Top News:
Kaitlyn Tiffany / The Verge:
Amid Trump's gag orders on US agencies including EPA, anonymous Twitter accounts like @AltNatParkSer keep tweeting and gain traction — Rejecting Trump's science gag order, anonymous NPS Twitter accounts are still going — Government offices (and rogue employees therein) …
Discussion:
Gothamist, LAist, TechCrunch, Washington Post, BostonGlobe.com, BuzzFeed, Motherboard, @ericholthaus, Reuters, @altnatparkser, CNBC, Heat Street, Vanity Fair, Common Dreams, The New York Observer, Red Alert Politics, Mashable, SFist, Mediaite, PAPERMAG, The Daily Caller, @robedking, @creynoldsnc, @matthewnussbaum, Scientific American …, @altnatparkser, BostonGlobe.com, @altnatparkser, TIME, The FADER, Motherboard, The Week, The Guardian, Gizmodo and Politicus USA
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Reuters:
USDA says gag-order calling for suspension of “public-facing documents” sent to research unit was flawed, has issued new guidance to replace it — The U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Tuesday that an internal email sent to staff at its Agricultural Research Service unit …
Discussion:
BuzzFeed, The FADER, Gizmodo, Modern Farmer, GeekWire, The Daily Caller and Engadget
The Huffington Post:
Sources: supervisors have frozen public communications at DHHS, EPA, and USDA's research arm as new Trump administration takes over
Sources: supervisors have frozen public communications at DHHS, EPA, and USDA's research arm as new Trump administration takes over
Discussion:
Salon, Mediaite, The Atlantic, NewsLab, Politico, Media Matters for America, Vox, The Guardian, TechCrunch, Washington Post, RT, Federal Computer Week, Business Insider, @edyong209, Columbia Journalism Review, Harvest Public Media, The Verge, Common Dreams, The Daily Caller, Union of Concerned Scientists, Fortune, Morning Consult, Engadget, @evilgalprods, ProPublica, Mashable, The Next Web, NJ Spotlight, @juddapatow, bookforum.com, @bengoldacre and @martina
James Warren / Poynter:
In second full press conference, Spicer defends Trump's belief in rampant voter fraud amid multiple media questions, citing unspecified “studies and evidence” — Sean Spicer may need the Army Corps of Engineers to clean up a mini-mess created by his boss.
Discussion:
@maggienyt, The Guardian, @realdonaldtrump, Heat Street, New York Times, New York Magazine, Politico, Washington Post, Gothamist, LawNewz, Media Matters for America, Mediaite, Slate, Fortune, Hot Air, New Urban Legends, RT, Morning Consult, Politicus USA, Business Insider, TheBlaze, Common Dreams, myfox8.com, Vanity Fair, Infowars, Sputnik International, CBS New York, The Daily Caller, The Wrap, Fox News Insider, twitchy.com, Jon Slattery, The Week, @keitholbermann, FOX31 Denver, @fusion, @nickkristof and @sensanders
Richard Gonzales / NPR:
NPR's Senior VP for News, Michael Oreskes, says NPR will not use the word “lie” to describe Trump's false claims as doing so would drive away listeners — There's an active debate inside newsrooms, and particularly within the NPR newsroom, about how to characterize the statements …
Discussion:
New York Times, @nikkiusher, @owillis, @jessesingal, @heightmen, Variety, @ninjettewhoopx2, @20committee, FishbowlDC, Mediaite, @angela_n_hunt, @ddale8, @biensur_jetaime, @joelewisdixon, BuzzFeed, @mayatcontreras, @catecoleman, @will_bunch, @andrewhunterm, @jjohnsonlaw, @nprkelly, @gabrieljr, @chairmanfrog, @sjaejones, @sarahnoid, @casey_cac, @scottmcgrew, @grudging1, @xeni, @nkellanb, @djbenhameen, @markwhyy, @doranb, @smilum77, @_chicagov_, @maryruthie46, @aubs89, @mfstern, @tina_culbertson, @bryngreenwood, @openmothersmale, @yeathatterrence, @dpc_maj, @erngenc, @bobcatarts, @sjenkins, @anniemal, @glynnmacn, @victoriousgable, @mrdespicable, @xeni, @feministajones, @awakeblackwoman, @afarray, @mharvey816, @rubywisp, @claystanman, @jbenton, @npr, @pawo_22, @aynayahsteenkur, @ruckawriter, @ruckawriter, @clarajeffery, @jswart, @heyreeenee and @pwthornton
Craig Silverman / BuzzFeed:
Facebook is ending personalization of Trending topics by country and is tweaking the Trending algorithm in a bid to stamp out fake news — Facebook is changing its Trending product to try to make it better reflect the most discussed real world events on the platform, and to prevent false viral stories from trending.
