Mediagazer: The Pentagon hasn't done an on-camera press briefing since May; formerly daily State Department briefings averaged six per month in last three months of 2018 (Paul Farhi/Washington Post)

Vice to lay off 10% of staff, or ~250 people, across the company as part of restructuring effort; weekly “Vice” show on HBO also ending — The cuts, which will impact around 250 people, are part of new CEO Nancy Dubuc's strategic plan to tighten spending and achieve profitability.

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Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:

In interview with Trump, NYT journalists and publisher try explaining the global effect of “fake news” claims but his focus shifted to his personal grievances — President Trump takes credit for popularizing the term “fake news.” — But the consequences? Not his concern.

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Post, @jdawsey1, CNBC, Mediaite, @frankbruni, @maxboot and Contemptor

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:

The Pentagon hasn't done an on-camera press briefing since May; formerly daily State Department briefings averaged six per month in last three months of 2018 — With President Trump sending more troops to the southern border, pulling some out of Syria and causing uncertainty among allies in NATO …

Hannah Murphy / Financial Times:

Facebook says it was able to uncover the Iranian network thanks to information from Twitter and that the two have been sharing notes sooner than previously — Facebook and Twitter have removed thousands of fake accounts originating from Iran, some dating back as far as 2010, after collaborating to combat disinformation.

Tony Romm / Washington Post:

Twitter says it removed thousands of malicious accounts that originated in Iran, Russia, and Venezuela for spreading disinformation about the 2018 midterms — Twitter revealed Thursday that it had removed thousands of malicious accounts thought to have originated in Iran …

Discussion: New York Times, Twitter, Blog Network, @wiczipedia, @josh_emerson, @yoyoel, @policy, @justinhendrix, @wiczipedia, @dcherring, NBC News, Twitter, PCMag India, Adweek, Recode, Reuters and The Week, more at Techmeme »

Facebook:
Facebook says it removed 262 Pages, 356 accounts, three groups, and 162 Instagram accounts tied to Iran for engaging in coordinated inauthentic behavior

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Taylor Soper / GeekWire:

Amazon's “other” revenue, which is mostly composed of its advertising services, hit $3.4B in Q4, up 95% YoY and reaching $10.1B for all of 2018 — Amazon's advertising business is showing no signs of letting up. — Amazon reports record profits of $3B, crushes Wall Street expectations for holiday quarter

Discussion: Amazon.com, Inc. - IR, On my Om, Marketing Land, Light Reading, @xpangler, San Francisco Chronicle and Business Insider, more at Techmeme »

Colin Lecher / The Verge:

What to expect as oral arguments begin Friday in Mozilla's lawsuit to stop FCC's repeal of net neutrality rules — The FCC will make its case against the rules — Oral arguments will begin tomorrow for one of the most important cases in internet law history.

Discussion: Ars Technica, Free Press, NPR, 9to5Mac and Washington Post, more at Techmeme »

Bloomberg:

Sources: Sinclair and the MLB, among others, bid for Fox's regional sports networks minus the YES network, with offers much lower than the anticipated $20B — - Bids value assets at well below the $22 billion estimated — Latest round attracts offers from Sinclair, Apollo and MLB

Discussion: Awful Announcing

Daniel Sanchez / Digital Music News:

A ranking of music streaming services by royalty payouts: Napster leads the way with $.019/stream, and YouTube trails with $.00069/stream — Late last month, Digital Music News updated its list of what streaming music services pay. — Thanks to information from third-party websites and actual artists …

Discussion: @euforcreators

Mark Di Stefano / BuzzFeed:

Nina Burleigh, author of the Melania Trump article for which The Telegraph apologized, is demanding the newspaper retract its apology, claiming defamation — US journalist Nina Burleigh claims The Daily Telegraph's apology has turned her into an “international poster girl for fake news”.

Anna Gutierrez / The Reporters Committee …:

A coalition of 28 media organizations has filed a court brief supporting a lawsuit that challenges fees for court records accessed via PACER — The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and 27 media organizations support the rights of the public and the press to have affordable access to court records.

Edmund Lee / New York Times:

A look at the legal grounds for Locast's existence and its role in the relationship between broadcasters and cable, satellite companies — Want to watch the Super Bowl and other network TV for free? A start-up called Locast will let you, and (so far) the big broadcasters aren't trying to stop it.

Discussion: @edmundlee, Fast Company, @ronlieber, @mathewi, The Verge and Broadcasting & Cable

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

Hulu to launch banner ads, which will appear after viewers pause video, in Q2 2019; hopes all non-disruptive ads will comprise 50% of ad revenue within 3 years — Just to get this out of the way: Yes, Hulu is introducing an ad unit that will show up when you pause a video. But no, the ad won't be a video.

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