Top News:
New York Times:
Amplified by the US media, Russia executed an effective cyber offensive against the DNC, aided by a sluggish FBI response — WASHINGTON — When Special Agent Adrian Hawkins of the Federal Bureau of Investigation called the Democratic National Committee in September 2015 to pass along …
Discussion:
Vox, TechCrunch, Fast Company, Business Insider, TheBlaze, emptywheel, @iansams, @jacobhyphenated, @daveweigel, New York Magazine, The Daily Caller, The Verge, Advocate, Boing Boing, The Week, RT, ABC News, Politico, NPR and Washington Post
Taylor Owen / Columbia Journalism Review:
Pondering the possibilities and the challenges for journalism in virtual worlds as VR becomes mainstream — In June 2003, the San Francisco company Linden Labs launched a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game called Second Life. It quickly grew to over a million users …
Discussion:
Oculus, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, @tim and Fortune
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Janko Roettgers / Variety:
Virtual reality game-maker Survios raises Series C round led by film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer — Hollywood continues to spend big on virtual reality: Culver City, Calif.-based virtual reality startup Survios has raised a new Series C round of funding led by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Discussion:
The Wrap and VentureBeat
Emily Steel / New York Times:
21st Century Fox faces new lawsuit that claims Roger Ailes sexually harassed reporter Lidia Curanaj in 2011 — Nearly five months after Roger Ailes was ousted from his position as chairman of Fox News Channel, the sexual harassment accusations against him continue.
Discussion:
@emilysteel, @emilysteel and Politico
Kelsey Sutton / Politico:
Time Inc.'s president and COO of sales and marketing, Mark Ellis, is leaving the company; Chief Revenue Officer Mark Ford is stepping down from his role — Mark Ellis, Time Inc.'s president and COO of sales and marketing, is leaving the company in March, part of a handful of executive changes …
Discussion:
FishbowlNY, Folio and Media Wire Daily
Eve Peyser / Gizmodo:
Google refuses to change search results for ‘Did the Holocaust happen?’, despite previously manipulating results to favor its own products — If you Google “did the Holocaust happen” the first result is a link from Stormfront.org, a neo-Nazi and white supremacist forum that's widely regarded …
James Vincent / The Verge:
Judge clears Backpage.com CEO and co-founders of pimping charges, says the listing site is not liable for user-generated content — A judge ruled the operators of the classified listings site could not be held accountable for users' content — The executives of classified listings site Backpage.com …
Eric Hananoki / Media Matters for America:
Infowars takes down some content that pushed Pizzagate conspiracy theory after one video was cited in a criminal complaint stemming from Washington DC shooting — Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is scrubbing online content pushing the false and dangerous conspiracy theory …
Discussion:
@hadas_gold, Washington Post, New York Magazine and Mother Jones
Rick Gladstone / New York Times:
Committee to Protect Journalists: at least 259 journalists jailed in 2016, the highest number since CPJ began its annual census of imprisonments in 1990 — At least 259 journalists have been jailed around the world this year, a press advocacy group reported on Monday, the most since it began …
Discussion:
@pamelapaulnyt, @hakbuyuk, @mike_giglio, @jmalsin and @conradhackett
Benjamin Mullin / Poynter:
Jim VandeHei's new site, Axios, will have a hub in its Washington D.C. HQ called Newsdesk; the site is currently recruiting reporters in D.C. and Silicon Valley — Politico founder Jim VandeHei is hiring for his new startup, and the job descriptions give a few clues about what he and co-founder Mike Allen are up to.
Discussion:
@poynter
Scott Dadich / Wired:
Wired will publish its first ever fiction-only issue in January, featuring sci-fi stories by different authors — Why fiction? Glad you asked. We live in uncertain times. One of this publication's most important jobs is to see the big trends, spot important business models …
Discussion:
FishbowlNY
Trevor Timm / Freedom of the Press Foundation:
How the Obama administration laid the groundwork for Trump's coming crackdown on the press, starting with killing the ‘media shield’ bill — In the summer of 2009, less than a year after President Obama took office, one of the first orders of business for the newly empaneled …
Discussion:
@johncusack
Jason Guerrasio / Business Insider:
Director Craig Atkinson claims Netflix blacklisted him from the service after he declined their offer to purchase the rights to his film — In just four years, Netflix has become by far the most watched destination for documentaries, beaming titles to 190 countries and an astounding 83 million global subscribes.
Discussion:
@heymerrill, @alexeheath and @andybrodie
Oriana Schwindt / Variety:
BBC, ITV partner for US streaming service BritBox which will target US fans of British shows, launching 2017; AMC Networks will take minority stake — For nearly as long as the BBC and ITV have made their programming available for Brits to stream, there have been American viewers seeking …
Discussion:
The Guardian, TechCrunch and Pocket-lint