Mediagazer: Twitter backtracks and removes option to let users receive direct messages from any follower (Kaylene Hong/The Next Web)

5:50 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, @eisingerj, @jayrosen_nyu, @mathewi, Talking Biz News, @joepompeo, @preetatweets, @comradewong, Melville House Books, The New York Observer and @paulconley

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, @sarabethberman, @timkarr, @colvinius, @suilee, New Yorker, @madhulikasikka, @newyorker, Sinosphere and The New York Observer

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, mUmBRELLA, @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, @bobbymacreports, The Daily Caller, @angryblacklady, Folio, @thewire, Adweek and @attackerman

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.

Discussion: @michaelwolffnyc

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

Esteban Kozak / Twitter blog:

New ways to search on Twitter — We're updating our iOS and Android apps to make it easier to discover what's happening on Twitter. — New filters in search help you quickly find exactly the Tweets and people you're looking for. And now you have the option to view all Tweets …

Discussion: 9to5Mac, The Next Web, The Verge, Search Engine Land and Engadget

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

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

Tony Maglio / The Wrap:

ESPN, Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight Hire Key Editorial Team — FiveThirtyEight.com, a website for data-driven journalism re-launching in early 2014 in coordination with ESPN, has made a number of key hires for the new site, which will be led by editor-in-chief Nate Silver.

Discussion: ESPN MediaZone, Poynter, FishbowlNY, @fivethirtyeight, @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 …