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:
@mlcalderone, @mathewi, @jmrivera02, @tim_bays, @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 and @mathewi
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 …
Discussion:
Reuters, Forbes, @adriennemahsa, DW.COM, Broadcasting & Cable, CBS News and Al Jazeera English
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Michael Calderone / Politico:
John Heilemann spoke to The Tony Kornheiser show about his future without collaborator Mark Halperin, said he hopes to continue as a “solo act” but that is TBD — THE WHITE HOUSE'S DEFENSE of President Trump's claim that he'll take a hit under the Republican tax bill boils down to this: Trust us.
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Joe Pompeo / Vanity Fair:
Sources: potential Rolling Stone buyers include Penske Media plus owners of Playboy and The Hollywood Reporter and Kuok Meng Ru, founder of investor BandLab — After 50 years at his iconic magazine, Jann Wenner will soon be leaving the building, a hard act to follow. Will Jay Penske take his place?
Brian Stelter / CNNMoney:
Longtime E! host Catt Sadler has quit the channel, claiming a male co-host was earning nearly double her salary and the channel refused to correct the gap — Longtime E! channel host Catt Sadler says she is leaving the company due to a “massive” pay disparity.
Discussion:
People.com, Vanity Fair, @theperezhilton, @natalie_j_stone, theCATTWALK, @brianstelter, The Daily Beast, AOL and Variety
Tanya Dua / Business Insider:
Barstool Sports has named sports marketing veteran Deirdre Lester its first chief revenue officer — - Barstool Sports has tapped sports marketing veteran Deirdre Lester as its first Chief Revenue Officer. — Lester will oversee advertising, revenue and brand partnerships and also look …
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:
Financial Times, New York Post, Blog Network, The Daily Caller, PR Newswire, @danprimack, @winnieokelley and @michellef_davis
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:
Business Insider, Fortune, Gizmodo, @kurtwagner8, @cennydd, @44, @cwarzel, @cwarzel, @katienotopoulos, @kantrowitz, @heatheremerrick and @lainnafader, more at Techmeme »
Media Matters for America:
On Fox News show “Outnumbered”, aired Tuesday, contributor Kevin Jackson suggested the FBI might have planned to assassinate Donald Trump — Serial liar and conspiracy theorist Kevin Jackson suggests “social media” sources indicated a plot against Trump — From the December 19 edition of Fox News' Outnumbered:
Discussion:
The Wrap, @adrienneelrod, @rolandsmartin, @laurajsilverman, @chrismegerian, @l_tucc and UPROXX
Yashar Ali / HuffPost:
Despite talent departures and schedule changes, Fox News still leads MSNBC and CNN in Nielsen ratings, both in overall viewers and in 25-54 age group — The cable network's ratings seem immune to turmoil. — Fox News has faced a year of upheaval. Its talent departures and schedule changes …
Discussion:
@brendannyhan and @yashar
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.”
Nicola Slawson / The Guardian:
BBC to increase religious coverage to better represent all faiths — Review reportedly finds religious people ‘poorly presented or satirised’, and suggests programming that ‘better reflects the UK’ — The BBC is set to increase its coverage of religions after a year-long review found …
Discussion:
@kevin_maguire and @kevin_maguire
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