Top News:
David Uberti / Splinter:
An audio recording of Ziff Davis executives' first meeting with Mashable staff sheds light on how the site is to be folded into existing e-commerce business — The recent trajectory of tech site Mashable has put it at the forefront of some of the worst trends reshaping digital media.
Discussion:
@jmrivera02, @mlcalderone, @tim_bays, @mathewi, @saba_h, @mattrosoff, @bmorrissey, @petersterne, @moorehn and @moorehn
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Maxwell Tani / Business Insider:
Leaked documents: before sale Mashable lost $4.2M in three months through September, was set to miss revenue targets, and relied heavily on digital advertising
Discussion:
@mcwm, @rafat, @daviduberti, @meena_thiru, @shortformernie, @thestalwart, @kmmokai, @mathewi, @jason_kint, @mgsiegler and @maxwelltani
Reporters Without Borders:
Reporters Without Borders: 65 journalists were killed in 2017, the least deadly year for professionals in 14 years; Syria and Mexico are deadliest countries — Overview: figures at a glance How we calculate these figures — The 2017 round-up figures compiled by Reporters Without Borders …
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Reuters, Forbes, DW.COM, @adriennemahsa, Broadcasting & Cable, CBS News and Al Jazeera English
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Lev Garcia Flores / Associated Press:
Mexican reporter Gumaro Pérez was shot and killed in Veracruz on Tuesday by attackers while he was attending Christmas party at his son's school — https://apnews.com/92904b4df584470fbce9 3eca7a03dd52 — XALAPA, Mexico (AP) — Attackers burst into an elementary school where a Christmas party …
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Google Chrome will start natively blocking ads that do not comply with Coalition for Better Ads guidelines on February 15 — In June, Google revealed that Chrome will stop showing all ads (including those owned or served by Google) on websites that display non-compliant ads “starting in early 2018.”
Associated Press:
Journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates deleted his Twitter account following a contentious exchange with Cornell West in which Richard Spencer became involved — NEW YORK (AP) — Ta-Nehisi Coates has had enough. The influential author and journalist has deleted his widely followed Twitter account, writing “peace, y'all.
Discussion:
New York Times, @grantwahl, @jamilsmith, Sifiso Mkhize, @adviserdavid, @waxelfoley, The Hill, @dlind, @mightyocd, Mediaite, @jamilsmith, @asteadwesley, Hip-Hop Wired, @nhannahjones and Twitter
Michelle Davis / Bloomberg:
Source: Carlos Slim plans to cut his stake in The New York Times from 17% to about 8%, selling securities in a private offering — Mexican billionaire's stake would be reduced to 8% from 17% — Structure of sale is said to create tax benefits for Slim — Billionaire Carlos Slim …
Discussion:
PR Newswire, Financial Times, The Daily Caller, @danprimack, @winnieokelley and @michellef_davis
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
YouTube signs new long-term agreement with Universal Music Group over music rights, royalty rates; sources say Sony Music signed new agreement with YouTube, too — New Universal, Sony agreements allow video uploads to continue — Deals establish royalty rates between YouTube, rights holders
Discussion:
The Verge, xda-developers, Business Insider, Variety, 9to5Google and Axios, more at Techmeme »
Filip Struhárik:
Facebook's Explore Feed test led to a 52% drop in interactions for Slovakian mainstream news sites, but only a 29% drop for disinformation sites — Five things we learned when Facebook's Explore Feed destroyed our organic reach. — Two months ago, Facebook launched major “reach-killing” …
Discussion:
Nieman Lab
Charlie Warzel / BuzzFeed:
Prompted by the “de-badging” of Milo Yiannopoulos, internal emails show confusion among Twitter execs over user verification policies and meaning of the badge — Emails suggest that verification was never quite what Twitter said it was and that the company was aware it served …
Discussion:
Gizmodo, @cennydd, @44, @cwarzel, @kurtwagner8, @cwarzel, @katienotopoulos, @kantrowitz, @heatheremerrick and @lainnafader, more at Techmeme »
Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
Rep. Marsha Blackburn proposes bill to ban site blocking and throttling but allow fast lanes and bar FCC from regulating ISPs as common carriers under Title II — FCC would be permanently barred from using Title II authority over broadband. — A Republican lawmaker is proposing …
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Hill, Mashable, The Verge, Breitbart, @ceciliakang, @publicknowledge, Gizmodo and Multichannel News, more at Techmeme »
Marc Hogan / Pitchfork:
Pitchfork reporter describes a demo of an interactive project with hand-tracking, designed for Magic Leap hardware in conjunction with rock band Sigur Rós — A first look at the billion-dollar company's potentially game-changing collaboration with Sigur Rós
Discussion:
Business Insider, The Verge, Magic Leap, Magic Leap and 9to5Google
Christine Schmidt / Nieman Lab:
Q&A with David Axelrod about The Axe Files, his podcast for low-key conversational interviews; podcasts' popularity; and the challenges facing local newsrooms — “I'm not there to ask the top-ten kind of news questions of the day. I'm there to find out who people are and who motivates them …
Discussion:
@newsbyschmidt, @niemanlab and @niemanlab
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