Top News:
Washington Post:
Analysis finds ads for big brands placed on politically extreme and derogatory content across the web, highlighting broader issues with programmatic advertising — Follow The Post's tech blog, The Switch, where technology and policy connect. — As the owner of a small business in liberal Massachusetts …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Doc Searls Weblog, Adweek, Fast Company and Axios
RELATED:
Tess Townsend / Recode:
YouTube's ad mess gives advertisers leverage for what they really want: More data — Advertisers are tired of just trusting Google. — As far as advertisers are concerned, there are really only two ways to place ads online: The “open web” where you can track the ads, and “walled gardens” where you can't.
Discussion:
@profcarroll, @alistairmbarr, Bloomberg, Ad Age, The Guardian, The Wrap, CNET and The Verge, more at Techmeme »
New York Times:
YouTube's advertiser exodus highlights the perils of programmatic advertising on a platform with 400 hours of content uploaded every minute — When Google acquired YouTube in 2006 for $1.65 billion, it was considered a pricey gamble, one made with the belief that an online service known …
Discussion:
@mattbaume, @spacekatgal, @mikeisaac, Bloomberg, @jacknicas, Reuters, @melbournecoal, @billymarino, Variety, CNBC, Media Matters for America, Forbes, TVWeek.com, Memex 1.1, Mashable and Adweek
Maggie Haberman / New York Times:
Sources: White House press official Boris Epshteyn, a college friend of Eric Trump's known for tangling with TV network staff, is let go from press job — Boris Epshteyn, an official in the White House press office who had a contentious relationship with television producers and was once …
Discussion:
CNN, @acosta, @mattyglesias, @jamilsmith, Deadline, Politico, The Hill, @robbymook, @nycgreenfield, @rvawonk, New York Times, @acosta, Hollywood Reporter and Washington Post
Paul Farhi / Washington Post:
InfoWars' Alex Jones apologizes to Pizzagate restaurant's owner a day before becoming exposed to punitive damages in potential libel suit under Texas law — Alex Jones, the conspiracy-loving media personality, apologized Friday for his role in promoting “Pizzagate,” the baseless viral story …
Brian Flood / The Wrap:
Sources: Fox News fires comptroller after 19 years following complaints of racist comments and behavior — Fox News has fired longtime comptroller Judy Slater after an internal investigation concluded she had engaged in a pattern of racist comments and behavior, TheWrap has learned.
Jennifer Schuessler / New York Times:
Behind the scenes at Merriam-Webster, which despite its reputation as a social media powerhouse is still a decidedly bricks-and-mortar operation — SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Merriam-Webster, the oldest dictionary publisher in America, has turned itself into a social media powerhouse over the past few years.
Discussion:
Mashable
Walt Hickey / FiveThirtyEight:
How a translation error in the late 1800s led to The New York Times reporting about life on Mars — While the hard realities of Mars — it'll mess with our bodies, our minds and our spaceships — matter a whole lot when we consider traveling to the red planet, it's also worth thinking …
Sophia Tareen / Associated Press:
US judge grants asylum to Singapore teen blogger Amos Yee, jailed at home twice for irreverent YouTube videos — CHICAGO (AP) — A blogger from Singapore who was jailed for his online posts blasting his government was granted asylum to remain in the United States, an immigration judge ruled.
Discussion:
CNN, Financial Times, Vocativ, Scroll.in, South China Morning Post, bangkokpost.com and Quartz
Washington Post:
Journalism ethics lecture by Washington Post's Martin Baron: “We owe it to the public to steer society clear of the world that George Orwell imagined” — Executive Editor Martin Baron delivered the Oweida Lecture in Journalism Ethics to students and faculty at Penn State University.
Discussion:
@sambrook and @sulliview
Salvador Hernandez / BuzzFeed:
FBI agents posed as documentary filmmakers to infiltrate militia in 2014 Nevada standoff — The name for the fake documentary was America Reloaded. — FBI agents posed as documentary filmmakers to talk to militia members during an armed standoff in the Nevada desert …
Discussion:
@rcfp, @caitlinvogus, @morganloewcbs5, Infowars, @freedomofpress, @trevortimm, @evanchill, @scribandotcom and @patrickcfile
Steven Millward / Tech in Asia:
Taiwan's The News Lens, now with 6M readers across four editions in Chinese and English, adds a lifestyle sub-brand after securing Series B round — While the media industry flails and self-flagellates over fake news and the inscrutable powers of the Facebook newsfeed …