Top News:
Jeremy Barr / Hollywood Reporter:
Fox News says Shepard Smith is stepping down from his longtime role as chief news anchor and leaving the network — In a shocking turn of events that stunned the media industry, Fox News anchor Shepard Smith announced his departure from the network after more than 23 years.
Discussion:
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Brian Stelter / CNN:
Source: Shepard Smith asked Fox News management in September to let him out of his contract; tensions with pro-Trump opinion shows were the breaking point — New York (CNN Buiness)Last month Shep Smith decided that he had simply had enough. — With President Trump actively distorting …
Discussion:
CNN, Variety, @danrather, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, @xlnb, @djlavoie, @ericmgarcia, @brianros1, @colbyhall, @jayrosen_nyu, @bluechoochoo, Mediaite, Breitbart, TVNewser, Boing Boing and The Wrap
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
With Shepard Smith gone, Fox News will have less of a balance to point to when asked to defend its primetime excesses, but its bottom line will be just fine — Analysis: Fox News' stick-to-the-facts anchor didn't always please the faithful. And that's how the network makes its money
Discussion:
CNN, @johnnydollar01, @bristei, @johnnydollar01, Washington Post and Mediaite
New York Times:
AG William Barr met privately on Wednesday with Rupert Murdoch, whose media holdings include Fox News, which recently has been more critical of Trump
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, @atrupar, Mediaite, @brendannyhan, @jeffjarvis, HollywoodLife, The Daily Caller, The Wrap, @vickypjward, Politico, FOX59, Talking Points Memo, The Week, @renato_mariotti, @chrislu44, @mattklewis, @lisatozzi, @mollyjongfast, @pauldutton1968, @mrbromwich, @karlbode, @freedlander, @jdawsey1, @juddlegum, @chrisgeidner and The Hill
Brian Fung / CNN:
Elizabeth Warren targets Facebook's ad policy of exempting ads by politicians from third-party fact-checking by running a Facebook ad with a clear falsehood — Zuckerberg says legal battles during a Warren presidency would ‘suck’ — (CNN)A fresh series of Facebook ads this week …
Discussion:
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Rich McHugh / Vanity Fair:
Ronan Farrow's producer recounts how NBC news chairman Andrew Lack and news president Noah Oppenheim personally intervened to shut down Weinstein investigation — Rich McHugh recounts how top NBC brass, including news chairman Andrew Lack and news president Noah Oppenheim, bowed to Harvey Weinstein to quash the truth.
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The Daily Beast:
NBC News President Noah Oppenheim, who allegedly downplayed a rape allegation against Matt Lauer, also penned sexist columns in the Harvard Crimson 20 years ago
Discussion:
@joshablock, @thegarance, @jamielynncrofts, Washington Post, The Wrap, TVNewser, TVWeek.com, The Daily Beast, Fox News, Mediaite and Page Six
Paul Farhi / Washington Post:
NBC News president has visited seven news orgs to present a rebuttal to Farrow's contention that the network ordered him to stop reporting on Weinstein
Discussion:
@chloesalsameda, @jkbjournalist, @rtraister, @thecut, @nytimesbooks, @blakehounshell, VICE, East Bay Times, @lisatozzi, New York Times, @koblin, Poynter, @sulliview, New York Times and HuffPost
BuzzFeed News:
Sources: in early 2018, Eddy Cue and Morgan Wandell, Apple's international TV lead, asked some Apple TV+ show creators to avoid portraying China in a poor light — We thought trade would bring Western values to China. Instead, it brought Chinese values to Apple.
Discussion:
@rmac18, CNET, @reckless, @reckless, @buzzfeedben, @tomwarren, @mdmadhusudan, @panzer, @juddapatow, Vanity Fair, @hotlinejosh, 9to5Mac, Pastebin, Daring Fireball, Observer, Breitbart, MacRumors, @seamoosi, @blakersdozen, @crtejada and Fast Company, more at Techmeme »
Dani Deahl / The Verge:
Music streamer Audius is built on blockchain, introducing issues regarding removing infringing material, which has proliferated, and identifying its hosts — New startup Audius says its blockchain-based music streaming service is the solution that finally pays attention to indie artists' needs.
Jessica Davies / Digiday:
After turning off its ad inventory on the open exchange post-GDPR, FT says private deals now account for 70% of overall programmatic revenue, up from 4% in 2017 — While for many publishers, the General Data Protection Regulation represented an inconvenient, potential threat to programmatic ad revenues …
Lesley Goldberg / Hollywood Reporter:
Apple launches an internal studio, allowing it to own its content; the first series will be Masters of the Air, a follow-up to HBO's Band of Brothers — ‘Masters of the Air,’ which was originally developed for HBO, will be the third story in the WWII saga from Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks …
Discussion:
Deadline, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Fast Company, Cord Cutters News, Engadget, Digital Trends, /Film, The Verge, 9to5Mac, The Streamable and Collider, more at Techmeme »
Lucinda Southern / Digiday:
LadBible says it is rebranding Pretty 42, its female-focused spinoff launched in 2017, as Tyla due to low brand awareness — LadBible made its name with Facebook fare of prank-meets-entertainment videos, like this guy getting squirted in the face with pepper spray and this on America's fattest bear.
Julie Reynolds / The Intercept:
Alden Global Capital's Digital First Media, which has sold off newspaper real estate and centralized print design, is outsourcing news design to the Philippines — Investigative journalist Thomas Peele remembers the day he learned that he and fellow reporters at the East Bay Times …
Discussion:
@dankennedy_nu, @dkiesow, @theintercept, @michalskilaura, @theintercept, @dngcwamulligan, Media Nation and Dan Kennedy
Dave Jamieson / HuffPost:
In email, G/O's editorial director tells staff he sees no reason for them to cover Splinter's shutdown and that any post about it will need his approval — The editorial director of G/O Media told top editors not to publish anything about the news and opinion site being shut down.
Discussion:
@aleksnotalex, @martinsfp, The Daily Caller, @jamieson, @jatayler, @richardkimnyc, @dylanmatt, @annebranigin and @dataeditor
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