Mediagazer: Trump's threat to NBC echoes Nixon's 1973 tactics against the FCC licenses of TV stations owned by The Washington Post (Aaron Blake/Washington Post)

12:40 PM ET, October 12, 2017

Top News:

Interviews and internal company records show Weinstein Company may have known of settlements involving Harvey Weinstein since 2015 — With Harvey Weinstein fired amid escalating allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct, the business he helped create is consumed not just with what he is accused …

Discussion: The Wrap, TMZ.com, Deadline, Vanity Fair, Variety, Splinter, @nytnational, Business Insider, CBS Los Angeles, Fortune, The A.V. Club, The Daily Caller, The Guardian, Washington Post and The FADER

Jacey Fortin / New York Times:

Over two dozen women, including Ashley Judd, Rose McGowan, and Mira Sorvino, have reportedly accused Harvey Weinstein of assault or harassment — Days after a series of sexual harassment allegations against the film producer Harvey Weinstein were made public in a report in The New York Times …

Isaac Chotiner / Slate:

Interview with Jodi Kantor, who with Megan Twohey reported the NYT story on Harvey Weinstein, on why women came forward, why stories didn't emerge earlier, more — Jodi Kantor on how she and her colleagues turned the “open secret” of Harvey Weinstein's sexual harassment into a blockbuster New York Times story.

TMZ:
Bob Weinstein says his brother's remorse and apologies to his victims are hollow, calls him a “very sick man” and says that he has yet to seek help

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
Weinstein used the media to smear his victims and keep them silent; prior to NYT story, negative info about one of his accusers was offered to a WaPo reporter

Lloyd Grove / The Daily Beast:
Sources differ on whether freelance correspondent Ronan Farrow had enough usable interviews when NBC News passed on his Harvey Weinstein story

Silvia Killingsworth / The Awl:
Every industry, including journalism, has men like Harvey Weinstein who cross lines with women in multiple ways

Discussion: New York Times, Business Insider, Washington Post, Vanity Fair, The Week, The Daily Caller, Mashable, The Guardian, The Wrap, Politico and Slate

Dustin Volz / Reuters:

In an interview, Sheryl Sandberg affirms Facebook's support for helping Congress release Russia-linked Facebook ads along with information on user targeting — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Facebook Inc Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said on Thursday the company was fully committed …

Discussion: Axios, AOL and Business Insider, more at Techmeme »

Tony Romm / Recode:
House Intelligence Committee leaders say they hope to publicly release Russia-linked Facebook ads once the company has scrubbed identifying info

Discussion: CNBC, NPR, The Hill, @mkraju, Fast Company, Axios, @alexnbcnews and Axios, more at Techmeme »

Casey Newton / The Verge:
How Facebook's automated ad auctions reward popular but polarizing messages with lower unit costs

Discussion: New York Times, @caseynewton and @boztank, more at Techmeme »

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:

Trump's threat to NBC echoes Nixon's 1973 tactics against the FCC licenses of TV stations owned by The Washington Post — President Trump is yet again threatening to crack down on media outlets he doesn't like. But this time he's doing it in a much more brazen fashion.

Discussion: CNN, New York Times, @aaronblake, The Wrap, Mediaite and Mother Jones

CNNMoney:

Experts say Trump's threat to “challenge” TV networks' licenses, made in response to NBC News report, would be hard to implement — Trump ‘trolling’ journos with fake news talk — President Trump suggested Wednesday that media companies which report critically on him should be punished …

Craig Silverman / BuzzFeed:

Leaked Facebook email to fact-checking partners: news they label as false sees future impressions drop by 80% and takes 3+ days for labels to be applied — A news story that's been labeled false by Facebook's third-party fact-checking partners sees its future impressions on the platform drop by 80% …

Discussion: TechCrunch, New York Magazine and @digiphile

Stephanie Prange / Variety:

Five major Hollywood studios join Disney's Movies Anywhere service, a digital locker that brings together movies from Amazon Video, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu — Disney-owned Movies Anywhere service gets backing from most of the majors, launches tonight — Stephanie's Most Recent Stories

Discussion: The Wrap, CinemaBlend, Consumerist, Wired, MacStories, The Verge, Deadline, Fortune, Pocket-lint, Engadget, Home Media Magazine, TechCrunch, CNET, Channel NewsAsia, Hollywood Reporter, Mashable and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

Graham Ruddick / The Guardian:

Murdoch's News Group Newspapers deliberately hid and destroyed evidence of unlawful activity, allege phone hacking victims in court — Lawyer representing victims at high court says involvement of senior executives in unlawful activities was covered up — Rupert Murdoch's News Group …

Discussion: iMediaEthics

McKay Coppins / Columbia Journalism Review:

Ben Shapiro, Ann Coulter, Matthew Continetti of the Free Beacon, and others talk about the idea of objective media playing a neutral role, and they're doubtful — Conservative critics of the press want more than just a louder voice. They want The New York Times and The Washington Post to go away.

Discussion: @mckaycoppins, @sykescharlie, @mckaycoppins and New York Magazine

Jim Brady / ESPN:

Jemele Hill's suspension suggests ESPN journalists should consider business relationships before speaking out, and that undermines journalists' independence — The uneasy relationship between Jemele Hill and ESPN spilled into public view again Monday, as the network suspended the SportsCenter anchor …

Discussion: New York Magazine, Washington Times, @benjaminnorton, @xor, @bariweiss, bookforum.com, The Big Lead, Vanity Fair and @gropperblotter

Zheping Huang / Quartz:

A look at the role and risks of “news assistants”, journalists who are unable to work as reporters for foreign news orgs in China due to government regulations — When the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad announced after an inquiry that its longtime China-based correspondent …

Davey Alba / BuzzFeed:

Medium's latest pivot to letting all writers choose to go behind paywall prompts skepticism from some publishers burned by the platform's unpredictability — Ev Williams changes his mind. A lot. — Most recently, the CEO of the online publishing platform Medium switched the company …

Discussion: @ryanvailbrown, @bluechoochoo, @anildash, @anildash, @caseynewton, @benwolford, @therealferndiaz, @katienotopoulos, @adrjeffries, @kerrymflynn, @kantrowitz, @ryanj899 and @daveyalba

Kerry Flynn / Mashable:

BuzzFeed drops “All the news too lit for print” slogan for its AM to DM Twitter show after objection by New York Times lawyers — Apparently, BuzzFeed needs to cool it down. — The New York Times' lawyers reached out last week to BuzzFeed with legal concerns over the choice …

Discussion: Newser

New York Times:

A collection of articles by Nikole Hannah-Jones, one of 2017's 24 recipients of “genius” grants from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation — Nikole Hannah-Jones was named a 2017 MacArthur fellow on Wednesday, one of 24 recipients worldwide.

Discussion: Macfound.org site news