Mediagazer: YouTube's recommendations engine, which drives 70%+ of viewing time, often suggests divisive, misleading, or false content, even to users who don't seek it out (Jack Nicas/Wall Street Journal)

1:00 AM ET, February 8, 2018

Top News:

Ken Doctor / Nieman Lab:

Analysis of LA Times deal: factors that led to sale now, speculation on Soon-Shiong 's future strategy, a look at price, and a theory on a future Gannett role — Tronc is getting a big premium for its flagship asset, and the Times is getting a return to private, local ownership.

Discussion: TechCrunch, GlobeNewswire News Room, The New York Observer, BloombergQuint, LA Observed, GlobeNewswire News Room, NPR, @sduncovered, Bloomberg, @jayrosen_nyu, @laobserved, @scribeguy, @latlands, @markjacob16, @mattdpearce and The Wrap

Meg James / Los Angeles Times:

Tronc forms new company, Tribune Interactive, with Ross Levinsohn as its CEO and ex-LA Times EIC Lewis D'Vorkin as its chief content officer — Biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong has agreed to purchase the Los Angeles Times from its parent company Tronc, restoring local ownership …

Supantha Mukherjee / Reuters:

Tronc has confirmed it is selling the Los Angeles Times and a number of other newspapers to billionaire biotech investor Patrick Soon-Shiong for $500M in cash — (Reuters) - Tronc Inc (TRNC.O) said on Wednesday it would sell some newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times and the San Diego Union-Tribune …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, TechCrunch, Washington Post, New York Times, CNBC, New York Times, @gerryfsmith, Los Angeles Times, Business Insider, Deadline, CNNMoney, Fortune, The Week, Washington Post, @mollyesque, @jackshafer, Press Gazette and CNNMoney

Claire Atkinson / NBC News:

Newsweek Media Group's head of sales resigns, and a source says the company has lost “hundreds of thousands” in ad commitments since reports it bought traffic — The Newsweek Media Group is reeling. — Ed Hannigan, the company's head of sales, resigned on Tuesday.

Discussion: @jaysunsilver, @melinadelkic, @journo_christal, @linleyann, @jasonabbruzzese, @sulliview, @rachelcbrody, @claireatki and Talking Biz News

Hollywood Reporter:

Disney is developing a number of Star Wars series for its streaming service, CEO Bob Iger said during an earnings call on Tuesday — Disney CEO Bob Iger tells investors that the company is close to revealing at least one of the producing teams behind one of the projects.

Discussion: Slate, StarWars.com, The Playlist, Tubefilter, Fast Company, Vanity Fair, @americanstnick, Deadline, /Film, TechCrunch, Press Association, CinemaBlend, The A.V. Club, Recode, CNBC, Variety and io9

Washington Post:

Executives at The Newseum plan to meet with a real estate firm Thursday to explore options including selling its building in Washington, DC, or moving locations — Two months shy of its 10th anniversary in a glass-and-steel showpiece on Washington's most prestigious thoroughfare …

Local News Lab:

Democracy Fund announces two new funds in NJ and NC totaling $2M to support local news ecosystems and seek long-term solutions for public-interest news — Democracy Fund establishes two new local funds — Local news is critical to a healthy democracy, and we believe that the future of local news is local.

Discussion: @democracyfund, @melaniesill, @jcstearns and @jcstearns

Anna Washenko / RAIN News:

RadioPublic launches Paid Listens, guarantees participating podcasters $20 CPM for every listen via its iOS and Android apps — Podcast company RadioPublic has adopted a new service for show creators to get paid for their work. The approach is designed for podcasts that don't have the scale …

Discussion: RadioPublic, @evoterra, @mattervc and Fast Company

Jane Lytvynenko / BuzzFeed:

A look at 29 Facebook pages and sites of fake news publishers, which are using Instant Articles to help completely false stories load faster and earn revenue — While some mainstream publishers are abandoning Facebook's Instant Articles, fake news sites based overseas are taking advantage of the format …

Discussion: @profcarroll, @firstdraftnews, @janelytv, @niemanlab, @craigsilverman and @craigsilverman

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Snapchat says it generated $100M in revenue for Discover's publishing partners in 2017, up from $58M in 2016 and $10M in 2015 — Snapchat says it generated $100 million in revenue for content partners on Discover in 2017, up from $58 million in 2016 and $10 million in 2015.

