Top News:
Dave McNary / Variety:
Casey Affleck, accused of sexually abusive conduct in 2010, withdraws from customary role of prior year's best actor presenting best actress award at Oscars — Casey Affleck has withdrawn from presenting the best actress award at the March 4 Academy Award ceremonies.
Discussion:
Deadline, Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap, The Guardian, /Film, Washington Post, The New York Observer, Mediaite, Fast Company, NPR, New York Times, Rolling Stone, Business Insider, The Ringer, Glamour, Consequence of Sound, Vox, The Daily Caller, Vanity Fair, Mashable, thecut, TVLine, The A.V. Club, Slate, Decider, PAPERMAG, IndieWire and Splinter
Steven Perlberg / BuzzFeed:
CNN is closing Beme and Casey Neistat is leaving following 2016 buyout, which sources say valued it at $20M+; CNN will continue to develop some of its products — CNN acquired Beme in late 2016 with hopes that it would become a major piece of its digital business. Now Neistat's leaving the company.
Discussion:
YouTube, CNNMoney, TechCrunch, The Daily Caller, Ad Age, Forbes, The Wrap, Mediaite, Variety, @srabil, Tubefilter, @alyssabereznak, @niemanlab, The Verge, @rrhoover, Mashable, Business Insider, Engadget, Gizmodo and Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »
Steven Perlberg / BuzzFeed:
How Axios used Mike Allen and distilled news to become influential quickly, with 260K+ newsletter subscribers and more; source says Axios AM fetches ~$75K/week — Every morning, Washington wakes up to Axios AM — Mike Allen's top 10 stories of the day, filled with short bits of breaking news …
Discussion:
@iansams, @katherinemiller, @edmundlee, @katieglueck, @katherinemiller, @mattmittenthal, @tomgara, @mr_berman, @mathewi, @erica_pandey, @mzinshteyn, @rosiegray and @wajahatali
Reuters:
Sources: Viacom CEO Bob Bakish and CBS CEO Leslie Moonves held “exploratory” discussion on merging companies; boards expected to discuss merger in coming weeks — (Reuters) - Viacom Inc (VIAB.O) Chief Executive Bob Bakish and CBS Corp (CBS.N) CEO Leslie Moonves …
Discussion:
Engadget
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Kim Masters / Hollywood Reporter:
Analysis of behind-the-scenes maneuvers to merge Viacom and CBS and the futures of CEOs Bob Bakish and Leslie Moonves, as Shari Redstone pushes for scale — The mogul faces a delicate negotiation with CBS CEO Leslie Moonves, who wants to be at the helm of the united company.
Ryan Glasspiegel / The Big Lead:
Source: ESPN is exploring options for FiveThirtyEight, including a potential sale to an outlet like The Atlantic or moving the site under ABC News — By the time mid-term election season really heats up, Nate Silver and FiveThirtyEight will in all likelihood have a different platform than ESPN.
Discussion:
Variety, The Wrap, @bmorrissey, @danwolken and @mylesudland
Selina Wang / Bloomberg:
Sources: Twitter is working on a Snapchat-style tool to more easily share videos and photos on the network, but its design and launch aren't yet finalized — Social network is experimenting with new products to woo users — Company seeks to streamline process of posting photos, videos
Discussion:
Mashable, Daily Mail, Business Insider, Engadget, The Verge, MacRumors, Los Angeles Times, New York Magazine, Fast Company, 9to5Mac and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »
Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:
Reports: Kimi Yoshino, business editor at the LA Times and an editor on the Pulitzer-winning Bell corruption scandal stories, was suspended for two days — Kimi Yoshino, the business editor of the Los Angeles Times, has been suspended for two days, according to multiple reports.
Discussion:
@davidfolkenflik, @mattdpearce, LA Observed, @charlesornstein, @bymattstevens and @mattdpearce
Colin Deppen / The Incline:
Unionized Pittsburgh Press-Gazette employees, who haven't received raises for 12 years, begin byline strike amid contract negotiations with the paper's owners — Newsroom employees at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette are withholding their names from the articles they write and the news products …
Discussion:
The NewsGuild - CWA, @swernerpg, @lexibelc and Pittsburgh City Paper
Howard Amos / The Calvert Journal:
The Bell, a US-based, Russia-focused media startup, illustrates a trend of building Russian news orgs independent of owners vulnerable to Kremlin pressure — Screenshot of The Bell's English-language homepage — Two important news stories emerged in December on a topic …
Discussion:
@howardamos
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is working on a redesigned Books reading app that includes a Reading Now section, dedicated tab for audio books, and redesigned store — Company working on new digital book reader for iPhones, iPads — iPhone maker hires former Amazon, Barnes & Noble exec for unit
John Biggs / TechCrunch:
NPD analysis: US print book sales rose by 1.9% in 2017, less than the 3% growth in 2013-2016, with few blockbusters to drive interest — In what amounts to faint praise for the strength of the physical book NPD reported that print book sales rose 1.9 percent in 2017, less than the 3 percent growth posted in 2013-2016.
Discussion:
NPD Group and Publishers Weekly
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