Jarry Lee / BuzzFeed:
Roxane Gay Pulls Book From Simon & Schuster In Response To Milo Yiannopoulos Controversy — Roxane Gay has pulled her forthcoming book, How to Be Heard, from Simon & Schuster over its reported $250,000 book deal with Milo Yiannopoulous. — How to Be Heard was scheduled to be published in March 2018 with TED Books, an imprint of S&S.
Discussion:
CNNMoney, Washington Post, @sidneyfussell, The Stranger …, The Week, Mediaite, Refinery29, @jessimckenzi, The Guardian and Mashable
Ginny Marvin / Search Engine Land:
Google's 2016 “Bad Ads Report”: 1.7B ads removed compared to 780M in 2015, plus nearly 200 publishers banned from AdSense over misleading content like fake news — In its annual Bad Ads report, Google says it took down more than double the number of ads in 2016 that it did in 2015 …
Discussion:
Google, Forbes, Recode, Forbes, Variety, Mashable, GeekWire, RT, AdExchanger, Adweek, Ad Age, Infowars, The Hill, Android Police, Rolling Stone, TechCrunch, The Daily Caller and Engadget
Rosie Gray / The Atlantic:
Breitbart News adds staff as it becomes the main pro-Trump news site, but maintaining credibility as an outsider organization becomes tougher — The mainstreaming of Breitbart News is well under way. — The right-wing outlet founded by the late Andrew Breitbart has taken on an increased importance …
Discussion:
@dangillmor, @rosiegray, @kenvogel, @rosiegray and @paulkendrick84
New York Times:
Legal experts say the First Amendment provides limited protection to the press; with few legal safeguards, reporters have relied on public goodwill, tradition — When President Trump declared on Saturday that reporters are “among the most dishonest human beings on earth,” it was not the first time he had disparaged the press.
Discussion:
@mlcalderone, Rewire, @stevesilberman, @jonathanwpeters, @mathewi, @stevekornacki, @jamestaranto and Memex 1.1
Freddy Mayhew / Press Gazette:
UK union the National Union of Journalists calls on its members to tweet directly at Trump condemning the arrests of six journalists in recent days — The National Union of Journalists has today called on journalists to tweet directly to US President Donald Trump condemning the arrest …
Discussion:
New York Times, @seanmcelwee, The Slot and Techdirt
Alison Griswold / Quartz:
The World Economic Forum treated “fake news” as a human rights issue as its Global Future Council on Human Rights will spend the next two years examining it — On Jan. 17, more than 100 people crowded into the Kirchner Museum in Davos, Switzerland, for a panel on the ailing state of global trust.
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, BuzzFeed, @akimcampbell, @alisongriswold, @dangillmor and @jeffjarvis
CNNMoney:
Penguin reprints 75K copies of 1984 as book hits #1 on Amazon's best-selling books list — “Alternative facts” are lies — The book publisher Penguin is printing more copies of George Orwell's dystopian classic “1984” in response to a sudden surge of demand.
Discussion:
Washington Post, The New York Observer, Politicus USA, TheBlaze, Mediaite, The Verge, Fortune and @brianstelter