Top News:
Washington Post:
Sources: years after FBI began tracking Russian disinformation efforts and US intelligence agencies drew up counter operations, the US still equivocates — The first email arrived in the inbox of CounterPunch, a left-leaning American news and opinion website, at 3:26 a.m. — the middle of the day in Moscow.
Discussion:
@angryblacklady, The Week, @anneapplebaum, @markscott82, @kimdozier, emptywheel, @trumpprisondate, @joycewhitevance, @_drew_mccoy_, @marcowerman, @yashalevine, VICE, @kimdozier, @chris_biow, @natashabertrand, @andrewsweiss, @propornot, @demwrite, Washington Post, @attackerman, @elilake, @davereaboi, Newser, @ericgarland, @omriceren, @adamentous, @adamentous, @omriceren, @propornot, @profcarroll, @profcarroll, @natashabertrand, @maerroshan, @ericgeller, @michaeldweiss, @cjcmichel, @ilvestoomas, Axios and @sashaingber, more at Techmeme »
David Remnick / New Yorker:
Q&A with incoming NYT publisher A. G. Sulzberger on his new job, how he caught the journalism bug from his family, the decline of print advertising, and more — In 2009, a byline began appearing in the Times that carried with it the harbinger of dynastic transition.
Discussion:
New York Times, @moritzcom, @michaelluo and @lionelbarber
Lizzie Plaugic / The Verge:
US Library of Congress will no longer archive the text of every tweet, will instead archive tweets on a “very selective basis”; the archive has yet to go online — The Library of Congress just announced some changes to its long-running plan to archive all of Twitter.
Pete Vernon / Columbia Journalism Review:
The year in US journalism: the big players, best feuds, media trends, and more — A guide to what happened in the mediaverse in 2017 — It was a year dominated by a focus on our press-bashing president, when the scoops and push alerts threw the news cycle into overdrive.
Discussion:
@icijorg and Washington Post
Lucinda Southern / Digiday:
CNBC's global ad sales team will start selling audio sponsorship packages to advertisers soon, after the network's voice audience on Google and Amazon doubled — Publishers have been enthusiastic about voice assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant this year, often undaunted …
Niraj Chokshi / New York Times:
Don Hogan Charles, the first black photographer hired by The New York Times, died December 15 at age 79 in East Harlem — Don Hogan Charles, who was the first black photographer to be hired by The New York Times, and who drew acclaim for his evocative shots of the civil rights movement …
Discussion:
@rachelswarns, @rizingashren, @ericuman, @nytimesphoto, @nytmetro, @nycjim and @normeisen
Deadline:
SEC filing: Tronc's largest shareholder, Michael Ferro, will be paid $5M annually through 2020 as a consultant; Tronc will no longer pay for his private jet — Chicago tech multi-millionaire Michael Ferro, the largest shareholder of Tronc (owners of the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and …
Discussion:
L.A. Times Guild, Fox News, The Wrap, @joshtpm, @usempireshow, @kystokes, @dangillmor and San Diego Reader
Matt Schudel / Washington Post:
William Graham, son of ex-Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham, died at his home in Los Angeles from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Dec. 20 — William W. Graham, a lawyer, investor and philanthropist who was a member of the family that owned and published The Washington Post for many years …
Discussion:
@nprscottsimon, @lallyweymouth and The Wrap
Shoon Naing / Reuters:
Myanmar police drop charges against two journalists working for Turkish state broadcaster; two Reuters journalists remain in detention without access to lawyers — (Reuters) - Myanmar police said on Tuesday they would drop pending charges against two journalists working for Turkey's state broadcaster …
Ross Benes / Digiday:
NYT boosted average visit length to five minutes in 2017, up 35% YoY, after embedding multimedia in articles using OAK CMS and hiring 25 visual journalism staff — People aren't just subscribing to The New York Times in greater numbers; they're also spending more time on its site.
Reuters:
Vietnam unveils new, 10K-strong cyber warfare unit to counter “wrong” views online, a month after blogger was sentenced to 7yrs for propaganda against the state — HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam has unveiled a new, 10,000-strong military cyber warfare unit to counter “wrong” …
Lucinda Southern / Digiday:
BBC's branded-content arm StoryWorks begins offering its clients data on how people react to content, gathered using face and eye tracking tech — Proving the effectiveness of branded content has been an industry fixation in 2017, BBC StoryWorks, the branded-content arm …