Top News:
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: DOJ is preparing to prosecute WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange; exact charges are unclear but could possibly involve the Espionage Act — Over the past year, U.S. prosecutors have discussed several types of charges they could potentially bring against the WikiLeaks founder
Discussion:
New York Times, The Intercept, Mediaite, @trevortimm, The Guardian, @dangillmor, Fast Company, @sulliview, @wikileaks, @asharangappa_, @devlinbarrett, @charlie_savage, @colmorrisdavis, @bradmossesq, @evan_greer, @markszaidesq, @chipgibbons89, @caitoz, @emptywheel, @matthewamiller, The Week, The Hill, Boing Boing, The Daily Caller, Politico and Peter O'Kelly's Reality Check
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Washington Post:
Court filings in an unrelated case and sources reveal prosecutors have charged Julian Assange under seal, but the nature of charges remains unclear — WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange has been charged under seal, prosecutors inadvertently revealed in a recently unsealed court filing …
Discussion:
@seamushughes, emptywheel, The Wrap, The Guardian, Associated Press, CNBC, Slate, @normeisen, NPR, Reuters, @mattzap, @mattzap, The Verge, The Daily Beast, Gizmodo, The Week, @sparrowmedia, @trevortimm, @jamesrbuk, The Daily Caller, TechCrunch, Al Jazeera, Engadget and Mediaite
CNN:
Judge orders White House to return Acosta's hard pass immediately citing violation of due process, thus granting CNN's request for a temporary restraining order — (CNN)Federal judge Timothy J. Kelly sided with CNN on Friday, ordering the White House to reinstate chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta's press pass.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Press Gazette, Hollywood Reporter, @schneidercnn, Ad Age, NPR, Newser, New York Times, Mediaite, Vox, @jameeljaffer, @farhip, @hadas_gold, @postbaron, @davidafrench, @erikwemple, @erikwemple and Fortune
CBS News:
In interview, Sheryl Sandberg says “we absolutely did not pay anyone to create fake news” and says she didn't know Facebook had hired Definers — A day after a searing investigation into Facebook by The New York Times, the company's chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, is defending herself and the social media giant.
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Karl Bode / Techdirt:
Facebook's use of Definers Public Affairs is by no means unique, mirroring the way the telecom industry uses think tanks, PR firms, and bogus news operations
Discussion:
New York Times, The Guardian, Mercury News, Recode, The Daily Beast, @karlbode and @daphnehk
NBC News:
Definers, the lobbying firm used by Facebook, runs a “news” site with positive posts on clients, negative posts on rivals, and a Facebook page followed by 120K+
Discussion:
New York Times, Slate, Vanity Fair, Business Insider, Investor's Business Daily, @natijomartinez, Engadget, @buzzfeedben, Financial Times, Washington Post, Axios, @mikeisaac, Recode, HuffPost, @sarahfrier, The Verge, @allmattnyt, @jacknicas, @allmattnyt, @bafeldman, @willoremus, @josh_emerson, @jank0, @jank0, @josh_emerson, @willoremus, @jank0, @yoda, @karlbode, @hunterschwarz, @mikeisaac, @donie, @zeynep, @oneunderscore__, @nbcnewstech, @oneunderscore__, @cwarzel and 9to5Mac, more at Techmeme »
Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:
Facebook to demote “borderline content” in News Feed by default and let users appeal content moderation decisions to an independent body — The new term is ‘borderline content’ — Facebook is once again tweaking how stories spread through the News Feed, this time going after posts that are …
Discussion:
Facebook, Facebook, CNN, @pt, @soleio, @goldman, @charliebeckett, The Next Web, Engadget, @facebook, @tfranti, @rezendi, @mathewi, VentureBeat, TechCrunch and The Hill, more at Techmeme »
Adam Bernstein / Washington Post:
William Goldman, Oscar-winning screenwriter of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and All the President's Men, dies at 87 — Badly hung over, the detective rises from a foldout couch in his office. He turns off the TV that has been on all night, dunks his head in ice water …
Discussion:
Deadline, Variety, Deadline, Business Insider, /Film, The Wrap, Vanity Fair, New York Times, @keitholbermann, @timobrien, The A.V. Club, The Guardian, NBC News, The Week and Slate
Marisa Guthrie / Hollywood Reporter:
Fox Sports and MLB extend their rights deal through 2028, expanding the network's digital and Spanish-language rights and adding more broadcast games — The pact keeps the World Series and All-Star game at Fox Sports, which also airs weekly games on its broadcast network.
Discussion:
Multichannel News, Variety, SportsBusiness Daily, Sports Video Group, Broadcasting & Cable, Deadline, TVWeek.com, Ad Age and The Wrap
Erik Wemple / Washington Post:
Journalists at The Capital, where five died in a shooting in June, continue their push to unionize with other nearby newsrooms as the Chesapeake News Guild — The Capital, a Maryland community newspaper where five employees were killed in June in a mass shooting, is pushing to unionize under …
Discussion:
Baltimore Fishbowl, @ckrewson, @phildavis_cg and The NewsGuild - CWA
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Viacom tops Q4 expectations with profit of $386M down from $674M in 2017, with revenue from cable operations falling 1% to $2.52B due to ad revenue shortfall — Viacom Inc. said net income in its fiscal fourth quarter fell as revenue slumped overseas and stayed flat with year-earlier results …
Discussion:
MediaPost, Broadcasting & Cable, The Wrap, Reuters and Hollywood Reporter
Laura Hazard Owen / Nieman Lab:
Reuters smart speakers study: 18% of owners in US use them daily for news, CNN, NPR lead as most popular news brands, users find news briefings too long — People are still much more likely to use smart speakers for music and weather than news. But that could change as news organizations …
Discussion:
Journalism.co.uk, Techdirt and VentureBeat, more at Techmeme »
Ed Christman / Billboard:
Universal Music Group reported $1.73B revenue for Q3 as streaming revenue hits $767M, a 37.6% increase YoY; parent Vivendi narrows bankers for partial UMG sale — Parent company Vivendi says it is narrowing down banks to help sell as much as half of the major record label.
Discussion:
RAIN News, Variety and Financial Times
Benjamin Oreskes / Los Angeles Times:
After covering last year's Oroville dam failure, Chico Enterprise-Record editor David Little knew to prioritize nuts-and-bolts information for the CA Camp fire — It's an iconic if horrifying shot of the Camp fire pulverizing Paradise — a large ball of grayish-black smoke with fire radiating on the right …
Discussion:
Poynter, @mattdpearce, @ddiamond, @johnnykats, @marymactv, @robertsalonga, @shelbygrad and @karlmondon
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