Mediagazer: Financial Times acquires majority stake in London-based research and content firm Longitude (Lucinda Southern/Digiday)

7:55 AM ET, February 2, 2018

Top News:

Craig Silverman / BuzzFeed:

Researchers say publisher of Newsweek and IBTimes used fraudulent methods to inflate traffic to get ad deals; company acknowledges buying traffic, denies fraud — Several of Newsweek Media Group's business websites are buying and manipulating traffic that originates on pirated video streaming sites.

Discussion: Newsweek, @hadas_gold, New York Post, USA Today, @joshfromalaska, @thejoshkeefe, Mic, The Wrap, @craigsilverman, @swiftonsecurity, @morninggloria, @metacurity, @daniel_knauf, @bmorrissey, @craigsilverman and @craigsilverman

Hadas Gold / CNNMoney:
Etienne Uzac, co-owner and chairman of Newsweek Media Group, resigns along with his wife, Marion Kim, company finance director, amid probe of company finances

Discussion: The Daily Caller, @cnnmoney and Talking Biz News

Financial Times:

Sources: BuzzFeed Editor Ben Smith has held preliminary talks with the Emerson Collective, funded by Laurene Powell Jobs, about investing in BuzzFeed News — The editor of BuzzFeed has had discussions with the company started by Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of the late Steve Jobs …

Discussion: The Information, Recode, CNNMoney, @oliverdarcy, @stevekopack, The Hill, Fast Company, Variety, @perlberg, @oliverdarcy, @markdistef, @erik_hayden, @claranellist, @oliverdarcy, BloombergQuint, Bloomberg, @pkafka, @mikeisaac and @rafat

Joe Pompeo / Vanity Fair:

Medium hires Siobhan O'Connor, who had been executive editor of Time, as vice president of editorial, reporting to Ev Williams — Time Inc. vet editor Siobhan O'Connor will be in charge of creating stories to pull readers past the paywall. — Medium, the pro-am Web-publishing outfit founded …

Discussion: @joepompeo, @pierce and @sarahfrier

Caroline Lees / European Journalism Observatory:

Reuters study: in Italy and France, false news sites' reach is much lower than that of news sites; Facebook interactions for a few false sites exceed news orgs — The first research into false news sites in Europe reveals that fake news sites in France and Italy have a far more limited reach than is often assumed.

Discussion: Reuters Institute …, @rasmus_kleis, @rasmus_kleis, @mathewi, Nieman Lab, @melissakchan, @melissakchan, @jayrosen_nyu, @dpfunke, @sohnic and Reuters Institute …

Janko Rottgers / Variety:

Spotify is testing Stations, a Pandora-style free music app which includes some personalization options but is currently only available on some Android devices — Music streaming service Spotify released a new Android app that's all about free music Tuesday.

Discussion: TechCrunch, MacRumors and 9to5Google

Steven Perlberg / BuzzFeed:

Sources: CNN cuts tech staff working on MoneyStream app, which began in 2016 and offered information on stocks and personalities, may delete app from App Store — CNN MoneyStream, which CNN wanted to shape into a Bleacher Report for business news, will become an automated feed of stories.

Lucinda Southern / Digiday:

Financial Times acquires majority stake in London-based research and content firm Longitude — The Financial Times is bolstering its commercial offering for clients with the acquisition of London-based research company Longitude. — With 910,000 paying print and digital readers …

Discussion: Financial Times, Longitude, Media Star and Talking Biz News

Parker Higgins / Freedom of the Press Foundation:

Freedom of the Press Foundation unveils an online archive using Archive-It, to preserve news sites threatened by powerful individuals, starts with Gawker.com — Freedom of the Press Foundation is launching an online archives collection in partnership with Archive-It, a service developed …

Discussion: New York Times, Melville House Books, @barryeisler, Engadget, The New York Observer, @bartongellman, TechCrunch, The Next Web and Wired

Jeremy Horwitz / VentureBeat:

Google releases YouTube TV app for Apple TV and select Roku devices for $35/month, bundling over 50 channels with option to separately purchase more — As announced with a tease on Twitter, Google has just released an Apple TV client for YouTube TV, providing owners of the fourth-generation Apple TV …

Discussion: TechCrunch, CNET, Pocket-lint, AppleInsider, Business Wire, MacRumors, 9to5Google, The Verge, Engadget, Engadget and The Verge, more at Techmeme »

Tatiana Siegel / Hollywood Reporter:

After dominating Sundance for the past two years, Amazon and Netflix skip acquisitions at the festival this year and instead focus on in-house productions — “Frankly, I was confused,” says one agent as the top streamers suddenly give festival fare the cold shoulder in favor of homegrown originals …

Discussion: The New York Observer

Ricardo Lopez / Variety:

Kimi Yoshino returns to LA Times following her suspension by D'Vorkin on suspicion of leaking to outside newspapers about internal turmoil — Kimi Yoshino, the Los Angeles Times business editor unceremoniously suspended last week without a public explanation, is returning to work Thursday.

Shareen Pathak / Digiday:

Amazon's “other” revenue category, which is mostly from ads, grew to $1.7B in Q4, a 60% rise YoY, small revenue compared to Google, Facebook, but growing faster — In its fourth-quarter earnings today, Amazon reported that “other” revenue, which mostly means advertising …

Discussion: @johnbattelle and Fortune, more at Techmeme »

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

Instagram announces plan to bring Carousel Ads to Stories, letting advertisers show up to three photos or videos in Stories — It's been less than a year since Instagram brought advertising to Instagram Stories — a format that its owner Facebook said in November has more than 300 million daily users.

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Instagram for Business, Ad Age, Vanity Fair, Engadget and Fast Company, more at Techmeme »

Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Instagram Stories begins rolling out its “type mode” feature to users, letting them post text-based pages

Discussion: Engadget, Business Insider and Fortune, more at Techmeme »

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More News:

Liz Moyer / CNBC:
CBS and Viacom say both companies have formed board committees to explore a merger

Discussion: Variety, Radio & Television …, Wall Street Journal, PR Newswire, Adweek, The Wrap, Broadcasting & Cable, @asharma and Los Angeles Times

HuffPost:
Tronc confirms two top editors at New York Daily News, Rob Moore and Alexander “Doc” Jones, are no longer with company after sexual harassment investigations

Discussion: The Daily Caller and New York Post

Ryan Faughnder / Los Angeles Times:
Owner of The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard combines media outlets with Dick Clark Productions and House of Cards producer MRC to create Valence Media

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, Variety, The Wrap, Billboard and Business Wire

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
YouTube expands YouTube Go, a lightweight version of its service for emerging markets, to 130+ countries

Discussion: 9to5Google, YouTube Blog, The Verge and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

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Ricardo Bilton / Nieman Lab:
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Discussion: @newsbyschmidt and @jinnovationcity

Eric Johnson / Recode:
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Discussion: @nxthompson, @stevenlevy, @binarybits, @nxthompson, @jason_pontin, @mattervc, Talking Biz News, @lmoses, @rafat, @mmasnick, @kottke, @attackerman, Wired, Editor & Publisher, WWD and @jasontanz

From Techmeme:

Andy Greenberg / Wired:
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Ben Glickman / Wall Street Journal:
IBM agrees to buy HashiCorp, which helps companies manage cloud infrastructure, in a deal valuing HashiCorp at $6.4B and expected to close by the end of 2024

Bob Van Voris / Bloomberg:
US prosecutors charge two founders of Samourai Wallet, saying the crypto mixing service facilitated more than $100M in money laundering transactions

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