Top News:
Facebook:
Facebook removed 364 pages and accounts for misrepresenting themselves when they were in fact linked to employees of Sputnik, a Russian-backed news agency — Today we removed multiple Pages, groups and accounts that engaged in coordinated inauthentic behavior on Facebook and Instagram.
Discussion:
DFRLab, Press Gazette, New York Times, CNN, @benimmo, Adweek, Gizmodo, Mashable, RT, Fortune, @thegrugq, @kevinroose, DFRLab, Business Insider, ABC News, @yashalevine, TechCrunch, Fast Company, @leaskyht, Engadget, The Hill, The Week and Mediaite, more at Techmeme »
Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:
Jewish publication The Forward is suspending its print edition and laying off 40% of its staff, including Editor-in-Chief Jane Eisner — The Forward is stopping — its print editions. — The storied Jewish-American publication is suspending its print operations and plans to lay off …
Cynthia Littleton / Variety:
Les Moonves will pursue an arbitration claim to fight CBS for the $120M severance he was denied after the board determined he was fired for cause — Former CBS Corp. chairman-CEO Leslie Moonves will pursue an arbitration claim to fight CBS for the $120 million severance that he was denied …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Amazon's Alexa will now deliver news briefings to US users in a “newscaster” voice, using tech that adapts Alexa's speaking style to the context of a request — Amazon already gave Alexa the ability to whisper, and now it's rolling out another way to change the assistant's speaking style …
Discussion:
The Amazon Blog, VentureBeat, Mashable and Engadget
Michael Schneider / Variety:
Viceland will launch Vice Live, a two-hour show at 9pm ET Monday-Thursday that recaps the day in pop culture and social media, starting February 25 — F-k it, Viceland is doing it live. The cable network will revamp its primetime lineup next month to launch a nightly two-hour live show …
Matt Lopez / The Wrap:
Study: 30% of Gen Z'ers and 56% of Millennials say they use Facebook to watch the news, while only 27% and 22% respectively use YouTube to watch it — Facebook is used the most for news coverage, while YouTube is used for career development and entertainment purposes, according to new study
Discussion:
Mobile Marketer and wibbitz
Brian Stelter / CNN:
New York Media announces that David Haskell will succeed Adam Moss as editor-in-chief, starting April 1; Haskell has been editor for business and strategy — New York (CNN)David Haskell, currently the editor for business and strategy at New York magazine, will succeed Adam Moss as editor in chief of the illustrious publication.
Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Sources: Walmart has abandoned plans to launch a new streaming service after talks with the former CEO of Epix fell apart, will instead concentrate on Vudu — - Talks with veteran media executive Mark Greenberg fell apart last year, according to people familiar with the matter.
Discussion:
@sherman4949
Freddy Mayhew / Press Gazette:
The BBC's first female deputy general director, Anne Bulford, will step down in the spring — The BBC's deputy director general Anne Bulford, the first woman to hold the role, has decided to leave the corporation in the spring. — Bulford rejoined the BBC as managing director of finance …
Discussion:
Variety
Matthew Champion / BuzzFeed News:
Ahmed Hussein-Suale, a journalist in Ghana who helped expose corruption in African soccer, was shot dead Wednesday by gunmen in an Accra suburb — An investigative journalist who helped expose corruption in soccer in Africa has been shot dead in Ghana. — Ahmed Hussein-Suale was shot twice …
Discussion:
Associated Press, @anasglobal, @nakufoaddo, BBC, Committee to Protect …, @globalfreemedia and Al Jazeera
Lesley Goldberg / Hollywood Reporter:
Showrunner Jason Katims, known for Friday Night Lights and Parenthood, is leaving Universal TV for Apple, as tech companies lure show creators away from studios — The ‘Friday Night Lights’ and ‘Parenthood’ grad will depart his longtime home at Universal Television and create and develop new projects for the tech giant.
Naman Ramachandran / Variety:
Streaming platforms in India, including Netflix, adopt a plan to self-regulate content to forestall censorship by the state; Amazon Prime Video will not sign on — Netflix and other leading streaming video platforms have signed an agreement to self-regulate content in the booming Indian market.
Discussion:
Reuters
BBC:
Trial of BBC Asian Network editor Arif Ansari begins; suit alleges he is responsible for reporter naming sexual assault victim, thinking it was a pseudonym — BBC Asian Network's head of news has gone on trial over the naming of a victim of sexual abuse in a live radio broadcast, a charge he denies.