Top News:
Tony Romm / Recode:
Sources: Facebook is sharing its data with Google as the search giant reviews potential Russian meddling in the 2016 election — Google is also set to meet with congressional investigators in the coming weeks. — Facebook has shared some details about the Russian-operated profiles …
Discussion:
New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Hill and SiliconBeat, more at Techmeme »
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CNNMoney:
Sources: Russian Internet Research Agency linked to one fake Twitter account and one fake Facebook account using “blacktivist” name; FB account had 360K likes — Russia bought Black Lives Matter ad on Facebook — A social media campaign calling itself “Blacktivist” …
Discussion:
EL PAÍS, Politico, The Daily Caller, The Guardian, AOL, The Hill, CityLab, The Week, The New York Observer, @jdakwar, Talking New Media, Vanity Fair, Fortune, Recode, Twitter, Recode and Washington Post, more at Techmeme »
Tim Wu / Knight First Amendment Institute:
The First Amendment fails to protect speech from new tactics like information flooding and online harassment, especially when government aligns with trolls — The First Amendment was a dead letter for much of American history. Unfortunately, there is reason to fear it is entering a new period of political irrelevance.
Dhrumil Mehta / FiveThirtyEight:
Compared to other US natural disasters in the past few weeks, Hurricane Maria has had less coverage online and on TV — While Puerto Rico suffers after Hurricane Maria, much of the U.S. media (FiveThirtyEight not excepted) has been occupied with other things: a health care bill that failed to pass …
Discussion:
@emilybell, @corticoai, @redheadkxc, @paulkrugman, @mrdanzak, @elizabarclay, @crispinburke, @rjsevans, @_vanessa_diaz, @johnupton and @bencasselman
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Hadas Gold / CNNMoney:
Reporters face damaged infrastructure, spotty electricity and phone service, and difficulty finding gas, food, and water while covering Puerto Rico — Reporting from Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria has been one of the toughest assignments for journalists …
Discussion:
TVNewser, Columbia Journalism Review, The Root, Fast Company, @atompkins, The Week, @espiegler, @joshuachavers, @michelletoh235 and @amandadickson
Bill Shea / Crain's Detroit Business:
Founders of The Athletic, a network of ad-free paywalled sports sites with $48/year subscriptions, say they need 10,000-12,000 subs per city to be profitable — - The Athletic Detroit launched in June — Co-founder says site could be profitable within a year — Paywall site is hiring major journalists
Cyrus Farivar / Ars Technica:
DC firm FactSquared removes 15 hours of audio of Howard Stern interviews with Trump from YouTube, SoundCloud after DMCA notice, keeps transcripts on Factba.se — “This is the only public version of a massive quarter century trove of interviews.” — A Washington, DC startup that recently posted …
Discussion:
Techdirt and @johnmcquaid
Charlotte Gao / The Diplomat:
China's Weibo announces it is hiring 1000 “supervisors” to censor content on the service — Weibo asks that each supervisor censor no less than 200 pieces of content per month — As Chinese authorities are fiercely cracking down on the internet, China's top social media platform Weibo doing its best to stay in line.
Discussion:
9to5Mac, Quartz, The Standard and Reuters, more at Techmeme »
Bloomberg:
AT&T, CenturyLink, industry associations ask US Supreme Court to overturn Obama-era net neutrality rules barring ISPs from slowing or blocking rivals' content — Appeal adds to pressure on rule that FCC might weaken — Rule bars service providers from slowing some web traffic
Discussion:
The Verge, Multichannel News, Broadcasting & Cable, Recode, Techdirt and Free Press Blog
Julie Reynolds / The Nation:
How private equity bears blame for newspapers' decline, buying up 679 properties since 2004 then squeezing for profit, selling assets, and laying off staff — As many as destroying America's hometown newspapers can buy him. — In 2013, a reclusive New York tycoon and his wife began buying …
Discussion:
@taylorwanderson, @dangillmor, @bruvs and @atompkins
Emine Saner / The Guardian:
Profile of Laura Kuenssberg, the BBC's political editor, who says she remains committed to impartiality while facing criticism from the left and right — Political editor has faced intense abuse over perceived bias - both leftwing and pro-Tory - but colleagues say she is ‘the ultimate pro’
Discussion:
@hkesvani, Press Gazette, @rachelh20257338 and New York Times
Inés San Martín / Crux:
Pope Francis plans to release a statement to help promote professional journalism and highlight the dangers of disinformation on January 24 — ROME - “Fake news” and journalism as a force for peace are the themes chosen by Pope Francis for the Church-sponsored World Day of Social Communications 2018.
Discussion:
@inesanma, Reuters, Variety and The Daily Caller