Top News:


Congressman says office of FCC inspector general, a nonpartisan internal watchdog, is investigating the relationship between Ajit Pai and Sinclair Broadcasting — WASHINGTON — Last April, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Ajit Pai, led the charge for his agency …

Chartbeat: AMP traffic to publishers increased 100% since 2017 as mobile dominates traffic growth; Parse.ly data shows Facebook referral traffic fell to 25.3% — According to new data from Chartbeat, the vast majority of traffic growth publishers are seeing from platforms is now coming from Google AMP …
Discussion:
Recode, Accelerated Mobile …, Digiday and Marketing Land, more at Techmeme »


How Facebook prioritizing friends' content with many comments led to a post reappearing atop people's News Feed over and over, increasing “engagement” even more — Last Saturday — 12 days ago now — I shared a cringeworthy video on Facebook: a 6-minute clip …
Discussion:
@oliverdarcy, @cwarzel, @katienotopoulos, @annehelen, @dominicholden and @aahaworth, more at Techmeme »
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Facebook partners with Lyft, Chase, Save the Children, and others to bolster its Community Help efforts by offering more information on food, transport, shelter — Facebook is amping up its Community Help efforts, now enabling companies like Lyft, Chase, International Medical Corps and Save …

UK magazine circulation July-December 2017: Economist up 8% YoY, Fortune EU down 32%, Spectator at all-time high as editor lauds digital for rising print sales — Spectator editor Fraser Nelson has said digital is behind a “renaissance” of print sales, which he said were at an all-time high …
Discussion:
Coffee House, WWD and One Man & His Blog


A look at the complicated case of Quinn Norton and The New York Times, in which the NYT compounded its apparent lack of due diligence with surrender to the mob — Tuesday afternoon, The New York Times announced it was hiring an opinion writer named Quinn Norton to write about “the power, culture, and consequences of technology.”
Discussion:
New York Magazine, Slate, @bydanielvictor, @lpolgreen and @lorenraedej


Layoffs hit Condé Nast's Vanity Fair and Glamour, with net cuts eventually to equal about 12 positions at Vanity Fair and 5 at Glamour — Samantha Barry and Radhika Jones are cleaning house. — Condé Nast's new editors in chief are cleaning house.
Discussion:
Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap, Fashionista and @mlcalderone

New analysis shows 36K tweets from Internet Research Agency linked most often to Breitbart News, then Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle; RT ranked 19th — Russia's disinformation campaign during the 2016 presidential election relied heavily on stories produced by major American news sources …
Discussion:
Jonathan Albright


Tegna acquires Midwest Television's radio and TV stations in San Diego for $325M; it now owns 47 TV stations and two radio stations in 39 markets — TEGNA is adding to its station group, finalizing its $325 million cash deal for Midwest Television, Inc.'s stations in San Diego, including KFMB …
Discussion:
Radio & Television … and Broadcasting & Cable


How the nondisclosure agreement became a tool for powerful people to stymie journalists from informing the public — At this writing, the cast of characters in the sexual harassment scandals that have been carpet-bombing the media continues to expand. Every day new women come forward to say they've had a bad experience.


District court judge says using image from tweet in a news story could violate copyright, in a case involving multiple news outlets including Vox Media, Gannett — The defendants including Breitbart, Time, Vox and the Boston Globe warned a loss would “cause a tremendous chilling effect on the core functionality of the web.”
Discussion:
@andrewdfish, @jeffjohnroberts and @annalecta

Study of digital subscription costs at 100 US newspapers finds weekly costs range from $0.46 to $7.85 and the median digital subscription price is $2.31/week — The dual-revenue model of print advertising and home delivery subscriptions that historically sustained newspapers is fading.
Discussion:
Nieman Lab