Top News:
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Vice Media signs expanded deal with Snap, under which it will produce shows exclusively for Snapchat, including an eight-episode dating series — Snapchat continues to beef up its lineup of premium short-form shows: Snap Inc. and Vice Media have struck an expanded deal under which Vice will produce shows exclusively for Snapchat.
Discussion:
eMarketer and Newsroom Posts, TechCrunch, Adweek, Mediaite and Fortune
Emily Jane Fox / Vanity Fair:
Axios plans to hire about a dozen more before end of 2017 and is now expanding now into science coverage — Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen's new media venture is already expanding beyond its core sweet spots. — Around the time that Donald Trump packed up his things and headed south to run the country …
Discussion:
@danprimack, @libbycwatson, @sarafischer and @mlcalderone
Andrew Kirell / The Daily Beast:
Fox Business Network sees ratings surge after abandoning straight business news for politics with a right-wing voice and becoming a Trump defender — It turns out Donald Trump never would have needed to launch his own cable-news outlet if he'd lost the election. He already has one: It's called the Fox Business Network.
Discussion:
BuzzFeed, NPR, @andrewkirell, @andrewkirell, @henryjgomez, @perlberg, TVNewser, Talking Biz News and @andrewkirell
Laura Hazard Owen / Nieman Lab:
Interview with Sam Parr, founder and CEO of The Hustle, a newsletter that covers tech/business, has 300K subs and raised $300K from readers by offering stock — “One guy put in a hundred grand.” — Launching a general-interest tech and business news site these days seems like kind of a dumb idea — there's way too much competition.
Discussion:
Talking Biz News
Amar Toor / The Verge:
Germany's justice minister introduces draft law proposing fines of up to $53M on social media companies that fail to remove hate speech — Justice ministry says Facebook and Twitter are still failing to quickly remove illegal content reported by users — The German Justice Ministry …
Discussion:
New York Times, TechCrunch, TheBlaze, Forbes, Vocativ, CNET, Fortune and Financial Times, more at Techmeme »
Brian Flood / The Wrap:
Report: questioned about his rumoured 2020 bid for the White House, Disney CEO Bob Iger neither confirmed nor denied the story — Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger won't consider running for President of the United States at the moment, but he didn't rule out a White House bid once his schedule clears up, according to CNN's Chloe Melas.
Hadas Gold / Politico:
Senator Jeanne Shaheen introduces bill to give DoJ additional authority to investigate RT America for possible violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act — New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen is introducing a bill that would give the Justice Department additional authority …
Ted Bridis / Associated Press:
AP analysis: Obama administration spent $36.2M on legal costs incurred by fighting FOIA requests, setting a record for outright denial of access to files — WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration in its final year in office spent a record $36.2 million on legal costs defending its refusal …
Discussion:
@heidiprzybyla, @johnfund and The Daily Caller
Emily Bazelon / New York Times:
A profile of Lawfare, a national security blog read widely by the intel community which has gained a broader following in the Trump era — A little over a year ago, Benjamin Wittes, the editor in chief of the blog Lawfare, made the case that Donald Trump, as a Republican presidential candidate …
Discussion:
@k8brannen, @susan_hennessey and @lawfareblog
Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:
Google adds “Upsetting-Offensive” tag for its quality raters to use in flagging search results; Google engineer says “demonstrably inaccurate” info is a target — Google is undertaking a new effort to better identify content that is potentially upsetting or offensive to searchers.
Discussion:
@katecrawford, more at Techmeme »
BBC:
Facebook says moderation “was not working” in response to BBC probe of sexualized photos of children on FB, where 82 of 100 reported posts were not removed — A Facebook executive has admitted to MPs its moderating process “was not working” following a BBC investigation.
Amanda Hess / New York Times:
An iTunes chart-topping podcast, Missing Richard Simmons, crosses ethical and moral lines, invading the privacy of a reclusive celebrity — For decades, the fitness guru Richard Simmons was Hollywood's most accessible celebrity. He was a talk show fixture, a leader of weight loss cruises …
Discussion:
The Awl - Medium, Death and Taxes and @amandahess