Top News:
New York Times:
Sources: Barack and Michelle Obama are in advanced talks with Netflix to produce a series of exclusive shows, possibly highlighting inspirational stories — WASHINGTON — Former President Barack Obama is in advanced negotiations with Netflix to produce a series of high-profile shows …
Discussion:
Variety, CNNMoney, The Wrap, Deadline, Mediaite, Hollywood Reporter, IndieWire, 9to5Mac, @brianstelter, The A.V. Club, @kateyrich, @peterhamby, @daveleebbc, @shearm, @sloiaconi, Engadget, Mashable, TV Tattle and TMZ.com
Maria Temming / Science News:
Study of 4.5M+ tweets from 2006 to 2017 confirms inaccurate news spreads faster and further than true stories, and humans, not bots, are primarily to blame — An analysis of 4.5 million tweets shows falsehoods are 70 percent more likely to get shared — There's been a lot of talk …
StarWars.com:
Iron Man director Jon Favreau to write and produce a live-action Star Wars series for Disney's new streaming service — The director of Iron Man and The Jungle Book will helm the series for Disney's new direct-to-consumer platform. — Lucasfilm is excited to announce that Emmy-nominated producer …
Discussion:
/Film, Hollywood Reporter, IndieWire, The Wrap, The Daily Caller, @therealfta, Consequence of Sound, The Verge, Forbes, The Ringer, Business Insider, New York Times, The A.V. Club, Collider, Polygon, Mashable, Engadget, Variety, @reignofapril, The New York Observer, Slate, Fast Company, TechCrunch, Gizmodo, Fortune and HYPEBEAST, more at Techmeme »
Mike Fleming / Deadline:
Netflix buys rights to Extreme Universe comics from Rob Liefeld, creator of Deadpool, in a seven-figure deal — EXCLUSIVE: Netflix has bet big on the Extreme Universe of graphic novel characters hatched by Rob Liefeld, whose disruptive Deadpool creation was the blockbuster movie surprise of 2016.
Charlie Warzel / BuzzFeed:
Sources: Jared Kushner talked to David Brock and Univision chair Haim Saban about buying New York Observer in January 2017; source says $20M price ended talks — Just days before heading to a West Wing job, Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, was secretly engaged in talks to sell …
Discussion:
Splinter
New York Times:
New York Times obituaries now feature Overlooked, a series on women and people of color who hadn't received obituaries when they died, starting with 15 women — The poet Sylvia Plath and the novelist Charlotte Brontë. Ida B. Wells, the anti-lynching activist.
Discussion:
TVWeek.com, New York Times, New York Times, kottke.org, Jezebel, Fortune, The A.V. Club, @teganandsara, @rwitherspoon, @yolandayoungesq, @annfriedman, @stine, Glossy, @melindagates, Mashable, www.wnyc.org, Glamour, @jessicabennett, @nytimes, @emilygmonster, @emilymbadger, @hadleyfreeman, @kgeee, @jameskarst, @keithboykin, @joyannreid, @pamelacolloff, @michelebgoodwin, The Wrap, @andrewdasnyt, @dancohen, @palafo, @vurnt22, Lylah Alphonse, @lourdesgnavarro, @stu_bot3000 and @georgiastitt
Oliver Darcy / CNNMoney:
Fox News settles suit with Diana Falzone, who said she was demoted after writing about her medical disorder; lawyer says she has left the company — Diana Falzone, a reporter who covered entertainment and issues related to sexual harassment, has settled a lawsuit with Fox News and left the company …
Discussion:
Mediaite
Reporters Without Borders:
Egyptian prosecutors seek death sentence for photojournalist Mahmoud Abou Zeid, who was arrested in 2013 during an anti-government protest while on assignment — Organisation — RSF_en — Prosecutors have requested a death sentence for Mahmoud Abou Zeid, an Egyptian photojournalist known …
Discussion:
Middle East Eye, @kristenmctighe, @freeegyptpress and @malikramzanisra
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Google says it is taking the lessons it has learned from AMP and is applying them to web standards that could allow instant loading for non-AMP web content — Can the most contentious piece of the web form the basis of a new standard? — In a blog post today, Google is announcing …
Discussion:
Accelerated Mobile …, Search Engine Journal, 9to5Google, TechCrunch, Search Engine Land, Mashable, Engadget and ZDNet, more at Techmeme »
Wall Street Journal:
Analysis shows that IRA-backed trolls flooded social media to oppose Romney as a possible secretary of state, following claims that Russia was opposed to him — Online campaign targeted the ex-GOP nominee as Donald Trump considered him in late 2016 — Weeks after Donald Trump was elected president …
Discussion:
The Hill, more at Techmeme »
David McCabe / Axios:
Lobbying group that includes Twitter, Reddit, and Automattic asks for changes to anti-sex-trafficking bill to make it easier for smaller companies to implement — A group of web companies including Twitter, Reddit and Yelp are mounting a last-ditch effort to modify an anti-trafficking bill …
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, The Hill and Techdirt, more at Techmeme »
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Lester Holt on changes to news broadcasts: focus is on scoops, exclusive interviews, and on-site reporting, given that viewers already know the day's news — Even as NBC News takes a moment to celebrate the history of its flagship evening newscast, Lester Holt says he's ready to keep covering the history of the modern world.
Discussion:
TVNewser