Top News:
Jon Allsop / Columbia Journalism Review:
Felicia Sonmez's suspension exposes the tyranny of newsroom social media policies, which often read like hamfisted attempts to reconcile competing impulses — On Sunday—amid the wave of public eulogizing that followed the death of Kobe Bryant—many people on Twitter stressed …
Discussion:
New York Times, New York Times, Associated Press, @davpjor, @mattdpearce, @eshap, @max_read, @max_read, @jeffgiesea, @taylorlorenz, @jeremydgoodwin, @brosandprose, @aaronpcalvin, @cwarzel, @nytopinion, @_cingraham, @lemieuxlgm, @ellesep, The Guardian, @brianstelter, @haleysswenson, @ma_franks, @fenitn, @jeremydgoodwin, @asmamk, @wpjenna, @daveyalba, @lainnafader, @sarahmseltzer, @stephaniemlee, @jon_allsop, @salhernandez, @froomkin and @cwarzel
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Ted Johnson / Deadline:
WaPo reinstates reporter Felicia Sonmez after her suspension following her tweets about a rape allegation against Kobe Bryant and her response to backlash
WaPo reinstates reporter Felicia Sonmez after her suspension following her tweets about a rape allegation against Kobe Bryant and her response to backlash
Discussion:
@feliciasonmez, @postguild, @dabeard, @mlcalderone, New York Post, Breitbart, @feliciasonmez and @soledadobrien
Stephen Battaglio / Los Angeles Times:
ABC News suspends chief national correspondent Matt Gutman for wrongly reporting that all four of Kobe Bryant's daughters were on the helicopter that crashed — ABC News has suspended the correspondent who speculated on-air that all four of Kobe Bryant's daughters were on board the helicopter …
Discussion:
@mattgutmanabc, Variety, TVWeek.com, TVNewser, Fox News, Mediaite, Awful Announcing, @kiaspeaks, @raiklin, @williamrichjr, KTLA, @strategicpio, @marcatracy and @nuuzz
Katherine Chiglinsky / Bloomberg:
Berkshire Hathaway to sell its BH Media unit and its 30 daily newspapers to St. Louis Post-Dispatch publisher Lee Enterprises for $140M in cash — Warren Buffett is getting out of the newspaper business. — Berkshire Hathaway Inc. sold its BH Media unit and its 30 daily newspapers …
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, The Buffalo News, @byjonharris, Marketplace, @johnnewsomnr, @johnnewsomnr, @dankennedy_nu, @will_bunch, Lee Enterprises, @darrendcarroll, @journospike, @taralach, @brockvergakis, @gerryfsmith, @ginger_clark, Poynter, @nicolefriedman, @kodacohen, @ckrewson, @ljkawa, @buffaloscribe, @colindabkowski, @jeanniemcbride_, @niemanlab, @imillhiser, @k_chiglinsky, @specnewsbuffalo, @dianabhenriques, @dankennedy_nu, @hadas_gold, @maxabelson, @davidjoachim, @jbenton, @pwthornton, @mattdpearce, @markpoloncarz, @keithboykin, Politico, @nickreisman, @allisonprang, @froomkin, @abgutman and @raju
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Isaac Chotiner / New Yorker:
Q&A with Ben Smith on his move to NYT, his lack of doubt about publishing the Steele dossier, BuzzFeed's young union, and the merging of politics and media — On Tuesday, the New York Times announced that its new media columnist, a job most famously held by the late David Carr …
Discussion:
@yayitsrob, @asankin, @mathewi, @rafat, @lisatozzi, @atossaaraxia, @benmullin, @jbenton, @mairavz, @adriana_lacy, @yoloethics and @michaelluo
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Dylan Byers / NBC News:
EIC Ben Smith is leaving BuzzFeed in early March to join NYT to write the Media Equation column made famous by David Carr
EIC Ben Smith is leaving BuzzFeed in early March to join NYT to write the Media Equation column made famous by David Carr
Discussion:
@buzzfeedben, @raju, @michellemanafy, @austinhunt, The Daily Caller, @reillyadam, @joepompeo, Breitbart, @dylanbyers, @ggreenwald and @chanders
Sarah Manavis / The Guardian:
