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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 …
Discussion:
Variety, Billboard, @bmorrissey, @cheriehu42, @patrick_hruby, @jbenton, @rafat, @joshuaogundu, @glenngabe, @buccocapital, @markets, @seyitaylor, @navjosh and Music Business Worldwide, more at Techmeme »
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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, @offtherecordnyc, @sizpatel, @james_dasilva, @tomgara and @niemanlab


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:
@mollymckew, @larryelder, @artjonak and @elipariser, more at Techmeme »
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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 has launched a crackdown on financial blogs and social media, a move that risks exacerbating the difficulty …
Discussion:
@jkynge, @wexler, @chinabeigebook and @sonaliranade


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.


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, Mediaite, Variety, CNN, TVNewser, @jimwaterson, New York Times, @newsuk, Fox News, @lesliemarshall, Vanity Fair, @chloeschlosberg, The Sun, @adambienkov, @mikeelgan, WWD, @andrewgentry_, @benyt, @rexhuppke, @davidfolkenflik, @stephennolan, @erikwemple, @ashkan, @garylineker, @jonathanwald, New York Post, The Daily Beast, The Wrap, The Guardian, The Sun, Daily Express, @peterjukes, @gbnews and @stevepasquale

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:
@lawsuitsdevin, @lawsuitsdevin, @lawsuitsdevin, Law & Crime and @mmasnick
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Appeals court rejects Devin Nunes' defamation suit over a 2018 Esquire article, but says he may have been libeled when a reporter tweeted out the story in 2019
Discussion:
Des Moines Register, @jkosseff, @medialawprof, Vanity Fair, @dmrmorris, @cmarinucci, @erikwemple, @dmregister, Reason, Columbia Journalism Review, @erikwemple, @ericnewcomer, @ericnewcomer, @ericnewcomer, @ericnewcomer, @puxxled, @erikwemple, @erikwemple, @erikwemple, @lawsuitsdevin, @senkevincramer, @oliverdarcy, @5dollarfeminist, @imillhiser, @abeaujon, @natsecgeek, @aricohn, @eriqgardner and MediaPost


The SCOTUS press corps, dominated by older white men, has actively denied the court's shift to the right, clearly shown by extremist shadow docket decisions — The conservative takeover of the Court is putting traditional legal media to the test. The results are not encouraging.

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:
Reuters


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 and The Streamable

News UK announces the launch of talkTV, a linear and OTT channel featuring news, opinion, and sports shows, in early 2022 — News UK is to launch a new channel, talkTV, in early 2022. — The channel will be streamed live and made widely available on all platforms including linear TV …
Discussion:
Reuters, @jimwaterson, @newsuk, The Sun, @jimwaterson, @imincorrigible, @brokentv, @nmsonline, Advanced Television, City A.M., Metro.co.uk, @ifanmj and Guido Fawkes


Report: between January 2015 and May 2021, SLAPPs were most prevalent in Latin America and Asia and were mostly tied to industries like mining and logging — Nestor Nga Etoga has made nearly 100 court appearances since 2016, leaving him little time to pursue investigative journalism projects.