Mediagazer: Sources: CBS Films will fold into CBS Entertainment Group this year, with some layoffs in March and a focus on streaming after current films are released (Brent Lang/Variety)

8:30 PM ET, January 11, 2019

Top News:

Kit Walsh / Electronic Frontier Foundation:

Bird sends dubious DMCA takedown notice to Boing Boing over a post explaining how to legally buy an abandoned Bird scooter and convert it to a personal scooter — Every now and then we have to remind someone that it's not illegal for people to report facts that they dislike.

Discussion: Boing Boing, TechCrunch, @alexstamos, @sil, @adamsinger, @waxpancake, The Verge, @techdirt, Techdirt and @lenazun, more at Techmeme »

Brianna Sacks / BuzzFeed News:

Ex-staffers of Freedom Daily say Brian Kolfage, who raised $20M via a GoFundMe campaign for Trump's wall, pushed them to fabricate stories for his website — “He never wanted the truth. It was all just for clicks, and the more inflammatory, the better," a former employee said.

Discussion: The Daily Beast, TechCrunch, USA Today, The Hill, Gizmodo, WTVR-TV, @greg_doucette, @oneunderscore__, @bryanlowry3, @stevehofstetter, @brandyzadrozny, @oneunderscore__, Business Wire, @bri_sacks and @salhernandez

NBC News:

Brian Kolfage's previous fundraising efforts relied on two ultra-conservative websites, Freedom Daily and Right Wing News; Kolfage denies he owned Freedom Daily — Brian Kolfage, a triple-amputee Air Force veteran, has operated fake news websites and fundraisers to build a lucrative email list.

Discussion: @oneunderscore__, @natashabertrand, @oneunderscore__, @oneunderscore__ and Mashable

Laura Hazard Owen / Nieman Lab:

NYT announces it's launching a weekday 3-minute news briefing and a news quiz for Alexa-enabled devices, with eventual expansion to Google Assistant and Siri — The New York Times is pushing further into voice products for smart speakers. On Friday, the company announced that it's launching …

Discussion: @digiphile, New York Times and MediaPost

Matthew Kassel / Columbia Journalism Review:

As President Trump's press bashing continues unabated, local journalists face increased incidents of being spurned and vilified by elected officials — Douglas Burns, a fourth-generation journalist, is co-owner of the Daily Times Herald in Carroll, Iowa, a newspaper that has been in his family since 1929.

Discussion: @penamerican, @cjr, @rokhanna, @news_collab, The Rural Blog, @spjlv, @rylandky and @ruralj

Erik Wemple / Washington Post: WH researcher: Trump participated in 338 short Q&As with reporters in his first two years in office, compared to 75 for Obama, 243 for GW Bush, 394 for Clinton

Alex Hern / The Guardian:

Facebook's fact-checking operation launches in the UK and partners with the independent charity Full Fact to assess the accuracy of content — Social network brings in independent charity in attempt to tackle misinformation — Facebook's fact-checking operation is launching in the UK …

Discussion: Full Fact, Press Gazette, Telegraph and WIRED UK

Washington Post:

Over half the top 20 YouTube search results for “RBG” this week pointed to false far-right videos, spotlighting how misleading videos bury credible content — Conspiracy theories about the health of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg have dominated YouTube this week …

Discussion: @hshaban, @oneunderscore__, @marietjeschaake, @tonyajoriley, @jzheel, @hshaban, @garettsloane, @drewharwell and @slpng_giants

Brent Lang / Variety:

Sources: CBS Films will fold into CBS Entertainment Group this year, with some layoffs in March and a focus on streaming after current films are released — CBS Films will be folded into CBS Entertainment Group over the next twelve months, Variety has learned.

Discussion: The Wrap and Deadline

Cynthia Littleton / Variety:

In SEC filing, Fox confirms it won't bid on the 22 regional sports networks Disney must sell — The new-model Fox Corp. will not be a bidder in the auction of the 22 regional sports networks that Disney is set to buy from 21st Century Fox. — Fox confirmed in a Securities …

Discussion: SportsBusiness Daily, Wall Street Journal, @jbflint, Ad Age, Multichannel News, The Wrap, @manabyte and Awful Announcing

Rani Molla / Recode:

Top US ad buyers: Amazon could get 12% of total digital ad spending in 2020, up from 6% in 2018; Facebook's main platform may lose three percentage points — Top ad buyers say increased spending on Amazon is mostly coming from other digital platforms. — Amazon could double …

Discussion: @kurtwagner8, Investor's Business Daily and Ad Age

Reuters:

Myanmar court rejects the appeal of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, the two Reuters journalists sentenced to seven years in jail for their reporting — Thu Thu Aung, Poppy McPherson — YANGON (Reuters) - A Myanmar court on Friday rejected the appeal of two Reuters reporters sentenced to seven years …

Discussion: New York Times, Press Gazette, Reuters, CBS News, CNN, Washington Post, Committee to Protect … and Al Jazeera

Janko Roettgers / Variety:

Google has stopped making its Chromecast Audio streaming adapter, focusing on smart speakers instead — Google has stopped making its Chromecast Audio streaming adapter, and is instead focused on smart speakers going forward. A company spokesperson confirmed Friday that Chromecast Audio …

Discussion: 9to5Google, TechCrunch, Ausdroid, VentureBeat, Gizmodo, RAIN News and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

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Paul Mozur / New York Times:
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Paul Kane / Washington Post:
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Matt Donnelly / Variety:
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CNN:
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Brian Heater / TechCrunch:
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