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 — NEW YORK — The White House Correspondents Dinner has gone from a hoary ritual to the apex of Washington's social calendar …
Discussion:
@resnikoff, Washington Post, Variety, The Wrap, @delwilliams, @perezhilton, @palafo, @silviakillings, Mediaite, @qhardy, @mrdanzak, @mlcalderone, @jakebeckman, The Daily Caller, @alexanderchee, @katherinemiller, @grynbaum, @daveweigel, @tarapalmeri, Mother Jones, @jeremyneely, @aaronzitner, @nycjim, @mekosoff, @hadas_gold, Axios, Wall Street Journal, @jeffjarvis and Mashable
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, Variety, @kentarcher and @aceuklondon
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 …
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:
@courtneyr, @wordsmithwyle, @lwalsh, @rcfp, @csmcdaniel, @carolrosenberg, @rcfp and @digiphile
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 …
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 …
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:
@techportalntw, @techcrunch and The Tech Portal
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Amazon Prime members doubled their consumption of music, books, and movies in 2016 as service expanded to 200 countries — Internet retailing giant Amazon touted strong results of its Prime membership program — saying user consumption of video, music and book content in 2016 more than doubled …
Discussion:
Broadcasting & Cable, The Wrap, The Wrap, Publishers Weekly and TechCrunch
RELATED:
Peter Sterne / Politico:
Two investors have filed a shareholder resolution asking Facebook to issue a report about the impact of fake news on the company and society — Two small Facebook investors filed a shareholder resolution on Thursday formally asking the social media giant to issue a report about the impact that …
Discussion:
@storyneedle, @mattorsagh and @politico_media
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, @jennyschuessler, @irischyi, @nistula, @aaron_derfel, @poynter, @thomasbrew, @jackshafer and Journalism.co.uk
David Bauder / AP News:
False news and an absurd reality present challenges for satirists such as Andy Borowitz — NEW YORK (AP) — Between reality and the bubble of fantasy news stories, these are tough times for satirists. — The New Yorker magazine recently took steps to distinguish Andy Borowitz's humor columns …
Discussion:
@ap, @jbarro, @candicechoi, @ludacristiano and @benjysarlin
Sam Machkovech / Ars Technica:
Over a dozen low-power FM radio stations were hacked through a known transmitter vulnerability to broadcast anti-Trump song by rappers YG and Nipsey Hussle — Vulnerability had been known for nearly a year, flared up shortly after inauguration. — A certain model of Low Power FM radio transmitter …