Top News:
Facebook:
Facebook removes 652 Pages, groups, and accounts on Facebook and Instagram after a FireEye tip led it to investigate inauthentic behavior out of Iran and Russia — Today we removed multiple Pages, groups and accounts for coordinated inauthentic behavior on Facebook and Instagram.
Discussion:
Fast Company, Press Gazette, Adweek, New York Times, Refinery29, Axios, FireEye, Wired, Business Insider, VICE News, The Week, BGR, Al Jazeera English, Fortune, @geoffreyfowler, @yarbatman, CBS San Francisco, @rasmus_kleis, Slate, Variety, 9to5Mac, The Daily Beast, KTLA, @selectedwisdom, @fireeye, @ridt, CBS Chicago, FOX40, @dseetharaman, The Wrap, Washington Post, @chrizap, @senblumenthal, Engadget, @codinghorror, @boingboing, The Guardian, TechCrunch, NPR, Mashable, The Verge, Recode, Mediaite, Peter O'Kelly's Reality Check, Wall Street Journal, The Hill and Washington Post, more at Techmeme »
Variety:
John Lithgow will play Roger Ailes in movie about the ex-Fox News chief while Russell Crowe takes on same role in Showtime's adaptation of Gabe Sherman's book — John Lithgow will play Roger Ailes, the Fox News chief who masterfully exploited the country's political divisions to rise …
Discussion:
The Wrap
Lesley Goldberg / Hollywood Reporter:
Warner Bros. TV has poached Jessica Jones creator and showrunner Melissa Rosenberg from Netflix with an eight-figure deal — Melissa Rosenberg will depart the Netflix Marvel drama after season three to create and develop new projects for the indie studio. — Melissa Rosenberg is on the move.
Discussion:
/Film, The Wrap, CinemaBlend and ScreenRant
Michael Barthel / Pew Research Center:
Pew Research says audiences for nearly every major section of the US news media fell in 2017, with radio the only exception — Every year since 2004, Pew Research Center has issued an annual assessment of the state of the news media that tracks key audience and economic indicators for a variety …
Oliver Darcy / CNNMoney:
In an internal McClatchy memo, CEO Craig Forman announces some furloughs, a freeze of some open jobs, and staff reductions of about 3.5%, or about 140 people — McClatchy, the publisher of more than two dozen daily newspapers across the country, will reduce its staff by approximately three …
Discussion:
@patriciamazzei, @joelmmathis, @rl_bynum, @rl_bynum, @kevglobal, @kevinrichert, @hlpreps, Facebook, @oliverdarcy, @oliverdarcy, @hlpreps, @fitsnews and @rl_bynum
Lucia Moses / Digiday:
Memo: Business Insider's politics, news, and military/defense teams being moved to Insider team, as Business Insider refocuses on business beat — Business Insider has over the past three years expanded outside of its core business coverage to general interest news, and now it's reorganizing to reflect that shift.
Discussion:
@bmorrissey, @ajs and @lmoses
Sahil Patel / Digiday:
Mic forms Mic Productions, focused on developing and selling longer-form video projects to streaming platforms and TV networks — Starting with Facebook Watch, millennial-focused news publisher Mic is going long by producing exclusive and licensed shows for streaming video platforms.
Eric Johnson / Recode:
Senator Ron Wyden says there should be “consequences” for social networks that fail to remove people like Alex Jones — Jones and his conspiracy-minded site Infowars have long since “blown past the bounds of common decency,” Wyden says. — Since 2016, everything …
Discussion:
@raju
Charisse Jones / USA Today:
Walmart partners with Rakuten Kobo to launch Walmart eBooks, with a catalog of 6M+ titles and a $9.99/month Audible-like subscription service for audiobooks — Walmart ratcheted up its battle with Amazon, planting a stake on the e-commerce giant's turf by selling e-books for the first time.
The New York Times Company:
The New York Times has promoted Middle East correspondent Ben Hubbard to Beirut bureau chief — Ben Hubbard has walked through a mass protest in Egypt with a GoPro on his head, covered bullfights on the Gulf of Oman, and discussed the theological fine points of beheading with clerics in Saudi Arabia.
Patricia Hernandez / The Verge:
Google launches experimental feature for Assistant users in the US that shares stories from Solutions Journalism Network when asked “tell me something good” — Good news, literally — Trying to keep up with the news might be aspirational, but these days, it can also be depressing.
Discussion:
The Wrap, Business Insider, TechCrunch, The Next Web, SlashGear and @soljourno, more at Techmeme »
The Argus:
Q&A with the founders of Byline Festival, a UK gathering run by journalists that brings the press, writers, musicians, and comedians together — Byline is the festival set up by journalists, for journalists. With far more than just music on offer, there is plenty to discuss, debate and dance to over the weekend.