Top News:
The Intercept:
Leaked WikiLeaks chats from May 2015-Nov. 2017 of a direct-message Twitter group show anti-Clinton bias, misogyny, encouragement of trolling and fake accounts — On a Thursday afternoon in November 2015, a light snow was falling outside the windows of the Ecuadorian embassy in London …
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Chrome's default ad blocker goes live Thursday, removing ads on sites that repeatedly display pop-ups, autoplay video with sound, and other invasive ads — Chrome's built-in ad blocker will go live tomorrow. It's the first time Google will automatically block some ads in Chrome …
Discussion:
Chromium Blog, Gizmodo, The Verge, The Keyword, Nieman Lab, @chrismessina, Mental Floss, @dangillmor, Forbes, MediaNama, @backlon, BGR, Android Police, 9to5Google, @mathewi, @morqon, @chrisbentzel, @mathewi and VentureBeat, more at Techmeme »
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Douglas MacMillan / Wall Street Journal:
Sources say Google dominated Coalition for Better Ads' research and review process, which helped determine ads that will be blacklisted by Chrome — Critics say the search giant's plan to block certain types of ads in its Chrome browser starting on Thursday is self-serving
Discussion:
@annemariebridy and @scottmaustin, more at Techmeme »
Ashley Feinberg / HuffPost:
Leaked chat transcript from an NYT Slack channel shows staff concern over diversity efforts, prompted by tweet by opinion section's Bari Weiss on immigrants — According to one employee, diversity efforts at the publication “are nothing but lip service.” — In 2016, James Bennet left …
Discussion:
@mrjohnflowers, @hadas_gold, @xor, @jayrosen_nyu, @kelseymsutton, @juliareinstein, Mediaite, @mlcalderone, The New York Observer, @nytimespr and AOL
John Lynch / Business Insider:
Barstool Sports radio host Patrick Connor apologizes after making sexually inappropriate comments about 17-year-old Olympic gold medalist Chloe Kim on radio — - A Barstool Sports radio host apologized Wednesday for calling the 17-year-old US Olympic snowboarder Chloe Kim a “hot piece of ass” in a SiriusXM radio appearance.
Discussion:
Deadspin, USA Today, Awful Announcing, AOL, iMediaEthics, East Bay Times, AllAccess.com, The Guardian and Fortune
Todd Spangler / Variety:
YouTube TV adds Turner networks including CNN and TBS, will raise monthly subscription price by $5 to $40/month for new customers from March 13 — Internet TV ‘skinny bundle’ service also expands to more markets, will add NBA TV and MLB Network — The YouTube TV “skinny” …
Discussion:
YouTube Blog, Deadline, 9to5Mac, Awful Announcing, VideoNuze Analysis, Tubefilter, Multichannel News, Android Authority, AppAdvice.com and The Wrap
Jennifer Valentino-DeVries / ProPublica:
After FEC clarification in December that big political ads on Facebook require disclaimers, review of 300+ ads finds fewer than 40 complied with new rules — The Federal Election Commission said in December that big political ads on the social network need disclaimers.
Discussion:
@annalecta, @annalecta, @kreissdaniel, @crewcrew, The Week and Fast Company
Joe Rossignol / MacRumors:
Report: Apple News is driving huge traffic to publishers, accounting for 50% of Vox.com's daily traffic at times, and has ~12 editorial staff in US — Apple News can yield a flood of traffic for news publishers, with the app accounting for as much as 50 to 60 percent of readership for some stories …
Discussion:
The Information and 9to5Mac
The New York Times Company:
The New York Times says that The Daily podcast will expand to public radio in April, distributed by American Public Media — The New York Times's audio news report, “The Daily,” will soon extend its current following of 4.5 million monthly unique listeners to the national radio audience.
Discussion:
Recode, Patreon and The New York Observer
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: AT&T and Time Warner's list of people to call upon as witnesses in forthcoming trial with DoJ includes antitrust chief Makan Delrahim — Company lays the groundwork to challenge the legitimacy of government's antitrust suit — WASHINGTON— AT&T Inc. is considering an unusual gambit …
Discussion:
New York Times, The Hill, Fortune and FierceCable
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Snapchat begins to roll out analytics tool for its top creators, including time spent viewing Stories, audience demographics and interests, and more — Snapchat has always been terrible at analytics, only showing daily Story view counts that content creators had to screenshot …
Discussion:
Tubefilter, @joshconstine, VentureBeat and @joshconstine, more at Techmeme »
John Koblin / New York Times:
Netflix signs five-year exclusive contract with Ryan Murphy, creator of American Horror Story and Glee; sources say deal is worth as much as $300M — The streaming giant Netflix has won yet another battle against old Hollywood. — On Tuesday night, Netflix announced that it had poached …
Discussion:
The Wrap, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Nerdist, USA Today, /Film, Tubefilter, The Ringer, Decider, Business Insider, io9, Consequence of Sound, The New York Observer, Vanity Fair, Bloody Disgusting!, The Verge, The Guardian, Netflix Media Center, Fast Company, @adinaporter, Forbes, TechCrunch, TVWeek.com, TV Tattle, The A.V. Club, TVLine, Broadcasting & Cable, Engadget, Variety, CNNMoney, @pkafka and EW.com
Columbia Journalism Review:
Experts say Trump's threats of a legal assault on media may actualize, and although big media has resources to mount defenses, smaller pubs may be unprepared — Trump so far has failed to follow through on his promised press assault. Could it still come? — 1743 WORDS
Discussion:
@timkarr