Top News:


Facebook ramps up its Instant Articles as Washington Post says it will publish all of its articles on Facebook and over a dozen new publishers join — Facebook Ramps Up Its Instant Articles, and the Washington Post Is All In — Last spring Facebook started hosting stories from the New York Times …

Tribune Publishing pleads its case with investors; share price falls further — Tribune Publishing hosted a brief “investor update” call Tuesday, making more explicit its earlier statements that the Los Angeles Times was under-performing financially and dragging down company-wide results.
Discussion:
CNN, New York Times, Politico and @rickedmonds
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Los Angeles Times memo fails to ease layoff fears — If the editor of The Los Angeles Times was hoping to temper his staff's fears about impending layoffs, the memo he sent on Tuesday didn't do the trick. — “We need to accelerate our evolution,” Davan Maharaj wrote — a promising message …
Discussion:
LA Observed, Los Angeles Business …, Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles Business …


Al-Jazeera to cut 800-1,000 jobs worldwide as oil prices fall; Al-Jazeera America expected to be protected — Al-Jazeera expected to cut hundreds of jobs — Surprise move could mark a reduction in state commitment to Qatari-owned media group amid falling oil prices
Discussion:
@jamesrbuk and mUmBRELLA


“Happy Birthday” Ruled To Be In the Public Domain — A judge grants summary judgment to a filmmaker challenging Warner Chappel's copyright to a song more than a century old. — The world's most popular English language song is now free from copyright after a federal judge ruled on Tuesday …
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, Business Insider, @popehat, @harrymccracken and @eriqgardner

Source: Google acquired Oyster's tech, discovery tools, and editorial content, including literary magazine The Oyster Review, but not its publisher contracts — Google's grab of Oyster suggests ebooks, like news, are becoming “content” read on big platforms
Discussion:
Fortune, TechnoBuffalo, @laurahazardowen, Tech Insider, @janefriedman, @losowsky, @willyblackmore, GeekWire, Mashable, Entrepreneur, Ubergizmo, Consumerist, Inc.com, VatorNews and 9to5Google


Ta-Nehisi Coates to Write Black Panther Comic for Marvel — Ta-Nehisi Coates can be identified in many ways: as a national correspondent for The Atlantic, as an author and, as of this month, as a nominee for the National Book Award's nonfiction prize. But Mr. Coates also has a not-so-secret identity …
Discussion:
io9, Comicbook.com, @mattegagnon, @justinnxt, Polygon, The Verge, @leonardpittsjr1, UPROXX, Paper, Forbes, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, Boing Boing, Variety, @skylightbooks, Shadow and Act and Tor.com


Columbia J-School launches Columbia Global Reports, a longform, non-fiction publisher of works averaging 25K words in length — Could a university be the savior longform journalism has been looking for? — The relationship between academia and journalism had not always been cozy.


Sources: 200-300 layoffs coming to ESPN within the next few months, as Disney has notified ESPN to trim $100M from the 2016 budget — Layoffs are coming to ESPN. — Multiple sources inside and outside of ESPN tell The Big Lead that the network will be laying off “200 to 300” employees in the coming months.
Discussion:
Variety, Deadline, FishbowlNY, The Wrap, @jeffschultzajc, @realobf and Media Wire Daily


Bloomberg head of global digital video, Paul Marcum, takes on new role as president of Truffle Pig, the ad agency created by Snapchat, Daily Mail, and WPP — Bloomberg exec Paul Marcum joins agency Truffle Pig as president: ‘A transformative time in the industry’ — Paul Marcum has hit the trifecta.
Discussion:
@digiday and Talking Biz News


Complex, a network of pop culture magazines, raises $21M from Hearst — Another Old Media-New Media Bet: Hearst Invests $21 Million in Dude-Centric Complex — Big media companies have lots of cash. But they're worried that won't help them if they can't find new audiences.
Discussion:
CNNMoney, Variety, Folio, FishbowlNY, Ad Age, Media Wire Daily, WWD and Crain's New York

Investigative reporting podcast Reveal works to expand its network beyond current five news partners as it prepares for weekly shows in January — A cross-country network helps Reveal boost its investigative reporting power — One of the great benefits of working in audio …
Discussion:
@sacpressclub and @corriemac