Top News:
Michael Nunez / Gizmodo:
Ex-Facebook news curators describe suppressing conservative news, being instructed to include non-trending stories, removing news about Facebook itself — Facebook workers routinely suppressed news stories of interest to conservative readers from the social network's influential “trending” …
Discussion:
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Poynter:
Poynter media ethicist Kelly McBride says Facebook has a responsibility to be more transparent about how it curates news — Gizmodo ignited a social media firestorm today when it reported that curators for Facebook's “trending” section regularly put the kibosh on right-leaning news stories.
Discussion:
Pressthink, @brianstelter, @wikigrimoire, @fmanjoo, Business Insider, The Hill and The Daily Caller
Nick Statt / The Verge:
Facebook says it has “rigorous guidelines” in place to protect neutrality and consistency of its Trending Topics section, in response to Gizmodo report — Facebook has responded to allegations in a Gizmodo report that its contract news curators actively censored stories …
Discussion:
@o_ema, @mikeisaac, Mediaite, @mathewi, @holmesdm, @ellenhuet, @gaberivera and The Daily Caller
Tom Stocky / Facebook:
Facebook VP of search Tom Stocky: we found no evidence contractors manipulated Trending Topics to suppress stories of interest to conservatives — My team is responsible for Trending Topics, and I want to address today's reports alleging that Facebook contractors manipulated Trending Topics …
Discussion:
Re/code
Leon H. Wolf / RedState:
Right-leaning advocacy site RedState, named as a site avoided by Facebook's human curators, says it has not seen instances of its content being suppressed — I'm getting a lot of inquiries from the media and from just people who know me about this Gizmodo article titled “Former Facebook Workers …
Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:
The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg and AI Monitor's Laura Rozen dispute article in The New York Times Magazine claiming they helped “retail” US-Iran nuclear deal — The New York Times Magazine editor defended the description, though he acknowledged the journalists should have been contacted for comment.
Discussion:
The Atlantic, Slate, Ben Rhodes, @ericuman, Washington Post, @mlcalderone, The Hill, @daveweigel, @jamesfallows, @lrozen, Politico, @jeffreygoldberg, The Resurgent, @carloslozadawp, @mepfuller, @hadas_gold, @danpfeiffer, @lrozen, Fox News Insider, The Daily Caller, Why Evolution Is True, Mediaite, Vanity Fair and Talking Points Memo
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Viacom board considers reducing Sumner Redstone's pay again, after cutting it from $13.2M in FY2014 to $2M in FY2015 — Dismissed lawsuit over media mogul's mental capacity highlighted his health problems — The board of Viacom Inc. is considering whether to cut the pay …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal and @keachhagey
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Meg James / Los Angeles Times:
Judge dismisses mental competency lawsuit brought against Viacom's controlling shareholder, Sumner Redstone, by ex-girlfriend
Judge dismisses mental competency lawsuit brought against Viacom's controlling shareholder, Sumner Redstone, by ex-girlfriend
Discussion:
Forbes, The Wrap, Ad Age, New York Times, The Wrap, Variety, Broadcasting & Cable, Financial Times, Vanity Fair, CNBC, Reuters and Fortune
Brian Stelter / CNNMoney:
Founders of Philadelphia's Billy Penn to launch a site in Pittsburgh by end of summer, using recent Gannett investment — The founders of Billy Penn, a local news startup in Philadelphia, are launching a second site in Pennsylvania's second biggest city, Pittsburgh.
Lucia Moses / Digiday:
Sources: To combat ad-blockers, Google said to be exploring an ‘acceptable’ ads policy — Google is reportedly jumping deeper into the ad blocking issue by exploring an acceptable ads policy, publisher and industry sources say. — Google, together with Facebook, controlled 64 percent of the digital ad market last year.
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Steven Erlanger / New York Times:
The BBC, with annual income of over $7B, faces intense budget pressure as UK government prepares plans for its new charter — LONDON — The British Broadcasting Corporation is variously seen as a crown jewel of British culture, a producer of refined entertainment and reliable news coverage …
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Spotify expands its video offerings, unveils slate of 12 original series which will be available to both free and paid users in US, UK, Germany, and Sweden — Russell Simmons, Tim Robbins to produce programs for Spotify — Videos will help Spotify compete with YouTube, Apple
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Quartz, MacRumors, 9to5Mac, Reuters, Variety, Polygon, AppleInsider, iMore, GeekWire, Fortune, Fast Company, The Next Web, RAIN News, The Verge, Business Insider, @aaronrutkoff, @mattbraga and @thestalwart
Ricardo Bilton / Nieman Lab:
Q&A with Sam Dolnick, editor in charge of VR content at NYT, about its in-house projects, returning users, and the challenges of the medium — With virtual reality, The New York Times has told viewers the stories of young refugees, taken them on the campaign trail, and helped them experience mourning in Paris.
Ricardo Bilton / Nieman Lab:
In Latin America, a digital community of media startups hopes to make entrepreneurship easier — Entrepreneurs tend to take for granted how easy it is to start media companies in the U.S. The abundance of capital and potential ad revenue and lack of governmental censorship make it relatively simple …