Mediagazer: Study: news stations in competitive markets are more likely to produce investigative stories, and high quality investigations appear to raise ratings (Jesse Abdenour/Columbia Journalism Review)

4:45 AM ET, January 8, 2018

Top News:

Sources: White House adviser Stephen Miller was escorted off a CNN set by security after an interview with Jake Tapper — - Stephen Miller needed to be escorted off a CNN set on Sunday. — His appearance on “State of the Union” ended abruptly after host Jake Tapper pressed him on damaging claims about President Donald Trump.

Discussion: Mediaite, @ardenfarhi, @tedstew, @jamarlinmartin and @steved3

Columbia Journalism Review:

Michael Wolff played a monster hand of access journalism poker, bluffing his way into the good graces of the administration by attacking mainstream reporters — Michael Wolff appears on the Today show on Friday, January 5, 2018 (Photo by: Nathan Congleton via Getty Images)

Discussion: @davewiner, @johnwdean, Mediaite, Marc Cooper, New York Magazine and Business Insider

New York Times:

Under political and financial pressure, Breitbart's Steve Bannon issues an apology, tries to reverse statements about Donald Trump Jr. in Michael Wolff's book — WASHINGTON — Isolated from his political allies and cut off from his financial patrons, Stephen K. Bannon …

Mark Di Stefano / BuzzFeed:

BBC's China Editor Carrie Gracie resigns over gender pay gap, accuses managers of breaking equality law, says she'll return to BBC TV newsroom — In an explosive letter addressed to licence fee payers, which was leaked to BuzzFeed News, Carrie Gracie claimed the BBC was “breaking equality law”.

David McKie / The Guardian:

Peter Preston, Guardian editor from 1975 to 1995, dies aged 79 — Guardian editor who during 20 years in the role played a decisive part in shaping the paper's future — Peter Preston, editor of this newspaper for almost 20 years from 1975 - then the longest service of any editor since CP Scott …

Discussion: The Guardian, The Times & The Sunday Times, The Bolton News, @kevin_maguire, @kathviner, The Times & The Sunday Times, @paulmasonnews, @sylviekauffmann, BBC, @emilybell and @marinahyde

Roger McNamee / Washington Monthly:

Facebook and Google's influence on the US election and Brexit calls for regulations for more transparency, letting users own their data and social graphs, more — An early investor explains why the social media platform's business model is such a threat—and what to do about it.

Jesse Abdenour / Columbia Journalism Review:

Study: news stations in competitive markets are more likely to produce investigative stories, and high quality investigations appear to raise ratings — A silhouette of a man sits in a stark television studio. Exposed wires snake their way up bare plywood walls. The man's face has been blacked out.

Stefania D'Ignoti / Nieman Lab:

Profile of Jordan-based podcast network Sowt, which produces and curates original Arabic-language content on social issues like religion and gender taboos — The podcast network Sowt, which both produces and curates podcasts for a Middle East audience, avoids “just translating and adapting U.S. products” …

Ross Benes / Digiday:

Purch, a publisher that owns sites such as Tom's Guide, Top Ten Reviews, Live Science, makes ~$120M a year in revenue, with ~$24M coming from licensing ad tech — With publishers realizing that they can no longer be wholly dependent on ads for their revenue, Purch is getting more serious …

John Ourand / Sports Business Daily:

ESPN has fired Donovan McNabb and Eric Davis after an investigation into accusations of sexual misconduct while employed at NFL Network — ESPN cut ties with Donovan McNabb and Eric Davis following a monthlong investigation into allegations of sexual harassment at another network.

Discussion: ESPN, CNNMoney, The Philadelphia Tribune, Fortune and New York Times

Jared Brey / Columbia Journalism Review:

Mobile app Audm offers audio recordings of magazine articles, read by actors, for $6.99 per month, shares revenue with publications based on performance — The New York actor William Demeritt spent the better part of 2017 as William Shakespeare, portraying the poet in the US premier of Shakespeare in Love …

Cecilia D'Anastasio / Kotaku:

Amazon shutters its Anime Strike streaming service, launched in Jan. 2017 for $5/month for US Prime members, moves Anime Strike's curated catalog to Prime Video — After just a year, Amazon has gutted its hard-to-love anime service Anime Strike, rolling the dozens of anime shows …

Discussion: AFTVnews, Engadget, SlashGear and The Verge, more at Techmeme »

Meg Dalton / Columbia Journalism Review:

A look at Louisville Public Media's investigation into preacher-turned-politician Danny Ray Johnson, who committed suicide after 2 of 5 planned podcast episodes — The story starts with a text message. Late one night this past February, veteran reporter R.G. Dunlop received a cryptic message from a longtime trusted source.