Top News:
CNNMoney:
At antitrust trial, AT&T CEO announced AT&T Watch, a $15/month bundle with no sports, offered free for AT&T Wireless subscribers; debut planned in several weeks — Here's a different way to announce a new product — during your testimony in a federal court case.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Wall Street Journal, MediaPost, MacRumors, @b_fung, Engadget, Multichannel News, @eriqgardner, FierceCable and BGR, more at Techmeme »
RELATED:
CNNMoney:
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 …
Discussion:
Variety, @hadas_gold, @b_fung, @hadas_gold, Multichannel News, @dallasnews, New York Times, Axios, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Dallas Morning News, CNBC, CNNMoney and Variety
CNNMoney:
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 …
Discussion:
Variety, Fortune, Ad Age, Business Insider, MarketWatch, The Wrap, The Next Web, @derekwillis, The Hill, Mediaite, @donie, @gelles and @donie, more at Techmeme »
Pew Research Center:
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
Discussion:
The Guardian, Poynter, Fast Company, MediaPost, @pewjournalism, @yeyoza, @pewresearch, @pewresearch, @michaelbarthel and Pew Research Center, more at Techmeme »
Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Michael Cohen drops libel lawsuits against BuzzFeed and Fusion GPS over publication of Steele dossier, which alleges he met with Russian operatives for Trump — Embattled attorney Michael Cohen has dropped a pair of much-touted libel suits against BuzzFeed and the private investigation firm Fusion GPS …
Discussion:
Poynter, NBC News, Wall Street Journal, Hollywood Reporter, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, Above the Law, NY State of Politics, NPR, Vanity Fair, The Daily Caller, The Guardian, East Bay Times, Law & Crime, Newser, iMediaEthics, New York Post, AOL, Bloomberg, @natashabertrand, Washington Post, Newsy, The Week, The Wrap, @drdenagrayson, Axios, @mattmittenthal, The Daily Beast, Bustle, UPROXX, New York Times and TMZ.com
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
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 …
Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg / Wall Street Journal:
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 …
Discussion:
Recode, Upvoted, Variety, New York Post, Mediawire, Business Insider and @onewong, more at Techmeme »
Tony Maglio / The Wrap:
SEC filing on Murdoch earnings from Disney-21st Century Fox deal: Rupert Murdoch, $66.7M; Lachlan Murdoch, $69.1M; and James Murdoch, $70.6M — The Murdochs have a lot of money, and once Disney's $52.4 billion acquisition of the bulk of 21st Century Fox goes through, Fox's top executives …
Discussion:
Variety, Business Insider, Deadline and Wall Street Journal
RELATED:
Daniel Funke / Poynter:
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
Nick Visser / HuffPost:
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 …
Discussion:
New York Times, The Daily Beast, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, Hollywood Reporter, The Hill and @tomjonesnbc
Reuters:
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 …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, BBC, Engadget and @jason_kint, more at Techmeme »
Lucia Moses / Digiday:
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.
Discussion:
@digiday, @lmoses and @josephminer