Top News:
Jason Le Miere / Newsweek:
Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski say White House officials told them a negative story in the National Enquirer would be spiked if they apologized to Trump — Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski have accused President Donald Trump of effectively blackmailing them over a story …
Discussion:
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Brian Flood / The Wrap:
In a statement, the National Enquirer says it had no knowledge of discussions between the White House and Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski — “We have no knowledge of any discussions between the White House and Joe and Mika about our story, and absolutely no involvement in those discussions," COO says
Discussion:
Washington Post, CNNMoney, TVWeek.com, Mediaite, Vanity Fair, Vox, The New York Observer and Melville House Books
Paul Farhi / Washington Post:
A look at the ugly descent of Trump's relationship with Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, from Trump's guest appearances on Morning Joe to today's tweets — President Trump's relationship with the hosts of the MSNBC program “Morning Joe” — which devolved into cringeworthy tweets …
Discussion:
@realdonaldtrump, @realdonaldtrump, The New York Observer, TVNewser, Mediaite, @anandwrites, @morningmika, CNNMoney, New York Times, The Wrap, Business Insider, @jaketapper, The Daily Beast, The Federalist, Fast Company, New York Times, ABC News, Hollywood Reporter, New York Magazine, Gothamist, NBC News, @thr, Mediaite, RedState, The Gateway Pundit, @preetbharara, The Daily Caller, Political Insider blog, Vanity Fair, Fox News Insider, @chrismurphyct, Forbes, TVLine, Mother Jones, The Concourse, Mashable, NPR, @jebbush, LGBTQ Nation, Variety, AOL, Refinery29, Fortune, Politico, The Week, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, Just Jared, Morning Consult, Financial Times, KTLA, @brucetomaso, @amyargetsinger, Newser, Politicus USA, CBS New York, FOX News Radio, Newsy, LifeZette and New York Times
Gabriel Sherman / New York Magazine:
Sources: Jared Kushner told Joe Scarborough he would need to apologize to Trump in order for the National Enquirer to kill a story on his affair with Brzezinski — As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump used his close alliance with the National Enquirer to attack his enemies.
Discussion:
RedState, Vanity Fair, Mediaite, @gabrielsherman, Media Matters for America, The Wrap, @vanityfair, @chrismegerian, Politicus USA, @craigcalcaterra, @ntarnopolsky, @nxthompson, The Week, Washington Post, WTKR-TV, Newser, Variety, The Daily Caller, TVNewser, The Gateway Pundit, Mashable, AOL, Fortune, Joho the Blog and Deadline
Hadas Gold / Politico:
Donald Trump and his allies believe he's gained a tactical advantage in his war with the media, thanks to CNN resignations and Sarah Palin's NYT libel suit
Donald Trump and his allies believe he's gained a tactical advantage in his war with the media, thanks to CNN resignations and Sarah Palin's NYT libel suit
Discussion:
The Guardian, New York Times, Adweek, BuzzFeed, CNN, @moore_darnell, The Daily Caller, PressThink, CNNMoney, New York Magazine, Politicus USA, The Federalist, @repbarbaralee and FOX News Radio
Matthew Garrahan / Financial Times:
Sources: The Wall Street Journal is ending its print edition in Europe, sharpening its focus on digital, with its online subscriptions growing 48% YoY in Europe — News Corp-owned newspaper to focus on digital subscriptions in Europe and Asia — Read next
Discussion:
New York Times, Ad Age, Talking Biz News, Business Insider, Poynter, The New York Observer, HuffPost and @stephlystein
Kurt Wagner / Recode:
Facebook says it will identify and demote links from users who post more than 50 times a day in News Feed — People who post 50-plus times per day are likely sharing spam or false news, Facebook says. — Facebook has a new way of identifying false news and spam in users' feeds …
Discussion:
Facebook and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »
The Intercept:
During a speech at a private fundraising event in DC on Wednesday night, Trump asked the audience if he should sue CNN — President Donald Trump kicked off his re-election campaign's financing efforts with a major fundraiser at his own Washington hotel Wednesday night, excluding media but charging attendees $35,000 each.
Discussion:
The Wrap, Mediaite, Variety, AOL, @ryangrim, @braddjaffy, The Wrap, @brianstelter, The Week and The Daily Caller
Ben Collins / The Daily Beast:
Infowars, the alt-right media organization favored by President Trump, aired a report claiming NASA is running a child slave colony on Mars — A report on Alex Jones' InfoWars claiming child sex slaves have been kidnapped and shipped to Mars is untrue, NASA told The Daily Beast on Thursday.
Discussion:
Mashable, @davidfrum, @scalzi, @carlzimmer, @davidmackau, RedState and @oneunderscore__
New York Times:
Germany passes law allowing fines of up to $57M for social media companies if they do not delete illegal, racist, or slanderous content within 24 hours — BERLIN — Social media companies operating in Germany face fines of as much as $57 million if they do not delete illegal …
Discussion:
The Guardian, Gizmodo, Mashable, Refinery29, The Verge, @goddersbloom and Engadget, more at Techmeme »
Emily Jane Fox / Vanity Fair:
Greta Van Susteren parts ways with MSNBC after her 6pm show fails to gain traction — In an era where liberal anger is driving ratings, the former Fox anchor's 6:00 p.m. show never caught fire. — “Remember me?” Greta Van Susteren crooned to the camera as she raised the curtain on her new MSNBC show on January 9.
Discussion:
TVNewser, The Wrap, Media Matters for America, @greta, Mediaite, Fortune, New York Post, Forbes, Newsy, RedState, The Daily Caller, Deadline, @davidfolkenflik, @joeconchatv, Politicus USA, @keitholbermann, New York Magazine, Politico, The Week, New York Times, @koblin, @brianstelter, @jessicahuseman, CNNMoney, Variety and @brianstelter
Eugene Wei / Remains of the Day:
Internet has ushered in an age of “distributed truth”, widely spreading little known knowledge that used to be confined offline — Apparently, for years, Nora Ephron, who was once married to Carl Bernstein, would openly tell people that Deep Throat was FBI Associate Director Mark Felt.
Discussion:
New York Magazine, The Information, Bloomberg, the fifth wave, mathewingram.com/work, Axios and Recode
Todd Spangler / Variety:
DirecTV Now, AT&T's OTT pay TV service, adds 35+ local TV stations affiliated with ABC, NBC, and Fox — DirecTV Now, AT&T's over-the-top pay TV service, is adding more than 35 local TV stations affiliated with ABC, NBC and Fox starting next week — more than doubling its local broadcast footprint since launching last November.
Discussion:
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