Top News:
Rob Price / Business Insider:
Twitter is reversing its ban on political watchdog Politwoops — Four months after being banned by Twitter, Politwoops is coming back. — If you're not familiar with it, Politwoops is a kind of social media watchdog. It automatically monitors the Twitter feeds of politicians and highlights whenever they delete a tweet.
Discussion:
The Twitter Blog, Open State Foundation, Sunlight Foundation Blog, The Huffington Post, The Hill, VentureBeat, Talking Points Memo, New York Times, USA Today, Politico, TechRadar.com, PRWeek, PC Magazine, NBC News, Motherboard, @openstateeu, RT, @tapbot_paul, Gigaom, The Verge, Re/code, @amp6, The Daily Dot, 89.3 KPCC, hexanews.com, Tech Times, New York Magazine, TechCrunch, Pedestrian TV, @nacin, UPI, Mashable, Newsmax, @legalnomads, TrustedReviews, The Next Web, Raw Story, Mediaite, International Business Times, The Week, CNN, SiliconBeat, Gizmodo, Sun-Times National, Engadget, Fortune, @digiphile, The Independent, @politwoops and Forbes
BBC:
Sources: BBC websites hit by DDoS attack, services disrupted for several hours — ‘Technical issue’ hits BBC websites — “Technical issues” made the BBC's websites intermittently unavailable on Thursday morning. — The problems began about 0700 GMT and meant visitors to the site saw …
Discussion:
@bbcpress, Wired.co.uk, New York Times, Guardian, The Independent, Digital Spy, @redhotsquirrel, TechWeekEurope UK, UPI, Mashable, Newsweek, PC Magazine, Computerworld, BBC, Deadline, Business Standard, BelfastTelegraph.co.uk, Independent.ie, CNNMoney, walesonline, The Hill, Variety, Associated Press, 9news.com.au, Business Insider Australia, NDTV Gadgets360.com, @joelmgunter, The Drum, RadioTimes, bit-tech.net, Gizmodo UK, KitGuru, Plymouth Herald, mirror, Dailystar.co.uk, Bristol Post, Hollywood Reporter, London Evening Standard, BelfastTelegraph.co.uk, Mirror.co.uk, The Register, The Independent, Mirror.co.uk, The Independent, International Business Times, Daily Express, mirror, @ruskin147, Telegraph, Telegraph, Daily Mail, The Register, Fortune and TheJournal.ie
Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:
Crowdfunded ‘Star Trek’ Movie Draws Lawsuit from Paramount, CBS — ‘Axanar’ aims to be a professional-quality prequel and has raised more than $1 million. — For decades, Paramount and CBS have tolerated and even encouraged fans of the Star Trek franchise to use their imagination at will …
Discussion:
Variety, Bleeding Cool Comic Book …, @burnettrm, Rolling Stone, The Wrap, The Wrap, Techdirt, Global News, Epicstream, Mercury News, io9, TeleRead, Courthouse News Service, Digital Trends, UNITED STATES DISTRICT …, /Film, Guardian, Engadget, SlashGear, International Business Times, Paste, Gizmodo Australia, Vulture, New York Daily News, The A.V. Club, CINEMABLEND, EW.com, TorrentFreak, Deadline, Rolling Stone, Wall Street Journal, Ars Technica, The Verge, @bsgmuseum, UPROXX, @eriqgardner, @jenocidoll, @andykhouri, @wellesnetcom, Forbes, IOL and The Independent
Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:
Washington Post drops progressive columnist Harold Meyerson, claiming poor social media metrics and excessive discussion of two topics — Washington Post Claims It Dropped A Progressive Columnist Because Of Poor Readership. Readers Aren't Happy. — Bernie Sanders says the columnist's “insights will be sorely missed.”
Discussion:
Washington Post, @sensanders, @jmartnyt, @timothynoah1, The Huffington Post, bookforum.com, Washington Post, @ryangrim, @ejdionne, @haroldmeyerson, Center for Economic …, @katrinanation, @greenhousenyt, @heerjeet, @nickconfessore, @jackshafer, @jayrosen_nyu, @dangillmor, @demsocialists and Politico
Agence France-Presse:
Two Bangladeshi students sentenced to death over blogger murder — A Bangladesh court sentenced two students to death on Thursday for the 2013 murder of a secular blogger, delivering the first convictions over a series of brutal killings that have rocked the Muslim-majority nation.
