Top News:
John Santucci / ABC News:
Trump lawyer Charles Harder sends Steve Bannon a letter demanding he refrain from disparaging comments about Trump and his family, claims Bannon breached NDA — Lawyers on behalf of President Donald Trump sent a letter Wednesday night to former White House Chief Strategist Stephen Bannon demanding …
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Michael Wolff / New York Magazine:
Michael Wolff book excerpt recounts Trump's talks with media figures including Roger Ailes, who urged Trump to float rumors of a TV network, and Murdoch — One year ago: the plan to lose, and the administration's shocked first days. — Election Night: It “looked as if he had seen a ghost.”
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Mike Allen / Axios:
Michael Wolff has dozens of hours of tapes of interviews with Bannon and other White House insiders, making some quotes in his new book hard to refute — Michael Wolff has tapes to back up quotes in his incendiary book — dozens of hours of them. — Among the sources he taped, I'm told …
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Mediaite, Newser, Washington Post, thecut, AOL, New York Magazine, The Daily Beast, The Guardian, The Daily Caller and Mother Jones
Washington Post:
Lawyer Charles Harder demands that publisher Henry Holt and Co. cease and desist from publication of Michael Wolff's book on Trump — President Trump on Wednesday castigated his former chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon as a self-aggrandizing political charlatan who has “lost his mind,” …
Paul Farhi / Washington Post:
Second-guessing of Michael Wolff's juicy book on the Trump White House begins, fueled by some rebuttals of Wolff's reporting in the past
Second-guessing of Michael Wolff's juicy book on the Trump White House begins, fueled by some rebuttals of Wolff's reporting in the past
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Brian Stelter / CNNMoney:
CBS News fires political director Steve Chaggaris after investigation into allegations of inappropriate behavior — CBS News said Wednesday that it has fired its political director, Steve Chaggaris, amid allegations of “inappropriate behavior” in his past. — Chaggaris was a longtime CBS News employee.
Ryan Mac / BuzzFeed:
Sources: Peter Thiel still exploring creation of a conservative cable news network to compete with Fox News, with his representatives engaging Mercer family — Peter Thiel addresses the final night of the 2016 Republican National Convention at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.
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Dan Primack / Axios:
Sources: Spotify confidentially filed IPO documents with the SEC at the end of December; indications are the company wants to list in Q1 — Music streaming giant Spotify confidentially filed IPO documents with the SEC at the end of December, Axios has learned from multiple sources.
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Recode:
Sources: TPG and Dragoneer converted Spotify debt into equity at ~$10B valuation, sold it to Tencent at ~$20B, solving Spotify's $1B debt problem ahead of IPO — Big investors TPG and Dragoneer get a nice return, and Tencent gets a piece of the streaming music company. Everybody happy?
Discussion:
Axios and Rolling Stone, more at Techmeme »
Greg Dool / Folio:
Time Inc. sells Essence magazine to group of investors led by Shea Moisture founder Richelieu Dennis; Michelle Ebanks will remain president and get equity stake — Time Inc. has officially sold Essence—the magazine as well as its website and events business—to a group of investors led …
Sahil Patel / Digiday:
Source: Stay Tuned, NBC's five-month-old, twice-daily Snapchat show, has gained 4M subscribers, with over two-thirds under 25 — CNN made waves when it said last month it would throw in the towel on its Snapchat show after just four months. But rival NBC News says it's satisfied with the traction …
Discussion:
@daviduberti and @insidepages
Angelique Chrisafis / The Guardian:
French president proposes law to let authorities remove content or block sites publishing fake news during elections, improve sponsored content transparency — French president warns democracies are under threat as he sets out plan including emergency blocks on websites
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TechCrunch, BBC, Gizmodo and Financial Times, more at Techmeme »
Jason Schreier / Kotaku:
Editor-in-chief of gaming website IGN, Steve Butts, has been fired after an investigation into workplace misconduct, general manager says — The massive gaming website IGN has fired its editor-in-chief, Steve Butts, after an investigation into alleged workplace misconduct, the company said today.
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Tanya Dua / Business Insider:
JPMorgan Chase created internal tool to select “safe” YouTube channels for its ads; algorithm culled list of channels where its ads can appear from 5M to 3K — - JPMorgan Chase has created an internal tool to make sure its ads don't end up next to unsavory content on YouTube.