Mediagazer: Q&A with Lee Mwiti, the chief editor of Africa's first independent fact-checking website Africa Check, on disinformation and media manipulation on the continent (Matteo Moschella/First Draft)

8:00 AM ET, December 29, 2019

Top News:

David K. Li / NBC News:

Radio shock jock Don Imus, an early pioneer of the genre known for his controversial and often offensive statements, dies at 79 — He had announced on Jan. 22 that he was retiring, telling fans: “Turn out the lights...the party's over. — Radio shock jock Don Imus, one of the early pioneers of his genre …

Discussion: New York Times, @davidgura, Hollywood Reporter, Mediaite, @ingrahamangle, NME, @stevekovach, Los Angeles Times, @seanhannity, @soledadobrien, @cabinop, Vanity Fair, New York Post, @mayatcontreras, @karaswisher, @thr, @sifill_ldf, @loveyourcarrot, @davidgura, @carlquintanilla, @cochranshow, @blackamazon, @elongreen, @dick_nixon, @benschwartz_, @seanhannity, @benmullin, @zeitchikwapo, @barry_yeoman, @dannagal, @marklevinshow, @llinwood, @nytmetro, @matthewkeyslive, @thr, @brianstelter, @nydailynews, @brianstelter, HuffPost, Variety, Wall Street Journal, New York Daily News, Salon, Associated Press, The Sun, Celebrity, USA Today, National Post, Heavy.com, ABC News, Us Weekly, Washington Post, CBS News, Washington Examiner, Bloomberg, Newsweek, Washington Examiner, WFAN Sports Radio 66AM 101.9FM, People.com, TVLine, The Desk, NPR, CNN, TMZ.com, Fox Business, Variety, New York Daily News and Deadline

George P. Slefo / Ad Age:

Spotify will suspend political ads in early 2020, citing the lack of tools to review them; source: political ads are not a significant source of its revenue — Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders and the RNC are among Spotify advertisers — Spotify is suspending the sale of political advertising …

Sarah J. Jackson / New York Times:

In 2010s, Twitter enabled young and marginalized people to be heard, held news organizations accountable, and pushed largely ignored issues into the mainstream — It's impossible to avoid news about how harmful social media can be. The Cambridge Analytica scandal. The ubiquitous Russian bots.

Discussion: @gregbradyto, @brentnyt, @millie, @goldengateblond, @andreas212nyc, @rahaeli, @nesrinemalik, @nesrinemalik, @clancynewyork, @sybrenkooistra, @valeriabrownedu and @neillewisjr, more at Techmeme »

Alex Kantrowitz / BuzzFeed News:
A look back at how Facebook and Twitter evolved over the 2010s, chasing size and influence at a cost to society that will take years to understand

Discussion: @ekp, @espiegler, @laurahelmuth, @mrshanerussell, @gregoriancant and @kantrowitz, more at Techmeme »

David Porter / 8tracks blog:

As 8tracks prepares to shut down on December 31, its co-founder shares a post-mortem of what went wrong with the once-promising music streaming startup — 8tracks has had a long run and its day in the sun. We're sad to announce, however, that the company and its streaming service will wind …

Discussion: @chr1sa, @joshconstine, @ow, @robinsloan, @rrhoover, @caseynewton, @mathewi, @hasief, @jherskowitz, @agaresia and @davidporter, more at Techmeme »

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Snapchat will launch Bitmoji TV, a personalized cartoon show featuring a user's avatar and their friends in regularly-scheduled adventures, starting in February — Snapchat's most popular yet under-exploited feature is finally getting the spotlight in 2020.

Discussion: @mattlynley, @joshconstine and @joshconstine

Mark Ledwich / Medium:

A new study finds that YouTube's late 2019 algorithm actively discourages users from watching radicalizing content, directing them to more mainstream videos — In 2018, Kevin Roose published a piece in the New York Times in which Caleb Cain, a liberal college dropout, described his experience …

Discussion: @austen, @mark_ledwich, @mark_ledwich, @kevinroose, @mark_ledwich, @andre_spicer, Engadget, @wordsandsuch, @antumbral, @mark_ledwich, arXiv.org, @mrbrianhughes, @eladgil and @mattgrossmann, more at Techmeme »

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Comcast is in advanced talks to acquire Xumo, which offers an ad-supported video streaming service, as Comcast prepares to launch NBC's Peacock — Deal would help cable giant's digital-video ambitions as it prepares to launch its own video-streaming service

Discussion: Beet.TV, Variety, The Streamable, New York Post, MediaPost, @digitalshields, @tomventimiglia, @aagave, @benmullin, Broadcasting & Cable, Engadget and Hollywood Reporter

Heather Bryant / Nieman Lab:

In 2020, the question of how to save newsrooms will start to shift to how to save journalism as a process, emphasizing more collaboration and inclusiveness — Heather Bryant is founder and director of Project Facet. — There are always two conversations happening in any given field.

Discussion: @kainazamaria, @ihearttheroad, @dskok, @mandyvandeven, @thischrishorne, @thensim0nsaid, @nikkiusher, @antonioattolini, @matt_kiefer and @antonioattolini

Matteo Moschella / First Draft:

Q&A with Lee Mwiti, the chief editor of Africa's first independent fact-checking website Africa Check, on disinformation and media manipulation on the continent — Lee Mwiti is the chief editor of Africa Check, the continent's first independent fact-checking website.

Alexander Lim / Storybench:

Q&A with NYT designers Antonio De Luca and Sasha Portis about creating an interactive story on New York City's subway map for the map's 40th anniversary — For the 40th anniversary of the New York City subway map, The New York Times created an interactive story that all but places you directly inside the map.

Discussion: @journalims

Emma Grey Ellis / Wired:

How The Dodo has achieved viral success by posting heartwarming videos about animals, racking up 2.3B views each month — The media empire's heartwarming (and highly shareable) animal videos rack up 2.3 billion views each month. It might be our favorite website of the decade. — Frog is a rooster.

Discussion: @groupninemedia, @wiredculture and @wired

Sara K. Baranowski / Nieman Lab:

2020 will be the start of an exciting era for community news with local outlets producing high-impact reporting that experiments with new formats and engagement — Sara Konrad Baranowski is editor of the Iowa Falls Times Citizen. — The attention of the news industry …

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Jay Rosen / PressThink:
What Chuck Todd blamed on naiveté to lessen his error of ignoring the GOP's spread of disinfo was in fact willful blindness and malpractice

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