Top News:
Siva Vaidhyanathan / New Republic:
Criticism of Facebook must move beyond content moderation issues; the effort to invent and invest in public cultural institutions should be our focus instead — Every day, a Twitter account run by Kevin Roose, a technology reporter for The New York Times, posts a list of the top 10 sources …
Discussion:
@nikkiusher, @dickensolewe, @deblebrown, @beingliberal, Context is King, @psimpsonmorgan, @aleszubajak, @mattnavarra, @davidakaye, @jayrosen_nyu, @verba_et_vertus, @mediamorphis, @paul_framp, @vwpickard, @zacharyos, @brooklynmarie, @jvagle, @aaschapiro, @natematias, @dispositive, @javierpallero, @glynmoody and @sivavaid
Mark Shanahan / The Boston Globe:
How the non-profit VTDigger, which now has 700K monthly readers, and alternative weekly Seven Days are filling the gaps in local news coverage in Vermont — Could their examples hold the key to fixing ‘The Expanding News Desert’? — Anne Galloway wondered if her journalism career might be over.
Pamela McClintock / Hollywood Reporter:
Comscore: North American box office fell 80% YoY in 2020 to $2.3B, behind China for the first time ever, which was down 70% YoY to an estimated $2.7B in sales — For the first time ever, China supplanted North America as the world's top moviegoing market. Yet no country was spared …
Discussion:
@cassianelwes, @thr, Vanity Fair, Deadline, CNBC, Associated Press and New York Post
Jennifer Jenkins / Center for the Study of the Public Domain:
Books, movies, and songs published in 1925 enter the public domain as their copyrights expire; works include F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby — On January 1, 2021, copyrighted works from 1925 will enter the US public domain,1 where they will be free for all to use and build upon.
Discussion:
@sarahw, @broknheadphones, @darbyjlyons, Opus, NPR, @dadavies01, @annebillson, @tobalspielmann, @timothynoah1, @apantazi, @timothynoah1, @libraryjournal, @dukecspd, @dukecspd, Fortune, Smithsonian Magazine and The Verge
Graham Vyse / Voice of America:
Profile of Forbidden Stories, a journalism collective which aims to continue the work of investigative journalists who have been threatened, jailed, or killed — WASHINGTON - Eight years ago, investigative journalist Regina Martínez was found beaten and strangled to death in her home in Veracruz, Mexico.
New York Times:
Small movies like Moonlight, which depend on theaters to find their audiences, are unlikely to have the same success as film releases move to streaming services — We streamed, we watched, we worried. We also wondered what the catastrophe called 2020 will mean for movies.
Discussion:
Context is King, @nyindieguy, @alecmacgillis, @gabrielsnyder, @caribeauchamp and @kennethturan
Rachel Olding / The Daily Beast:
The 5 female anchors at NY1 who sued for age and gender discrimination say they have mutually agreed to leave the local news station after settling their suit — Five female anchors at NY1 said Thursday they have “mutually agreed” to leave the local news station after settling their age and gender discrimination lawsuit.
Discussion:
New York Times, @erinmdurkin, @raquelcepeda, @nmalliotakis, @rswivth, @jumaanewilliams, @jsoabove, @neilmsbgc, @pdjplano, @moreandagain, @cynthianixon, @nygovcuomo, @ltgovhochulny, @iamsophianelson, TVNewser, @aoc, @tangentialism, @gretchencarlson, @comedydaddy, @wigdorlaw, @yashar, @dianafalzone, @katie_honan, @s_evangelina, @nycspeakercojo, @jimmyvanbramer, @liamstack, @galeabrewer, @vanya42nd, @mcbc, @specificny, Mediaite and The Wrap
James Dobbins / New York Times:
A look at The 830 Times, a 16-page, ad-supported weekly tabloid launched in Del Rio, Texas in November by a PR veteran after the city's last paper shut down — People in Del Rio, Texas, complain that nothing ever happens there. Those are fighting words for the publisher of The 830 Times …
Discussion:
@thekimkavin, @robcrilly, @nytnational, @jmalewitz, @nytnational and @melaniesill
Rusty Foster / Today in Tabs:
Today in Tabs, a popular media newsletter that closed in 2016, relaunches on Substack — Gather Ye Round, And Hear a Tale of Long Ago — One day in 2013, underemployed and wasting time on Twitter, I tweeted “Today in Tabs,” and Caitlin Kelly replied: — Caitlin Kelly @caitlin__kelly
Discussion:
@todayintabs, @taylorlorenz, @daweiner, @jenniferdaniel, @fka_tabs, @lpolgreen, @maxwelltani, @bijanstephen, @taylorlorenz and @waxy
Sean Burch / The Wrap:
WaPo publisher Fred Ryan says paper's employees will get a bonus of $2,021 as a sign of “gratitude for your exceptional service through the challenges of 2020” — If you work at The Washington Post, congratulations, you're starting the new year with some extra cash in the bank.
Paul Farhi / Washington Post:
How the op-ed page became the outrage-generating machine of 2020, 50 years after the New York Times introduced the format — Joseph Epstein says he has a lot of hate mail but no regrets. — A few weeks ago, the veteran writer and former university lecturer dashed off a few hundred words …
Discussion:
@hotlinejosh, Letter from a Region, @sonnybunch and @sushantsin
David Folkenflik / NPR:
Boards of RFE/RL and Radio Free Asia and their chairman Michael Pack have added binding contractual agreements that they can't be removed for the next two years — Michael Pack's stormy tenure over the federal agency that oversees government-funded broadcasters abroad — including Voice of America — appears to be coming to a close.
RELATED:
TOLOnews:
Journalist Bismillah Adil Aimaq has been killed in Afghanistan, the sixth one to be killed in the last two months in the country — Bismillah Adil Aimaq, a journalist and civil society activist in Ghor, was killed in an attack by unknown armed men in the city of Feroz Koh, the center of the province, local officials said.
Discussion:
@cpjasia and @joanne_stocker