Top News:
Washington Post:
Facebook says it sold ~$100K of ads on politically divisive topics to Russia-linked accounts from 6/15-5/17; sources say FB told Congress ads targeted voters — Representatives of Facebook told congressional investigators Wednesday that it has discovered it sold ads during the U.S. presidential election …
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Hollywood Reporter:
Sources: Amazon and Apple are competing with Warner Bros. and others for rights to the James Bond franchise and are willing to pay as much as the studio — The franchise, and its future, are up for grabs as Agent 007 is being viewed as one of the last untapped brands that could be a game changer.
Discussion:
Fortune, /Film, The Drum, VideoInk, Gizmodo, Engadget, FierceCable, The New York Observer, The Verge, The Playlist, Consequence of Sound, The Next Web, GeekWire, Collider, Forbes, MacRumors, @tatianasiegel27, The A.V. Club, @shiraovide, Birth.Movies.Death, 9to5Mac, Business Insider and AppAdvice.com, more at Techmeme »
Cyrus Farivar / Ars Technica:
Federal judge dismisses libel suit against Techdirt from Shiva Ayyadurai, who claims he invented email, due to difficulty in defining email — Judge: Techdirt articles were opinionated and hyperbolic, but not libel. — A federal judge in Massachusetts has dismissed a libel lawsuit filed earlier …
Discussion:
Fast Company, Techdirt, @bamaral44, @leighbeadon, @bobmcgovernjr, Gizmodo, @eff, @danielnazer, @adamsteinbaugh, Fortune, @marciahofmann, @schestowitz, @trevortimm, @adamsinger, @joshuamking, @sayreevan, @popehat, @cghosebiz1st, @msbrumfield, @eriqgardner, @kevincollier and @rmac18, more at Techmeme »
David Meyer / Fortune:
Facebook says ad reach estimates from Adverts Manager are based on how many could see the ad, not an area's population, explaining discrepancy with census data — Facebook's advertising metrics have again been called into question, after Pivotal Research Group senior analyst Brian Wieser pointed …
Tara Palmeri / Politico:
Sources: conservative pundit Mercedes Schlapp, who served in the Bush administration, is expected to join the White House in a communications role — Conservative pundit Mercedes Schlapp, wife of American Conservative Union chairman Matthew Schlapp, is expected to join the White House …
Discussion:
CNN, Mediaite, Washington Post and @cbudoffbrown
Tony Maglio / The Wrap:
Peter Rice has been promoted to president of 21st Century Fox, will retain his roles as chairman and CEO of Fox Networks Group — Peter Rice has been promoted to president of 21st Century Fox. He'll keep his chairman and CEO titles for Fox Networks Group as well. — Here's the full media release, more to come:
Discussion:
Radio & Television …, @awallenstein, Variety, Broadcasting & Cable and The Wrap
Andrew Wallenstein / Variety:
Spotify hires Disney executive Courtney Holt to lead its efforts in original video and podcast programming — Spotify has lured digital-media veteran Courtney Holt over from Disney to lead its efforts around original video and podcast programming, Variety has learned exclusively.
Discussion:
Hollywood Reporter, Tubefilter, The Wrap and Engadget, more at Techmeme »
Erik Wemple / Washington Post:
Charges dropped against West Virginia reporter Dan Heyman, arrested while trying to ask questions of HHS Secretary Tom Price and Kellyanne Conway — No, Public News Service reporter Dan Heyman was not engaging in “willful disruption of governmental processes.”
Discussion:
The New York Observer, @erikwemple, @navybook and NPR
Chris Welch / The Verge:
T-Mobile's unlimited data family plans with two or more lines now include free Netflix, following AT&T bundling free HBO with its Unlimited Plus plan — If you've got an unlimited data family plan at T-Mobile, you'll soon be getting free Netflix to go along with it.
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Business Wire, @srabil, CNET, @chriswelch, FierceWireless, Quartz, Home Media Magazine, ZDNet, Business Insider, @dangillmor, Engadget, AppAdvice.com, 9to5Google, Android Police, MacRumors, BGR and Mashable, more at Techmeme »
Brooks Barnes / New York Times:
After leaving TMZ about eight months ago, longtime news director Mike Walters launches a rival, The Blast, with funding from Banijay Group — LOS ANGELES — Before dawn on Wednesday, a celebrity news site here published an anonymously sourced article about a kerfuffle involving Scott Disick of “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” fame.
Discussion:
@elmayimbe, @ryansatin, @paulraphel, @theblastnews, @jamiemccarty and @carolynafenton
Todd Spangler / Variety:
E.W. Scripps' online news network Newsy to launch as a cable TV channel, after Scripps buys carriage contracts from RLTV — As traditional TV players keep hunting for new digital inroads, E.W. Scripps' online news network Newsy is going the other way — it's landing a spot on the cable TV dial.
Discussion:
Radio & Television …, Multichannel News, TVNewser and @jeremymbarr
Benjamin Mullin / Poynter:
Gannett says it's cutting less than 1% of its 20,000+ workforce in a company reorganization — Gannett is cutting less than 1 percent of its total workforce in a company-wide reorganization, a Gannett spokesperson told Poynter Wednesday. — The cuts were announced to employees by CEO Bob Dickey in a video to employees Wednesday.
Discussion:
@jillcallison and @toddbigphoto
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