Top News:
Tina Nguyen / Vanity Fair:
Profile of Sean Spicer, who was known among the DC press corps as an amicable if sharp-tongued PR pro before he became White House press secretary — Once a well-liked figure among the D.C. press, Sean Spicer's new role as Trump's attack dog has people scratching their heads.
Discussion:
Washingtonian, Washington Post, TIME, The Guardian, Politico, New York Times, Quartz, Associated Press, The Week, Vox, Fusion, Mediaite, TheBlaze, Fast Company, The Huffington Post and Mashable
Gabriel Snyder / Wired:
Inside NYT's digital transformation: luring subscribers via Beta Group's vertical apps, a Facebook chatbot, live video, VR, and more on top of strong journalism — Arthur Gregg Sulzberger doesn't remember the first time he visited the family business. He was young, he says, no older than 6 …
Discussion:
@grossdm, @ckummer, @mikeisaac, @ssmallwd, @dkthomp, @_alastair, @rkearney, @dbfarber, @gabrielsnyder, @namcphedran, @ow, @fromcarl, @mathewi and @kpfinnerty, Thanks:@ravichandrans25
Duncan Campbell / The Register:
Proposed changes to draft UK Espionage Act, replacing Official Secrets Act, could mean jail time of up to 14 years for journalists who handled leaked gov't docs — Hasty and botched consultation revealed by El Reg — Exclusive Proposals for a swingeing new Espionage Act that could jail journalists …
Discussion:
Telegraph, @vivian, @peston, @helens_nha, @zackwhittaker, @arusbridger, The Guardian, @rj_gallagher, @jamesrbuk, @nkingofdc, The Guardian, @abiwilks and Business Insider
Jim Rutenberg / New York Times:
Rupert Murdoch's ties to Trump family, including Ivanka's former role as trustee for a Murdoch trust, raise questions about how he will guide his media empire — The ties that bind the most powerful media mogul in the world to the leader of the free world just keep getting stronger.
Discussion:
@raju, @scottnover, @httpstatus402, @ghoshworld and Media Matters for America
RELATED:
Lucia Moses / Digiday:
On Monday, the Wall Street Journal is closing the loophole that let readers get articles for free through Google — The Wall Street Journal continues to tighten up its paywall as it strives to hit 3 million subscribers to the Journal and other Dow Jones products.
Thanks:@steverubel
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Prince's Warner Music catalog returning Sunday to subscription-streaming services, including Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, Napster, and iHeartRadio — Songs of late music legend Prince will again be available on multiple streaming-music services on Sunday, in releases timed for the 59th Grammy Awards.
Discussion:
NPR, Rolling Stone, Forbes, VentureBeat, BBC, Fortune, FACT Magazine, Pitchfork, Bloomberg, Ars Technica, The Next Web, Billboard, EW.com, Engadget, Rolling Stone, CNNMoney, RAIN News, The Wrap, TechCrunch and Highsnobiety
Caitlin Flanagan / The Atlantic:
How Megyn Kelly softened her stridently conservative views to land a job at NBC, where she won't be allowed to stir up outrage as she did on Fox — fox news was founded in 1996, when the entertainment impresario and conservative political consultant Roger Ailes acted on a pair of insights …
Discussion:
@wesleylowery, @rjcc, National Review, Mediaite and Journalism News
New York Times:
Sub-Saharan African nations like Cameroon, Gambia, and the Republic of Congo increasingly use internet blackouts to stem protests — DAKAR, Senegal — Julius Ikena's trade business is at a standstill because he cannot make electronic payments to his partners.
Discussion:
@kenroth, @greatfirechina, @rcoreyb, @smith_jeffreyt and @aaronross6
Shelley Hepworth / Columbia Journalism Review:
A look at The New York Times' push into Australia, a media market recently entered by foreign news orgs including BuzzFeed, The Guardian, and The Daily Mail — Kings Canyon, Australia (Ueli Fahrni / Wikipedia) — After posting a link to the news last month that he will be heading …
Discussion:
New York Times
Allister Heath / Telegraph:
Tim Cook says fake news is “killing people's minds”, calls for a PSA campaign, school education, and new tools from tech companies to battle it — Tim Cook, the boss of Apple, is calling for governments to launch a public information campaign to fight the scourge of fake news, which is “killing people's minds”.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Quora to clamp down on anonymity starting March 20, will review all anonymous content before it's published, restrict actions like upvoting, comments, more — Quora, a crowdsourced Q&A site that's generally smarter than Yahoo Answers, is making a big change to how anonymity works on its service.
Discussion:
@dtunkelang, Quora Product Updates and The Tech Portal
Sahil Patel / Digiday:
Sources: Bleacher Report lays off about 50, most of them junior editors that managed contributor content, commits to video and college football coverage — Bleacher Report is finally washing its hands of the amateur contributor business the company originally made its name on.
Discussion:
Politico, @themediaisdying and Adweek