Top News:
Jonathan O'Connell / Washington Post:
Senator Chuck Schumer, troubled by Alden Capital's history, writes a letter to its president demanding it explain its plans for Gannett if a deal goes through — A firm backed by Alden Global Capital, known for sharp newsroom cuts, would acquire more than 100 daily newspapers in the deal.
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal and @news_guild
RELATED:
Janko Roettgers / Variety:
Roku reports Q4 revenue of $275.7M, up 46% YoY and vs. $262.11M est., says it has 27.1M active accounts, up 40% YoY; revenue for 2018 grew 45% to $742.5M — Roku wants to become a billion-dollar company in 2019. The streaming device maker told investors Thursday that it projects …
Discussion:
Digiday, Roku Investor Relations, @jank0, @digiday, @jank0, MediaPost and AdExchanger, more at Techmeme »
Erik Wemple / Washington Post:
CNN hiring Sarah Isgur is puzzling given her reported loyalty pledge to Trump's anti-press agenda and numerous critical tweets of CNN, reporters, and Democrats — Sarah Isgur has spent her young career in the public square. She did communications work for the Republican National Committee …
Discussion:
@atrupar, @jdawsey1, @samstein, @neontaster, @jayrosen_nyu, @espiers, @ericschultz, @parkermolloy, @becketadams, @juddlegum, @parkermolloy, @nytimes, @ewerickson, @simonmaloy, @matthewwolfff, @irin, @maxwelltani, @matthewwolfff, @erikwemple, @ericschultz, @blackamazon, @atrupar, @simonmaloy, Media Matters for America, Vox, @dabeard and @tripgabriel
Laura Hazard Owen / Nieman Lab:
Women's Media Center report: female representation in newsrooms and bylines continues to disappoint; ~69% of AP and Reuters bylines go to men — The dismal factoids in a new report released Thursday by the Women's Media Center go on and on. And on. — While women outnumber men …
Christine Schmidt / Nieman Lab:
Report details how Tribune Publishing, The Guardian, and Slate got their most engaged readers to contribute by focusing on quality content, podcasts, and more — Reader revenue, reader revenue, reader revenue. It's much easier said than done, but these two case studies from Tribune Publishing …
Discussion:
Washington Post
Casey Newton / The Interface:
Pinterest has stopped returning results for searches on vaccinations, differentiating between freedom of speech and freedom of reach — Programming note: The Interface will be off Thursday as I finish up a project that I will share with you next week. — Since the reckoning …
Sam Dean / Los Angeles Times:
Investigation finds Facebook still lets users target ads based around interest in neo-Nazis; Facebook says it will remove the seldom-used audience groupings — Facebook makes money by charging advertisers to reach just the right audience for their message — even when that audience …
Discussion:
MediaNama, @cshalby, @katzish, @juliacarriew, @jmbooyah, @russellbrandom, @jmbooyah, @juliaturner, @jmbooyah, Gizmodo, Adweek and Engadget, more at Techmeme »
Maureen Farrell / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Pinterest has confidentially filed for an IPO, seeking a valuation of at least $12B — Online-image search company is expected to seek a valuation of at least $12 billion — Pinterest Inc. has confidentially filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission …
Discussion:
CNBC, Reuters, Bloomberg, Fortune, New York Times, Fast Company, Business Insider, TechCrunch and AOL, more at Techmeme »
CNBC:
AT&T says it is pulling all advertising from YouTube after reports of pedophiles openly using the platform; Nestle and Epic Games have also pulled ads — - AT&T is pulling its ads from YouTube following reports that pedophiles have latched onto videos of young children and lurk in the comments section.
Discussion:
Ad Age, CNBC, MediaPost, Reuters, Beyond Search, Gizmodo, WIRED UK, @profcarroll, @cnbc, The Week, @winnersusedrugs, Tubefilter, The Wrap, Engadget, @danielmadison78, @mattbinder, @bmorrissey, Boing Boing, The Verge, The Verge, The Verge, Adweek, Gizmodo, 9to5Google, Fortune, Tubefilter, TechCrunch, Engadget and Variety, more at Techmeme »
RELATED:
Ira Boudway / Bloomberg:
Chernin Group's Action Network, a sports betting media startup, raises $17.5M Series B led by Fertitta Capital — - Peter Chernin's Action Network closed $17.5 million funding — Investors include owners from MLB, NBA, NHL, Ultimate Fighting — Action Network Inc. …
Discussion:
Action Network and Reuters
Sam Wolfson / The Guardian:
Dutch historian leaks un-aired video of Fox News host Tucker Carlson cursing and calling him names after accusations of hypocrisy and critique of Fox's agenda — In a heated exchange that was not aired, Rutger Bregman accused Carlson of being a pawn for the Murdochs and Kochs
Discussion:
@nowthisnews, @rcbregman, Contemptor, Newser, TVNewser, @emilycrockett, Boing Boing, @roguenasa, @jeffmiers, @felixsalmon, @kylegriffin1, The Daily Beast, Slate and The Hill
Christine Schmidt / Nieman Lab:
How New York-area cable news station News 12 is working with ProPublica's Documenting Hate database to track local hate crimes — “Getting things on air will reach the audience you're looking to reach. Getting things online is important so people can find the work later."
Peter Kuras / Columbia Journalism Review:
After exposing an alleged multi-billion tax fraud scheme in Europe, a journalist is under investigation for instigating whistleblowers to betray trade secrets — When I met Oliver Schröm at the Berlin offices of Correctiv.org, the investigative journalism non-profit he co-founded in 2014, I was his third interview of the day.