Top News:
Emanuel Maiberg / Motherboard:
Conspiracy video claiming Parkland shooting survivor and student David Hogg was a crisis actor became the number one trending video on YouTube before removal — A video described as ‘DAVID HOGG THE ACTOR....’ has made the top of the trending section, another example that YouTube has a conspiracy theory problem.
Discussion:
New York Times, Tampa Bay Times, @micahgrimes, Business Insider, Variety, CNN, Business Insider, Bloomberg, The Wrap, BuzzFeed, New York Times, Polygon, New York Magazine, @buzzfeedben, @sulliview, HuffPost, The Outline, Mother Jones, The Verge, Vanity Fair, The Stranger …, @ericsundy, @aexm, Hollywood Life, @kylegriffin1, @alexandratv_, @_cooper, @robrousseau, @lizrenzetti, BuzzFeed, @timkarr, Washington Post, thecut, Recode, @mlcalderone, Media Matters for America, Mediaite, AOL, Peter O'Kelly's Reality Check and INMA, more at Techmeme »
Jeremy Barr / Hollywood Reporter:
Vox Media is laying off 50 employees and offering reassignments to 12 others, with the cuts mainly affecting SB Nation, Curbed, Racked, and video services team — The cuts, which mainly targeted social video teams, were announced by CEO Jim Bankoff on Wednesday morning.
Discussion:
Variety, Nieman Lab, Fast Company, Ad Age, Adweek, Mediawire, @lpolgreen, @gamerfrommars, @thejoshkeefe, @adambarenblat, @saramorrison, @rafat, @jesshopp, @austin_walker, @silviakillings, @gamespite, @ndhapple, @michaelbd, @mmasnick, @jeremymbarr, @erikkain, @highkin, @britnidlc, @ajohnagnello, @tomscocca and Editor & Publisher
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Financial Times:
Digital media companies like Vice Media, Vox Media, and BuzzFeed are struggling with an uncertain ad market, changes to Facebook's News Feed, and more — Winter has arrived for a new generation of digital media companies with missed revenue targets, an uncertain advertising environment …
Discussion:
@robinwigg, @stevemaich and @ahmed
Newsweek:
Newsweek gave 10 pages of free print ads to a New York county where Olivet University was creating a campus, showing more Newsweek-Olivet ties amid DA probe — Note from the Editors: As we were reporting this story, Newsweek Media Group fired Newsweek Editor Bob Roe, Executive Editor Ken Li …
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Columbia Journalism Review, International Business Times, The Guardian, CNNMoney, Newser, @kenli729, @celestekatznyc, @pebonilla, Washington Post, @jasondhorowitz, Press Gazette, Folio, The Wrap, Mediaite, @bob_ortega, @davemilleropb, @catiekeck, @awolfeful, @msolis14, @jaysunsilver, @casey_j_wooten and @hadas_gold
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Maxwell Tani / The Daily Beast:
Newsweek Deputy Editor Ross Schneiderman and other employees threatened to resign from the mag after it tried to suppress Olivet story — Several Newsweek staffers threatened to resign earlier this week, accusing the company of attempting to muzzle the publishing of a story further detailing internal turmoil …
Discussion:
@ranting_monkey
Jaclyn Peiser / New York Times:
The Atlantic plans to add up to 100 employees to its newsroom over the next twelve months, hiring a mix of writers, editors, and podcast producers, among others — A media company is expanding its newsroom. You read that right. — The Atlantic plans to add as many as 100 employees …
Discussion:
@eliotwb, @nbj914 and AdExchanger
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Dish says its Sling TV service had 2.21M subscribers in Q4 2017, a 47% YoY increase from 1.5M, the first time its broken out the numbers — Sling TV, Dish Network's internet-delivered skinny bundle, stood at 2.21 million subscribers as of the end of last year — the first time the satellite operator …
Discussion:
Ad Age, Fast Company and Broadcasting & Cable, more at Techmeme »
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Sean Burch / The Wrap:
Twitter suspends accounts for posting false claims about being attacked at Black Panther screenings, after CEO admits site lacks scalable policy on fake news — While “Black Panther” was busy breaking box office records, Twitter trolls were busy inventing bogus stories …
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, Forbes, @lonilove, @jenmisstx and Fortune
Paris Martineau / The Outline:
Medium suspends the accounts of alt-right personalities Mike Cernovich, Jack Posobiec, and Laura Loomer, after updating policy to tackle disinformation — By far the biggest change made by Medium is the addition of a section called “Related Content,” which reads “We do not allow posts …
Discussion:
@aravosis, @rajlakra, @omar_aok, @mikerugnetta and @jon_christian
Gregg Kilday / Hollywood Reporter:
David Glasser, the former President and COO of The Weinstein Co., who was fired last week, will file a lawsuit against TWC and its board members seeking $85M — According to his attorney Eve Wagner, Glasser “was scapegoated by the TWC board of directors,” who are meeting …
Perry Bacon Jr / FiveThirtyEight:
How a lack of diverse staffs, the hope for access, or a goal of partisan balance may have led reporters to cast John Kelly as a moderating White House force — Last March, in an article describing the various power centers in the Trump administration, I listed then-Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly as part of the “McCain Wing.”
Discussion:
New York Times, @natcomm, @imillhiser, @stellinitweets, @_alastair, @perrybaconjr, Splinter and The Week
Paul Farhi / Washington Post:
Tavis Smiley sues PBS, claiming the public TV network breached its contract and damaged his company when it fired him over sexual-harassment allegations — Talk-show host Tavis Smiley sued PBS on Tuesday, alleging that the network breached its contract and damaged his production company …
Melody Kramer / Poynter:
Q&A with NYT Space Calendar team on its interactive news, its 80K subscribers, reader reactions, and verticals going forward — In his book “The Power of Habit,” Charles Duhigg writes about a three-part process that every habit undergoes: First, there's a cue that tells your brain …