The BBC's inability to handle internet culture subjects and develop a presence on platforms like TikTok will exacerbate its failure to connect with under-30s — Young people want content shared on social media platforms they actually use. The BBC must keep up, or lose them
Discussion:
@dougalshawbbc, @vicderbyshire, @owswills, @sarahmanavis, @dinosofos, @rosssemple, @charliehtweets and @tomb8man
News Corp:
News Corp launches Knewz, a news aggregation platform covering more than 400 publishers that uses AI and human editors, available on the web, iOS, and Android — Groundbreaking News Platform Free of Filter Bubbles Launches in Beta; — Features Headlines from Publishers Large & Small, Left & Right, Here, There & Everywhere
Discussion:
@sarafischer, @sokane1, @hardin, @jaycaruso, @alexweprin, @isaacdovere, @ginnymarvin, @jaredbkeller, @taylorlorenz, @onceupona, Fox News, @rachellarris, @justin_ling, @drewcurtis, @variety, @_cooper, @markdistef, @pkafka, @hshaban, @abeaujon, @thenikkibus, @raju, @rudygamble, @jpbrammer, @donie, @sternbergh, @jillkrajewski, @dgisserious, @drewharwell, @drewcurtis, @drewcurtis and @backlon
Jim Waterson / The Guardian:
The Guardian says it will no longer accept ads from companies that extract fossil fuels, becoming the first major news organization to institute such a ban — Move follows efforts to reduce carbon footprint and increase reporting on climate crisis — The Guardian will no longer accept advertising …
Discussion:
Digiday, The Guardian, Nieman Lab, The Drum, @gretathunberg, @dzarrilli, @schemaly, @dpcarrington, Mumbrella, @jamie_margolin, @jimwaterson, @greenpeaceuk, The Hill, @philipthalis, @vanessa_vash, @greenpeaceusa, @helenczerski, @bulletinatomic, @rasmus_kleis, @kathviner, @adamvaughan_uk, @aleximurdoch, @chrchristensen, @sethrudetsky and @arusbridger
Todd Spangler / Variety:
SEC filing: MoviePass parent company Helios and Matheson Analytics has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection — Helios and Matheson Analytics, which owns the defunct MoviePass cinema-subscription service, has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection. — The company disclosed the move …
Discussion:
CNN, The Verge, Fortune, @lamonicabuzz and @frankpallotta
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
Study that looked at 72M YouTube comments across 330,925 videos finds evidence of radicalization effect on users that leads them to extreme far-right content — Research presented at the ACM FAT 2020 conference in Barcelona today supports the notion that YouTube's platform is playing a role …
Discussion:
@kevinroose, @oliverdarcy, @moonalice, @jason_kint and @fredbenenson, more at Techmeme »
Julia Carrie Wong / The Guardian:
Investigation: in 2019 Trump spent ~$20M on 218K+ Facebook ads, with the media and its “fake news” the top topic mentioned at 18.25%, followed by immigration — A Guardian investigation of 218,100 ads reveals how the campaign's sophisticated social media machine targets conservative voters
Peter Kafka / Vox:
Casino operator Penn National Gaming buying 36% stake in Barstool Sports; deal values Barstool at $450M and lets Penn National buy a controlling stake later — Barstool Sports co-founder Dave Portnoy in 2018 | Penn National Gaming is buying the online publisher — which can thank sports betting, and the Supreme Court for the deal.
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Former HBO CEO Richard Plepler has acquired a stake in Luminary Media, a podcast-subscription service, and has taken a seat on its board — Richard Plepler has hopped on the podcast train. The former HBO chief executive has invested in Luminary Media, a podcast-subscription service, and taken a seat on its board.
Discussion:
Business Wire and Deadline