Mediagazer: Scroll, an upcoming $5-a-month service that removes ads on outlets' sites in exchange for a cut of subscription revenue, signs up The Atlantic, Slate, others (Benjamin Mullin/Wall Street Journal)

12:00 PM ET, February 23, 2018

Top News:

Issie Lapowsky / Wired:

Group of public radio stations is buying assets of Gothamist, LAist, DCist, and DNAInfo, funded by 2 anonymous donors; Gothamist to post new stories this spring — AFTER BILLIONAIRE JOE Ricketts announced the shuttering of local news organizations Gothamist and DNAInfo last fall …

Discussion: www.wnyc.org, @issielapowsky, 89.3 KPCC, Poynter, WPIX 11 New York, @marketurbanism, @abeaujon, @abeaujon, @melissaleu, New York City, NY Patch and Washingtonian

Jacqueline Thomsen / The Hill:

Trump repeats claim in a tweet, and CNN refutes it for the second time, that CNN scripted a town hall question for a school shooting survivor — went after CNN over a Florida school shooting survivor's claim that he didn't participate in a CNN town hall because the network wouldn't let him ask …

New York Times:

NRATV, the online streaming arm of NRA media, keeps producing pugilistic messages even after school shootings and pushes mistrust in traditional news — NRATV, the organization's online video channel, has become a little-noticed but vital forum for the dissemination of some of the most strident pro-gun messaging in politics.

Discussion: Deadline, Fast Company, The New York Observer, CNN, Variety, New York Times, Jezebel, News & Guts Media, The Week, The Gateway Pundit, Mediaite, Washington Post, Gizmodo, Refinery29, Mashable, KTLA, AOL and The Wrap

Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal:

Scroll, an upcoming $5-a-month service that removes ads on outlets' sites in exchange for a cut of subscription revenue, signs up The Atlantic, Slate, others — Business Insider, the Atlantic and Fusion Media have signed up for Scroll, a coming subscription service that will charge consumers $5 …

Discussion: Nieman Lab, Scroll Blog, USA Today, Poynter, Editor & Publisher and Forbes

Charlie Warzel / BuzzFeed:

Google, YouTube, and Facebook don't find misinformation and hoaxes quickly enough after tragedies, may need breaking news teams to scan for misleading content — In the first hours after last October's mass shooting in Las Vegas, my colleague Ryan Broderick noticed something peculiar …

Discussion: @annehelen, @moryan, @hamburger, @mat, @brynnderella, @kantrowitz and @hshaban, more at Techmeme »

Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:

CBS News correspondent Margaret Brennan is named host of Face the Nation, currently the only female solo anchor of a major Sunday political affairs show — WASHINGTON — Margaret Brennan, the senior foreign affairs correspondent for CBS News, will be the next moderator of “Face the Nation …

Discussion: Mediaite, @neal_katyal, @anncurry, The Wrap, Fort Smith/Fayetteville News, TVNewser and Broadcasting & Cable

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Anchor's redesigned app is a one stop shop for podcasting where users can record, edit, host, publish, and distribute podcasts with analytics — Broadcasting app Anchor, which helps anyone record and share audio, is relaunching its app today with a new focus on serving the larger podcaster community.

Discussion: @jonsteinberg, Engadget, Variety, The Verge and 9to5Google

Terry Ganey / Gateway Journalism Review:

Inside the downfall of Missouri's Columbia Daily Tribune as layoffs leave the paper with one full-time reporter 18 months after it was acquired by GateHouse — COLUMBIA, Mo. — Eighteen months after GateHouse Media bought the family-owned Columbia Daily Tribune, the staff has been slashed …

Discussion: @mattdpearce, @skjdrama, @scfehr1, @allisonprang, @wibwjonathan, @kclarkcollege and @kwsnet

Cynthia Littleton / Variety:

Source: 21st Century Fox nears deal with Sinclair to buy at least 6 Tribune-owned TV stations in Seattle, Denver, Salt Lake City, Sacramento, Cleveland, Miami — 21st Century Fox is closing in on an agreement with Sinclair Broadcast Group to buy at least six TV stations …

Discussion: FierceCable, Deadline and TVSpy

Shan Wang / Nieman Lab:

The Wall Street Journal uses 60+ signals and machine learning to give non-subscribers individually tailored access levels based on their propensity to subscribe — Non-subscribers visiting WSJ.com now get a score, based on dozens of signals, that indicates how likely they'll be to subscribe.

Discussion: Editor & Publisher, Peter O'Kelly's Reality Check, @jbenton, @caleweissman, @jbenton, @tcb, @jbenton and @richardrubindc

Wall Street Journal:

Analysis finds algorithms designed by Facebook, Google, and others often struggle to detect doctored images and videos, a key tool for misinformation efforts — The tech company's filters can't adequately detect misinformation distributed through altered images

Discussion: @wsj and @dseetharaman

Daniel Funke / Poynter:
Facebook's tool for fact-checking partners only lets them flag links, not videos or memes; Facebook says it's working on a way to add images to the tool

Discussion: @dseetharaman, @anxiaostudio, @dpfunke, @mantzarlis, @dseetharaman and @dpfunke

Daniel Funke / Poynter:
Doctored screenshots of a Miami Herald story about a school shooting threat appeared to circulate via Snapchat, which has previously seen virtually no fake news

Discussion: @sdkstl, @walldo and @poynter

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Product Hunt launches Sip, a Twitter Moments-style distilled tech news newsletter for iOS and Android, in beta — “We didn't want to create another app thirsty for attention” writes Product Hunt CEO Ryan Hoover. So instead of a constant stream of fresh stories and alerts …

Discussion: @joshconstine and The Next Web

Matt Donnelly / The Wrap:

Sources: Investor group, led by Maria Contreras-Sweet, Ron Burkle, is closer to purchasing The Weinstein Company after talk with New York AG Eric Schneiderman — $500 million deal to sell studio seems healthier after Wednesday sit down — A group of investors inched closer to completing …

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, Forbes, Los Angeles Times, grubstreet, Deadline and Variety

Adrian Chen / New Yorker:

A reluctant expert on the Internet Research Agency examines how his statements get used by partisans, just as they used the tweets from Facebook's Rob Goldman — Whenever the Internet Research Agency is in the news, I get a sinking feeling in my stomach. I was one of the first U.S. journalists …