Top News:


Tensions over immigration complicate the planning of Super Bowl ads, which now cost an average of $5M for 30 seconds — The Super Bowl is a popular destination for commercials showcasing premium water, candy and beer — but politics can make it a difficult forum.
Discussion:
Forbes, The Guardian, The Atlantic, VentureBeat, Vanity Fair, Yahoo! Finance, New York's PIX11, NPR, Variety and Los Angeles Times


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 CEO's 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, New York Times and @tgheretford


Digital media startup Odyssey lays off 55 people, over a third of its employees, less than a year after raising $25M — Digital media startup Odyssey has laid off 55 people, slashing over a third of its full-time, paid staff less than a year after raising $25 million, CEO Evan Burns confirmed to Business Insider.
Discussion:
@ungarino, @trengriffin, @jbenton and @rafat


Once merely embarrassing and ridiculous, attending the White House correspondents' dinner is poised to become an act of journalistic self-abasement — Once merely embarrassing and ridiculous, the annual White House correspondents' dinner is poised to tip over into journalistic self-abasement.
Discussion:
@sulliview, @karaswisher, @nataliemjb, @tglocer, @jayrosen_nyu, @davidfrum and @ingrahamangle


Reddit's /r/worldnews community used a series of nudges to push users to fact-check suspicious news — “We found a method that can invite a much wider readership into the work of dealing with this problem, and at scale.” — To curb the spread of unreliable news, should news organizations …
Discussion:
@s_m_i


Germany struggles to fight anti-migrant fake news amid fears it could influence its election — In December, Renate Künast, a senior politician from Germany's left-wing party The Greens, was swamped with furious criticism after her remarks about a high-profile murder went viral on Facebook.


Iran-focused app developer IranCubator debuts RadiTo, an Android podcast app that evades Iran's censors, giving Iranians and foreign pubs a broadcast platform — Reza Ghazinouri remembers the importance of pirate radio as a teenager growing up in in the city of Mashhad in northeast Iran.


Q&A with Olivia Nuzzi on her new role at New York magazine and the antagonism between the Trump administration and the White House press corps — Politico named Olivia Nuzzi one of the breakout media stars of the 2016 election thanks to her political reporting for The Daily Beast.


Surveillance of journalists and court orders puts Canada's press freedom at risk — On February 6, VICE News reporter Ben Makuch is due to appear in court to appeal an order requesting that he hand over details of his communication with a source. The hearing comes ahead of a day of action …


Trump posted a false news report to his Facebook page Thursday on a Kuwaiti immigration ban that didn't happen, got 68K+ shares, and still hasn't removed it — The report claimed that Kuwait had also issued a visa ban on several Muslim-majority countries after President Trump's immigration order.
Discussion:
Politicus USA


Bill Simmons on The Ringer's first year, his canceled HBO show and what ESPN got right — “The one thing that's not a problem for us is money.” — Last year Bill Simmons launched a media company and a TV show. — Now the TV show is gone, cancelled by HBO while its first season was still playing out.


The closure of Canada's Guelph Mercury last year offers a case study of what happens when a mid-sized city loses its last daily newspaper — “This problem is creeping up the ladder, from the small town that has 10,000 people to the decent-sized community that has 50,000 people to, now, a place that has over 100,000."