Top News:
Cynthia Littleton / Variety:
Early estimates from Nielsen suggest ratings for Sunday's 90th Academy Awards dropped significantly since last year's show — Live viewership of the 90th annual Academy Awards ceremony was down significantly from the 2017 telecast, according to preliminary Nielsen ratings for ABC's nearly four-hour telecast.
Peter Kafka / Recode:
ESPN names Jimmy Pitaro as new president of ESPN and co-chair of Disney Media Networks; he's currently head of Disney consumer products and interactive — He's the man many people thought Bob Iger would pick to run the sports giant. — Disney is poised to make an internal hire to run ESPN …
Joey Rhyu / Facebook Media:
Facebook has been testing a breaking news label for articles, is expanding that beta to 50 more publishers in Latin America, North America, Europe, Australia — Earlier this year we made a commitment to show more high quality news on Facebook. People tell us they want to see informative news …
Discussion:
@pkafka, Adweek, Fast Company, TechCrunch, @johncolucci, Engadget, @charlesarthur, @moorehn, @abtran, @alexhern and @jessebrown, more at Techmeme »
Jay Solomon / Columbia Journalism Review:
Journalist Jay Solomon lost his job as a foreign correspondent with the Wall Street Journal after being targeted by hackers who were likely state sponsored — How hacked emails and a yacht in Monaco ended my career — Off the coast of Monaco in the summers of 2014 and 2015 …
Discussion:
@jpodhoretz
Gardiner Harris / New York Times:
State Department has spent $0 of the $120M allocated by Congress since late-2016 to counter foreign efforts to meddle in elections or sow distrust in democracy — WASHINGTON — As Russia's virtual war against the United States continues unabated with the midterm elections approaching …
Discussion:
The New York Observer, Washington Post, Fox News Insider, The Week, bookforum.com, @natashabertrand and Slate, more at Techmeme »
The New York Times Company:
The New York Times promotes Deputy Culture Editor Patrick Healy to role of politics editor — Patrick Healy has been named politics editor. Read more in this memo from Dean Baquet, Joe Kahn and Matt Purdy. — The midterm elections are shaping up as an epic battle …
Discussion:
@mattgertz, @patrickhealynyt, @nycsouthpaw, @lpolgreen, @amychozick, @jswatz, @samsifton, @ashleyrparker, @anandwrites, @owillis, @samdolnick and @rpogrebin
Paul Farhi / Washington Post:
A look at NewsGuard, led by Steven Brill and Gordon Crovitz, which has raised $6M and plans to use journalists to rate reliability of ~7,500 online news sources — Media entrepreneur Steven Brill thinks there's something missing from all the efforts to separate fake news from the real kind: Some smart and discerning humans.
Discussion:
Adweek, Nieman Lab, CNNMoney, @ibarguen, @pilhofer, @bareham2016, @kris_sacrebleu, @maxboot, @sulliview and @brianstelter
Michael Potuck / 9to5Mac:
Netflix update lets parents set custom PINs for individual movies or shows and displays maturity level ratings at the moment of hitting play — Netflix today announced that it is updating its parental controls to create more detailed protection for young viewers.
Discussion:
Netflix Media Center, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, East Bay Times, The Verge and Mashable
Frederic Filloux / Monday Note:
A “Spotify for News” won't work for the same reasons Spotify itself is struggling: competition from the “big four” in tech, which will ramp up over time — Spotify's IPO is scheduled for this spring. Its SEC Filing offers an interesting perspective on the future of the news industry.
Discussion:
One Man & His Blog
Michael J. de la Merced / New York Times:
Google is selling US restaurant review guide Zagat, which it bought for $151M in 2011, to restaurant review company The Infatuation for an undisclosed sum — When Google agreed to buy Zagat for $151 million nearly seven years ago, the technology giant intended to bring the restaurant review empire into the digital age.
Discussion:
The Infatuation, Forbes, TechCrunch, Fortune, Engadget, Eater, Search Engine Land and The Verge, more at Techmeme »
Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
The world - and Hollywood - has changed since last year's Oscars, thanks to courageous reporting by the press on men like Harvey Weinstein — The world has changed since last year's Oscars — and for the better. — So let's not forget what got us there: great journalism.
Discussion:
@elizwgreen, @briannolan1974, @eduardosuarez, @1312sam, @marinafang, @paulkingsley7 and @sulliview
Joseph Bernstein / BuzzFeed:
Profile of PragerU, a nonprofit site whose five minute explainer videos, presented by well-known conservative pundits, have amassed 1B+ YouTube, Facebook views — A right-wing online “university” is on track for a billion views in 2018, its professors are some of the best-known conservatives in media …
Discussion:
The Outline
Accounting Specialist Editor, Remote US — 
Senior Correspondent - Wealth, NY — 
Asia Credit Reporter, Seoul — 
Senior Editor, DC — 
Sr. Social Media Specialist, NC — 
Associate Editor - Aviation, TN — 
Assistant Editor - Digital, NC — 
Video Producer - YouTube, NY — 
Senior Managing Ed. - Daily Desk — 
Content Managing Editor — 
Editor, MA — 
Team Editor - Breaking News, ON — 
Senior Reporter & Event Host, NY/CA — 
Associate Editor, Remote — 
Retail Reporter, MN — 
Senior Data Editor, DC — 
Managing Ed. - Berks County, PA — 
News Editor - UK, Remote — 
Staff Writer, TX — 
Multimedia Journalist, PA — 
Service Journalism Editor, CA — 
Content Director, Remote — 
Sports Reporter, ME — 
Los Angeles Issues Reporter, CA — 
Reporter - Middle East — 
Executive Editor, OR — 
California Playbook Writer, CA — 
Senior Media Editor — 
National Investigative Reporter, NY — 
Lexington County Reporter, SC — 
Reporter - Offshore Wind — 
General Assignment Reporter, FL — 
Staff Reporter, CA — 
Data Editor, NY — 
