Top News:
Sopan Deb / New York Times:
Trump proposes eliminating national endowments for the arts and humanities and scrapping the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — President Trump is proposing the elimination of the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities in his federal budget plan to be released early Thursday …
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Brian Stelter / CNNMoney:
Trump's budget cuts would cause “the collapse of the public media system itself” and the end of an “essential national service”, says CPB CEO Patricia Harrison — Funding for PBS, NPR in the crosshairs — President Trump is proposing to end all federal funding for public broadcasting.
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Media Matters for America, The Wrap, CPB, @sesameworkshop, Deadline, New York Times, Variety, Current, The Verge, NPR, Consequence of Sound, Mashable, The Huffington Post, @mlcalderone, Common Cause, @nycjim, @mlcalderone, Fortune, @mlcalderone, @brianstelter, @brianstelter and twitchy.com
Michael Isikoff / Yahoo:
Documents show RT paid $45K for Michael Flynn to fly to Moscow to speak at its 10th anniversary celebration in December 2015; trip included Flynn Jr. — RT, the Russian state-owned television network described by U.S. intelligence officials as “the Kremlin's principal international propaganda outlet …
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Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Committee on Oversight …, Business Insider, TechCrunch, RT, Fast Company, Mediaite, The Daily Caller and The Week
Benjamin Mullin / Poynter:
IJR retracts story that implied a link between Obama's Hawaii trip and judge's immigration order, saying it “does not meet our editorial standards” — Independent Journal Review on Thursday took down a story that implied Barack Obama's recent trip to Hawaii had something …
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IJR, @woodruffbets, Washington Post, @oliverdarcy, @jeneps, @oliverdarcy, @ijrviraleditor, @oliverdarcy, @bencjacobs, @sdkstl, @hadas_gold, @chrisgeidner and @oliverdarcy
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Jane Martinson / The Guardian:
The Guardian pulls all ads from Google and YouTube after ads were placed next to extremist content; news site urges other brands to do the same — Ads for membership scheme were inadvertently placed by Google next to extremist material — The Guardian has withdrawn all its online advertising …
Discussion:
Business Insider, Talking New Media, BetaNews and @slpng_giants
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Some users report Google Home playing a promo for “Beauty and the Beast”; Google says it “wasn't intended” to be an ad, will keep experimenting — Google Assistant now does advertising — Today some Google Home owners are hearing something extra when they ask …
Shelley Hepworth / Columbia Journalism Review:
The majority of editorial staff at Slate have voted to unionize with the Writers Guild of America, East — The majority of editorial staff at Slate have voted to unionize with the Writers Guild of America, East. More than 90 percent of Slate's editorial staff have signed cards …
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@hamiltonnolan, Variety, @mccanner, @alexckaufman, The Wrap, @bypetevernon, @daviduberti, @shelleymiranda and @paulblu
Janko Roettgers / Variety:
Netflix to replace star ratings with thumbs up and thumbs down in coming weeks after A/B testing showed thumbs got 200% more ratings — Get ready to say goodbye to star ratings on Netflix: The company is getting ready to replace stars with Pandora-like thumbs ups and thumbs downs in the coming weeks.
Discussion:
The Verge, Business Insider, Softpedia News, Gizmodo, The Next Web, The A.V. Club and FOX6Now.com, more at Techmeme »
Benjamin Mullin / Poynter:
NYT expands its investigative unit with Michael LaForgia of Tampa Bay Times, Ellen Gabler of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Brian Rosenthal of Houston Chronicle — In the months since the election, America's major newsrooms have been recruiting investigative journalists with the knowledge …
Discussion:
@evanasmith, @wesleylowery, @johnlpitts, @mlcalderone, @patricksvitek, @poynter, @votreami, @danielleiat, @benmullin and @mccanner
Lucinda Southern / Digiday:
The Financial Times finds that readers who actively comment are seven times more engaged than those who don't — Commenters get a bad rap. At best, they're trolls. At worst, they hide behind their anonymity to toss stinkbombs of hate speech at well-meaning writers.
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@mathewi, @deniselaw_ and @lilahrap
Anya George Tharakan / Reuters:
YouTube signs a multi-year deal with esports platform FACEIT to stream its competitive gaming league, the Esports Championship Series — Alphabet Inc's YouTube is doubling down on the lucrative business of competitive gaming, where players square off on virtual games for big prize money in tournaments.
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9to5Google, more at Techmeme »
Business Insider:
Sources: Politico reassigning two media reporters to other beats, has moved a third; one source says plan is to focus media team more on Washington and politics — Politico is reassigning several of its media reporters to other beats as the publication shifts the tone of its media section …
Discussion:
@joepompeo, @oliverdarcy, @oliverdarcy and @oliverdarcy