Top News:
Makena Kelly / The Verge:
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 …
RELATED:
Stephen Gregory / The Epoch Times:
Epoch Media Group asks Facebook to withdraw claim that it is involved with The BL, which was tied to fake accounts, says Epoch Times Vietnam publishes The BL — Facebook claims that it has removed accounts operated by the website BL that are linked to The Epoch Media Group.
Discussion:
New York Times, @jmgrygiel, @oneunderscore__, @dfrlab, @waxebuildup, @craigsilverman, @craigsilverman, @craigsilverman and @craigsilverman
Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:
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, Axios, Multichannel News, @variety, @viacomcbs and @richlightshed
Deanna Ting / Digiday:
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
Business Wire:
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 …
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
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
Keida Kostreci / Voice of America:
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, Associated Press, Albanian Daily News, The Shift News and @penamerica
Alex Sherman / CNBC:
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, Digital Trends, Digital TV Europe, @sherman4949, @sherman4949, @megancgraham and Light Reading, more at Techmeme »
Omar Rashid / The Hindu:
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
Sara Guaglione / MediaPost:
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
Heather Carpenter / Reuters:
Reuters joins Covering Climate Now, an initiative co-founded by Columbia Journalism Review and The Nation to strengthen the media's focus on the climate crisis — In the latest move to reinforce its commitment to covering climate change, Reuters announced today that it has joined …
Discussion:
@coveringclimate, Talking Biz News and @jumpsteady
Brian X. Chen / New York Times:
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.
Senior Data Journalist, NY — 
Manager - Publishing Editorial, Manila — 
Oil Reporter, Singapore — 
Newsperson - State Govt. & Politics, CA — 
Business Reporter, SC — 
State Government Reporter, WA — 
Climate Crisis Columnist — 
Multimedia Journalist, CA — 
Community Engagement Mgr., DC — 
Senior California Politics Reporter, CA — 
Staff Writer - Business, NY — 
Team Editor - Opinion, ON — 
Assistant Correspondent, DC — 
Climate & Weather Reporter, MN — 
Senior Tech Editor, Remote US — 
Lead Business Reporter, TN — 
Managing Editor, WA — 
Private Credit Reporter, NY — 
Trending News Reporter, TX — 
City Correspondent, London — 
Legislative Reporter, CA — 
Reporter, PA — 
Visual Editor, Remote — 
Staff Writer, MI — 
Senior Political Reporter, DC — 
California Playbook Writer, CA — 
National Investigative Reporter, NY — 
Business & Gaming Reporter, NV — 
Coastal Climate Reporter, SC — 
Environment & Energy Reporter, CT — 
Coordinating Editor, OR — 
Editor, Remote US — 
Business Reporter, WA — 
Editor-in-Chief, AZ — 
