Mediagazer: Sources: New York Yankees in talks with Amazon, Sinclair about joint bid for the team's regional network, YES, that Disney must sell as part of Fox acquisition (Wall Street Journal)

Top News:

1400+ pages of leaked Facebook content rules show the site is censoring mainstream speech in some countries while extremist language flourishes in others — Under fire for stirring up distrust and violence, the social network has vowed to police its users. But leaked documents raise serious questions about its approach.

Patrick Radden Keefe / New Yorker:

A profile of Mark Burnett, the Hollywood producer behind the TV hit “The Apprentice” which elevated Trump from a tabloid figure of fun to an icon of success — With “The Apprentice,” the TV producer mythologized Trump—then a floundering D-lister—as the ultimate titan, paving his way to the Presidency.

Discussion: TVWeek.com, Vanity Fair, The Week, Decider, @andreachalupa, bookforum.com, @janemayernyer, The Wrap, @joenbc, @poniewozik, Mediaite, @pamelacolloff, The Daily Caller, Deadline and The Daily Beast

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: New York Yankees in talks with Amazon, Sinclair about joint bid for the team's regional network, YES, that Disney must sell as part of Fox acquisition — Baseball team has also spoken with Altice USA and RedBird Capital about buying remaining 80% stake from Disney

Discussion: Deadline, TVWeek.com, Fast Company and Fortune

Peter Rubin / Wired:

Netflix debuts its first choose-your-own-storyline movie, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, developed over 18 months using Twine, a game writing tool — BY NEARLY ANY measure, Netflix has had a ridiculous year. When all is said and done, the company will have spent upwards of $10 billion …

Discussion: The Wrap, New York Times, Variety, The Guardian, CNN, BBC, Hollywood Reporter and UPROXX

Matthew Schafer / BuzzFeed News:

A look at the role public records played in BuzzFeed News reporting in 2018, a year during which it filed ten FOIA lawsuits in federal courts — Texas was in a bind. The manufacturer of pentobarbital, the drug Texas uses to execute death row inmates, had prohibited its distributors …

Mark Zuckerberg:

Zuckerberg posts an overview of Facebook's efforts in 2018 to prevent harm on its services, like fighting hate speech and misinformation, adding ad transparency — For 2018, my personal challenge has been to focus on addressing some of the most important issues facing our community …

Discussion: BuzzFeed News, The Hill, Boing Boing, Mashable, @rmac18, @sarahfrier, @stevekopack and The Week, more at Techmeme »

Shirin Ghaffary / Recode:

How unions can protect staff at digital media publishers during layoffs and mergers and the limits of their powers — Newly formed unions have been warning employees that winter is coming. Now that it has arrived, what can a union actually do about it? — 2018 has been a bumpy year for digital media publishers.

Discussion: @rkgwork and @rkgwork

Alex Marshall / New York Times:

As Turkey's TV shows gain in popularity worldwide, Netflix produces its first Turkish show, free from the “decency” regulations that govern TV broadcasters — LONDON — On a recent evening, Nahid Akhtar, 47, sat on a sofa in London shouting at a TV.

Craig Silverman / BuzzFeed News:

An NYT story about a disinformation experiment in Alabama election didn't disclose its reporter had spoken at an event organised by the company behind it — Last week the New York Times revealed that money from tech billionaire Reid Hoffman was used to run a small disinformation “experiment” …

Discussion: The Week, Mashable and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

Laura Kayali / Politico:

David Kaye, the UN's Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Opinion, says Trump is the worst perpetrator of false information in the US — The President of the United States is the “worst” perpetrator of misinformation on the internet, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Freedom …

Discussion: @attalidesm, @dktatlow, @sarah_boxer, @malloryknodel, The Daily Caller and Mediaite

Wolfgang Spahr / Billboard:

German music channel Viva is shutting down on December 31 after 25 years; parent company Viacom wants to focus on MTV, Comedy Central, and Nickelodeon — Viva, the Viacom-owned music video channel in Germany, will officially close up shop on Dec. 31, ending a 25-year run.

David Goldman / CNN:

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and its head of content, Ted Sarandos, will be compensated equally in 2019 with both receiving as much as $31.5M — New York (CNN Business)Netfix's executives are getting big raises after a banner year. — CEO Reed Hastings will get as much as $31.5 million …

Discussion: Variety, Business Insider, Fortune and Hollywood Reporter