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12:55 AM ET, February 8, 2019

Mediagazer

 Top News: 
Jeff Bezos:
Jeff Bezos publishes letters from AMI that he says show threats to publish his nude photos unless he stops probing AMI's earlier reporting and motivations  —  Something unusual happened to me yesterday.  Actually, for me it wasn't just unusual—it was a first.  I was made an offer I couldn't refuse.
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Allyson Chiu / Washington Post:
Ronan Farrow said he and at least one other journalist involved in stories about National Enquirer and Trump faced “blackmail” threats from AMI
Washington Post:
Jill Abramson responds to plagiarism allegations, says some citations don't match with the right pages and some language is too close to sources, promises fixes  —  Former New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson responded Thursday to allegations that she plagiarized portions of her new book …
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Mathew Ingram / Columbia Journalism Review:
While a fine line exists on what qualifies as plagiarism, it's irritating to have words borrowed for Jill Abramson's book with no apparent attribution  —  It's an odd feeling to have an otherwise unremarkable passage you wrote appear as an exhibit in an accusation of plagiarism …
Discussion: On my Om and @mathewi
Tamar Auber / Mediaite:
Vice News correspondent says former NYT executive editor Jill Abramson included plagiarized passages in chapters about Vice in her book, Merchants of Truth
Brendan Nyhan / Medium:
Research comparing 2016 and 2018 suggests Facebook's efforts to limit the reach of fake news are working, but the platform's scale remains an alluring target  —  After the shock of the 2016 presidential election, many Americans found psychological refuge in a simple explanation for why Donald Trump won: “fake news.”
Max Willens / Digiday:
IAC's Dotdash, which owns Investopedia and the remnants of About.com, posts $131M in revenue in 2018, up 44% YoY, and expects 21% revenue growth YoY for 2019  —  In a year where publishers scrambled to diversify their revenues and their business models, Dotdash posted breakout growth stemming from a course it charted a long time ago.
Cara Lombardo / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Digital First Media, which owns ~7.5% of Gannett's stock and was rejected in a takeover attempt, has launched a proxy fight to remake Gannett's board  —  Digital First Media, the hedge-fund-backed newspaper chain whose takeover bid for Gannett was rejected, is preparing for a proxy fight to remake Gannett's board.
Discussion: @cararlombardo
Gene Maddaus / Variety:
Woody Allen sues Amazon for $68M, claiming Amazon breached a four-picture deal and refused to release A Rainy Day in New York  —  Woody Allen filed a $68 million suit against Amazon Studios Thursday, alleging that the streamer has backed out of a multi-picture film deal due to “a 25-year old, baseless allegation.”
Alex Heath / Cheddar:
TikTok hires Vanessa Pappas, who was YouTube's Global Head of Creative Insights, as its first-ever General Manager for the US  —  TikTok, the Chinese-owned company that has quickly become one of the hottest apps in North America, has hired a veteran YouTube executive to oversee its U.S. operations.
Mark Little / Kinzen:
Kinzen, formerly Neva Labs, launches a free iOS app for aggregated news with limited channels; premium membership is $4.99/month and offers curated digests  —  We have something new for you to try.  Something a little bit different.  It's an experience we think will reward your time and attention.
Christine Schmidt / Nieman Lab:
Newsletter provider Substack is now offering support for podcasts by notifying subscribers when a podcast is published, which they can listen to via web player  —  “It's not paying for the newsletter or the audio file.  It's the connection to the mind."  —  In another snippet of podcast news …
Peter Kafka / Recode:
Spotify buys podcast producer Gimlet Media, sources say for ~$230M, and Anchor, a startup which makes it easier for users to record and distribute podcasts  —  Daniel Ek says he wants to spend up to $500 million on acquisitions this year.  —  Spotify is a streaming music company that wants to become a podcast company, too.
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 More News: 
Kurt Wagner / Recode:
Facebook says it has restructured its “youth team” of 100+ and will increase its investment in Messenger Kids; sources: meme app LOL will be shuttered
Discussion: CNET and 9to5Mac, more at Techmeme »
Lucia Moses / Business Insider:
NYT to start testing raising prices for its digital subscriptions soon; it hasn't raised these prices in seven and a half years
Mark Sweney / The Guardian:
BBC to take control of the bulk of UKTV, a 10-channel broadcaster currently jointly owned with Discovery, with a one-off payment of as much as £250M
Joe Pompeo / Vanity Fair:
Sources: NYT reporters Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang strike seven-figure deal with HarperCollins to write a book about Facebook
The Wrap:
Netflix finalizes a deal to acquire rights to Knock Down the House, a documentary about Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and three other women who ran for office
Discussion: Mediaite
 Earlier Picks: 
Jim Waterson / The Guardian:
In Q4 2018, BBC Radio 4 had 10.5M listeners, down 750K listeners YoY, BBC 5 Live's audience fell 10% YoY; the BBC's total radio listening share fell to 50.9%
Leonie Kijewski / The Guardian:
Philippines DOJ indicts Rappler, Maria Ressa, and an ex-Rappler journalist for cyber libel over a 2012 story published months before the law was passed
Discussion: RAPPLER
Angela Moon / Reuters:
Twitter reports Q4 revenue of $909M, up 24% YoY, ad revenue of $791M, up 23% YoY, net income of $244M, and MAUs of 321M, down by 9M YoY; stock is down 9%+
Tim Hornyak / Nieman Lab:
Tokyo-based Nordot, a content-sharing platform that connects producers and distributors, has launched an English language version of its site
New York Times Company:
In Q4, The New York Times added 265K digital subscriptions, bringing total number of digital subs to 3.4M but profit decreased to $74.7M from $90.5M a year ago