Top News:
Todd Sherman / The Twitter Blog:
Twitter won't count photos, videos, @names in replies toward 140 characters “in the coming months”, will allow self-retweets, touts improved onboarding metrics — Over the past decade, the Tweet has evolved from a simple 140-character text message to a rich canvas …
Discussion:
New York Times, @twitter, The Verge, TechCrunch, Forbes, The Wrap, Washington Post, New York Magazine, @jack, VatorNews, @theswitch, Softpedia News, Real Stories, @deturningcruyff, Fast Company, @bydanielvictor, MacRumors, @ethanklapper, @alberteinstein, SocialTimes, @carlquintanilla, BetaNews, The Mary Sue, Motherboard, Adweek, BGR, 9to5Mac, @jeremybotter, MacStories, TechCrunch, @shivaroor, The Huffington Post, @thenewpi, Gizmodo, Consumerist, @agentm, @babylonian, @rlwjones, @pelles, @twitteruk, Digiday, Pocket-lint, The FADER, @nycsouthpaw, @lanceulanoff, @brianstelter, Variety, AppAdvice.com Latest and CBS Boston
Alan Rappeport / New York Times:
Over 400 writers including Stephen King, David Eggers, Amy Tan, and Cheryl Strayed release online letter opposing Trump — Donald J. Trump has been working to mend fences with many of his detractors, but among literary luminaries it is looking like it will be a tough sell.
Discussion:
Literary Hub, iPetitions, Mediaite, The Awl. — Medium, The Huffington Post, Jezebel, Mashable, @dzancbooks, @buzzfeedbooks, @sarah_smarsh, @pronounced_ing, @clarajeffery, @fmanjoo, Guardian and The Week
Mark Sweney / Guardian:
Many senior Daily Telegraph staff members fired, including deputy editor Liz Hunt — String of senior staff cuts follow announcement that publisher is seeking to reduce costs — The Telegraph has started a round of targeted cuts of senior newsroom staff including deputy editor Liz Hunt …
Discussion:
Spence on Media, Talking New Media, @marksweney and @iandouglas
Dylan Byers / CNNMoney:
Industry observers and some staff believe BuzzFeed will eventually curtail news to focus on more profitable video and entertainment — Early last year, BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti wrote a blog post titled “Why BuzzFeed Does News,” a battle cry for journalism that had the unintended effect of unnerving some members of the news division.
Discussion:
@amzam, @edmundlee, @eliasisquith, @rafat, @ceodonovan, @paulxharris, @petersterne and @moorehn
Hadas Gold / Politico:
Source: Josh Tyrangiel promoted at Vice Media to oversee company's entire news division; 15 digital producers, writers and editors laid off — Josh Tyrangiel is being promoted at Vice Media to oversee the company's entire news division, as part of a reorganization that will see around 15 …
Harrison Weber / VentureBeat:
Facebook buys VR audio company Two Big Ears and debuts “Facebook 360 Spatial Workstation”, a free software suite for designing spatial audio — Today Facebook announced it's acquired Two Big Ears, a spatial audio technology company, for an undisclosed sum.
Tony Maglio / The Wrap:
Sumner Redstone names Tad Jankowski, Jill Krutick to National Amusements board of directors, replacing Philippe Dauman and George Abrams — Sumner Redstone has officially replaced Philippe Dauman and George Abrams in the Sumner M. Redstone Irrevocable Trust.
Discussion:
Adweek, @lucas_shaw, New York Times, Broadcasting & Cable and Variety
Adi Robertson / The Verge:
Amazon's Comixology launching subscription service for digital comics selections from major indie presses at $5.99/month, not including Marvel or DC comics — Comixology is launching a subscription service that will offer readers “thousands” of digital comics for $5.99 a month.
Discussion:
Comic Book Resources, /Film, Publishers Weekly, EW.com, Business Insider, Polygon and Forbes
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Starting in September, Netflix will be exclusive US pay TV home for new releases from Disney, Marvel, Lucasfilm, and Pixar — Netflix's exclusive deal with Disney for pay-TV window rights to the Mouse House's movie titles in the U.S. will commence in September.
Discussion:
Netflix Media Center, Forbes, Vanity Fair, Jezebel, /Film, LostRemote, Engadget, Boing Boing, The Verge, The Huffington Post, E! Online, VentureBeat, TIME, The Mary Sue and CNET
Alex Hern / Guardian:
How the misuse of copyright law enabled a negative review thread about a building firm to be delisted by Google — When Annabelle Narey posted a negative review of a building firm on Mumsnet, the last thing on her mind was copyright infringement — Writing a bad review online has always run …
Andrew Ross Sorkin / New York Times:
Nick Denton speculates that Silicon Valley funding is behind Hulk Hogan lawsuit and two new cases against Gawker — At first, Nick Denton, the founder of Gawker Media, thought it an unlikely conspiracy theory. — Now, he's starting to believe it himself.
Discussion:
Real Stories, Awful Announcing, The Wrap, @edmundlee, @moorehn, @pkafka, @mims, @janinegibson, @jyarow, @pmarca, @gaberivera, @blogdiva, @tolles, @jmcduling and @petersterne
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Networks are trying to lure audiences back from streaming services like Netflix by offering viewers on-demand access to current shows — Putting episodes on VOD after they air keeps fans engaged — With live viewership of most U.S. TV channels in decline, the most-watched networks …
Discussion:
VideoNuze Analysis