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How Devumi uses its 3.5M+ automated Twitter accounts, sometimes based on stolen social identities, to sell followers and retweets to 200K+ customers — Everyone wants to be popular online. — Some even pay for it. — Inside social media's black market.
Discussion:
@agschneiderman, @nickconfessore, @nickconfessore, @twittercomms, Engadget, Mediaite, @nickconfessore, Gizmodo, @rf_p0tus, @securedemocracy, @selectedwisdom, @amyspitalnick, Mashable, @sarahkendzior, @dangillmor, @markberman, @ianbremmer, @craigsilverman, @nonwhitehat, @nytimes, @brianstelter, @anthony, @andyroddick and TV Tattle, more at Techmeme »


LA Times staffers fear that a secretive new management team appears to be quietly building a non-union shadow national newsroom — A mysterious new management team appears to be quietly building a non-union network. — As lunch was winding down Wednesday in the Los Angeles Times cafeteria …
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Tronc refuses to answer staff questions about Los Angeles Times Network LLC, its new content creation, distribution, and syndication entity and associated hires — And why is the Tronc newspaper treating its own newsroom as a group not to be trusted? — All of the furor consuming …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Deadline, @jayrosen_nyu, @coreypein, @borzou, @scmitchp, @annakhyzy, @rickhasen, @zackstanton, @laura_nelson, @tpetruno, @kbui1, @walldo, @gaufre, @sandymazza, @laobserved and @jbenton


New Copyright Royalty Board ruling requires streaming services to give 15.1%, up from 10.5%, of revenue to songwriters and music publishers over next five years — (Reuters) - U.S. copyright authorities on Saturday decided to increase over the next five years the royalty payments music streaming companies …
Discussion:
NMPA, Music Business Worldwide, Music Week, PhoneArena, Bloomberg, Engadget, Financial Times, Billboard, Tennessean.com and Variety, more at Techmeme »


A profile of Brazil's Sergio Spagnuolo and his data journalism agency, Volt Data Lab, as data journalism grows thanks to the passing of a local version of FOIA — Volt started as a passion project, rode a wave of interest in Brazil for better online data stories, and today builds data-based stories …

Small conservative magazines like the Weekly Standard, National Review and others are vital voices of debate and introspection, while often opposing Trump — President Trump has scrambled the very meaning of conservatism. Now, a small group of intellectual publications are enjoying a golden age.


Twitter says Russian-linked bots retweeted @realDonaldTrump 469,537 times and @HillaryClinton 47,846 times in weeks prior to election from Sep. 1 to Nov. 15 — Russian-linked accounts spurred 50,000 retweets of Clinton — Information comes in response to questions from Congress
Discussion:
@anthony, @selina_y_wang, The Hill and CNNMoney, more at Techmeme »

NBC News is using an off-site, 12-person experimental video unit, Left Field, to work on new storytelling forms like VR in an effort to attract younger viewers — “We know a great deal about how to make linear television and we've been doing it a very long time, but there is a generation …
Discussion:
@springer and @niemanlab


Germany reportedly may allow Turkey to make previously banned arms deal in exchange for release of journalist Deniz Yucel, imprisoned in Turkey for 11 months — Along with increased pressure and threats from unfriendly governments, journalists in some parts of the world face the prospect of becoming bargaining chips.
Discussion:
@boothwilliam and Spiegel Online


In June 2017, Hannity and guests called on Robert Mueller to resign, recuse himself, or be fired 39 times, claimed Mueller had a conflict of interest 102 times — The New York Times reported that in June 2017, President Donald Trump ordered White House counsel Don McGahn to fire special counsel Robert Mueller.
Discussion:
Politico, Washington Post, The Daily Beast, New York Times, Bloomberg, Fortune, Slate, Vox, NPR, @tedlieu, @corybooker, Business Insider, New York Magazine, TVNewser, Mother Jones, Fast Company, Forbes, AOL, Fox News Insider, Ad Age, CBS News, Vanity Fair, The A.V. Club, The Wrap, KTLA, Common Dreams, www.wnyc.org, Splinter, ABC News and Mediaite


Fox News' dismissal of New York Times' scoop on Trump's attempt to fire Mueller illustrates the growing distance between Fox and the rest of the media — For a moment last night, the winter chill was replaced with memories of May. The New York Times's was responsible for the time warp …
Discussion:
The Independent, Politico and @jray05


European Data Journalism Network has 15 partners who produce data-driven stories translated into six languages and distributed free to partner, non-partner orgs — Data-driven news stories produced by members of the European Data Journalism Network are translated into English, French …