Top News:


ViacomCBS acquires 49% stake in Miramax, which is owned by BeIN, for $375M — The L.A.-based company, which has been owned by Doha-based BeIN Media Group and run by CEO Bill Block, has a library with 700-plus titles, including such Oscar winners as ‘Pulp Fiction’ and ‘Chicago.’
Discussion:
Variety, Variety, MediaPost, Multichannel News, Axios, @variety, @viacomcbs and @richlightshed


Facebook and Twitter shut down a network of fake accounts using AI-generated faces to “masquerade” as Americans; Facebook links the network to Epoch Media Group — Its accounts used AI-generated faces to ‘masquerade’ as Americans — On Friday, Facebook and Twitter shut …
Discussion:
CNN, About Facebook, TechCrunch, New York Times, CNET and @sarahfrier, more at Techmeme »


Small publishers see more traffic from mobile news aggregators like TopBuzz, News Break, and Flipboard, than Facebook and Google — This November, Inquisitr CEO Dominick Miserandino noticed that TopBuzz News, the news aggregator app from ByteDance, the same company behind wildly popular …
Discussion:
@managewski, @chartbeat, @adriana_lacy and @mpamagmedia


Sources: NBC's Peacock to integrate NBC News Now, have a free, limited-content tier, a limited-ads tier for $5/month, and an ad-free tier for $10/month — - NBCUniversal is looking to differentiate its streaming service Peacock from rivals through its pricing structure and user interface.
Discussion:
The Streamable, @sherman4949, @sherman4949, @megancgraham, Digital TV Europe and Light Reading, more at Techmeme »


NY judge dismisses appeal by Michael Leidig of Central European News in libel case against BuzzFeed, saying he failed to prove BuzzFeed's reporting was false — News agency boss Michael Liedig has had his appeal against a libel judgment that backed Buzzfeed's 2015 story dubbing him the “king of bullshit news” thrown out.
Discussion:
@craigsilverman


Albania approves a set of anti-defamation laws which critics see as an attempt to muzzle the media and give the nation's top media regulator too much power — Albania's Parliament approved a controversial set of government-proposed anti-defamation laws on Wednesday, which critics say grant …
Discussion:
Reuters, Committee to Protect …, Balkan Insight, Albanian Daily News, Associated Press, The Shift News and @penamerica


The Hindu's Omar Rashid recalls how police detained and threatened him before letting him go, amid a crackdown in India on protests against a citizenship bill — At the very first instance, I revealed my identity as a journalist and asked them what the matter was all about.
Discussion:
@audreytruschke, @rohini_sgh, @furquansid, @nidhi, @maryashakil, @ranaayyub, @amankayamhai_et, @meeracomposes and @suhasinih


Triton to start publishing monthly reports on top networks and podcasts ranked by weekly downloads; NPR, Stitcher, Radio.com, and Cumulus have signed on — NEW YORK—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Triton Digital®, the global technology and services provider to the digital audio and podcast industry …


The Atlantic's feature on Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which was read for 30M+ “total engaged minutes”, is #1 in Chartbeat's Most Engaging Stories of 2019 — Chartbeat, the digital publisher data and analytics company, has revealed its annual list of most engaging stories of the year.
Discussion:
Chartbeat Blog


Microsoft's Bing appears to return an alarming amount of disinformation for user queries, far more than Google does, based on a test of 13 queries — Bing's importance in the information landscape of the U.S. shouldn't be overlooked. While its share of the search market in the U.S. might …
Discussion:
The Keyword, @alexstamos, @whatthebit, @mathewi, @brendannyhan, @majorhayden, @welhai, Search Engine Land and Softpedia News


A summary of NYT reporters' favorite tech tools, based on three years of the Tech We're Using column: smartphones, encrypted communication, and spare batteries — After three years and more than 130 columns, the smartphone was tops. There were also some deliberate Luddites among us.


Ad exchange Rubicon Project agrees to merge with video advertising management platform Telaria, to better compete with Google and Facebook — - Public ad tech companies Telaria and Rubicon Project have agreed to merge as they try to make a stronger play in the growth of connected television …
Discussion:
Digiday, @rubiconproject, AdExchanger, ir.tivo.com, @businessinsider, @tkawaja, @sarahsluis, @cnbctech, @davemorgannyc, Business Wire, MarTech Today and Engadget, more at Techmeme »