Discussion: Recode, Wall Street Journal and @matildegiglio

Wall Street Journal:
Snapchat is launching to tool to let TV networks pipe snippets of live broadcasts directly into the app, starting this Saturday with NBC's Olympics coverage

Discussion: Ad Age, TechCrunch, Business Insider, The Next Web, @ctrlzee, @mathewi, @georgia_wells, @kerrymflynn, AppAdvice.com, 9to5Mac and Bloomberg, more at Techmeme »

Wall Street Journal:

Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian steps down from daily duties at the company to focus on early stage VC firm he cofounded and personal life, will remain on board — Reddit Co-Founder Alexis Ohanian announced on Wednesday he will step down from daily duties at the internet company and focus …

more at Techmeme »

Jack Nicas / Wall Street Journal:

YouTube's recommendations engine, which drives 70%+ of viewing time, often suggests divisive, misleading, or false content, even to users who don't seek it out — Google's video site often recommends divisive or misleading material, despite recent changes designed to fix the problem

Discussion: @tripgabriel, New York Magazine, @jacknicas, @trevornoren, @max_read and @bradnews, more at Techmeme »

Christine Wang / CNBC:

21st Century Fox beats Q2 targets with $8B in revenue, up 5% YoY, as higher affiliate, syndication, and ad revenue boost cable revenue, up 11% YoY — Twenty-First Century Fox reported earnings and revenue that topped Wall Street expectations on Wednesday. — The stock edged slightly higher in extended trading.

Discussion: Variety, Broadcasting & Cable, Ad Age, @edmundlee, /Film, Hollywood Reporter and 21st Century Fox

Adi Robertson / The Verge:

Reddit bans r/deepfakes, which was devoted to making AI-powered porn using celebrities' faces, and updates site-wide rules regarding “involuntary pornography” — Reddit has banned the r/deepfakes subreddit that's devoted to making AI-powered porn using celebrities' faces …

Discussion: TechCrunch, Daily Mail, Vox, Mashable, Engadget, New York Magazine, Motherboard and reddit, more at Techmeme »

Samantha Cole / Motherboard:
Pornhub says it's banning AI-generated fake porn videos because they're “nonconsensual”, yet such “deepfake” videos are still available via site search results

Discussion: The Verge, Engadget, The Guardian, Engadget, Mashable, Fast Company, Trusted Reviews, The Next Web, The Daily Dot and The Verge, more at Techmeme »

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More News:

Associated Press:
Four prominent Venezuelan journalists leave country after being sued over an article alleging irregularities in food sales to President Maduro's administration

Kelly Virella / New York Times:
Q&A with NYT's Monica Drake, the first African-American woman appointed to the print masthead, on her 20 years at the Times, breaking barriers, and new projects

Discussion: @hannaingber, @ashleynmcb, @kvirella, @readercenter and @readercenter

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Viacom confirms it has acquired online video conference VidCon and will run it as a standalone subsidiary

Discussion: Tubefilter, TechCrunch and @hankgreen, more at Techmeme »

Farhad Manjoo / New York Times:
The Information's Jessica Lessin and Stratechery's Ben Thompson argue differentiated content and online subscriptions form a viable model for local news outlets

Discussion: @brizzyc, @fmanjoo, @rbilton, @noahchestnut, @jbenton, @detour_detroit, @jessicalessin, @jarroddicker and @mathewi

Alexandria Neason / Columbia Journalism Review:
Profile of Tom Tryniski, who has scanned ~50M newspaper pages dating back to the 1800s from US and Canadian pubs, into his online repository Fultonhistory.com

Discussion: @michaelsocolow, @alanamhmd, @usprojectcjr, @4manreports, @megansmolenyak, @bypetevernon, @alexandrianeas, @mathewi, Blaine T. Bettinger, @c_chisholm and @jaanpill

Earlier Picks:

Press Gazette:
The main source for a UK investigative news site's story about a Westminster paedophile ring, which sparked a police probe, is charged with child porn offences

Keach Hagey / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Vice Media missed its 2017 revenue target of $805M by $100M+, largely due to its Viceland TV channel; co-president Creighton unlikely to return to role

Discussion: @annehelen, Fast Company, @iankar_, @sknthla, @simonowens, @keachhagey, @srabil, @asharma and @raju

Craig Silverman / BuzzFeed:
Russian trolls posed as black activists on Tumblr and generated hundreds of thousands of interactions with anti-Hillary Clinton, pro-Bernie Sanders content

Discussion: @donie, The Hill, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Stranger …, @craigsilverman, @securedemocracy, @melissaryan and Business Insider

April Simpson / Current:
NPR's Daniel Zwerdling, a veteran investigative journalist, has left the network; sources say allegations of sexual harassment were filed to HR in November

Discussion: TVWeek.com and Journalism News

From Techmeme:

Financial Times:
Sources: the US FTC plans to investigate allegations that Microsoft is abusing its market power in productivity software to prevent customers from leaving Azure

David Pierce / The Verge:
Google releases a free Gemini app for iOS, letting users ask questions, chat via text, voice, or their camera, and use the conversational mode Gemini Live

Maxwell Zeff / TechCrunch:
OpenAI says the ChatGPT desktop app for macOS can now read code from some developer-focused apps, including VS Code, Xcode, TextEdit, Terminal, and iTerm2

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