Top News:
Variety:
NBC sources describe Lauer's transgressions: lewd comments, invitations to his hotel room late at night on assignment, and dropping his pants in his office — As the co-host of NBC's “Today,” Matt Lauer once gave a colleague a sex toy as a present. It included an explicit note about how he wanted …
Discussion:
The Wrap, Washington Post, Deadline, Business Insider, The Guardian, New York Times, People.com, Mediaite, Mashable, Newser, New York Times, Variety, AOL, The Daily Caller, TIME, Vanity Fair, The Week, The A.V. Club, Fortune, Page Six, VICE News, Vox, @bfischermartin, The Daily Beast, IndieWire, NPR, @mlcalderone, CBS New York, The Federalist, KTLA, Business Insider, @lpolgreen, @markfollman, @tressiemcphd, The Guardian, TVNewser, TVWeek.com, TMZ.com, @kimzetter, thecut, RAPPLER, Splinter, Refinery29, @oliverdarcy, The Gateway Pundit, On The Beach Blog, Forbes, VICE, Jezebel, Law & Crime, @blakehounshell, Ad Age, USA Today and TVLine
RELATED:
Brian Stelter / CNNMoney:
Matt Lauer apologizes for his behavior and admits there is “enough truth” to the allegations to feel ashamed in statement timed for the “Today” show broadcast — Watch how Matt Lauer covered sexual harassment — A day after NBC announced his termination …
Discussion:
@brianstelter, Mediaite, Deadline, Reuters, Washington Post, Business Insider, Wonkette, The Daily Caller, Fortune, @cillizzacnn, Splinter, @brianstelter, FOX59, The Week, Variety, Mashable, The Gateway Pundit, The Wrap, Vanity Fair, TVWeek.com, The A.V. Club and Jezebel
Jim Rutenberg / New York Times:
Reliance on network TV star anchors helped drive revenue, but also created conditions for power imbalances and incentivized networks to condone bad behavior — Matt Lauer, of NBC News, played the easygoing dad you could rely on — fun-loving but serious enough when he had to be.
Discussion:
Hit & Run, Vanity Fair, @guardian, Vox, @sulliview, @jimrutenberg, @brianstelter, @anthony, @rudoren, Variety, Washington Post, ABC News, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, The Hill, Forbes, The Wrap, Business Insider, TIME and The Gateway Pundit
Mike Allen / Axios:
Memo from NBC News Chairman Andy Lack: “Today” anchor Matt Lauer has been fired following a complaint from a colleague about inappropriate sexual behaviour
Memo from NBC News Chairman Andy Lack: “Today” anchor Matt Lauer has been fired following a complaint from a colleague about inappropriate sexual behaviour
Discussion:
New York Times, Vanity Fair, Deadline, Mediaite, CNNMoney, Washington Post, Fortune, Jezebel, TIME, Variety, The Daily Caller, Multichannel News, The Stranger …, The Wrap, Washington Post, ABC News, Mashable, PAPERMAG, AOL, EW.com, RT, People.com, Business Insider, The Week, Associated Press, Refinery29, Financial Times, TVWeek.com, Ad Age, Fast Company, The Daily Beast, Newser, Broadcasting & Cable, Fox News, abc7ny.com, The A.V. Club, The Gateway Pundit, Splinter, VICE News, FOX2now.com and IndieWire
Washington Post:
Project Veritas' Jaime Phillips, who tried to plant a false story about Roy Moore, spent months trying to infiltrate The Post and other media in Washington, NY — The failed effort by conservative activists to plant a false story about Senate candidate Roy Moore in The Washington Post …
Discussion:
Foreign Policy, Newser, Bloomberg, @foreignpolicy, The Week, @ddale8, @abtran, The Stranger …, @amybwang, @postbaron, @markberman, @jeffjarvis, @jameshohmann, @bethreinhard, @ericliptonnyt, @pkcapitol, @markberman, @brizzyc, @mbaram, @reedfrich, @nickriccardi, @hauchu, @danlamothe, @byaaroncdavis, @markberman and The Guardian
Keith Plocek / LA Weekly:
LA Weekly posts article questioning ownership of the paper and the motives for layoffs — Who owns the publication you're reading right now? — It's a question you should ask no matter what you're reading. In Latin there's a phrase, cui bono, which roughly translates as “who is benefiting?”
Discussion:
@todayshow, Mediaite, @betsbarnes, @quinnnorton, @epfox, @mattdpearce, @betsbarnes and @g_sny
RELATED:
Lauren Raab / Los Angeles Times:
Editorial staff at LA Weekly gutted: 9 of 13 employees lost jobs on Wednesday as Voice Media Group completed sale to Semanal Media — LA Weekly's latest Best of L.A. issue came out in October. Nine of the 13 members of the editorial staff lost their jobs Wednesday as Voice Media group completed its sale of the publication.
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Interview with Bahtiyar Duysak, the Twitter contractor who deactivated Trump's account earlier this month, who calls the incident a “mistake” — s Twitter tries to figure out how to lock down the parts of its platform that enable harassment, as well as the spread of misleading information …
Discussion:
CNNMoney, The Guardian, Mediaite, Recode, BuzzFeed, Fortune, Variety, KTLA, ABC News, NPR, RAPPLER, Sputnik International, The Next Web, The Poke, The Gateway Pundit, Mashable, Fast Company, The A.V. Club, Gizmodo, Mother Jones, Business Insider, The Verge, @mattbellassai, New York Magazine and Radio Times, more at Techmeme »
Hollywood Reporter:
CNN fires senior producer Teddy Davis, who worked on State of the Union hosted by Jake Tapper, after claims of inappropriate behavior — “The behavior attributed to Mr. Davis does not align with the standards and values of CNN," the network said in a statement.
Discussion:
CNNMoney, @farhip, @jaketapper, Sputnik International, Variety, USA Today, TVNewser, Mediaite, The Gateway Pundit and The Daily Caller
Erin Griffith / Wired:
Profile of Bored Panda, which hit 116M unique visitors in October, mostly via Facebook, and how it avoided Facebook's clickbait purge by providing good content — FOR A YEAR or two in the early 2010s, a certain genre of cheesy, irresistibly uplifting headline was unavoidable on Facebook.
Discussion:
New York Times, @bydanielvictor and @kevinroose
Josh Kosman / New York Post:
Sources: Sinclair is close to accepting DoJ remedies for approval of $6.6B buyout by selling 13 Tribune stations, though it hopes only to sell 10 — Sinclair Broadcasting is close to accepting a remedy proposed by President Trump's Department of Justice to allow its $6.6 billion buyout …
Discussion:
FierceCable
Kurt Wagner / Recode:
Facebook tests a Breaking tag in News Feed with ABC, Verge, Vox, and others, letting publishers use tag for 15 minutes to 6 hours with no ranking impact yet — Facebook is making it easier for people to find actual news in their News Feed. — Facebook will now let some publishers add a …
Discussion:
@kurtwagner8, @vanessaw and Vanity Fair
Jeff Baenen / Associated Press:
Garrison Keillor, the former host of “A Prairie Home Companion”, says he has been fired by Minnesota Public Radio over allegations of improper behavior — MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Garrison Keillor, the former host of “A Prairie Home Companion,” said Wednesday he has been fired …