Top News:
Karl Bode / Motherboard:
Report: after years of steady decline, BitTorrent usage is once again growing, thanks to the fragmentation of streaming services with exclusive content — BitTorrent usage has bounced back because there's too many streaming services, and too much exclusive content.
Discussion:
@kevincarson1, Polygon, @imrejele, @derektmead, @karlbode, The Next Web and @theblacknerd
Ben Hubbard / New York Times:
Journalist and Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi disappeared on Tuesday after visiting Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul to obtain a doc he needed to get married — BEIRUT — A veteran journalist from Saudi Arabia who has become a sharp critic of the country's leadership was detained Tuesday …
Jon Levine / The Wrap:
CBS reporter Bianna Golodryga has been named a co-host of “CBS This Morning” — CBS reporter Bianna Golodryga has been named a co-host of “CBS This Morning,” the network announced in a statement Wednesday. She will join up with the show's current hosts Gayle King, Norah O'Donnell and John Dickerson.
Discussion:
TVNewser and Broadcasting & Cable
Mark Sweney / The Guardian:
UK newspaper The Daily Telegraph is putting most of its politics, business, and rugby coverage behind a paywall, as it cuts back on free content — Title increases amount of ‘premium’ content as it seeks to pull in more paying readers — The Telegraph is to put the vast majority of its politics …
Jessica Davies / Digiday:
Axel Springer's ad division is using the Cambridge Analytica controversy to try to convince advertisers the publisher has more user trust than Facebook does — Axel Springer is now using fallout from the Cambridge Analytica scandal to press its case that advertisers should be wary of Facebook.
Craig Silverman / BuzzFeed News:
Singapore legislation, expected to pass next year, will give the government “powers to swiftly disrupt the spread and influence of online falsehoods” — Government hearings in Singapore put Facebook under intense scrutiny and have paved the way for a new fake news law in the country.
Discussion:
American Press Institute, @venkatananth, @mat, @kixes and @craigsilverman
Tim Ingham / Music Business Worldwide:
Filing: Warner Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment bought 68M+ shares in Tencent Music Entertainment ahead of its US IPO for a cash aggregate of ~$200M — MBW has started digging through Tencent Music Entertainment's IPO filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Discussion:
CNBC, Rolling Stone, Financial Times, South China Morning Post, Billboard, BBC, CNBC, Bloomberg, hypebot, Variety, RAIN News and Reuters
Maureen Ryan / Hollywood Reporter:
Brad Kern, a consulting producer on NCIS: New Orleans, has been fired by CBS Television Studios following a third HR probe into harassment and other allegations — A third investigation into the former ‘NCIS: New Orleans’ showrunner has resulted in his dismissal from the CBS procedural and his overall deal being terminated.
Discussion:
HuffPost, @moryan, @moryan, @ira, @emilynussbaum, @bergopolis, @spacekatgal, @bridgetontv, @poniewozik, New York Times, Vulture, The Daily Beast, Slate, The Wrap, Variety, TVWeek.com and TV Tattle
Lucia Moses / Digiday:
Publishers are wary of Apple News given the company's secretive culture, disdain for advertising, and the fact that big traffic doesn't translate to more money — You can't blame publishers for being wary when a giant Silicon Valley tech platform comes to them promising big new audiences and (someday) a way to make money off them.
Discussion:
AppleInsider and 9to5Mac, more at Techmeme »
Melina Delkic / New York Times:
How three New York Times reporters spent over a year combing through 100K+ documents and interviewing people to uncover the source of Trump's wealth — Three reporters spent over a year digging through more than 100,000 pages of documents and chasing down key sources familiar with President Trump's father and his empire.
Discussion:
Law & Crime, Bloomberg, ABC News, Vanity Fair, AOL, FOX6Now.com, CNNMoney and Fortune
Jem Aswad / Variety:
Sony's Ministry of Sound in the UK strikes a deal with Apple Music to provide exclusive playlists starting Thursday, effectively shutting out Spotify — Apple Music and the Ministry of Sound label have struck an exclusive playlist deal that will effectively shut out Spotify, a rep for Apple confirmed to Variety.
Discussion:
Music Business Worldwide, Fast Company, Fortune, TechCrunch, @kierondonoghue and MacRumors
Daniel Funke / Poynter:
The Google News Initiative has launched a beta version of a search engine to find fact-checking posts from sources like Snopes and PolitiFact — Google wants to make it easier for people to find fact checks. To do that, the company is building another version of what it's most known for: a search engine.