Top News:
Laura Hazard Owen / Nieman Lab:
Knight Foundation pledges $300M over five years to further local news and free speech, with the bulk going to national orgs working with local partners — The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation will provide a whopping $300 million over five years to organizations including …
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 …
Discussion:
Vox, Mediaite, @elisefoley, @mattyglesias, @tvietor08, @jesselehrich, Media Matters for America, @trevortimm, @jbendery, @joshtpm, @andrewfeinberg, @myrmecos, @cahnemily, TVNewser, @jesselehrich, @loopemma, Contemptor, The Daily Beast, @rezaaslan, @gdinges, @hamiltonnolan, @markskrikorian, @_cingraham, @alexmleo, @shanegoldmacher, @jdawsey1, @harlan, @justagirl515, The Wrap and Fortune
Melissa Brown / The Montgomery Advertiser:
Goodloe Sutton, publisher of the Alabama newspaper the Democrat-Reporter, authored an editorial calling on the KKK to “ride again” and “clean out DC” — The editor of a small-town Alabama newspaper published an editorial calling for “the Ku Klux Klan to night ride again” …
Discussion:
Washington Post, @itsmelissabrown, New York Times, Alabama Political Reporter, @repterrisewell, NPR, @blakehounshell, CNN, @ashtonpittman, @espiers, @jbenton, @kristenclarkejd, The Rural Blog, @jbenton, @kevinmkruse, @jeffamy, The Week, @drpetesmith, @saifmkha, @ewerickson, @adamhdomby, @debramessing, @laneyruckstuhl, @will_bunch, al.com, New York Post, The Wrap, The Guardian, WPIX 11 New York, AOL, Newser, The Daily Caller, KTLA, Slate and Boing Boing
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 — Washington (CNN)Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on Tuesday called for reconsideration of a landmark First Amendment precedent …
Discussion:
New York Times, Washington Post, @fawfulfan, @drewshenkman, Hit & Run, @hadas_gold and Newser
Kevin Roose / New York Times:
For YouTube, curbing misinformation on its platform may mean punishing some of its stars, a step it's not shown it can broadly take, despite recent policy shift — Last month, the YouTube star Shane Dawson uploaded his new project: a 104-minute documentary, “Conspiracy Theories With Shane Dawson.”
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Peter O'Kelly's Reality Check and The Guardian, more at Techmeme »
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
Tim Ingham / Music Business Worldwide:
SoundCloud adds distribution feature to its premium tier, so artists can now upload their music to services including Spotify, YouTube Music, Tencent, and more — SoundCloud has launched a new distribution feature in open beta which enables artists to spread their music to a range of rival streaming services.
Discussion:
Fast Company, Variety and TechCrunch
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
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.
@polkawards:
Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, the two Reuters reporters sentenced to jail in Myanmar for their reporting, have won the Polk Award for Foreign Reporting — Polk Award for Foreign Reporting: Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo of Reuters for “Massacre in Myanmar” documenting the execution of 10 #Rohingya.
Discussion:
@miriamelder and @tostevinm
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 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
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Lara Logan and CBS News parted ways in 2018; the split was disclosed following comments Logan made on a podcast about the press being “mostly liberal” — Lara Logan, the journalist who gained wider renown covering war-torn spots in the Middle East for CBS News …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Washington Examiner, TVNewser, The Wrap and TVWeek.com