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Sources: at least two candidates have turned down WH communications director job, a position that has remained vacant since Jason Miller resigned in December — At least two candidates have turned down the job of White House communications director. — Controlling the message coming …
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Twitter reports Q4 revenue of $717M, missing estimates, but beats on earnings as MAUs grew 2M from Q3 2016, reaching 319M — Twitter missed analysts' expectations for its fourth-quarter revenue — reporting $717 million versus estimates of $740 million — as advertising spend lagged behind …
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Twitter shares fall over 10% on Q4 revenue miss, flat growth, and a 5% YoY drop in US ad revenue — So much for the “Trump bump.” — Twitter missed on revenue during the fourth quarter, according to results released Thursday, as the social media service struggles to sustain rapid growth among its monthly active user base.
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TechCrunch, Forbes, @techcrunch, BBC, @edmundlee, VentureBeat and @cnbc


Flush with donations, ProPublica is planning to add 15-25 journalists to its newsrooms in New York and Illinois as it reorients itself to cover Trump — Bleak about the future of journalism? Here are some encouraging statistics: — In 2015, ProPublica ended the year with $450,000 in small donations …
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@charlesornstein and @laur_katz

NFL writer Bart Hubbuch sues Murdoch's New York Post, claiming wrongful termination for his tweet critical of Trump on inauguration day — MANHATTAN (CN) — Mocking his raunchy tabloid's desire for a “safe space,” a sports writer wants damages after the New York Post fired him for a tweet …
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ProFootballTalk, Adweek, Kansas City Star, The Hill, @richarddeitsch, Bleacher Report, Awful Announcing and The Big Lead


Bob Costas ends his 24-year run as NBC's prime-time Olympics host, reducing his overall workload at the network as he takes on a role similar to Tom Brokaw's — When NBC televises next year's Winter Olympics from Pyeongchang, South Korea, a familiar face will be gone from the prime-time anchor seat …
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TVWeek.com, TODAY.com, IJR, Washington Post, @nbcolympics, @braddjaffy, @sinow, @ennisnyt, @businessinsider, @bleacherreport, @ap_sports and The Big Lead


Viacom beats estimates with Q1 net earnings of $396M, with Paramount posting $180M operating loss; CEO Bob Bakish announces Paramount turnaround plan — The new regime at Viacom unveiled a turnaround plan for Paramount Pictures and its cable network group as the conglom surprised Wall Street Thursday …
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Deadline, Variety, Forbes, Broadcasting & Cable, Hollywood Reporter, Viacom, Los Angeles Times and Broadcasting & Cable


Pew study: US adult news consumers can only recall the source of a news link 56% of the time, and 10% name Facebook as a news source — “The online news experience is a mix of deliberateness and serendipity,” a new report from Pew finds, noting that no one particular path to finding online news is dominant among users.


Sources: Google combines product teams for YouTube Music and Google Play Music, likely paving way for a single music app in the future — Come together, right now, over me — According to several sources familiar with the change, the product teams working on YouTube Music and Google Play Music are being combined into a single unit.
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RAIN News, Music Industry Blog, hypebot, Gear, The Tech Portal, 9to5Google, Tubefilter, AndroidHeadlines.com and Variety


Facebook hires MTV executive Mina Lefevre as head of development, overseeing scripted and unscripted content — Mina Lefevre had been the head of scripted for MTV — Facebook has been working to make video a central part of how its users experience the site, first with Facebook Live …
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Forbes, Tubefilter, Deadline, Adweek, Business Insider, @andrewliptak, Mashable and Fast Company


WV Gov. Jim Justice proposes elimination of all state funding for WV Public Broadcasting in new budget, which would translate into staff layoffs of up to 75% — In his proposed budget, Governor Justice proposes the elimination of all state funding for West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
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Current, @farrahfazal and wvpublic.org

Gannett beats Q4 expectations with revenue at $867M, up from $739M a year earlier, but print advertising revenue is still declining — Gannett Co. Inc. GCI, +8.51% shares rose nearly 9% in premarket trade on Thursday after the USA Today owner reported fourth-quarter earnings that were better than Wall Street had forecast.
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Seeking Alpha, NASDAQ.com and StreetInsider.com