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At antitrust trial, AT&T CEO announced AT&T Watch, a $15/month streaming TV bundle without sports; service is free for cellular customers, will debut in weeks — Here's a different way to announce a new product — during your testimony in a federal court case.
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Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, USA Today, TechCrunch, MediaPost, Washington Post, Exstreamist, FierceCable, Gizmodo, @b_fung, MacRumors, Engadget, Multichannel News, @eriqgardner, FierceCable and BGR, more at Techmeme »
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In court, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson says Time Warner deal would help AT&T keep up with tech giants, sending content directly to viewers and improving ad sales — Why the AT&T-Time Warner trial matters — After weeks of testimony from economists, survey experts and rival executives …
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Variety, VideoInk, @hadas_gold, Light Reading, Multichannel News, @b_fung, @hadas_gold, @dallasnews, New York Times, Axios, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Dallas Morning News, CNBC and CNNMoney


Comey memos detail Trump's idea of jailing reporters, first reported in 2017: “They spend a couple days in jail, make a new friend, and they are ready to talk” — The president wanted to stop leaks pouring from the White House. — President Donald Trump floated the idea …
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Mediaite, @kylepope, Multichannel News, New York Times, The Daily Beast, Washington Post, @jameeljaffer, CNN, Talking Points Memo, Hollywood Reporter, The Hill, @tomjonesnbc and AOL


Investigation: 300+ organizations' ads ran on extremist YouTube channels despite many advertisers saying they use YouTube's sensitive subject exclusion filter — Advocates say YouTube is collecting kids' data — Ads from over 300 companies and organizations — including tech giants …
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Fortune, Variety, Ad Age, Business Insider, MarketWatch, The Wrap, The Next Web, @derekwillis, Mediaite, The Hill, @donie, @gelles and @donie, more at Techmeme »


Pew: 58% in US prefer to protect the freedom to publish rather than letting government restrict false info; 56% favor tech firms restricting false information — But 56% support steps from technology companies, even if it means some limits on publishing and accessing information
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The Guardian, Poynter, Fast Company, MediaPost, @pewjournalism, @yeyoza, @pewresearch, @pewresearch, @michaelbarthel and Pew Research Center


Witness says a Myanmar police chief ordered officers to “trap” Reuters reporter Wa Lone by giving him secret documents; Reuters EIC calls to end the case — Shoon Naing, Antoni Slodkowski — YANGON (Reuters) - A Myanmar police chief ordered officers to “trap” …
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Newser, Reuters, Associated Press and Committee to Protect …


Cheddar and Hulu make a deal to bring Cheddar's live linear content to Hulu Live TV, with daily news briefs and other content coming to Hulu on-demand — Cheddar isn't done making deals with the over-the-top streaming TV providers. Only yesterday, news came out that Cheddar was the first digital …

German Supreme Court rules that ad blockers are legal, in favor of Adblock Plus, and throws out a case brought by Axel Springer — KARLSRUHE/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany's Supreme Court on Thursday threw out a case brought by Axel Springer seeking to ban a popular application …
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VentureBeat, Wall Street Journal, BBC, Engadget and @jason_kint, more at Techmeme »


Over 60 Pakistani journalists condemn curbs on freedom of expression as op-ed columns are dropped, articles are taken down, and Geo TV appears to be blocked — More than 60 leading journalists, op-ed writers and editors of some major newspapers in Pakistan have condemned what they said are …
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Pakistan Today, Economist, Bloomberg, Business Standard, Hindustan Times and Journeys to democracy


A look at Facebook's month-long rollout of its fact-checking tool and its partners in Mexico, Indonesia, the Philippines, India, and Colombia — What started as a pilot project 16 months ago is now one of Facebook's primary weapons against fake news. — During his testimony to Congress last week …
Discussion:
Peter O'Kelly's Reality Check


Jen Wong, former Time Inc. president of digital and COO, joins Reddit as COO and will focus on business strategy and growth, both of revenue and users — Wong departed Time Inc. after it was acquired by Meredith Corp. in January — Digital media veteran Jen Wong has been named Reddit's …
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Upvoted, Recode, Variety, New York Post, Mediawire, Business Insider and @onewong, more at Techmeme »


By December 2017, 28 out of Hearst's top 50 stories had research or original reporting, up from one in January, as average time spent per visitor grew — Digital scale used to be the watchword at Hearst Magazines, but it's now joining the stampede to original reporting.
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@digiday, @lmoses and @josephminer