Axios

A new Pew/Knight Foundation study finds that adults 18-29 remember the source to news links they click less than half the time (47%), while adults ages 30+ will remember the source roughly 60% of the time.

Why it matters: As younger generations develop closer relationships with platforms over publishers, their trust has shifted to a news distributors. Case In point: When asked in the survey about the name of the news source that was linked to, 10% of survey respondents wrote in "Facebook" as a specific outlet.

Other key findings:

• Social and search used nearly equally to access news: Adults are almost equally likely to get news by going directly to a news website (36%) as getting news through social media (35%).
• Hard news more likely to be accessed directly: Business and finance news is more likely to be accessed by going directly to a news website or app (53%) than through social media (12%). Community news is much more likely to be discovered through social media (53%) than on a news website (22%).
• Personal communication yields the highest engagement: People are much more likely to share or engage with news via personal communication, like a text, email or from a family or friend than a news site.

Facebook has agreed to an audit by the Media Rating Council (MRC), to verify the accuracy of the information they deliver to publishers and ad buyers.

Why it matters: As Axios noted last month, since the last time Facebook updated its measurement and transparency policies, there have been several instances of Facebook misreporting data to publishing partners. Most notably, Facebook apologized in September for inflating video engagement metrics up to 60% for two years.

Other updates: Along with the audit, Facebook will add more impression-level data, meaning more data for how an ad is consumed on each individual view. They also announced an expanded list of approved third-party vendors that measure traffic and ad campaign data, so publishers can continue to work with their preferred vendors.

What we're watching: Facebook's increase of approved vendors and measurement updates falls in line with an industry trend, and movements by its competitors. Last month, Snapchat announced the addition of new approved third-party measurement providers to its platform. This is not surprising, given that the Interactive Advertising Bureau told media executives in February that an influx of data availability in 2016 will lead data measurement and attribution as the most important issues that face the industry in 2017.

Sears surged more than 50% in pre-market trading after the company announced plans to radically cut costs. The stock has since pulled back, and is up roughly 25% after the market open.

Sears announced the sale of a handful of stores and an agreement to sell more real estate in order to raise $1 billion in cash, as well as a plan to reduce debt and pension obligations by $1.5 billion.

Viacom announced it will increase investment in its flagship brands, which signals its efforts to assure pay TV providers, like Comcast and DirectTV, they can count on business with Viacom, per an earnings call today. The flagships include BET, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., and Paramount.

Quick take: This is a strategic bet for the entertainment company. Ad revenues and ratings were both down for the TV side of the company's operations, but Viacom says the diverse audiences of those six networks have ample reach and distribution potential across platforms.

Tapping into film: Viacom will be funneling those networks into its success with film — theatrical revenues grew by 104%. The six brands will contribute one or two movies to build on this strength.

How will this affect viewer experience? This will likely make it more difficult to view shows like "The Daily Show" a day after they aired on services like Hulu, per ReCode. This is because it will be turning more to pay TV providers to rake in the dough.

Jason Chaffetz, the House Oversight Chair, said today a "White House aide's promotion" of Ivanka Trump's brand was "clearly over the line" and "unacceptable", per AP. Although Chaffetz did not name Kellyanne Conway directly, it was clear he was referring to her Fox News appearance this morning.

When asked about the ethics of Conway's comments in his White House briefing today, Sean Spicer said that Conway has been "counseled on that subject... that's it."

Ant Financial, an affiliate of Chinese tech giant Alibaba, is raising $3 billion in debt financing to finance new acquisitions, according to multiple reports. The news comes just weeks after Ant Financial agreed to buy Dallas-based money transfer service MoneyGram for $880 million.

Why it matters: Ant Financial is building a bankroll to become one of the world's largest payment and financial services players, and raising debt in dollars suggests that MoneyGram may be only the beginning of its U.S. ambitions.

Add it to the collection: Ant Financial already has Chinese payment services Alipay and MyBank, plus Paytm in India and Ascend Money in Southeast Asia.

Like her father, Ivanka Trump, gave up all management responsibilities for her businesses around the time of the inauguration. After Nordstrom dropped her fashion brand, the president took to Twitter to criticize the move. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer explained it like this:

He has every right to stand up for his family and applaud their business activities, their successes.

Our thought bubble: Ivanka's current relationship to her business is similar to that of President Trump's with the Trump Organization, in that she resigned from management but didn't divest. Other private companies may now be wondering how POTUS would view the "fairness" of ending a relationship with the Trump Organization. And in Ivanka's case, is Spicer referring to past "business activities" and, if so, how could Nordstrom treat Ivanka fairly or unfairly today?

Nordstrom might be playing politics, too. Nordstrom says its decision was based on performance, but a spokesman for Ivanka's fashion line tells Axios the retailer ordered both shoes and apparel for spring 2017, and only canceled the former. Moreover, the brand claims year-over-year revenue growth in 2016, and Nordstrom's co-president reportedly wrote an internal memo last November that referred to Ivanka Trump's wares as "a sizable and successful business."