Top News:
Daniel D'Addario / TIME:
Fox's Shep Smith on separating news and opinion programming, quitting if the show changes to accommodate viewers, concerns about who would replace him, and more — In a Manhattan Fox News studio on a recent Tuesday in February, Shepard Smith sits ready to begin taping his 3 p.m. newscast.
ProPublica:
ProPublica retracts reporting saying Gina Haspel oversaw a “black site” while al-Qaida suspect Abu Zubaydah was waterboarded and that she mocked his suffering — On Feb. 22, 2017, ProPublica published a story that inaccurately described Gina Haspel's role in the treatment of Abu Zubaydah …
Molly McHugh / The Ringer:
Digg to shut down Digg Reader, its barebones RSS reader, on March 26 — A requiem for a haven from algorithms and trending topics — On Wednesday, Digg announced that it will be shutting down Digg Reader on March 26. The RSS reader, for me and likely many others, was a godsend after the 2013 shuttering of Google Reader.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, The Next Web, Yahoo! News, @nbj914, Android Community, @ringer, Buggy App, Associations Now, Liliputing, Beautiful Pixels and BetaNews, more at Techmeme »
Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Univision-hired consulting firm's preliminary recommendation calls for cuts of Fusion's budget by up to 35%; Fusion has 600 staff, ~$150M annual budget — Parent company Univision has hired a consulting firm to review the entire business and recommend budget reductions
Discussion:
The Hill, Seeking Alpha and @adamweinstein
Felix Salmon / Recode:
As Reuters receives $10B over 30 years and retains editorial independence in Blackstone M&A deal, it should expand internationally and acquire digital news orgs — Reuters News just won the lottery. What will it do with all that money? — It's the biggest assignment in journalism …
Discussion:
@felixsalmon, @edmundlee, @lucas_jackson_ and Reuters
Wall Street Journal:
Preview of AT&T-Time Warner lawsuit: antitrust unit says merger would raise prices, and its chief swears AT&T CEO asked whether a CNN sale would get deal OK'ed — Next week, a federal judge will begin trying an antitrust case that has broad ramifications for media …
Discussion:
Reuters, @shalini, New York Times, @davidmwessel and @hadas_gold, more at Techmeme »
Alex Hern / The Guardian:
Facebook apologizes and says it is investigating why its search box autocomplete suggested sexual videos, child abuse content, and other strange results — Searches starting ‘video of’ returned autocomplete suggestions of sexual videos and child abuse content
Discussion:
The Wrap, @alexhern, The Verge, Newsweek, Gizmodo, Engadget, USA Today, Motherboard, New York Magazine and Mashable, more at Techmeme »
Joe Pompeo / Vanity Fair:
Naming Nancy Dubuc CEO of Vice signals both its commitment to changing its internal culture and a traditional shift from visionary founder to proven operator — A+E's Nancy Dubuc has picked hits (Duck Dynasty, Ice Road Truckers), acts like an adult, and is female—which is precisely what Vice needs right now.
Discussion:
Splinter
Wikimedia Blog:
Wikipedia survey over 14 languages shows about 35% of users are seeking a specific fact, 33% want a topic overview, and 32% want to read about a topic in depth — Wikimedia's mission is to provide educational content and to effectively disseminate it. Doing so requires understanding …
Discussion:
Nieman Lab and Fast Company
Lucia Moses / Digiday:
BuzzFeed tests specific release times, or “universal windows”, for its episodic shows across platforms, including YouTube, Facebook, Amazon, Hulu, and Roku — BuzzFeed is experimenting with a new windowing strategy to get people to tune into its distributed series.
Janko Roettgers / Variety:
Sources: Facebook plans to launch Oculus Go standalone VR headset at f8 developer conference on May 1 — Facebook is looking to officially launch its Oculus Go standalone virtual reality (VR) headset at its f8 developer conference on May 1, Variety has learned from multiple sources familiar with the company's plans.
Discussion:
TechRadar.com, CNET, SlashGear, Engadget and UploadVR
Amanda Pfeffer / CBC News:
Radio-Canada reporter Antoine Trépanier arrested, not yet charged, for criminal harassment after requesting an interview with the subject of investigative story — Antoine Trépanier was arrested this week after a harassment complaint from an investigation suspect
Discussion:
Canada NewsWire Group, CTV News, HuffPost Canada, @mspratt, @lawyerintoronto, VICE and TheSpec.com