of USAGM who oversaw VOA and the Open Technology Fund, has resigned at the request of the Biden administration — WASHINGTON — The Trump appointee overseeing the Voice of America and other U.S.-funded broadcasters resigned on Wednesday at the request of the Biden administration …
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In her first briefing, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki vowed to bring “truth and transparency back to the briefing room” — Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, conducted the first news briefing of President Biden's administration on Wednesday and vowed to bring …
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The media should hold power to account and resist the adversarial-seeming approach to politics it took pre-Trump, like when it focused on Obama's tan suit — White House press secretary Jen Psaki was prepared. She was professional. She was noncombative.

Pro-Trump media outlet OAN has scrubbed stories about voting machine companies from its website without explanation, after the companies hired libel lawyers — - Far-right media outlet One America News has removed articles about Dominion without telling anyone.

Towns and counties around the US are suing Netflix, Hulu, and other streaming services, seeking to regulate them like cable TV and make them pay cable fees — A Georgia lawsuit is pushing to expand TV franchising rules — Streaming services are slowly turning into cable TV …
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@labuzamovies and Atlanta Business Journal

How one composer got paid for unauthorized use of his work, including on China's CCTV, using YouTube's copyright claims system and lawyers — “The torrent they got the music from was just called like 123456.mp3.” — You've heard Kerry Muzzey's work (Bandcamp, Spotify), even if you haven't heard of him.
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@angelique_lu, @robpegoraro, @stokel, @stokel, @stokel and @tonymoorey

Vogue will release a limited-edition cover featuring Kamala Harris in formal attire, following backlash over its February magazine cover — This decision follows backlash earlier this month over a February magazine cover that showed Harris in casual clothes and Converse sneakers.
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New York Daily News, Fox News and Breitbart

UK broadcaster Sky pledges that one in five staff members will be from a minority ethnic background by 2025 and that 5% will be Black — UK broadcaster aims to reshape its workforce, partly in response to Black Lives Matter movement — Sky has pledged that one in five of its staff …
Discussion:
Broadband TV News and @bitc

ViacomCBS to launch Pluto TV in France on February 8, making it the first free ad-supported streaming service in the country — Offering 40 curated and original channels, it will become the first advertising-supported streamer in the country. — ViacomCBS will launch advertising-supported …
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Variety, Digital TV Europe, C21Media and Broadband TV News

Kantar: HBO Max took 19.2% of new streaming subs in Q4, followed by Prime Video at 18.2%, with 41% of new HBO Max subs citing specific content as sign up reason — In the last three months of 2020, HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video pulled in the highest number of new streaming subscription video-on-demand …

Sources: Andreessen Horowitz to launch an opinion section on its website that will publish articles related to technology and business from outside contributors — Silicon Valley investment firm Andreessen Horowitz, which once courted attention from the news media, is ramping up its own media efforts.
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Eric Newcomer / Newcomer:
A look at a16z's communication efforts over the years, as the firm expands its own media operations and has largely stopped cooperating with reporters
A look at a16z's communication efforts over the years, as the firm expands its own media operations and has largely stopped cooperating with reporters
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