Top News:
Mike Isaac / New York Times:
Sources: over 250 Facebook employees have signed a letter visible on an internal forum that says letting politicians lie in ads is “a threat” to the company — In an open letter, the social network's employees said letting politicians post false claims in ads was “a threat” to the company.
Discussion:
@mikeisaac, New York Times, CNN, Ad Age, TechCrunch, VICE, @sarahfrier, @peterwsinger, Business Insider, @aoc, @mattlech, @senblumenthal, @mikeisaac, @davmicrot, The Next Web, The Verge, @brianstelter, @oneunderscore__, @wiczipedia, @ewarren, @benioff, Wall Street Journal, RAPPLER, Beyond Search, Fortune, The Guardian, The Wrap, The Week, The Hill, Gizmodo, MediaPost, Mashable, Engadget and Memex 1.1, more at Techmeme »
Maxwell Tani / The Daily Beast:
G/O Media memo to staff says “Deadspin will write only about sports” and to focus 100% of resources on sports; the site also covered politics, culture, and more — Sports—and sports alone—must be “the sole focus” of the website, new management said Monday in a memo obtained by The Daily Beast.
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Kelsey Mckinney / @mckinneykelsey:
Deadspin writer says G/O Media management removed a letter to the readers from Deadspin staff that criticised the recent addition of autoplay videos to the site
Discussion:
@gmgunion, @chronotope, @williamfleitch, @mckinneykelsey, @katiedrumm, @ashleyfeinberg, @barry, Awful Announcing and Deadspin
Judd Legum / Popular Information:
How Ben Shapiro's massively popular right-wing site The Daily Wire gets promoted in an inauthentic, coordinated manner by 14 Facebook pages followed by millions — This is the online version of the Popular Information newsletter. You can get independent accountability journalism in your inbox every week.
Reeves Wiedeman / New York Magazine:
Deep dive inside Condé Nast amid years of drama, downsizing, and shakeups sheds light on Anna Wintour and others' struggle to revert falling influence and sales — “It's dreadful,” Anna Wintour said in early October, looking out the south-facing windows of her 25th-floor office …
Joe Pompeo / Vanity Fair:
The Recount, John Heilemann and John Battelle's short-form video political news outlet, has raised ~$10M seed from investors including Jay-Z and Kevin Durant — A-List investors (Fred Wilson, Jay-Z, Robert Wolf, Kevin Durant) are pouring millions into the journalist's new business.
Discussion:
Politico, @thisfamilymeal and @joepompeo
Amol Rajan / BBC:
Daily Mail soft-launches Mail+, a bulletin-based digital service separate from its free Mail Online that will charge readers for some content in upcoming months — The long heralded next chapter of the Daily Mail's push into digital media will take shape this week, as consolidation across …
Discussion:
Press Gazette and @amolrajan
Jessica Davies / Digiday:
FT says it is testing subscriber-only podcasts, deviating from its audio strategy of ad-supported open-access podcasts, hires its first global head of audio — The Financial Times has expanded its audio strategy to include subscriber-only podcasts, a first for the publisher.
Discussion:
Talking Biz News, Press Gazette and RAIN News
Todd Spangler / Variety:
AT&T says it will spend $1.5B-$2B on HBO Max in 2020 and $1B per year in both 2021 and 2022, expects profitability in year four — AT&T is telling investors it has the intestinal fortitude to win in the streaming wars — even as its traditional TV business continues to crumble.
Discussion:
@xpangler, Tubefilter, Ad Age, Fortune, Business Insider, Engadget, Variety and Deadline
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Wall Street Journal:
AT&T reaches a truce with activist investor Elliott Management, agrees to regular share buybacks, new directors, no more major M&A, and more in three year plan
Discussion:
Variety, @ptolemy_3, @shalini, @lucas_shaw, @xpangler, @reckless, The Drum, Reuters, Fox Business, CityAM, CNBC, Ars Technica, Bloomberg, The Verge, Deadline and New York Times, more at Techmeme »
Piya Sinha-Roy / Hollywood Reporter:
Netflix says it's testing a feature to allow users to speed up or slow down content on their phones, attracting criticism from filmmakers, including Judd Apatow — Viewers can increase or slow down the speed of Netflix shows and movies on their smartphones.
Discussion:
The Guardian, @juddapatow, @bradbirda113, The Playlist, @jimwaterson, The Next Web, @d_kompare and @sepinwall, more at Techmeme »
capitalgazette.com:
Capital Gazette shooter Jarrod Ramos pleads guilty to all 23 counts, including killing five employees, in a mass shooting at the Annapolis office in June 2018 — The man who blasted his way into the Capital Gazette newsroom more than a year ago, armed with a shotgun, smoke bombs and a device …
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Crime Report, @baltimoresun, @jamesfoleyfund, @capgaznews, @capgaznews, @brianstelter, The Wrap, Axios, VICE and Metro.co.uk
Alex Weprin / Hollywood Reporter:
National Amusements has voted to approve the CBS-Viacom merger, which is now expected to close by early December; the merged company will be called ViacomCBS — National Amusements, the company controlled by the Redstone family, has voted to approve the merger.
Discussion:
Variety, TVWeek.com, The Wrap and Deadline
Elsa Keslassy / Variety:
Amazon signs second distribution deal in France, this time with telco Free, which will include Amazon Prime Video in its €5.99 monthly plan at no extra cost — Rolling off its deal with Altice's SFR in August, Amazon has scored a distribution agreement with Free, another major French telco group.
Discussion:
TechCrunch and Engadget, more at Techmeme »
Paul Farhi / Washington Post:
Federal judge reinstates libel lawsuit by Covington Catholic student Nicholas Sandmann against WaPo, narrowing its scope from 33 published statements to three — A federal judge reinstated part of a lawsuit against The Washington Post filed by the family of a Kentucky teenager that alleged …
Discussion:
Fox News, Deadline, The Hill, Washington Examiner, New York Post, Washington Times and Fox News
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