Mediagazer: Music Streaming Startup Rdio Lays Off Staff To 'Improve Cost Structure And Ensure A Scalable Business" (Ingrid Lunden/TechCrunch)

4:45 PM ET, November 19, 2013

Top News:

The evolution of Bloomberg News — Yesterday was a big day for layoffs over at Bloomberg, and Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke has the official memo from editor-in-chief Matt Winkler. In typical Bloomberg style, the defenestrations seem to be taking place in much the same way as they would on Wall Street …

Discussion: Gannett Blog, @pawelmorski, @jkbloodtreasure, @michaelroston, @comradewong, @eisingerj, @jayrosen_nyu, @mathewi, Talking Biz News, @joepompeo, @preetatweets, Melville House Books, The New York Observer, @paulconley, Business Insider and FishbowlDC

Evan Osnos / The New Yorker Blog:

What Will It Cost to Cover China? — The Chinese Communist Party generated hopeful headlines this month by acknowledging that it faces a time of reckoning: to prevent economic peril and rising unrest, the Party promised to overhaul the economy, to allow more parents to have two children instead of only one …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, @timkarr, New Yorker, @sarabethberman, @colvinius, @suilee, @madhulikasikka, @newyorker, Sinosphere and The New York Observer

Peter Lauria / BuzzFeed:

Fear And Anxiety At Bloomberg TV — Big changes are ahead after another management overhaul of the financial news outlet's TV operation. Problem is, no one is really sure what they are — or where they stand. — When new Bloomberg Media Chief Executive Justin Smith announced just 12 days ago …

Discussion: @mlcalderone

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Michael Forsythe out at Bloomberg News — Michael Forsythe, the Bloomberg News reporter suspected of leaking allegations that his outlet spiked investigative reports on China, has left the company, he confirmed on Tuesday. — “I can confirm that I have left Bloomberg News.

Discussion: Jack Shafer, Business Insider, Sinosphere, Poynter and The Huffington Post

Christine Haughney / New York Times:
Bloomberg Lays Off Staff in Sports and Culture

Discussion: 10,000 Words, @pekingmike, @coopnytimes, @comradewong and @henrycstewart

Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:
Winkler's note to Bloomberg staff: We will grow in 2014

Discussion: FishbowlDC

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

‘Atlantic Wire’ relaunches this morning as ‘The Wire’ — Website relaunches are notorious for creating headaches in the days and hours before they go live, between staff training, functionality testing and inevitable last minute design fixes. — But the relaunch of The Atlantic Wire …

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab, Poynter, The Wire, FishbowlNY, Folio, @bobbymacreports, The Daily Caller, @angryblacklady, Adweek, @attackerman and @thewire

Kaylene Hong / The Next Web:

Twitter backtracks and removes option to let users receive direct messages from any follower — Last month, Twitter quietly rolled out a new feature to give users the choice to receive private messages from any of their followers, but that option has now been removed.

Discussion: AllThingsD, Gigaom, Softpedia News, Yahoo! News, WebProNews, @antderosa, @bryandfischer, @chrchristensen, Fast Company, The Drum, @chrisboutet, @mattbuchanan, @djbentley, The Verge, Mashable, @jimpoco, CNET, Engadget, Electronista and ReadWrite

Liz Gannes / AllThingsD:

Quora Will Push Its Most Link-Baity Content to BuzzFeed (Though It Would Never Call It That) — On Quora, answers to the question “What are the most surreal places one can ever visit?” are a fantastical mix of caves and mountains and formations and reefs. The page has more than half a million views.

Discussion: The Quora Blog

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Music Streaming Startup Rdio Lays Off Staff To 'Improve Cost Structure And Ensure A Scalable Business" — The music streaming business can be tough, with market leaders like Spotify growing like weeds but still loss-making. Today, some bad news from competitor Rdio, the music streaming service startup …

Discussion: Gigaom, The Verge, @jherskowitz, @sai and @panzer

New York Times:

Murdoch Divorce Said to Be Almost Final — Rupert Murdoch and Wendi Deng Murdoch are negotiating the final details of their divorce settlement, a deal that will officially end the 14-year marriage of the media mogul and his third wife, according to people with direct knowledge of the negotiations.

Joe Flint / Los Angeles Times:

Deadline owner Jay Penske takes Nikki Finke to arbitration — The battle between entertainment journalist Nikki Finke and Jay Penske, the owner of Deadline Hollywood, the website she founded and has since left, has been turned up a notch. Late Monday, Penske Media Corp. (PMC) …

Discussion: Gawker, @carr2n, @jbflint and Los Angeles Times

Nate Silver / @fivethirtyeight:

538 has hired Mike Wilson (@mwilsontimes), currently managing editor of the Tampa Bay Times, as its Managing Editor. http://espnmediazone.com/...

Discussion: ESPN MediaZone, @voooos, @fivethirtyeight and @mwilsontimes

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Apple TV Adds Yahoo, PBS — Apple has signed on more video providers for its Apple TV box: Yahoo is now offering its Yahoo Screen service on the Web video gadget, and PBS has created an app that lets users watch some, but not all, of its shows. — Apple, which has kept a tight grip …

Discussion: Yahoo Screen, Broadcasting & Cable, Pocket-lint, Variety, MacRumors, The Next Web, The Verge, @pkafka, Engadget and MacStories

Steven Waldman / Knight Foundation:

New report on foundation funding of media shows focus on education and tools — Report on foundation funding for media ignites crucial discussion — As senior adviser to the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Steven Waldman was the lead author of “Information Needs of Communities …

Discussion: @kljdavis and @knightfdn