Top News:
Kaitlyn Tiffany / The Verge:
Amid Trump's gag orders on US agencies including EPA and Dept. of Agriculture, 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, BostonGlobe.com, Washington Post, LAist, BuzzFeed, The New York Observer, Mediaite, Reuters, CNBC, Heat Street, @robedking, Motherboard, SFist, @altnatparkser, TIME, Motherboard, Vanity Fair, Common Dreams, @matthewnussbaum, Red Alert Politics, Mashable, PAPERMAG, @creynoldsnc, @altnatparkser, The Daily Caller, @altnatparkser, Scientific American …, BostonGlobe.com, The Guardian, The FADER, The Week, Gizmodo, Politicus USA, twitchy.com, KTLA, FOX40, Engadget and GeekWire
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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:
BuzzFeed, Salon, TechCrunch, The Verge, Politico, The Atlantic, NewsLab, Mediaite, Washington Post, The Huffington Post, RT, Federal Computer Week, Modern Farmer, Union of Concerned Scientists, The Daily Caller, Morning Consult, GeekWire, @evilgalprods, Columbia Journalism Review, Business Insider, Harvest Public Media, Common Dreams, Fortune, Engadget, The Next Web, @juddapatow, Mashable, NJ Spotlight, @bengoldacre, @martina, USA Today, bookforum.com and Mother Jones
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, FishbowlDC, @owillis, Variety, @ninjettewhoopx2, @biensur_jetaime, @sarahnoid, @jessesingal, @mayatcontreras, Mediaite, @catecoleman, @nkellanb, @will_bunch, @ddale8, @grudging1, @heightmen, @sjaejones, @djbenhameen, @angela_n_hunt, @xeni, @andrewhunterm, @jjohnsonlaw, @markwhyy, @joelewisdixon, @20committee, @nprkelly, @casey_cac, @gabrieljr, @scottmcgrew, @chairmanfrog, @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, BuzzFeed, @ruckawriter, @ruckawriter, @clarajeffery, @jswart, @heyreeenee, @pwthornton and NPR
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, @realdonaldtrump, The Guardian, Politico, New York Times, New York Magazine, Gothamist, LawNewz, Media Matters for America, Mediaite, TheBlaze, Washington Post, Slate, Morning Consult, RT, Heat Street, Fox News Insider, Business Insider, Vanity Fair, Politicus USA, CBS New York, The Daily Caller, Common Dreams, myfox8.com, Infowars, Sputnik International, Hot Air, @keitholbermann, Jon Slattery, The Week, The Wrap, @fusion, twitchy.com, @nickkristof, @sensanders and FOX31 Denver
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, Infowars, Rolling Stone, Variety, AdExchanger, Adweek, Ad Age, TechCrunch, Android Police, The Daily Caller and Engadget
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:
Rewire, @mlcalderone, @stevesilberman, @jonathanwpeters, @mathewi, @stevekornacki, @jamestaranto and Memex 1.1
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.
Discussion:
Facebook, Media Matters for America, Adweek, VentureBeat, SocialTimes, The Drum, Business Insider, @craigsilverman and @stephlauren
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:
Mediaite, CNNMoney, The Stranger …, Refinery29, @sidneyfussell, Washington Post, Mashable, The Guardian, The Week and @jessimckenzi
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:
CNNMoney, @paulkendrick84, @rosiegray, @rosiegray and @kenvogel
Jon Swaine / The Guardian:
Four more journalists face felony charges after being arrested while covering unrest at US inauguration — A documentary producer, a photojournalist, a live-streamer and a freelance reporter facing up to 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine if convicted — Four more journalists …
Discussion:
New York Times, New Urban Legends, @seanmcelwee, The Slot, Al Jazeera English, @sanfordreports, Techdirt, AOL, @driverminnie, RT, @jaycaruso, @gissisim and @jeremynewberger
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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, @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:
Politicus USA, Washington Post, The New York Observer, Mediaite, TheBlaze, @brianstelter, The Verge and Fortune
Cynthia Littleton / Variety:
Peter Liguori stepping down as president, CEO of Tribune Media in March; there are rumors he may be appointed CEO of Sony Corp.'s Hollywood operations — Peter Liguori is stepping down as president and CEO of Tribune Media in March, the company said Wednesday.
Discussion:
Broadcasting & Cable, Hollywood Reporter, Wall Street Journal, TVSpy, Radio & Television …, The Wrap, Poynter and FTVLive
Scott Moritz / Bloomberg:
AT&T Q4 revenue slips to $41.8B from $42.1B a year earlier, missing expectations, as online video service DirecTV Now adds 200K+ subscribers vs. 61K expected — Fourth-quarter profit also meets analysts' projections — Capital investments are seen similar to 2015 spending
Discussion:
CNET, AT&T and Fierce Cable