Top News:
Laura Hazard Owen / Nieman Lab:
Atavist cuts half its staff and searches for a sustainable path as funding dries up — The past couple of years have not been kind to publishing-related startups. Byliner publicly fell apart before being acquired. Social reading platform Readmill was acquired by Dropbox and shut down.
Discussion:
Washington Post
Oliver Ellrodt / Reuters:
German justice minister announces deal with Facebook, Twitter, and Google to remove hate speech within 24 hours of it being reported — Facebook, Google, Twitter agree to delete hate speech in 24 hours: Germany — Germany said on Tuesday that Facebook, Google and Twitter have agreed …
Discussion:
BBC, CNET, Quartz, Fast Company, TechCrunch, Associated Press, Benzinga, Digital Trends, Tech Times, The Stack, Wired.co.uk, The Verge, Ars Technica UK, The Next Web, TechSpot, The Local, Engadget, TIME, RT, The Straits Times and Re/code
Mark Scott / New York Times:
EU agrees on EU-wide rules to overhaul data privacy laws, adding hefty fines, broadening right to be forgotten; EU countries will have two years to comply — Europe Approves Tough New Data Protection Rules — European officials approved long-awaited data protection regulations on Tuesday …
Discussion:
EU Press Room, European Parliament, Politico, Business Insider, TechCrunch, Financial Times, BBC, Computer Business Review, Washington Times, Financial Times, Forbes, NDTV Gadgets360.com, New Europe, EUobserver, Zacks Investment Research, DW.COM, Infosecurity Magazine, Guardian, Re/code, Mashable, The Next Web, Reuters, @digiphile, Silicon Republic, @gcluley, The Hill, AdExchanger, The Verge, Ars Technica UK, PYMNTS.com, Seeking Alpha, USA Today and Wall Street Journal
James DeHaven / Las Vegas Review-Journal:
Society of Professional Journalists calls on new owners of Las Vegas Review-Journal to reveal their identity — Pressure to go public grows for new Review-Journal owners — One of the country's largest and oldest journalism organizations has joined a growing chorus of reporters …
Joe Pompeo / Politico:
New York Times video founder Ann Derry to depart — The journalist who created The New York Times' video department 10 years ago is exiting the publication. — Ann Derry, who was behind the Times' initial foray into video in 2005, will leave the company at the end of the year.
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, FishbowlNY, The Nation, Guardian and Ars Technica UK
Catalina Albeanu / Journalism.co.uk:
Eyewitness Media Hub study: 52% of journalists exposed to traumatic user-generated content several times a week, 12% daily — On ‘the digital frontline’, over half of journalists are exposed to traumatic UGC several times a week — A new study from the Eyewitness Media Hub highlights …
Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:
Part two of the Leveson Inquiry has been ‘quietly shelved’ by Government — The conclusion of Operation Weeting (announced on Friday) left the way open for part two of the Leveson Inquiry to finally commence. — But The Times and Mail report government sources saying that it has been quietly shelved.
Discussion:
@domponsford, The Times and @alexgspence
Brady Dale / The New York Observer:
Wikipedia's AI tool, ORES, generates scores to help identify edits made in good faith or bad — Artificial Intelligence Toward a Kinder, Gentler Wikipedia — At least for contributors. ORES wraps artificial intelligence for evaluating simple edits in an API, so other developers can use it to build new quality control tools.
Henry Mance / Financial Times:
Daily Mirror looks at launching cheaper tabloid newspaper — The publisher of the Daily Mirror is working on plans to launch a cheaper tabloid newspaper, people familiar with the matter said, in the latest attempt to squeeze profits from print media. — The new publication would seek …
Discussion:
Press Gazette and Prolific North
Laurie Burkitt / Wall Street Journal:
Disney and Alibaba announce DisneyLife, an OTT service with Disney content for China, $125 for device and one year subscription available from Tmall Dec. 28 — Alibaba, Disney Strike Deal to Sell Content System in China — The companies struck a multiyear licensing deal for the Mickey Mouse-shaped DisneyLife system
Discussion:
The Verge, Bloomberg Business, The Next Web, Home Media Magazine, GeekWire, Business Wire, VentureBeat, The Wrap and Variety
R.L. Bynum / Raleigh & Company:
Interview with the publisher of the North State Journal, a statewide newspaper for North Carolina to launch in spring — Statewide print newspaper launches next year at time when industry is struggling — With newspaper staffs shrinking and the business bleeding red ink amid tough financial times …
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Google Play Books adds a nighttime reading mode that's easier on your eyes — Google is following Amazon's lead with a new mode for its ebooks app that makes reading at night more pleasant and comfortable for your eyes. Similar to the updated Kindle tablet software we saw last week …
Discussion:
Official Android Blog, SlashGear, TechCrunch, PhoneDog.com, App Advice, TeleRead, Tech Times and 9to5Mac