Top News:
Rebecca Savransky / The Hill:
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
NorthJersey.com:
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 …
Benjamin Mullin / Poynter:
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
Reuters:
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
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Politico:
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
Farhad Manjoo / New York Times:
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 …
Marina Fang / The Huffington Post:
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
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Alex Griswold / Mediaite:
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
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
Natt Garun / The Verge:
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 …
Claire Reilly / CNET:
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
Mike Farrell / Multichannel News:
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 …
Joel Stein / Bloomberg:
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
Hugh Hewitt / The Hugh Hewitt Show:
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
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Andy Greenberg / Wired:
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