Top News:
Shannon Liao / The Verge:
Snap apologizes for approving 3rd-party ad with “would you rather” options for slapping Rihanna, punching Chris Brown; Rihanna rejects apology — 'I'd love to call it ignorance, but I know you ain't that dumb!' — Rihanna posted an Instagram Story today to denounce Snapchat …
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CNN:
Trump administration announces new Russia sanctions on 5 entities, including IRA, and 19 individuals, in response to US election interference and cyberattacks — Putin's ‘chef,’ the man behind the troll factory — Washington (CNN)The Trump administration announced Thursday it is enacting …
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U.S. Department …, Mediaite, ABC News, @markwarner, ZDNet, CBS Pittsburgh, VICE News, @bobbychesney, KTLA, BetaNews, @repgallagher, Mother Jones, BloombergQuint and Washington Post, more at Techmeme »
James Andrew Miller / Hollywood Reporter:
Interview with former ESPN President John Skipper, who resigned in December citing substance addiction; he says someone tried to extort him for buying cocaine — The former network chief goes public in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter about the real reason behind his abrupt departure …
Discussion:
The Wrap, TVWeek.com, USA Today, ProFootballTalk, @scottnover, @claytravis, @deftlyinane, Business Insider, @alexmsilverman, The New York Observer, @jdubs88, @editorialiste, KTLA, @richarddeitsch, @hotlinejosh, @frankpallotta, The Big Lead, @rjinvegas, @amyargetsinger, @sportspronick, The Daily Caller, @kbandersen, Variety, Multichannel News, The Guardian, TVNewser, Recode, Mediaite, TV Tattle, New York Times, FierceCable and TMZ.com
Jeffrey Dastin / Reuters:
Leaked docs: by early 2017, Amazon's US audience for all Prime Video programming was ~26M, its top TV shows drew 5M+ people worldwide to Prime membership — (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc's top television shows drew more than 5 million people worldwide to its Prime shopping club by early 2017 …
Discussion:
The New York Observer, Multichannel News, Variety, The Ringer, Deadline, Fortune, FierceCable, TechCrunch, IndieWire, The Verge, @blue439, @tmcmill81, Engadget, @aherman2006, Mashable, @drtvlotz, MacRumors, @richbtig, [H]ardOCP News/Article Feed, Fast Company, TV Tattle and Seeking Alpha, more at Techmeme »
Laura Hazard Owen / Nieman Lab:
Q&A with WikiTribune editor Peter Bane on registered user growth from 1.7K to 8K in five months, how News Agenda decisions are made, transparency efforts, more — “It is a product for people of good will — which I know sounds ridiculously naive, but so far it's working quite well."
Discussion:
@wikitribune
Ezra Klein / Vox:
Trump's nomination of CNBC's Larry Kudlow is another instance of the feedback loop between the president and cable news — In Kudlow, the cable news president has found a cable news economist. — If appointing CNBC commentator Larry Kudlow to run the National Economic Council …
Peter Kafka / Recode:
theSkimm raises $12M led by GV to build more subscription services, says it has 7M readers who open its newsletter at least once a month — The startup has a newsletter with seven million subscribers, but it wants more revenue sources. — TheSkimm started out as a newsletter aimed at millennial women …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, @z911empire, @theskimm, @mdudas, @mgsiegler, @dheerja and @gvteam
New York Times:
Harper Lee's estate sues over Aaron Sorkin's adaptation of Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird for Broadway, saying it deviates too much from the novel — One of the year's most anticipated Broadway plays — the screenwriter Aaron Sorkin's adaptation of Harper Lee's novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” …
Discussion:
NPR, KTLA, Slate, @kevinddaly, The Guardian, @ditzkoff, Bookseller News, The A.V. Club, Vanity Fair, Variety, The Wrap, Deadline, TVWeek.com and Jezebel
The Guardian:
Guardian report on gender pay gap: men paid 11.3% more, top-paid workers are 65% male; outlet aims for 50/50 gender balance in top half of organization by 2023 — Difference between men and women in editorial is 7.4% … The gender pay gap at Guardian News & Media is 11.3% …
Discussion:
Forbes
Josh Gerstein / Politico:
BuzzFeed uses Cohen libel suit over Russia dossier to demand Stormy Daniels keep Trump and Cohen records; move may lead to her testimony about Trump despite NDA — BuzzFeed may have found a legal opening to allow the porn actress Stormy Daniels to discuss her alleged relationship …
Discussion:
BuzzFeed, NBC News, Techdirt, @blakehounshell, The Daily Beast, Davis Wright Tremaine, @persuasivepr, @nicoleperlroth, @emptywheel, @harrisj, @jteedc, @jlownlaw and @markberman
Sam Jones / The Guardian:
Amnesty International says increased prosecutions under Spanish anti-terror law restrict freedom of expression, cites lyrics, satire, jokes on social media — Charity urges repeal of article 578, which they say has restricted freedom of expression … Amnesty International has warned that an …
Discussion:
Columbia Journalism Review, @amnestyuk and @kenroth
Lisa de Moraes / Deadline:
Shep Smith signs multiyear deal with Fox News, renewing his status as the channel's chief news anchor and managing editor of breaking news — Fox News Channel has re-upped its Chief News Anchor and Managing Editor of Breaking News Shepard Smith to a new multiyear deal.