Top News:
Dave McNary / Variety:
Casey Affleck, accused of sexually abusive conduct in 2010, withdraws from customary role of prior year's best actor presenting best actress award at Oscars — Casey Affleck has withdrawn from presenting the best actress award at the March 4 Academy Award ceremonies.
Discussion:
Deadline, Hollywood Reporter, The Guardian, Washington Post, Glamour, Consequence of Sound, @alexburnsnyt, The Ringer, NPR, /Film, The Daily Caller, Rolling Stone, Business Insider, New York Times, The New York Observer, Mashable, @_celia_marie_, Vox, Vanity Fair, thecut, TVLine, The A.V. Club, Decider, Fast Company, Mediaite, IndieWire, PAPERMAG, Slate, TVWeek.com and Splinter
Steven Perlberg / BuzzFeed:
How Axios used Mike Allen and distilled news to become influential quickly, with 260K+ newsletter subscribers and more; source says Axios AM fetches ~$75K/week — Every morning, Washington wakes up to Axios AM — Mike Allen's top 10 stories of the day, filled with short bits of breaking news …
Reuters:
Sources: Viacom CEO Bob Bakish and CBS CEO Leslie Moonves held “exploratory” discussion on merging companies; boards expected to discuss merger in coming weeks — (Reuters) - Viacom Inc (VIAB.O) Chief Executive Bob Bakish and CBS Corp (CBS.N) CEO Leslie Moonves …
Discussion:
Broadcasting & Cable, SlashGear, Radio & Television … and Engadget
RELATED:
Kim Masters / Hollywood Reporter:
Analysis of behind-the-scenes maneuvers to merge Viacom and CBS and the futures of CEOs Bob Bakish and Leslie Moonves, as Shari Redstone pushes for scale — The mogul faces a delicate negotiation with CBS CEO Leslie Moonves, who wants to be at the helm of the united company.
Erik Wemple / Washington Post:
CNN reinstates political analyst Ryan Lizza, who was fired by The New Yorker after sexual misconduct allegations — CNN is reinstating Ryan Lizza, the Washington political reporter who was fired from the New Yorker for alleged sexual misconduct. “Upon learning of The New Yorker's decision …
Discussion:
@coreyhutchins, @erikwemple and Mediaite
Ashley Cullins / Hollywood Reporter:
Former assistant for Harvey Weinstein sues him and Weinstein Company for discrimination and harassment, detailing required tasks to support his liaisons — Sandeep Rehal claims she was required to clean up after his “extremely prolific sexual encounters.” — Harvey Weinstein's former …
Discussion:
Variety, The Daily Caller, The Guardian, Hollywood Life, The Daily Beast, Mediaite, Variety and BuzzFeed
Steven Perlberg / BuzzFeed:
CNN is closing Beme and Casey Neistat is leaving following 2016 buyout, which sources say valued it at $20M+; CNN will continue to develop some of its products — CNN acquired Beme in late 2016 with hopes that it would become a major piece of its digital business. Now Neistat's leaving the company.
Discussion:
YouTube, TechCrunch, SlashGear, CNNMoney, The Daily Caller, Business Insider, @katienotopoulos, @morewillie, Ad Age, Forbes, The Wrap, Tubefilter, Engadget, Variety, @timcast, The Verge, Gizmodo, @perlberg, Mashable, @johnnydollar01, @justinkownacki, Mediaite, @jenchung, @srabil, @alyssabereznak, @niemanlab, @rrhoover and Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »
Will Oremus / Slate:
Google is testing Bulletin, an app for allowing local users to submit stories about their communities, as a limited pilot in Nashville, TN and Oakland, CA — Google appears to be testing a new tool for people to report and publish local news stories, called Bulletin.
Discussion:
Google, Sami Cone, 9to5Google, The Next Web and SlashGear, more at Techmeme »
Ryan Glasspiegel / The Big Lead:
Source: ESPN is exploring options for FiveThirtyEight, including a potential sale to an outlet like The Atlantic or moving the site under ABC News — By the time mid-term election season really heats up, Nate Silver and FiveThirtyEight will in all likelihood have a different platform than ESPN.
Discussion:
@rafat, Variety, @nbj914, Politico, The Wrap, @bmorrissey, @danwolken and @mylesudland
Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:
Reports: Kimi Yoshino, business editor at the LA Times and an editor on the Pulitzer-winning Bell corruption scandal stories, was suspended for two days — Kimi Yoshino, the business editor of the Los Angeles Times, has been suspended for two days, according to multiple reports.
Register-Guard:
GateHouse Media is buying The Register-Guard in Eugene, Oregon, from the Baker family; GateHouse now has publications in 36 states, 130 daily newspapers — - Colorado-based marijuana company not buying One East Broadway in downtown Eugene, after all; it has already bought another downtown building for a pot shop
Discussion:
@francescamarief, @mrcampbell17, @dgtedford, @dlboardman and The Rural Blog
Mattie Kahn / ELLE:
Meager TV coverage of women's marches highlights imbalance as journalists fail to contextualize and investigate the movement as they have for Trump voters — in women's marches around the world this weekend. But blink, and you'll miss all the attention paid to them on Sunday's top five political talk shows.
Discussion:
@laurenarankin and @b_b_baconator
Deputy Ed. - Gen. Assignment Desk, DC — 
EU Technology Reporter, Brussels — 
Breaking News Reporter, NY — 
Harrisburg Reporter, PA — 
Senior Editor - Styles, NY — 
Part-time Editor, Remote — 
Home & Travel Reporter, Ireland — 
Assistant Digital Editor, MA — 
Senior Editor - Visuals (Temporary), DC — 
South Reporter, GA/Remote — 
Private Capital Reporter, London — 
Staff Writer, MI — 
Articles Editor, CA — 
Pharma Reporter, Remote US — 
Metro Reporter, TN — 
Higher Ed. Reporter, Remote CA — 
Politics Reporter, Brussels — 
Investigations & Enterprise Ed., WI — 
Social Strategy Editor, NY — 
Business Reporter, TX — 
Senior Narrative Editor, CA — 
News Correspondent, MS — 
Accountability Reporter, NC — 
Editor-in-Chief, NY (flexible) — 
Housing Reporter, OK — 
Writer/AI Content Reviewer, CA — 
Writer/Editor, Remote — 
Political Reporter, TX — 
Afternoon/Night Editor, NH — 
Education Lab Editor, WA — 
Staff Writer, MA/Remote — 
State Worker Reporter, CA — 
Executive Editor, NM — 
Reporter, NC — 