Discussion:
BBC, Associated Press, Committee to Protect …, San Francisco Chronicle, Democracy Now, UPI, TIME, Scotsman, The Daily Caller, Wall Street Journal, Al Jazeera English, Newsweek, bdnews24.com, newsnext bangladesh, Business Standard, NEWKERALA.COM for News …, presstv.ir, Business Standard, The Indian Express, Agence France-Presse, euronews, International Business Times, Voice of America, Reuters, DW.COM, CNN and International Business Times
Brian Rohan / Associated Press:
Egypt shuts down Facebook's Free Basics internet service on telco provider Etisalat, reasons unclear — Free Internet service for over 3 million Egyptians shut down — BEIRUT (AP) — Social media site Facebook says a program that had been giving free basic Internet services to over three million Egyptians has been shut down.
Discussion:
New York Times, Mashable, TechRadar.com, Hindustan Times, Billboard, TechWeekEurope UK, Arabian Business, StepFeed, ValueWalkValueWalk, Zacks Investment Research, Wall Street Journal, Tech Times, DW.COM, The Register, BBC, Quartz, SlashGear, International Business Times, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, USA Today, The Verge, Fortune, Gigaom, Egyptian Streets, Ubergizmo, BuzzFeed and Gizmodo UK
RELATED:
New York Times:
Egyptian authorities shut down art gallery and raided an independent publishing house, raising concerns about continued free speech issues
Egyptian authorities shut down art gallery and raided an independent publishing house, raising concerns about continued free speech issues
Discussion:
Nigeria, South Carolina SC, KTEP, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, Associated Press, NPR, @kenroth, @lizsly, StepFeed, i24news and StepFeed
Michael S. Rosenwald / Washington Post:
In the age of Amazon, used bookstores are making an unlikely comeback — Early next month, Pablo Sierra is opening a used bookstore in Northwest Washington — an unlikely bet in the digital age made even more inconceivable, given that his only experience with books is reading them.
Discussion:
Tallahassee Democrat, 41 NBC News, States Chronicle, Wall Street OTC and TechCrunch
Sean O'Kane / The Verge:
Facebook tests multiple, topic-based feeds on its mobile app in place of one main News Feed, also tests wider rollout of Marketplace feature with its own tab — Facebook is testing multiple news feeds on mobile — Facebook is testing multiple, topic-based feeds on its mobile app in place of one main News Feed.
Discussion:
The Whip, TIME, Daily Mail, Mashable, Scroll.in, Digital Spy, Komando.com, The Independent and The Economic Times
Allison Lampert / Reuters:
Jailed Saudi blogger Raif Badawi's health deteriorating, wife says — Imprisoned Saudi blogger's health deteriorating, wife says — Imprisoned Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, recent recipient of a prestigious European human rights award, has suffered fainting spells and deteriorating health …
Discussion:
Newsweek and presstv.ir
Rick Edmonds / Poynter:
The Atlantic's “What ISIS Really Wants” held readers' attention the longest among 2015 stories from publications using Chartbeat — The best-read digital story of 2015? It's The Atlantic's ‘What ISIS Really Wants.’ — Metrics now allow a fairly exact measure of which stories attract …
Alex Sherman / Bloomberg Business:
Sources: Nexstar to finalize new offer for Media General, at about $2.2B, or $17.50 per share, as soon as Thursday — Nexstar Said to Finalize Media General Proposal Soon as Thursday — Offer would trigger at least 4-day window for Meredith counter — Nexstar tapping three banks for $4.5 billion in debt financing
Discussion:
Folio, FishbowlNY and @sherman4949
Agence France-Presse:
Charlie Hebdo to release million copies of special issue one year after attack — Satirical magazine to release double issue on 7 January to mark a year since 12 people were killed in jihadi killings on its Paris office — French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday …
Discussion:
Guardian, Bleeding Cool Comic Book …, Times of India, India.Com, Politico, Arutz Sheva, Robot 6, Mirror.co.uk, The Times of Israel, DW.COM, Hindustan Times and The Local