Mediagazer: Freelancer Jason Prechtel sues FCC for refusal to fulfill his FOIA request for details on bulk uploads of net neutrality comments after 3+ months (Karl Bode/Techdirt)

3:45 PM ET, September 21, 2017

Top News:

The Intercept announces new hires: Shaun King, Vanessa Gezari, Aída Chávez, Maryam Saleh, and contributing writers Kate Aronoff and Rachel M. Cohen — The Intercept is welcoming several exciting journalists to our team. — Shaun King will be joining us as a columnist.

Discussion: @rmc031, @katearonoff, @weinbergersa, @bypetevernon, @vanessagezari and @shaunking

Karl Bode / Techdirt:

Freelancer Jason Prechtel sues FCC for refusal to fulfill his FOIA request for details on bulk uploads of net neutrality comments after 3+ months — For months now we've noted how somebody is intentionally filling the FCC's net neutrality comment proceeding with bot-generated bogus comments supporting …

Shan Wang / Nieman Lab:

Philadelphia's The Lenfest Institute announces $1M in grants for 17 local and national small-scale projects and $1M for its Philadelphia Media Network — The Philadelphia Media Network is getting $1 million. Twelve organizations and five entrepreneurs-in-residence will be getting another …

Discussion: The Lenfest Institute …, @kristenhare and @poynter

Steven Perlberg / BuzzFeed:

CNN says CNN Digital will bring in $370M+ in 2017, its highest ever, but sources say unit faces $20M shortfall partly due to tough ad market, polarized politics — CNN is having a huge year on TV, but a budget shortfall at CNN Digital has restricted travel for digital employees and scaled back expenses.

Discussion: @perlberg, @rafat, @robinwigg, @passantino, @joshsternberg and FierceCable

Issie Lapowsky / Wired:

Twitter will meet with the Senate Intelligence Committee investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election next Wednesday — TWITTER HAS CONFIRMED it will meet with the Senate Intelligence Committee investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Discussion: Mashable, Variety, Recode, Vanity Fair, Politico, Engadget and Business Insider, more at Techmeme »

Colin Stretch / Facebook:

Facebook says it will hand over information on Russia-linked ads bought during 2016 election campaign to Congressional investigators — Two weeks ago, we announced we had found more than 3,000 ads addressing social and political issues that ran in the US between 2015 and 2017 and that appear …

more at Techmeme »

Peter Kafka / Recode:

RIAA: 30M+ pay for streaming, which now accounts for 62% of US music biz; streaming revenue up 48% in first half of 2017 to $2.5B, digital downloads down 24% — Spotify, Apple Music and other services have 30 million U.S. subscribers, and streaming revenue is up 48 percent so far this year.

Discussion: Forbes, Radio & Television …, RIAA, Engadget, hypebot, Wall Street Journal, The Wrap, Jacklail.com, Financial Times, Variety and Billboard

Media Matters for America:

The Drudge Report linked to 79 articles from Russia's RT, SputnikNews, or Tass in 2015 and 122 articles in 2016, before dropping to 45 for 2017 through Sept. 18 — On July 17, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine, killing 298 passengers and crew.

The Guardian:

Facebook designates Rohingya activist group Arsa as dangerous, bans posts by and in support of it as 400K Rohingya flee Myanmar — As hundreds of thousands flee a brutal campaign by the Myanmar military, the social media company labels an insurgent group a ‘dangerous organization’

Discussion: @lifewinning and Engadget

Jeremy Barr / Hollywood Reporter:

Fox News to air “Fox News @ Night” at 11PM, a live news and analysis show anchored by Shannon Bream that replaces reruns of Tucker Carlson's 8PM show — The 11 p.m. show launches on Oct. 30. — Three days after scheduling a new 10 p.m. show for Laura Ingraham and a time-slot change …

Discussion: Mediaite, Deadline and Variety

Jessica Davies / Digiday:

In the last eight months, BBC has shifted funds in “low seven figures” to make hires and establish 12-person fact-checking team to focus on in-depth “slow news” — In the last eight months, BBC News has undergone a major “reprioritizing exercise” …

Jeremy Kohler / St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

St. Louis Post-Dispatch demands city drop charges against reporter Mike Faulk, condemns “highly disturbing” arrest, seeks city protocols to prevent recurrences — Post-Dispatch reporter Mike Faulk was caught in the sweep when police arrested dozens of people at the corner …

Discussion: @scmitchp, @cschrappen, @nassimbnchabane and @christopherave

Alexandra Martellaro / KSDK-TV:
Society of Professional Journalists condemns police assault and arrest of St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Mike Faulk amid protests

Discussion: @marshallproj, @mattdpearce, The NewsGuild - CWA, @mike_faulk, Rolling Stone and St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Tim Peterson / Marketing Land:

Facebook rolls out Custom Audience tool that lets advertisers target users who interacted with physical store, called a business office, more — Facebook is using its online-to-offline ad measurement tools for offline-to-online ad targeting. — Facebook is making it easier for brands …

more at Techmeme »

Dylan Byers / CNNMoney:

Democratic senators and representatives urge Federal Election Commission to consider rules preventing foreigners from using social media ads to influence voters — Democrats on Capitol Hill are launching new efforts to prevent Russians and other foreigners outside the U.S. from using social media …

Discussion: CNN, Quartz, Bloomberg, The Hill and @martinheinrich

Sheryl Sandberg / Facebook:
Facebook will strengthen enforcement of ad targeting policies, add more human oversight, and urge users to report potential abuses directly

Will Oremus / Slate:
Blaming algorithms obscures the true source of Facebook's ad problem: the structure of the company's ad business and the decision-making of those who run it

Discussion: @rsingel, @kantrowitz, @selenalarson, BuzzFeed, CBS San Francisco, @willoremus, @whatthebit, @ericnewcomer and @zephoria, more at Techmeme »

SecureDrop:

Freedom of the Press Foundation announces $2,500 bug bounty program for SecureDrop, the open-source whistleblowing tool — Created date — The SecureDrop engineering team welcomes the contributions of security researchers. SecureDrop is relied on by sources to talk with journalists …