Mediagazer: Sources: Amazon in talks with Clorox, Procter & Gamble, others about product promotion on Echo; some discussions focus on sponsorship options within skills (CNBC)

Top News:

Emily Smith / Page Six:

Sources: Today Show co-anchor Hoda Kotb is earning $18M less than her predecessor Matt Lauer, with a $7M/year deal, underlining huge wage disparity at NBC News — Hoda Kotb made history by officially landing Matt Lauer's former “Today” show job — but she is still being paid around $18 million less per year …

Discussion: theGrio, AOL and thecut

Eun Kyung Kim / TODAY.com:
Hoda Kotb, who filled in for Matt Lauer since his firing, is named co-anchor of the Today show

Discussion: Vanity Fair, E! Online, CNNMoney, People.com, Mediaite, The Daily Beast, USA Today, Business Insider, New York Times, ABC News, The Wrap, Forbes, TVNewser, AOL, Showbiz411, The Daily Caller, Rolling Stone, TVLine, thecut, NBC News, Mashable, Hollywood Reporter and Newser

Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:

Showtime's political documentary series The Circus will return in April without Mark Halperin; he is being replaced by CBS news anchor Alex Wagner — The Showtime political documentary series “The Circus” is set to return in April, minus its most recognizable star: Mark Halperin …

Discussion: @thehill, Broadcasting & Cable, The Wrap, @franklinleonard, @alexwagner, Vanity Fair, @poniewozik, @jeffjarvis, Axios, @jerweber, @jamiestelter and @hendwex

Tim Lockette / Anniston Star:

Former publisher and chairman of the company that publishes the Anniston Star, H. Brandt Ayers, accused of forced spanking staffers in the newsroom in the 1970s — A former Anniston Star reporter says that H. Brandt Ayers, chairman of the company that publishes the paper, sexually assaulted her in the 1970s in The Star's newsroom.

Discussion: Alabama Political Reporter, thecut, @romenesko, @derekwillis, @lukeeasterling, @seungminkim, @quinncy, @davidfolkenflik, Boing Boing, @ddale8, @williams_paige, @williams_paige, @farhip, Alabama Political Reporter, TIME, The Montgomery Advertiser and al.com

CNBC:

Sources: Amazon in talks with Clorox, Procter & Gamble, others about product promotion on Echo; some discussions focus on sponsorship options within skills — - Ads will focus on sponsorship opportunities within skills or use data about a buyer's shopping history to suggest products.

Discussion: Fast Company, The Verge, @sallyshin, Voicebot, @chrissyfarr, Gizmodo, Slate, Axios and Search Engine Land

Elisabeth Bumiller / The New York Times Company:

Memo: The New York Times appoints Lara Jakes as deputy editor of its Washington bureau, overseeing coverage of foreign policy — Lara Jakes has been named a deputy editor in Washington, overseeing the coverage of foreign policy. Read more in this note from Elisabeth Bumiller: — Great news.

Jake Tapper / CNN:

Twitter spokesperson confirms an email that said the account for former sheriff David Clarke was temporarily locked after he tweeted a physical threat to media — Clarke plagiarized portions of thesis (May 2017) — Washington (CNN)Former Milwaukee Sheriff David A. Clarke, Jr. …

Discussion: Variety, Blog Network, Deadline, Gizmodo, The A.V. Club, The Hill, Mashable, The Wrap, Peter O'Kelly's Reality Check, Mediaite, @popehat, @jaketapper, @adamweinstein, Hollywood Reporter, BuzzFeed, @prettyannoyed, Talking Points Memo and @natashabertrand

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:

Spotify faces new copyright lawsuit from Wixen Music that suggests up to 21% of Spotify songs are unlicensed; plaintiff seeks $1.6B+ in damages — Wixen Music Publishing files a new lawsuit that also covers music from Rage Against the Machine, The Doors, Steely Dan, and many others.

Discussion: Fortune, Tech Times, Android Police, The A.V. Club, Blog Network, Axios, Variety, TechCrunch, The Verge, Gizmodo, The FADER, The Wrap, 9to5Mac, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, SPIN and WHDH-TV, more at Techmeme »

Lucia Moses / Digiday:

News Corp CEO Robert Thomson says the company is in constant talks with Facebook and Google, praises Google CEO Sundar Pichai — This article appears in the latest issue of Digiday magazine, a quarterly publication that is part of Digiday+. Members of Digiday+ get access to exclusive content …

James Risen / The Intercept:

James Risen says senior NYT editors regularly quashed, buried, or cut his stories that raised questions about Bush admin's pre-war intelligence on Iraq — I was sitting in the nearly empty restaurant of the Westin Hotel in Alexandria, Virginia, getting ready for a showdown with the federal government …

Discussion: Axios

Stephanie Chan / Hollywood Reporter:

Report: photographer Terry Richardson is being investigated by the NYPD's Special Victims Squad, after multiple women accused him of sexual assault — The investigation comes after the photographer was accused of rape by model Caron Bernstein. — Terry Richardson is under investigation by the New York Police Department.

Discussion: @icemyeyes, @theperezhilton and New York Daily News

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin launches American Woman, an eight-part digital series profiling eminent women like Ava DuVernay and Sheryl Crow — Brooke Baldwin kicked off 2018 by anchoring CNN's raucous late-night New Year's Eve coverage with colleague Don Lemon.

Discussion: CNN

Raymond Zhong / New York Times:

Source: Beijing Bytedance Technology, the parent company of Toutiao news app, valued at $20B, is in talks to raise funding that would value it at $30B+ — HONG KONG — One of the world's most valuable start-ups got that way by using artificial intelligence to satisfy Chinese internet users …