Top News:
Jennifer Jacobs / Bloomberg:
Sources: Michael Wolff's book initially had a working title sympathetic to the President; aides say Hope Hicks endorsed speaking with him — Some of president's staff thought they were authorized to talk — Wolff's working title suggested sympathetic view of Trump
Oliver Darcy / CNNMoney:
Sources: Fox News killed a story detailing alleged sexual relationship between porn actress Stephanie Clifford and Trump ahead of the 2016 election — Fox News had a story at the height of the presidential election that detailed an alleged sexual relationship between porn actress Stephanie Clifford …
Discussion:
In Touch Weekly, The Daily Beast, The Wrap, Mediaite, Washington Post, Women in the World, Vanity Fair, The Guardian, AOL, Slate, @laurenwern, thecut, The Week, @davidlaz, @davidlaz, Mother Jones, @oliverdarcy, @kathrynw5 and @passantino
Lesley Goldberg / Hollywood Reporter:
Apple wins bid for 10-episode comedy series starring Kristen Wiig, its first scripted comedy show and third series via Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine banner — The untitled 10-episode series is the tech giant's first half-hour comedy. — Kristen Wiig is returning to the small screen.
Discussion:
Hollywood Reporter, @thr, The Wrap, /Film, Business Insider, Broadcasting & Cable, The New York Observer, Engadget, Variety, The Verge, 9to5Mac, TVLine and MacRumors
Lawrence Bonk / Mediaite:
Katie Way, the reporter who broke the Aziz Ansari story, sent HLN host Ashleigh Banfield an email insulting her appearance after Banfield criticized Way — HLN's Ashleigh Banfield has not been shy in her dismissal of Katie Way, the Babe.net writer who reported anonymous allegations against Aniz Ansari …
Discussion:
@katiepavlich, @jerrydmayer and The Week
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Julianne Escobedo Shepherd / Jezebel:
Babe's post about “Grace” and Aziz Ansari showed inexperience and lack of understanding about reporting on sexual misconduct, prompting bad-faith reactions
Babe's post about “Grace” and Aziz Ansari showed inexperience and lack of understanding about reporting on sexual misconduct, prompting bad-faith reactions
Discussion:
The New York Observer, The Atlantic, The Guardian, thecut, Vox, The Verge, Fortune, Washington Post, Business Insider, @imleor, @carolqueen, @leighalexander, Hit & Run, @lydsoneal, @rararahima, @britnidlc, @kelkord, @anastasiakeeley, @lizabeth_kiefer, @lizabeth_kiefer, @theahalpin, @ashnagesh, @dtohl, @millie, @junemcnaughton, @taymaple, @nostrhomo, @arielle_amara, @williams_paige, @mattdpearce, CNN, www.wnyc.org, Washington Post, TVLine, Bookseller News, TVWeek.com, Refinery29, @annanorthtweets, @davepell, The Daily Beast, The Week, CNNMoney, @priyakkumar, @queerxichisme, @tvoti, @lauren_kelley, @eugene_scott, Broadly, @traciemorrissey, Emily Jane, Bilal Khan, KJ Park, Prisca Sebaratnam, Rolling Stone, @annamerlan, @jawnita, @desi_bitch, @clovito, @lindsaykatai and Sangeetha Bhaskaran
Washpostpr / Washington Post:
Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post correspondent imprisoned for 18 months in Iran, joins Washington Post's WorldViews as a staff writer — Announcement from Foreign Editor Douglas Jehl, Deputy Foreign Editor Mary Beth Sheridan, and WorldViews Assignment Editor Max Rosenthal:
Discussion:
@mlcalderone
John McCain / Washington Post:
Senator John McCain says Trump's continuing attacks on American news outlets has allowed repressive regimes to silence reporters and stave off media scrutiny — John McCain, a Republican, represents Arizona in the U.S. Senate. — After leaving office, President Ronald Reagan created …
Discussion:
Mediaite, CNN, The Wrap, Ad Age, Politico, Hit & Run, Poynter, Variety, @jeffflake, Arizona Republic, New York Times, ABC News, Jezebel, KTLA, Mother Jones, The Week, The Daily Caller, @nickrhart, @limeylizzie, @danrather, @sunfoundation, @defensebaron, @henryjgomez, @mortonjhop, @paulachertok and AOL
Peter Kafka / Recode:
Swedish publishing conglomerate Bonnier lays off 17% of its US workforce, or 70 people, and shutters four magazines — Bonnier is also shuttering five magazines. — Bonnier, the Swedish publishing conglomerate, has laid off 70 people from its U.S. group. That represents about 17 percent* of the company's American workforce.
Discussion:
Folio, Mediawire, grubstreet, Eater and @maxfalkowitz
Cristiano Lima / Politico:
Memo: Libby Leist succeeds Don Nash as executive producer of NBC's The Today Show, becoming the first female to lead the program's 7-8am time slot — NBC News announced Wednesday that Libby Leist would succeed Don Nash as executive producer at the “Today” show, making her the first female to lead to program's 7 and 8 a.m. hours.
Discussion:
thecut
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Todd Spangler / Variety:
YouTube says creators will need 4K hours of watch time in past 12 months and 1K subs to join Partner Program; Google Preferred videos to be reviewed by humans — YouTube is making its creator revenue-sharing program more restrictive and will start manually reviewing all videos …
Discussion:
YouTube Creator Blog, Quartz, @ytadvertisers, Daily Mail, BetaNews, Gizmodo, The Daily Caller, MediaNama, Ad Age, @thean1meman, @hiddentara, TechCrunch, Engadget, 9to5Google, Inside AdWords, @shiraovide, Wall Street Journal, Hollywood Reporter, Tubefilter and New York Times, more at Techmeme »
Max Willens / Digiday:
As Axios turns one, founder Jim VandeHei discusses plans for subscriptions and a contributors network and says the media is forming “Trump derangement syndrome” — Axios made headlines when it announced, then delayed, its plans to launch a $10,000-a-year subscription product.
Discussion:
Axios
Shona Ghosh / Business Insider:
Facebook says it will open a standalone investigation into potential Russian meddling in UK's EU referendum on its platform, after pressure from UK politicians — - Facebook will investigate whether Russian groups bought ads on its platform to influence the outcome of the UK's vote to leave the EU in 2016.
Discussion:
Press Gazette and Forbes, more at Techmeme »
Ewen MacAskill / The Guardian:
Q&A with Daniel Ellsberg and Edward Snowden on the ethics of whistleblowing, press freedom, and Steven Spielberg's new film about the Pentagon Papers, The Post — aniel Ellsberg, the US whistleblower celebrated in Steven Spielberg's new film, The Post, was called “the most dangerous man in America” …
Jacob Hall / /Film:
YouTube has picked up the distribution rights to the Eminem-produced film Bodied and will bring it to Sundance this year — Joseph Kahn's Bodied made the festival rounds in 2017, but it didn't secure a distributor or find theatrical release that year. That's the one and only reason this satirical …