Mediagazer: A look at Sci-Hub, a website providing free access to millions of otherwise inaccessible academic papers, and other efforts to topple academic paywalls (Joi Ito/Wired)

8:40 AM ET, January 10, 2019

Top News:

Casey Newton / The Verge:

NYU and Princeton study of 3,500 US adults: 11% of those over 65 have shared a hoax article on Facebook, while just 3% of those 18 to 29 have done so — And the finding holds true across party lines — Older Americans are disproportionately more likely to share fake news on Facebook …

Jennifer Robison / Columbia Journalism Review:

Sources detail Las Vegas Review-Journal's toxic workplace under ex-publisher Craig Moon, with claims of sexual harassment and unequal pay; some involved remain — At Sheldon Adelson's Las Vegas Review-Journal, allegations of misconduct were met with little change—and a big payout for the man in charge

Discussion: @thenvindy, @rileysnyder, @ralstonreports, @howardstutz, @jlnevadasmith, @ralstonreports, @nealtmorton, @mattdrange, @_jrobison, @_jrobison, @brianduggan, @ralstonreports, @ralstonreports, @anjeanettedamon and @betsbarnes

Jon Ralston / The Nevada Independent:

Why the Nevada Independent passed on a story about sex harassment claims at Las Vegas Review-Journal: lawyers said legal fight with Adelson would cost millions — On Wednesday, Columbia Journalism Review published a detailed piece by former Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jennifer Robison …

Discussion: CNN, @jeffweineros and @medialawprof

Freddy Mayhew / Press Gazette:

AFP appoints UK journalist Phil Chetwynd as global news director to replace Michèle Léridon, marking the first time a foreign national has filled the position — Agence France-Presse has appointed a British journalist as its global news director - the first time a foreign national …

Discussion: Al Arabiya

Brent Lang / Variety:

Former Pixar chief John Lasseter, ousted after misconduct allegations, is named head of Skydance Animation, replacing Bill Damaschke — Former Pixar chief John Lasseter has been named head of Skydance Animation. — The hire comes after Lasseter has been trying, and largely failing …

Discussion: Deadline, Deadline, @brentalang, @kateleth, The Verge, Vanity Fair, TVWeek.com, The A.V. Club, Slate, New York Times, Fortune, The Guardian, IndieWire and The Wrap

Joi Ito / Wired:

A look at Sci-Hub, a website providing free access to millions of otherwise inaccessible academic papers, and other efforts to topple academic paywalls — SCIENCE IS BUILT, enhanced, and developed through the open and structured sharing of knowledge. Yet some publishers charge …

Discussion: @wired and @aaronswartzday

Jeremy Barr / Hollywood Reporter:

BuzzFeed's Follow This, a 20-episode docuseries on Netflix, will not be renewed for a second season — While ‘Follow This’ won't continue, the company is cheering the renewal of its profitable Twitter morning show, ‘AM to DM.’ — Netflix has decided not to produce a second season …

News & Tech:

Study by Reuters' Journalism Innovation Project: news industry suffers from “Shiny Things Syndrome,” needs shift to being audience-focused, technology-empowered — The news industry is in the grip of “Shiny Things Syndrome,” an obsessive pursuit of tech along with a lack of a clear strategy, a new study says.

Discussion: Reuters and @rasmus_kleis

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:

AP has clarified its “two to tango” tweet on a fact-checking story after critics said the tweet created a false equivalence in the US budget debates — UPDATE 6:16 p.m.: The Associated Press has issued a second statement on the tweet: “The tweet was intended to make clear …

Discussion: @erikwemple, @jayrosen_nyu, @nikkiusher, @ecohen_umn, @jayrosen_nyu, Media Matters for America, Fast Company and Mediaite

Joan E. Solsman / CNET:

Amazon says its Fire TV products have “well over” 30M active users, up from 25M in October and surpassing Roku's 27M+ announced earlier this week — Amazon's Fire TV may be moving into the lead among video streaming devices, with its lineup of products attracting “well over” …

more at Techmeme »

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Plex is in talks with rights holders and content providers to add free, ad-supported movies to Plex as soon as this year and is also exploring subscriptions — Media software maker Plex is preparing to take on The Roku Channel and Amazon Prime Video Channels, possibly as soon as this year.

Discussion: @plex

Kurt Wagner / Recode:

Starting in February, Twitter will stream the second half of some NBA games, with the camera's focus on an individual player picked by users — Twitter cut a streaming deal with the NBA to show you individual players, not full games. — Twitter doesn't stream NBA games …

Discussion: TechCrunch, @donaldrichard, MediaPost, Awful Announcing, Mashable, Adweek and The Wrap, more at Techmeme »

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Part-time Editor, Remote — Techmeme

Home & Travel Reporter, Ireland — Newsweek

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Senior Editor - Visuals (Temporary), DC — NPR

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More News:

Nieman Foundation:
Harvard's Nieman Foundation announces its 2019 class of Knight Visiting Nieman Fellows, which includes The Atlantic's Taylor Lorenz

Discussion: @jdsutter, @ekizilkaya, @taylorlorenz, @amlwhere, @scbaird and @chaykak

Evan Real / Hollywood Reporter:
Building on its GoT Twitter aftershow #TalkTheThrones, The Ringer is adding a show about hit series Big Little Lies

Discussion: @billsimmons

Matt Donnelly / Variety:
Netflix Names STX Executive Sheroum Kim as Head of Independent Film

August Brown / Los Angeles Times:
How Ryan Schreiber shaped internet music journalism with Pitchfork, the site he founded as a teen in Minneapolis in 1995 and is now leaving

Discussion: @augustbrown

Wall Street Journal:
Sources detail how Facebook and Twitter have increasingly turned to right-leaning groups to help referee political speech, often behind the scenes

Discussion: PinkNews, @philippereines, @michellemalkin, @jordanschachtel, @getongab, Media Matters for America and The Daily Caller, more at Techmeme »

Earlier Picks:

Ina Fried / Axios:
Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg says it's too soon to say if the company will divest its media unit and that it will not make money by leveraging subscriber data

Discussion: @kevglobal, @axios, @bvar and @johnbattelle

Hillman Foundation:
Meredith Kolodner and Sarah Butrymowicz of The Hechinger Report win January's Sidney award for an investigative collaboration with the NYT into cosmetology

Discussion: @lawriemifflin, @hechingerreport, @sidneyhillman, @jelani9, @nytimespr and @amandamarcotte

Mark Di Stefano / BuzzFeed:
UK newspaper The Sun's coverage is becoming more right-wing in a bid to attract the attention of The Drudge Report and subsequent traffic boosts, emails show

Discussion: @emilybell, @mathewi, @oliverdarcy, @jamesdelingpole, @louisstaples, @buzzfeeduk, @buzzfeednews, @markdistef and @tomnamako

Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:
Amid a debate on the value of broadcasting Trump's primetime speech, network anchors responded with several corrections for some of his misleading claims

From Techmeme:

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple has renewed discussions with OpenAI about using its technology to power some features in iOS 18; talks with Google on using Gemini remain ongoing

Ryan Vlastelica / Bloomberg:
Alphabet closes above a $2T market cap for the first time, reaching a valuation of $2.15T after rising 10% on April 26, its biggest one-day jump since July 2015

Dustin Volz / Wall Street Journal:
Sam Altman, Satya Nadella, Sundar Pichai, Jensen Huang, and others join a board for advising the DHS on deploying AI safely within US critical infrastructure

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