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Sources: over 250 Facebook employees have signed a letter visible on an internal forum that says letting politicians lie in ads is “a threat” to the company — In an open letter, the social network's employees said letting politicians post false claims in ads was “a threat” to the company.
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@mikeisaac, New York Times, The Guardian, MediaPost, @sarahfrier, The Independent, @aoc, @donttrythis, TechCrunch, Politico, The A.V. Club, Mercury News, @brianstelter, @bariawilliams, Ad Age, @oneunderscore__, @peterwsinger, @mattlech, @davmicrot, The Next Web, @thegrugq, @wiczipedia, @ewarren, @senblumenthal, VICE, @mikeisaac, Business Insider, @benioff, KTLA, The Verge, RAPPLER, CNN, Beyond Search, Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Memex 1.1, The Wrap, The Week, The Hill, Gizmodo, Mashable and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

Deadspin's interim editor-in-chief, Barry Petchesky, who has worked for the publication for ten years, says he has been fired for “not sticking to sports” — It was a solid bet when The Daily Beast reported that G/O Media management issued an edict to Deadspin to stick to sports …
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G/O Media memo to staff says “Deadspin will write only about sports” and to focus 100% of resources on sports; the site also covered politics, culture, and more
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Mediaite, @bubbaprog, VICE, @alexandraerin, The Daily Beast, @dansolomon, @yc, @mlcalderone, @ftrain, Poynter, @lindseyadler, @mikemadden, @jaythenerdkid, @cdcarter13, @espiers, @drrubidium, @johnmoe, @themadstone, The Drum, @tylercoates, @rossalincoln, @russbengtson, @beyondreasdoubt, @revrrlewis, @icehockeystick, @_shireenahmed_, @rowankaiser, @passionweiss, @thescibabe and @ashleyfeinberg
Kelsey Mckinney / @mckinneykelsey:
Deadspin writer says G/O Media management removed a letter to the readers from Deadspin staff that criticised the recent addition of autoplay videos to the site
Deadspin writer says G/O Media management removed a letter to the readers from Deadspin staff that criticised the recent addition of autoplay videos to the site
Discussion:
@gmgunion, @chronotope, Awful Announcing, @barry, @williamfleitch, @katiedrumm, @mckinneykelsey, @ashleyfeinberg and Gizmodo

Local news survey: 45% of Americans trust it “quite a lot” or more; 53% of Americans view it as balanced though 50% of Democrats trust it vs. 27% of Republicans — When it comes to trust, local news media continue to outperform their national counterparts.
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, Knight Foundation, @dangillmor, @newsalliance, @maryellenklas, The Rural Blog, @newsbyschmidt, @niemanlab and Fast Company

The Recount, John Heilemann and John Battelle's short-form video political news outlet, has raised ~$10M seed from investors including Jay-Z and Kevin Durant — A-List investors (Fred Wilson, Jay-Z, Robert Wolf, Kevin Durant) are pouring millions into the journalist's new business.
Discussion:
@johnbattelle, @therecount, @jheil, @thisfamilymeal, @joepompeo and Politico

National Amusements has voted to approve the CBS-Viacom merger, which is now expected to close by early December; the merged company will be called ViacomCBS — National Amusements, the company controlled by the Redstone family, has voted to approve the merger.
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Variety, The Wrap, Deadline and TVWeek.com

Sony says it will shut down its PlayStation Vue live TV subscription service on January 30 — The Streamable is reader-supported and may earn an affiliate commission when you sign up with our links. — This is breaking news, the story will be updated. — After much speculation …
Discussion:
Variety and Awful Announcing, more at Techmeme »

FT says it is testing subscriber-only podcasts, deviating from its audio strategy of ad-supported open-access podcasts, hires its first global head of audio — The Financial Times has expanded its audio strategy to include subscriber-only podcasts, a first for the publisher.
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Press Gazette, Talking Biz News and RAIN News

Daily Mail soft-launches Mail+, a bulletin-based digital service separate from its free Mail Online that will charge readers for some content in upcoming months — The long heralded next chapter of the Daily Mail's push into digital media will take shape this week, as consolidation across …
Discussion:
Press Gazette and @amolrajan

The RedState reporter who published the Katie Hill photo has since promoted GOP candidates for her seat, a blurring of roles unacceptable in mainstream outlets — Shortly after Rep. Katie Hill announced her resignation from Congress on Sunday night, the RedState reporter …
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VICE, @jenvanlaar, @politico, @stellinitweets, @mattdpearce, @joshuahol, @mlcalderone, Washington Free Beacon, The Week, New York Post, Breitbart and Talking Points Memo

Federal judge reinstates libel lawsuit by Covington Catholic student Nicholas Sandmann against WaPo, narrowing its scope from 33 published statements to three — A federal judge reinstated part of a lawsuit against The Washington Post filed by the family of a Kentucky teenager that alleged …
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Fox News, Washington Examiner, The Hill, Deadline, New York Post, Washington Times and Fox News
Ryan Mac / @rmac18:
Judge rules that Elon Musk won't be able to depose BuzzFeed reporter Ryan Mac in the defamation case brought by cave rescuer, who will be allowed to depose Mac — A judge ruled a few hours ago that Elon Musk won't be able to depose me in the ongoing defamation lawsuit against him from cave rescuer Vernon Unsworth. A win for the free press. The case goes to trial next month and we will continue to cover it. https://twitter.com/...
Discussion:
@markdistef, @trevortimm and @thomas_violence

Sources: NBC News Digital is expanding its staff by 20% over the next year, amounting to ~70 new jobs, and shutting down its digital video studio NBC Left Field — NBC News Digital is expanding its staff by 20% over the next year, an addition of roughly 70 jobs across multiple departments …

Amazon signs second distribution deal in France, this time with telco Free, which will include Amazon Prime Video in its €5.99 monthly plan at no extra cost — Rolling off its deal with Altice's SFR in August, Amazon has scored a distribution agreement with Free, another major French telco group.
Discussion:
Mashable, TechCrunch and Engadget, more at Techmeme »