Mediagazer: Facebook, Amazon stifle public debate on tax incentives they receive by demanding prior notice before state and local govt. officials respond to FOIA requests (Mya Frazier/Columbia Journalism Review)

10:25 PM ET, February 2, 2018

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Ricardo Lopez / Variety:
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Pamela McClintock / Hollywood Reporter:

Facebook appears to have deactivated a group planning to flood Rotten Tomatoes with negative audience scores for upcoming Black Panther film — Calling themselves “Down with Disney's Treatment of Franchises and its Fanboys,” the group is attempting to flood Rotten Tomatoes with poor audience scores …

Discussion: Marvel Studios News, Business Insider, Mashable, The A.V. Club, Variety, The Verge, Polygon, Vanity Fair, The Wrap and The Daily Caller

Mya Frazier / Columbia Journalism Review:

Facebook, Amazon stifle public debate on tax incentives they receive by demanding prior notice before state and local govt. officials respond to FOIA requests — It was whispered like some secret oracle: Sidecat, sidecat is coming. — Negotiations over the tax incentive deal began in Ohio …

Discussion: The Hill, @samthielman, @econ_marshall, @sarahfrier, @jon_allsop, @lawrencehall105, @nitashatiku, @econ_marshall and @zephyrteachout

Ashley Cullins / Hollywood Reporter:

One of three founding partners of Charles Harder's law firm quits, says work for Trump and Hulk Hogan didn't square with interest in defending First Amendment — Media client concerns about the firm's docket contributed to Douglas Mirell's decision to leave.

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Chicago Sun Times:

Following Chicago Sun-Times inquiry into Richard Roeper's purchase of Twitter followers, Roeper to resume reviews and has started a new Twitter account — Sign-Up for our Newsletter — On Saturday, Jan. 27, the Chicago Sun-Times became aware of a report in the New York Times …

Discussion: @nickconfessore, @lukeoneil47, @jbenton, CBS Chicago and iMediaEthics

Ryan Mac / BuzzFeed:

Peter Thiel told Stanford student he may turn Gawker.com into a conservative investigative reporting site if he wins bid for its assets; spokesman issues denial — The billionaire venture capitalist and Donald Trump backer also said that The Washington Post is “an arm of the Democratic Party.”

Discussion: @l0stsandal, Melville House Books and Freedom of the Press …

Gerry Smith / Bloomberg:

HBO has more than 5M online-only subscribers with about half of new customers signed up through HBO Now, other half from online-TV service subscriptions — New deals with distributors gave them more incentive to sell — HBO's online customers in the U.S. have more than doubled in the past year …

Discussion: TechCrunch, Reuters, New York Business Journal, CNBC, Fast Company, Business Wire, FierceCable and Business Insider

Pete Brown / Columbia Journalism Review:

One-day snapshot of Facebook Instant Articles usage shows 38 of 72 publishers did not post a single Instant Article; long-term analysis shows downward trend — More than half of Facebook's launch partners on Instant Articles appear to have abandoned the format, new Tow Center research suggests.

Discussion: The New York Observer, @rbilton and @orskov

Reuters:

Charter Communications beats Q4 targets with revenue of $10.6B, up 3.2% YoY, while profit surges to $9.55B due to a $9.3B benefit from tax changes — (Reuters) - U.S. cable operator Charter Communications Inc (CHTR.O) said on Friday its quarterly profit surged due to a $9.3 billion benefit related …

Discussion: Multichannel News, Multichannel News and MarketWatch

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