Mediagazer: The rise of cord-cutting is hurting profit margins at cable and satellite providers, leading to programming blackouts and niche channels being dropped (Sara Fischer/Axios)

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Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:

Departed White House staffers, including John Kelly and Rex Tillerson, validate stories about the Trump administration, despite Trump's claims of “fake news” — The Trump White House isn't big on sharing information or answering questions asked on behalf of the public.

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico, @saletan, @dabeard, @hunterwalk and @sarahlellison

Meg James / Los Angeles Times:

A carriage dispute forces 33 Tribune Media stations off the air, affecting about 6M Charter cable customers, including 1.5M around Los Angeles — Nearly three dozen Tribune Media television stations, including KTLA Channel 5 in Los Angeles, went dark Wednesday afternoon …

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Sara Fischer / Axios:

The rise of cord-cutting is hurting profit margins at cable and satellite providers, leading to programming blackouts and niche channels being dropped — Cable and satellite companies are struggling to reach deals with TV channels over how much they should have to pay for the content those channels provide.

Discussion: @alexweprin and @hunterwalk

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Howard Kurtz / Fox News:

In her new book “Merchants of Truth”, former NYT Executive Editor Jill Abramson says the paper has become “unmistakably anti-Trump” under Dean Baquet — President Trump appears content to ride out partial government shutdown stalemate over border security funding

Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch:

The US Senate confirms FCC commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks, bringing the five seats to three Republicans and two Democrats, for five-year terms — The Senate has officially confirmed the incoming FCC commissioners, Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks have been officially confirmed by the Senate for their five-year terms.

Discussion: Radio & Television … and Multichannel News, more at Techmeme »

Jon Levine / The Wrap:

Ex-Fox News Chief Washington Correspondent James Rosen, who was ousted amid allegations of sexual misconduct, joins Sinclair as an investigative reporter in DC — “Proud to start the New Year by joining @WeAreSinclair as an investigative reporter," James Rosen says in a tweet

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Sara Salinas / CNBC:

Netflix confirms it has hired Spencer Neumann as new CFO; source says Activision Blizzard fired Neumann because he was pursuing another job — - Netflix has hired Spencer Neumann as chief financial officer. He was the former CFO at Activision Blizzard. — Activision Blizzard fired Neuman …

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Brian Stelter / CNN:

William Arkin, an analyst and reporter on national security, writes a long farewell memo to NBC critiquing war coverage, social media, and the “Trump circus” — New York (CNN Business)There are goodbye notes — and then there's William Arkin's frustrated farewell to NBC News.

Discussion: @uptonbell, @iddybud, @rolandsmartin, @ninaburleigh, @hongpong, @shoq, @moultonk and @brianstelter

Drew Harwell / Washington Post:

How deepfakes, AI-generated videos that graft a person's face onto another's body, have been weaponized to harass and humiliate their subjects, mostly women — ‘Deepfake’ creators are making disturbingly realistic, computer-generated videos with photos taken from the Web, and ordinary women are suffering the damage

Discussion: @wesyang, IndieWire, Engadget and Newser

Emma Best / Muckrock News:

In 1976, FBI investigated The Village Voice and Reporter's Committee for Freedom of the Press for espionage after magazine published a secret report on the CIA — WikiLeaks wasn't the first organization investigated for espionage over publishing classified information

Discussion: @freedomofpress and @aaschapiro

Nu Yang / Editor & Publisher:

News executives from Tampa Bay Times CEO Paul Tash to San Diego Union-Tribune EIC Jeff Light discuss challenges, priorities, opportunities, and goals for 2019 — When Dictionary.com announced its 2018 Word of the Year was misinformation, I'm sure many of us in the news industry were not surprised.