Articles sourced from Daily Clips
Local Papers Hit Big Tech with Lawsuits
What started with one newspaper in West Virginia has now grown to over 200 newspapers to all file antitrust lawsuits against big tech companies such as Google and Facebook.
The lawsuits emerged for the fact local newspapers allege tech giants monopolized the digital as market for revenue that would otherwise go to local news publications. So far, antitrust lawsuits have been filed by 17 different ownership groups that represent an estimated 150 newspapers.
One of the lawyers representing the newspapers, Clayton Fitzsimmons, states “The goal of the litigation is to recover past damages to newspapers… and to establish a new system going forward in which newspapers aren’t just competitive again, but can thrive”. Fitzsimmons went on to reference a law that Australia had put into action, where tech firms are forced to pay publishers for their content.
States Newsroom
The nation’s leading network of state-based nonprofit news outlets, States Newsroom, will be bringing all of its coverage together in one place by launching News from the States. The organization hopes to expand to roughly 40 states with sharing agreements in the remaining states in the next two and a half years.
Chris Fitzsimon, Director and Publisher of the States Newsroom, stated, “It’s time to stop treating news as just a business and start to treat it as a public service… Research shows that not only do newspaper closures cost taxpayers, they also erode civic engagement, voter turnout and competition in local elections”.
States Newsroom has helped close in on the need for local newspapers by filling the void created by the closure 0f many media outlets in 25 states.
Lee Enterprise Rejected Aldens Proposal
Lee Enterprises Board of Directors is all in favor of rejecting the offer made by Alden Global to purchase Lee Enterprises for $24 a share in all cash. Lee believes Alden’s proposal undervalues the company and that Alden does not have the best interest in mind when it comes to the company or its shareholders.
Debt Collectors Move to Social Media
According to CBS News, an estimated ⅓ of American citizens have generated a debt that has then been forwarded to a collections agency. Before reporting someone for having a defaulted debt, the debt collector must wait 14 days after sending a letter, email, or speaking on the phone with the individual in debt. However, after the Debt Collection Rule was passed on November 30th, debt collectors are able to contact people via social media direct messages.
The debt collectors do have to abide by certain rules if taking this approach. The company has to be clearly identified, the debt collector must state the purpose of the message, and the collector must be completely transparent. It is important to state that users are able to opt out of getting more messages this way.
New York Times Audio
On Tuesday, the New York Times’ audio app beta version became available to users. The app will become a new home to several top podcasts on Spotify and Apple, and will also feature “shorts”, a tighter version of podcasts. The audio app will have the ability to really open a reporter’s notebook, and make it a new form of audio journalism.
The app will allow you to follow various people and podcasts, giving you a seamless and customizable stream of audio products. There will be no ads featured in the apps display, however there will be ad reads in the podcasts.
Daily Clips is a culmination of various articles from an array of news sources on topics spanning from news to tech
