Top News:


Trump attacks Vanity Fair and its editor Graydon Carter on Twitter, after the magazine published a negative review of Trump Grill, a steakhouse in Trump Tower — on Thursday blasted Vanity Fair, claiming the magazine was in “big trouble.” — “Has anyone looked at the really poor numbers …
Discussion:
@realdonaldtrump, Vanity Fair, CNNMoney, Mediaite, Variety, Washington Post, Politico, TheBlaze and The Week


NJ newspapers could lose $20M a year if bill passes allowing local governments to forego publishing legal notices in print and instead post them online — A fast-tracked bill that would allow governments to forgo publishing budgets, bids for services and other public records in newspapers …


Memo: Politico ends Julia Ioffe's contract after she sends vulgar tweet about Trump, reiterates that its journalists should not share opinion on any platform — Politico has terminated its contract with magazine writer Julia Ioffe after she sent a tweet that referenced a possible incestuous …
Discussion:
FishbowlNY, @juliaioffe, @juliaioffe, @elenzner, Mediaite, Infowars, @erikwemple, @sarahkendzior, The Gateway Pundit, @juliaioffe, @craigipedia, New York Magazine, @andizeisler, @daveweigel, @dwdavison9318, @nataliaantonova, iMediaEthics, @shashj, @susan_hennessey, @mattyglesias and The Daily Caller


21st Century Fox says it has agreed to buy Sky for $14.6B despite complaints from some investors; the acquisition is expected to complete before the end of 2017 — Rupert Murdoch's Twenty-First Century Fox (FOXA.O) said on Thursday it had agreed to buy European pay-TV firm Sky (SKYB.L) …
Discussion:
21st Century Fox, Bloomberg, @skynewsbreak, BBC and Engadget
RELATED:


Democratic FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler says he will resign on January 20, which will allow a new Republican majority to begin dismantling Obama-era regulations — Democratic FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said today he would resign, ending months of will-he or won't-he speculation about his plans.
Discussion:
@tomwheelerfcc, The Wrap, CNBC, The Hill and The Verge


Twitter's rule against inciting harassment means it could ban President-Elect Trump, but free speech advocates argue his tweets have value — If Twitter wanted to, it would be well within its rights to suspend Donald J. Trump's account. — After the president-elect used Twitter last week …


Mike Flynn, Trump's pick for national security adviser, has deleted a tweet that linked to a fake news story about Hillary Clinton — Gen. Mike Flynn quietly deleted a tweet that promoted a baseless story about Hillary Clinton's “sex crimes.” — Associate Politics Editor, The Huffington Post
Discussion:
CNN, Talking Points Memo and The Hill
RELATED:

Michael Flynn Jr., son of Trump's national security advisor General Michael Flynn, slammed the Washington Post and questioned if it should continue to operate
Discussion:
@kylegriffin1, @usaredorchestra, RT, The Wrap, Mother Jones, Washington Post, @clarajeffery, Business Insider, @badpressawards, @globalfreemedia and @anthony


Instagram doubles its monthly active user base in two years to 600M, adding 100M in six months — That's 600 million Instagrammers, and a whole lotta brunch pics — It appears that the rise of Snapchat and all its Spectacles fun have yet to slow Instagram's growth: the Facebook-owned …


Australian federal court orders ISPs to block torrenting sites, including The Pirate Bay, within 15 business days under new site-blocking law — Goodbye Pirate Bay, farewell TorrentHound — Australia's ISPs have been ordered to block a raft of torrenting sites under new site-blocking laws.
Discussion:
ABC, Softpedia News, The Guardian and Techly

DirecTV and U-verse drop Esquire Network, owned by NBCUniversal and Hearst; network will still be carried in 45M homes — Net will still be available in about 45 million homes — AT&T's DirecTV and U-verse subscribers will be without the Esquire Network as of about 1 a.m. Eastern Time on Dec. 15 …


Imzy, founded by two former Reddit employees, launched in October to be a gentler version of Reddit; site has 50K members and $11M in seed funding — Imzy, started by two former Reddit employees, wants to be a kinder, gentler version of the controversial discussion site. — by — Subscribe Reprints

In radio interview, Trump's chief of staff Reince Priebus says there are “different ways” to do WH daily briefing, seemingly suggesting it could be abolished — Transcript: HH: Joined now by the chairman of the Republican National Committee, Reince Priebus, incoming White House Chief of Staff as well.
Discussion:
NPR, The Huffington Post, Mediaite, CNNMoney, The Daily Caller, @toddruger, @hughhewitt, @hughhewitt, @sahilkapur, @hughhewitt, @chrisgeidner and @seungminkim
RELATED:


150 prominent filmmakers sign an open letter to major camera makers, including Canon, Nikon, Sony, and others, asking for default storage encryption — In the summer of 2013, when documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras was shooting a still-secret NSA leaker named Edward Snowden in a Hong Kong hotel room, she took security seriously.
Discussion:
Freedom of the Press …, Techdirt, Mashable, ZDNet, TechCrunch, @snowden, @trevortimm, The Verge, @snowden and @freedomofpress