Top News:
Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:
Shepard Smith, the anchor who left Fox News in early October, announced Thursday that he will donate $500K to the Committee to Protect Journalists — The former anchor made his first public appearance since his abrupt departure from Fox News, where he faced taunts from colleagues and President Trump.
Michael Calderone / Politico:
Memo: Laurene Powell Jobs will assume greater control at The Atlantic, as it seeks a new president/CEO, and chairman David Bradley steps away from management — Magazine seeks CEO from outside to chart new path in “the exquisitely hard work of media strategy.” — Laurene Powell Jobs.
Discussion:
Columbia Journalism Review, @lisaliebmannyc and @vermontgmg
Dylan Byers / NBC News:
Sources: in October, The Athletic offered Authentic $50M to license Sports lllustrated content instead of Maven, which had started layoffs, but was refused — Moving the Market: Alex Mather and Adam Hansmann, the co-founders of the burgeoning sports news site The Athletic …
Discussion:
@maghielse and @ckrewson
Alexander Marrow / Reuters:
Russia's lower house of parliament passed legislation on Thursday that could allow journalists to be labeled foreign agents if they get funding from abroad — MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's lower house of parliament passed legislation on Thursday that will allow individual journalists …
Discussion:
@ehrac_hq and Associated Press
Akintunde Ahmad / Columbia Journalism Review:
Inside the last year of the Foreign Press Association, where exec feuding and board resignations led to the launch of the Association of Foreign Correspondents — Last November, the Foreign Press Association, a nonprofit group that represents foreign correspondents working in the US, hosted a centennial gala at One World Trade Center.
Discussion:
@thanosdimadis, @yiannisbab, @thanosdimadis, @cjr, @cjr and The Guardian
Kerry Flynn / CNN:
USA Today is being sued by a former digital sales director, who is alleging discrimination and retaliation when she told her managers she was pregnant — New York (CNN Business)A former USA Today digital sales director has sued the newspaper for allegedly discriminating and retaliating …
Discussion:
Fortune
Nicole Perlroth / New York Times:
Former Fox News exec Ken LaCorte hired Macedonians to write inflammatory content for his websites; Facebook shut down his pages and staff accounts after inquiry — An investigation found that several sites owned by Ken LaCorte push inflammatory items — stories, petitions and the occasional conspiracy theory — to the public.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Twitter rolls out its “Hide Replies” feature to all users globally — Twitter's radical “Hide Replies” feature, one of the biggest changes to how Twitter works since the invention of the Retweet, is now available to Twitter's global user base. The company says the feature …
Discussion:
@tweetdeck, @twittersupport, Twitter, The Next Web, @i_am_daniele, @twitterdev, @smartereveryday, @bjoseph, @yoyoel, @heylauragao, @suzannexie, MediaPost, KIFI-TV, NPR, Reuters, Adweek, CNET, help.twitter.com, Ad Age and Axios, more at Techmeme »
Matt Novak / Gizmodo:
China's state media agency bought an ad on Facebook in which Bill Gates praises China, an example of how the country burnishes its image abroad — Xinhua News, China's largest state-run news agency, is currently buying ads on Facebook that feature a video of Bill Gates talking about China.
Julia Alexander / The Verge:
Susan Wojcicki says YouTube is working to bring ads to edgier content and its new gaming policy will have fewer restrictions for violence in gaming — There's a difference between borderline and edgy content — YouTube is experimenting with placing advertisements for more mature audiences …
Discussion:
Ad Age, YouTube Creator Blog, CNBC, @swodinsky, Gizmodo, TechSpot, @teamyoutube, @daz_black, @susanwojcicki, @loudmouthjulia, Mashable, PC Gamer, Engadget, Variety, Hollywood Reporter and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »
Poynter:
The International Fact-Checking Network will partner with Univision to elevate international fact-checking for Spanish-language audiences in the US — The Poynter Institute announces that its International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) will partner with Univision News to elevate international fact-checks …
Discussion:
American Press Institute
Natalie Jarvey / Hollywood Reporter:
Inside Spotify's plan to dominate audio by spending hundreds of millions on exclusive podcasts and recruiting Jordan Peele, Mark Wahlberg and the Obamas — Having helped transform the music industry, Ek and content chief Dawn Ostroff set their sights (and your ears) on spending hundreds …