Mediagazer: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has a new executive editor, Keith Burris, who wrote the “Reason as Racism” editorial and was involved in firing of cartoonist Rob Rogers (Colin Deppen/The Incline)

Brian Stelter / CNN:

CNN employees raise ethics concerns over CNN's hire of Sarah Isgur Flores who is moving directly into a managerial role — New York (CNN Business)A version of this article first appeared in the “Reliable Sources” newsletter. You can sign up for free right here. — Controversy over CNN's newest hire

Discussion: @brianstelter, Page Six, The Wrap, The Independent, The Resurgent and Mediaite

Politico:

Sarah Isgur, who was the DOJ's lead spokesperson under AG Jeff Sessions, is joining CNN as political editor next month and will coordinate 2020 coverage — Sarah Isgur will coordinate political coverage for the 2020 campaign at the network. — President Donald Trump has derided CNN …

CNN:
Justice Clarence Thomas calls for a review of 1964 NYT vs Sullivan ruling that said the Constitution created a higher barrier for public figures to claim libel

Discussion: American Press Institute, New York Times, @froomkin, @fawfulfan, Washington Post, @drewshenkman, @hadas_gold and Newser

Keith Coffman / Reuters:

Covington Catholic student Nicholas Sandmann sued the Washington Post for $250M, claiming it falsely accused him of racist acts and instigating a confrontation — (Reuters) - A high school student from Covington, Kentucky, sued the Washington Post for defamation on Tuesday …

Discussion: Poynter, Washington Post, CNN, Mediaite, Newser, New York Daily News, The Week, Hemmer DeFrank PLLC, Fox News, @evertonbailey, @aoc, @clarajeffery, The Wrap and Slate

Abner Li / 9to5Google:

Google publishes 30-page paper on how it combats disinformation across YouTube, Search, News, Ads: product improvements, experience with spam, context for users — Over the weekend, Google presented a white paper at the Munich Security Conference detailing how it fights disinformation across its largest services.

Discussion: Search Engine Land, Engadget and The Keyword

Zeynep Tufekci / Wired:

As it gets harder to distinguish fakes from truth, facts lose their power, and so we must develop means of verifying info, from geolocation to blockchain — IN THE SUMMER of 2006, Fidel Castro unexpectedly announced that he was temporarily handing over power to his brother.

Discussion: @zeynep, @wolfiechristl and @digiphile

Sam Thielman / Columbia Journalism Review:

Q&A with BuzzFeed News' Jason Leopold on the Cohen story, FOIA, reporting on national security, and more — Jason Leopold has a long list of national security scoops to his name. He covered the brutal mistreatment of detainees at the Guantanamo military prison.

eMarketer:

eMarketer predicts that US digital ad spending will surpass traditional in 2019, growing 19% YoY to $129.34B, of which mobile will account for ~$87B — Amazon's ad business to grow more than 50%, taking bite out of duopoly — This year will mark a major milestone in the world of advertising.

Discussion: MediaPost and TechCrunch

Colin Deppen / The Incline:

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has a new executive editor, Keith Burris, who wrote the “Reason as Racism” editorial and was involved in firing of cartoonist Rob Rogers — Keith Burris was at the center of the firing of cartoonist Rob Rogers and penned the “Reason as Racism” editorial.

Discussion: CNN, Pittsburgh City Paper and New York Times

Elaine Low / Variety:

Amazon's Audible partners with Lorne Michaels' Broadway Video to produce multiple audio-only comedy originals, starting with Heads Will Roll with Kate McKinnon — Lorne Michaels' Broadway Video and Amazon's Audible have struck a deal to create multiple audio-only original comedy programs …

Discussion: Business Wire, @audible_com, @bariweiss and TechCrunch

AllAccess.com:

In a first for podcasts, American Public Media's In the Dark wins a Polk Award — LONG ISLAND UNIVERSITY has announced the winners of the 70th annual GEORGE POLK Awards in Journalism, and for the first time, a podcast was one of the winners, with the second season of AMERICAN PUBLIC MEDIA/APM REPORTS' …

Discussion: C-SPAN.org

The New York Times Company:

New York Times online access will now be available for free in all California public libraries, home to 23M library card holders — The New York Times and California State Library today announced that all of the nearly 1,200 public libraries across the state will offer their patrons free NYTimes.com access.

Natalie Jarvey / Hollywood Reporter:

Hearst Media acquires Clevver, a pop culture news brand with 15M+ YouTube subscribers that was formerly owned by Defy Media, which shut down in November — The pop culture news brand has more than 15 million subscribers across its YouTube channels. — Clevver has found a new home following the fall shutdown of owner Defy Media.

Discussion: MediaPost and @natjarv