Top News:
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 …
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 …
Discussion:
U.S. Department …, Mediaite, ABC News, ZDNet, Mother Jones, BetaNews, CBS Pittsburgh, VICE News, KTLA, 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:
Multichannel News, Business Insider, The New York Observer, Variety, The Wrap, TVNewser, Mediaite, @richarddeitsch, USA Today, @jdubs88, @amyargetsinger, @deftlyinane, @alexmsilverman, @sportspronick, @scottnover, @hotlinejosh, KTLA, ProFootballTalk, The Guardian, The Daily Caller, @editorialiste, The Big Lead, Recode, FierceCable, TV Tattle, New York Times and TMZ.com
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, The Daily Beast, @persuasivepr, Davis Wright Tremaine, @nicoleperlroth, @emptywheel, @harrisj, @jteedc, @jlownlaw and @markberman
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 …
Discussion:
Mediaite, New York Magazine, @bleedrake and New York Times
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:
Slate, @kevinddaly, The A.V. Club, Vanity Fair, The Guardian, Bookseller News, Variety, The Wrap, Deadline, TVWeek.com and Jezebel
Jessica Toonkel / Reuters:
NBC News planning online streaming service this year to attract younger viewers; company says it has no plans to bring any of its content back to Facebook — NEW YORK (Reuters) - Comcast Corp's NBC News plans to launch an online streaming service this year as part of its effort …
Discussion:
Multichannel News, FierceCable, Business Insider, The Hill, @gadinbc, @rwmead, @vivian, @whatthebit, @jason_kint, TVNewser and Variety
Denver Business Journal:
Digital First Media's Denver Post plans to cut its newsroom staff of ~90 by ~30%, after cutting 10 positions in December and more earlier — The Denver Post is cutting its newsroom staff by approximately 30 percent. — Jon Murray, the Denver Post's city hall reporter, tweeted the news …
Discussion:
Denver Westword, The Hill, @kevinmhamm, DFM Workers, @mattdelong, @mattdpearce, @byrosenberg, @davidsirota, @kdoctor, @kevinmhamm, @noelle_phillips, @hcgraham5, @5280magazine, @byjoelanderson, @ckrewson, @alex_burness, @joemurph, @nickijhabvala, @thenewsan, @sulliview, @fly_agaric, @kyleclark, @photojmatthew, @oldmanrumbach, @evanmlips and @coreyhutchins
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."
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 …
Siddhartha Deb / Columbia Journalism Review:
Police in India charge 37-year-old man for involvement in last year's fatal shooting of Gauri Lankesh, the editor and publisher of a Bangalore-based weekly — Burhaan Kinu/Hindustan Times via Getty Images — On March 3, almost six months after Gauri Lankesh, the editor and publisher …
Shan Wang / Nieman Lab:
The New York Times ends MyAlerts, email alerts that users could customize via keywords, after it found less than half a percent of readers used the service — The New York Times has sunset those custom email alerts to Times stories, that users could tailor based on keywords of their interests.