Top News:
New York Times:
New Yorker and Vanity Fair pull out of WHCD parties on April 29, underscoring the awkward nature of throwing a splashy dinner for a media-hostile president — The White House Correspondents' Dinner has gone from a hoary ritual to the apex of Washington's social calendar, replete with Hollywood A-listers …
Discussion:
@resnikoff, Wall Street Journal, Hollywood Reporter, Washington Post, @perezhilton, Fortune, Variety, @dangillmor, @weinbergersa, The Daily Caller, AOL, @katherinemiller, Mediaite, @alexanderchee, @tarapalmeri, @mrdanzak, @delwilliams, @palafo, @jakebeckman, @silviakillings, @qhardy, @mlcalderone, @grynbaum, @daveweigel, Mother Jones, Axios, Mashable, @jeremyneely, @aaronzitner, @nycjim, @mekosoff, @hadas_gold, @jeffjarvis and The Wrap
Colin Lecher / The Verge:
FCC closes the investigations into sponsored-data offerings by T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast, new agency Chairman Ajit Pai confirms — Under recently departed chief Tom Wheeler, the FCC opened inquiries into how companies might be using free data programs, which allow customers …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Multichannel News, Fast Company, @ajitpaifcc, Variety, @dangillmor, @onejarednewman, @chillmage, Fortune, @tomgara and The Wrap
Jose Pagliery / CNNMoney:
CEO of Russia's XBT, which owns Webzilla and invested in Prisma app, sues BuzzFeed and Ben Smith for posting Trump dossier; BuzzFeed has now redacted his name — A Russian technology executive has sued BuzzFeed and its editor Ben Smith for publishing the unverified Trump dossier, calling it …
Discussion:
McClatchy Washington Bureau, The Daily Caller, @raju, Politico, @liamstack, @pkafka, @pkafka, Recode and iMediaEthics
Rachael Revesz / The Independent:
After 818 advertisers pledge to pull ads from Breitbart, one consumer group says it will target ad agencies and Amazon and Google next — Hundreds of advertisers are pulling away from ultra-conservative news website Breitbart, and campaigners are confident the backlash is snowballing.
Discussion:
BuzzFeed, @rjonesx, CNET and Occupy Democrats
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press:
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press finds that Gorsuch's decisions in libel and invasion of privacy cases reflect solid First Amendment principles — On January 31, President Donald Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit to fill …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, @rcfp, @courtneyr, @wordsmithwyle, @lwalsh, @csmcdaniel, @carolrosenberg, @rcfp and @digiphile
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Amazon's IMDB announces it will close discussion boards on February 19 and turn off the ability for users to message each other privately — Good riddance to one of the worst places to socialize on the internet. Amazon-owned IMDb announced today it will be closing down its discussion board later …
Discussion:
@thefilmstage, @agentbigfoot, Variety, @aceuklondon and @kentarcher
James Rainey / Variety:
Steven Mnuchin, nominee for US treasury secretary, faces a fraud claim in lawsuit related to Relativity Media financing — Steve Mnuchin may be headed for U.S. Senate approval as America's next treasury secretary, but he's getting a big thumbs down from a film lending company that alleges …
Discussion:
@coco_wms, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, The Wrap, Hollywood Reporter and Deadline
Daniel Marans / The Huffington Post:
The majority of MTV News digital staffers have opted to unionize, selecting the Writers Guild of America, East, as their representative — Staffers opted to join the Writers Guild of America, East. — The majority of digital staff of MTV News has opted to unionize, leaders of the organizing drive …
Lucia Moses / Digiday:
The Wall Street Journal is exploring an ad-free digital offering, charging on a per-article basis, and more, according to an online reader survey — The Wall Street Journal is exploring new ways to drum up revenue from readers, including an ad-free version of its digital platforms …
Jack Shafer / Politico:
Study: 88.5% of the total time UK readers devote to 11 national newspaper brands is spent on the print edition, while 7.49% goes to mobile and 4% to PCs — The readers have spoken: You can pry their newspapers from their cold, dead hands. — Print is the past and online is the future, as all can attest.
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, @mathewi, @jennyschuessler, @irischyi, @nistula, @aaron_derfel, @poynter, @thomasbrew, @jackshafer and Journalism.co.uk
Rich Bockmann / The Real Deal New York:
The New York Times will temporarily relocate roughly 400 staffers to the Time-Life Building as it overhauls its headquarters on Eighth Avenue — Newspaper signs short-term sublease at Rockefeller Group's 1271 AoA as it reconfigures HQ — The paper of record has inked a lease for a temporary home on Sixth Avenue.
Discussion:
@byrichbockmann and @trdny
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Ev Williams: our goal is to launch Medium consumer subscription product this quarter — Medium CEO Ev Williams announced today at Upfront Summit that his company will launch a consumer subscription product, with the first version coming this quarter. This could help develop an additional revenue stream apart from advertisements.
Discussion:
@ballmatthew, Mashable, Engadget, @techportalntw, @techcrunch and The Tech Portal