Mediagazer: Scholars studying “fake news” say documenting how it moves and mobilizes people can help tell us why it circulates (Nieman Lab)

6:40 PM ET, April 7, 2017

Top News:

Conservative commentator Tomi Lahren sues Glenn Beck and TheBlaze for wrongful termination, claims her Facebook page is not TheBlaze's property — Tomi Lahren, the young incendiary conservative commentator, is suing her former boss, Glenn Beck and his media firm, The Blaze, for wrongful termination involving her pro-choice comments.

Emma Grey Ellis / Wired:

Ownership of Facebook pages returns as an issue, for commentator Tomi Lahren from the TheBlaze and for several former BuzzFeed staffers — Listen up, America. You too, snowflakes. After being “banned permanently” from conservative media site The Blaze, Tomi Lahren could lose the very thing …

Discussion: TMZ.com

Walt Mossberg / The Verge:

Walt Mossberg is retiring in June, shortly after the 2017 Code Conference, ending a 47-year career at publications including the WSJ, Recode, and The Verge — Thanks for reading, watching, listening — It was a June day when I began my career as a national journalist.

Discussion: @waltmossberg, @bankoff, USA Today, Adweek, @delrey, @jake_k, Fast Company, @voxmediainc, Talking New Media, @reckless, @loudmouthjulia, CNET, The Loop and Daring Fireball, more at Techmeme »

Alexios Mantzarlis / Poynter:

Google is rolling out a “fact check” feature in its search results that will include who said each claim and its accuracy rating within a featured snippet — Google rolled out a new feature Friday morning that will help fact checks stand out in search results.

Mike Shields / Wall Street Journal:

Mic raises $21M in Series C funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, putting the company's valuation at “mid hundreds of millions”, a source says — Plan is to fund new channels, ramp up premium video output — The millennial-focused web publisher Mic announced last week that it was rolling out nine new channels.

Discussion: Nieman Lab, @macloo, Variety, TechCrunch, @torystarr3, @jarroddicker, @digitalshields and @jamesliamcook

Nieman Lab:

Scholars studying “fake news” say documenting how it moves and mobilizes people can help tell us why it circulates — Just as with works of art or literature, the meaning of a fake news story or image cannot be sharply separated from different ways of seeing, cultures of reading, or traditions of interpretation around it.

Discussion: @teslaughter, @bb_liliana and @jbenton

Nausicaa Renner / Columbia Journalism Review:

First Draft News launches a Field Guide to Fake News, with exercises to help anyone understand how stories travel on social media — If there's one—and only one—thing we can say definitively about fake news, it's that it inspired some great reporting, of a kind that has never before been prominent in the public sphere.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Press Association, Business Insider, @cjr, @nyguild, @cjr, BetaNews and Fortune

Russell Brandom / The Verge:

Department of Homeland Security has withdrawn its order to unmask @ALT_uscis Twitter account that criticized Trump, prompting Twitter to drop its lawsuit — Just one day after being sued in federal court, the Department of Homeland Security has withdrawn its order to unmask the @Alt_USCIS account …

Discussion: Adweek, @alt_uscis, Forbes, Recode, @aclu, The Wrap, New York Times, The Guardian, Variety, CNNMoney, CNET, Engadget, @npr, East Bay Times, @omarjadwat, ZDNet and NPR, more at Techmeme »

Tony Romm / Recode:

Source: Internet Association, which represents Facebook, Google, Twitter, others, will meet with FCC's Ajit Pai next week to discuss net neutrality rule changes — Some in Silicon Valley fear the draft blueprint from FCC Chairman Ajit Pai lacks teeth. — A short-lived ceasefire over net neutrality is quickly coming to an end.

more at Techmeme »

John D. McKinnon / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: FCC Chairman tells trade groups of plans to update net neutrality rules created under Obama, wants to keep basic principles but move enforcement to FTC

Discussion: The Hill, Bloomberg, Bloomberg, The Verge, @reckless, Mashable, Motherboard, Common Dreams, Consumerist, Axios, Engadget, Business Insider, Reuters and Media Law Prof Blog, more at Techmeme »

BuzzFeed:

Trump's most diehard alt-right media defenders, including Mike Cernovich, @BakedAlaska, and Paul Joseph Watson, have turned against him in wake of Syria strikes — “I'm officially OFF the Trump train,” tweeted Infowars' Paul Joseph Watson. — In the minutes after the Pentagon confirmed …

Discussion: Mother Jones, BuzzFeed, Politico, @borzou, @timobrien, @cwarzel, @miriamelder and @jasonleopold

Reuters:

Reuters begins appending a link to its Trust Principles at the bottom of stories and will also occasionally provide explanations for how pieces were reported — (NEW YORK) You may not be familiar with the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles, but to us at Reuters they are our indispensable compass.

Discussion: @daviduberti, @leeladek, @ldelevingne, @reuterspr, Adweek, @felixsalmon and Press Gazette

Dave McNary / Variety:

The Intercept's 32-member staff has unionized with the Writers Guild of America East — The Intercept, the investigative journalism site founded by Glenn Greenwald and Jeremy Scahill, has voluntarily recognized the Writers Guild of America East as the collective bargaining representative of its 32-member staff.

Discussion: @caseyriankelly, @poynter and @dantherriault

Brian Raftery / Wired:

Oral history of Funny or Die as it turns ten, as told by its co-founders, CEO, writers, directors, producers, and celebrities — When Funny or Die launched on April 12, 2007, with “The Landlord”—a supercheap two-minute sketch pitting Will Ferrell against a swearing toddler …