Mediagazer: The Editor-in-Chief of Babe's parent company Tab Media, Joshi Herrmann, has defended the site's decision to publish the allegations against Aziz Ansari (Brian Stelter/CNNMoney)

2:40 PM ET, January 16, 2018

Top News:

Brian Stelter / CNNMoney:

The Editor-in-Chief of Babe's parent company Tab Media, Joshi Herrmann, has defended the site's decision to publish the allegations against Aziz Ansari — Aziz Ansari responds to sexual assault accusation — Amid all the debate over an anonymous woman's account of a sexual encounter with Aziz Ansari …

Discussion: New York Times, The Atlantic, Salon, Mediaite, The Guardian, The Wrap, thecut, The Daily Beast, IndieWire, Vox, Women in the World, The Verge, The Week, Broadly, www.wnyc.org, Refinery29, TVLine, Junkee, KTLA, Bangor Daily News, The FADER, Washington Post, ABC News, babe, The Daily Caller, PAPERMAG, Pharyngula, Mashable, Fortune, Business Insider and Variety

Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:

HBO fights streaming rivals like Netflix and Hulu with heavy marketing and a focus on quality over quantity with its original programming — As other channels stockpile content, HBO is trimming its development pipeline; 'More is not better. Only better is better.'

Discussion: Forbes

Tracey Lien / Los Angeles Times:

Digital First Media announces layoffs will hit its newspapers across California, including the Mercury News and Orange County Register — Southern California News Group, which includes newspapers such as the Orange County Register and the Los Angeles Daily News, will be hit with “significant” …

Ad Age:

Sources: multiple brands are reviewing their relationship with Vice following December's NYT story, with one, Ally Financial, meeting the company this month — By Garett Sloane and Adrianne Pasquarelli. — Vice could be at risk of going from cool to creepy for brands concerned …

Alex Ritman / Hollywood Reporter:

Amazon Studios signs Sharon Horgan, creator of hit TV show Catastrophe, to a two-year overall deal alongside a separate deal with her production company — Amazon Studios has also set up a first-look deal with Horgan's Merman banner. — With the British comedy show Catastrophe having proven …

BBC:

A man who has harassed BBC presenter Emily Maitlis for more than 20 years has been jailed for 45 months — A former friend of Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis, who has harassed the BBC journalist for more than 20 years, has been further jailed. — Edward Vines, 47, inflicted …

Discussion: @kristianawrixon, @jewishwomensaid, The Guardian and Press Gazette

Charlie Warzel / BuzzFeed:

Twitter again disputes claims from a Project Veritas undercover video aimed at the company, saying “We do not proactively review DMs. Period.” — “We do not proactively review DMs. Period.” — On Monday, conservative activist and filmmaker James O'Keefe published undercover footage …

Discussion: Daily Mail, @johnpaczkowski, BetaNews, Project Veritas, MacRumors, TechCrunch, The Next Web, 9to5Mac, @cwarzel and @passantino, more at Techmeme »

Stephen Kalin / Reuters:

Saudi Arabia began screening feature-length films after a 35-year ban on cinemas; authorities hope to have 300 cinemas and 2K screens by 2030 — JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia began screening feature-length animated children's films this weekend in a makeshift theater …

Discussion: Deadline, Mashable, IndieWire, The A.V. Club, The Verge, The Hill, /Film, Newsweek, EW.com and Fortune

Frederic Filloux / Monday Note:

Facebook exits from news after killing notions of the brand, authorship, business model; publishers should focus on products that directly impact their company — For Facebook, journalism has been a pain in the neck from day one. Now, bogged down with the insoluble problems of fake news and bad PR …

Discussion: VideoNuze Analysis, Vanity Fair, The Ringer, Recode, The Verge, @jason_pontin, @profcarroll, The Guardian, @borzou and Wired, more at Techmeme »

James Walker / Press Gazette:

The EU's newly established group on fake news and disinformation met for the first time as it seeks to define and develop a strategy for tackling fake news — The European Union's newly established fake news body met for the first time today, but revealed that it has yet to establish a working definition for “fake news”.

Discussion: Associated Press, DW.COM and euronews

Ken Doctor / Nieman Lab:

Los Angeles Times editor-in-chief Lewis D'Vorkin, formerly of Forbes, brings in new hires and prepares for a newsroom reorganization — New hires from The New York Times and The Washington Post bring new faces to a news organization that has been in flux under Tronc management.

Discussion: LA Observed and @jbenton

Jon Levine / The Wrap:

Daily Beast reporter Lizzie Crocker resigned from the site this weekend, following revelations she plagiarized a column in the Weekly Standard — Daily Beast reporter Lizzie Crocker resigned from the company this weekend after allegations of plagiarism against her were confirmed by the publication, TheWrap has learned.

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:

Profile of Zig, an Instagram-like news app which has attracted investors including ex-Vanity Fair Editor Graydon Carter and music producer Quincy Jones — Graydon Carter, the former editor of Vanity Fair, was preparing coq au vin in Provence, France, the other day when he picked up a telephone call from back home.

Discussion: Joshua James, @sophiekleeman, @bendreyfuss and PR Newswire