Mediagazer: Trump administration declines to submit a report to Congress on whether Saudi Arabia's crown prince is responsible for the killing of Jamal Khashoggi (Washington Post)

10:55 PM ET, February 8, 2019

Top News:

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:

National Enquirer's work is not any kind of journalism, not even tabloidism; it is threat of publication as a bludgeon, with a clear political agenda — The tweet from Jeffrey P. Bezos, announcing his stunning blog post, came Thursday at 5:51 p.m. — And for a few long minutes, the chattering classes shut up.

Discussion: New York Times, New Yorker, Bloomberg, The Wrap, @bgrueskin, @robingivhan, @ninabernstein1, @kitlovelace and @will_bunch

Bloomberg:

Sources: SDNY received information about key exchanges concerning Bezos and AMI and is reviewing it for possible immunity agreement violations — - Authorities were given publisher's missives to Amazon founder — Potential jeopardy for AMI's previous deal with prosecutors

Discussion: Bloomberg, New York Times, Associated Press, Mediaite, @eisingerj and Slate

Vlad Savov / The Verge:

Twitter served as the spark and initial validator for the Bezos blog post on Medium, once again showing how instrumental Twitter is for news — Jeff Bezos' highly personal blog post last night was a bombshell in many ways: it served as a middle finger to blackmailing bullies …

Discussion: Business Insider, New York Times, @bluechoochoo, @bborrman, @steverubel, The Daily Beast, Financial Times, @vladsavov, GeekWire and @bluechoochoo

Washington Post:

AMI says it believes it acted lawfully in its Bezos reporting and characterizes its actions as “good faith negotiations” but will investigate the claims — The parent company of the National Enquirer said it would thoroughly investigate extortion claims by Amazon chief executive Jeffrey P. Bezos …

Discussion: The Guardian, Variety, New York Times, Variety, CNBC, @oliverdarcy, Slate, Business Insider, The Guardian, CNET, @amandamarcotte and @jediofgallifrey

Jeff Bezos:
Jeff Bezos publishes letters from National Enquirer owner AMI that he says show threats to publish his nude photos unless he stops probing AMI's reporting

Discussion: @jeffbezos, @ronanfarrow, The Wrap, The Daily Beast, Columbia Journalism Review, New York Post, The Wrap, @ndrew_lawrence, Politico, USA Today, Washington Post, @kimzetter, Observer, New Yorker, New York Times, The Guardian, Business Insider, Mediaite, Bloomberg, @hypatiadotca, The Verge, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, @maxwellstrachan, @felixsalmon, @maggienyt, CNN, Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, Slate, CNBC, @yashar, Mashable, Adweek, @nxthompson, The Atlantic, The Hill, Vanity Fair, The Week, Financial Times, GeekWire, emptywheel, Contemptor, Fast Company, @gregpmiller, Fortune, Melville House Books, WIRED UK, The Bulwark, TVNewser, Vanity Fair, Variety, Miami New Times, KTLA, TechCrunch, Reason, @pkafka, Recode, @nxthompson, Vox, Page Six, The Intercept, Splinter, @sonnybunch, The Daily Beast, Citi Newsroom, @dkahanerules, @nycjim, @hypatiadotca, @elisewho, American Press Institute, @brianstelter, Big League Politics, @mariashriver, HuffPost, @profgalloway, Al Jazeera, @karaswisher, @maxwellstrachan, @michaelsteele, @xeni, @heerjeet, @dmgshuey, @jamilsmith, @washingtonpost, @popehat, @tjl, @yashar, @yashar, @popehat, @mmasnick, @billkristol, @kevinmkruse, @po8crg, @popehat, @popehat, @maxwellstrachan, @maggienyt, @mrbromwich, @michaelavenatti, @normative, Newser, @waltshaub, @mrtsmith81, @moorehn, @fritinancy, @renato_mariotti, @renato_mariotti, @renato_mariotti, @renato_mariotti, @renato_mariotti, @renato_mariotti, @donie, @noahshachtman, @jeffjarvis, @samstein, @maxwellstrachan, @erikwemple, @nycsouthpaw, @kfile, @jenniferjjacobs, @gaberivera, @sdkstl, @nycsouthpaw, @marklittlenews, @benjaminwittes, @heidilifeldman, @gbrockell, @yashar, @kbiegel, @shiratarlo, @anildash, @donnarapado, @ksadjadpour, VICE, @mkarolian, @borzou, @rachelwalexande, @harryh, @danbarker, @jerrydunleavy, @eisingerj, @sulliview and Associated Press, more at Techmeme »

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

Discussion: New York Times, CNN, Slate, Bloomberg, Vanity Fair, @ronanfarrow, The Verge, @noahshachtman, @ronanfarrow, @johncarreyrou, @tbridis and Newser

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: in August, Mohammed bin Salman met with Vice's Shane Smith to discuss a joint venture like the one the state has with Bloomberg and the Telegraph — One sunny afternoon in August on a yacht off the Red Sea coast, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Vice Media Executive …

Discussion: New York Times, @wsj, @michaelkamon, @aaschapiro, The Daily Beast and Splinter

Washington Post:

Trump administration declines to submit a report to Congress on whether Saudi Arabia's crown prince is responsible for the killing of Jamal Khashoggi — The Trump administration declined Friday to submit a report to Congress determining whether Saudi Arabia's crown prince is personally responsible …

Discussion: @kendilaniannbc, CNN, @senatorleahy, @karenattiah, @w7voa and @w7voa

Hunter Walk:

Interview with Adam Davidson, co-founder and longtime co-host of Planet Money, on audio talent, various kinds of podcasts, and how podcasting is maturing now — In the design of social apps, we'll sometimes talk about how there's a Friend Graph and an Interest Graph, and they don't always mix.

Discussion: TechCrunch, @hunterwalk, @arishapiro, @adamdavidson, @timslloyd, @hunterwalk and @hunterwalk

Recode:

Gimlet's Alex Blumberg and Matt Lieber on weighing remaining independent and being acquired, the days before the deal, and reach, data, and discoverability — Blumberg and Lieber spoke with Recode's Peter Kafka on the latest episode of Recode Media. — On Friday, Recode broke the news …

Discussion: Recode, @alansmurray, @heyfeifer, @dada_drummer, @nwquah, @teddyschleifer, Techdirt, TechCrunch, RAIN News, @anchor and @mignano

Owen Williams / Charged:

Google touts its news initiatives, but essentially bars access to Google News for small publishers with its opaque policies and unrealistic output requirements — There's been a lot of discussion about the future of publishing over the last few years, particularly as Facebook traffic began cratering …

Discussion: @baekdal and @jzheel

Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:

Capitol Forum, which focuses on M&A and government contract news, sues Bloomberg News, claiming Bloomberg is violating copyright's “hot news doctrine” and more — Capitol Forum, a Washington-based news service that focuses on mergers and acquisitions, antitrust and government contracts …

Discussion: courthousenews.com, Thanks:@talkingbiznews

Reuters:

IAC's Vimeo generated $160M in revenue in 2018, up from $103.3M in 2017 as its subscribers grew to 952,000, up 9% YoY — Arjun Panchadar, Pushkala Aripaka — (Reuters) - Online video platform Vimeo's revenue jumped 54 percent last year as its subscriber base surpassed 950,000, its parent group IAC said on Thursday.

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 …