Top News:
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
Radio & Television Business Report:
Gray TV completes acquisition of Raycom Media and now holds stations in 91 US markets; nine stations and Raycom's community newspaper unit, CNHI, were spun off — For the last time, we present to you the Raycom Media logo. That's because Raycom no longer exists — it has been officially swallowed …
Discussion:
The Herald, Multichannel News, Broadcasting & Cable and TVSpy
Li Yuan / New York Times:
Inside Beijing-based Beyondsoft and its “censorship factories”, with 4,000+ staff monitoring online content for media companies eager to please China's censors — Thousands of low-wage workers in “censorship factories” trawl the online world for forbidden content …
Discussion:
@suilee, @jzheel, @puzzlereric, @b_p_sims, @jzheel, @ericfish85, @kevin2kelly, @ephs_apcp and @susanmaret, more at Techmeme »
Hadas Gold / CNN:
Netflix faced a tough balancing act when Saudi officials claimed an episode of Hasan Minhaj's Patriot Act violated local law — London (CNN Business)What's the price of censoring one episode of a Netflix show in Saudi Arabia? — Though Netflix has not released specifics on the number …
Discussion:
@krudell, @ase and Financial Times
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Jenna Amatulli / HuffPost:
Netflix has removed an episode of “Patriot Act With Hasan Minhaj” in Saudi Arabia after the country complained about MBS criticism over Khashoggi murder in show — In an episode of “Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj,” the host criticizes Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the Yemen war.
Discussion:
@hasanminhaj, Washington Post, Business Insider, NPR, @karenattiah, @mehdirhasan, @arjunsethi81, @pronounced_ing, @dmiliband, @rulajebreal, @satchelldrakes, @nesgritton, @anujchopra, @soniasaraiya, @lailalalami, @penamerican, @martina, @cmclymer, @aligulpir, @sethamandel, Press Association, @johnrobb, @zenjournalist, @poniewozik, @ahmed, Al Jazeera, @hawthornrants, @teymoornabili, @sarahleah1, @dennisperkins5, @stephenjmcmanus, @jamesaalongman, @bencnn, IndieWire, Techdirt, @karenattiah, @dabeard, @bungdan, @borzou, @amiraminimd, @jonrosenberg, @bartongellman, @john_hudson, @dangillmor, @kimmasters, @iyad_elbaghdadi, @hashashintag, @karenattiah, @bintabuahmed_, @djrothkopf, @pranavdixit, @theseantcollins and New York Times
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 …
Discussion:
Multichannel News, @livedoppler, @ourand_sbj, Broadcasting & Cable, Deadline, Awful Announcing and @techjournalist
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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:
@hunterwalk and @alexweprin
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 »
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
The Telegraph hires William Sitwell, the former Waitrose Food magazine editor who stepped down over comments made to a vegan freelancer, as a restaurant critic — The Telegraph has appointed William Sitwell, the former Waitrose Food magazine editor who stepped down over comments he made in an email …
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, @ninaburleigh, @iddybud, @hongpong, @shoq, @brianstelter, @rolandsmartin and @moultonk
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
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 …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Engadget and MediaPost, more at Techmeme »
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