Top News:
Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:
A few people called Genius the future of journalism, but its vision of simply adding boxes for comment on others' work was emblematic of its founders' arrogance — Genius (née Rap Genius) wanted to “annotate the world” and give your content a giant comment section you can't control.
Discussion:
@offtherecordnyc, @offtherecordnyc, A Scammer Darkly, @ldnflds, @james_dasilva, @offtherecordnyc, @tomgara, @king_kaufman, @niemanlab and @sizpatel
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Sarah McBride / Bloomberg:
Music-annotating startup Genius sells its assets to MediaLab for $80M; MediaLab says it will cut some jobs in original content production teams — The sale price is less than the total funding raised. — Music-annotating startup Genius Media Group Inc., a site that drew attention in part …
Wenxin Fan / Wall Street Journal:
China erased Zhao Wei, its biggest movie star who had 86M Weibo followers, from its internet on August 26, amid a clampdown on its entertainment industry — Zhao Wei was the Reese Witherspoon of China, then she was censored by the Communist Party amid a clampdown of the country's entertainment industry
Discussion:
@chantel_mccabe, @elipariser, @artjonak, @larryelder and @mollymckew
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Financial Times:
China is cracking down on pessimistic financial blogs and social media accounts, as well as fraudulent ones; analysts worry independent voices will be silenced
China is cracking down on pessimistic financial blogs and social media accounts, as well as fraudulent ones; analysts worry independent voices will be silenced
Discussion:
@martinsfp, @gordongchang, @chinabeigebook, @chigrl, @carnage4life, @fritz844, @marcomnyc, @jkynge, @wexler, @chinabeigebook and @sonaliranade, more at Techmeme »
News UK:
Piers Morgan is joining News Corp and Fox News, where he will have a TV show in early 2022, and will also be a columnist at The Sun and the New York Post — - New global TV show will air on weeknights in the UK, USA and Australia; — Morgan will publish two weekly columns online for the New York Post and The Sun;
Discussion:
@piersmorgan, @jimwaterson, The Guardian, Mediaite, Variety, TVNewser, New York Times, @newsuk, Poynter, Metro.co.uk, CNN, Press Association, @stephennolan, @chloeschlosberg, @lesliemarshall, Conquest of the Useless, @jimwaterson, @ashkan, @stevepasquale, @benyt, @rexhuppke, @garylineker, @adambienkov, @mikeelgan, @erikwemple, @peterjukes, @jonathanwald, @davidfolkenflik, @gbnews, @andrewgentry_, The Daily Beast, The Wrap, nexttv.com, Daily Express and The Sun
Todd Spangler / Variety:
WarnerMedia is offering a 50% discount for six months on the HBO Max ad-free monthly plan until September 26 as HBO subscriptions via Amazon shut down Wednesday — WarnerMedia is trying to help offset the loss of about 5 million HBO subscribers who had signed up through Amazon in the U.S. with an aggressive discount offer on HBO Max.
Discussion:
The Wrap, The Streamable, Deadline, Engadget, The Verge, FierceVideo, @xpangler, @pkafka and @richlightshed
Chris Dolmetsch / Bloomberg:
Jay-Z's Rock-A-Fella has sued co-founder Dash to stop him from selling the copyright to Jay-Z's debut album as an NFT, saying he has no legal right to do so — - Rapper battles co-founder Dash over NFT rights to debut album — Lawsuits proliferate as non-fungible token market takes off
Discussion:
@business and @aaronwall, more at Techmeme »
Catie Keck / The Verge:
A judge has ordered the permanent shutdown of Locast, a nonprofit that streamed broadcast channels for free while frequently prompting viewers for donations — Things looked bad for Locast before, and they just got even worse. A judge this week permanently prohibited streamer Locast …
Discussion:
MediaPost, Cord Cutters News and The Streamable
Mark Scott / Politico:
A look at EU Reporter, which portrays itself as an independent media organization while regularly failing to add disclosures to paid-for content — Brussels news outlet EU Reporter's blend of corporate press releases, original news and paid-for content makes it impossible for readers to determine who's behind the coverage.
BBC:
Two men have been charged in the 2019 murder of journalist Lyra McKee and are expected to appear in court on Friday — Two men have been charged with the murder of journalist Lyra McKee. — Ms McKee, 29, was shot dead while observing rioting in Londonderry's Creggan estate in April 2019.
Discussion:
@stevennott, Metro.co.uk and City A.M.
Casey Newton / Platformer:
One year in, Casey Newton has doubled his Substack subscribers to ~50K, of which <10% convert to paid; Discord and Twitter are effective for attracting readers — A year ago, I quit the best job I ever had to start Platformer. Today I wanted to tell you all how it's going, what I've learned …
Discussion:
@kinseygrant, @seekingn0rth, @sarahscire, @estherkeziat, @sarahscire, @siobhannyc, @kantrowitz, @daveambrose, @broderick, @mohamed, @caseynewton, @elanazak, @adrianhon, @choire, @cwarzel, @ericnewcomer and @brandyzadrozny
Reuters:
French court upholds a ruling by markets watchdog AMF against Bloomberg for publishing a hoax press release, but lowers fine from €5M to €3M — A French appeal court on Thursday upheld a ruling by France's markets watchdog AMF against U.S. news agency Bloomberg for publishing a hoax press release …
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
The 8th Circuit's bizarre decision greenlighting a lawsuit over a Ryan Lizza tweet about Devin Nunes sets a dangerous precedent for defamation claims — Rep. Devin Nunes has kept up his suing news organizations (and satirical internet cows). He has been mostly losing.
Discussion:
@jkosseff, @lawsuitsdevin, @lawsuitsdevin, @mmasnick, @lawsuitsdevin, Words For the Wise, @dmrmorris, Vanity Fair, Law & Crime and Politico