Mediagazer: Tech firms strongly refute Bloomberg's story on Chinese spies installing chips into motherboards; story shows the difficulty of reporting on national security (Zack Whittaker/TechCrunch)

10:05 PM ET, October 5, 2018

Top News:

Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:

Tech firms strongly refute Bloomberg's story on Chinese spies installing chips into motherboards; story shows the difficulty of reporting on national security — Today's bombshell Bloomberg story has the internet split: either the story is right, and reporters have uncovered one of the largest …

Discussion: BuzzFeed News, Amazon Web Services, Apple, 9to5Mac, The Register, The Hill, Softpedia News, CNBC, @tomgara, @mathewi, @jamesrbuk and @zackwhittaker, more at Techmeme »

Ben Bland / Financial Times:

The Financial Times says Hong Kong will not renew a work visa for Victor Mallet, the paper's Asia news editor, and has not given a reason for the decision — The Hong Kong government has rejected the visa renewal application of the Financial Times' top news editor in Asia …

Robert Channick / Chicago Tribune:

Tronc, the parent company of the Chicago Tribune and other daily newspapers, is changing its name back to Tribune Publishing; stock symbol changes to TPCO — A sign marks the Chicago Tribune's offices at One Prudential Plaza on June 12, 2018, in Chicago. The newspaper's parent company …

Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:

Source: Tribune Publishing and McClatchy inch toward merger, with Chatham Asset Management agreeing to swap $300M in McClatchy loans for equity in new company — Tribune Publishing — up until Oct. 4 known as Tronc — is inching closer to a potential merger with the McClatchy Co.

Discussion: @sarafischer and @benmullin

Craig Silverman / BuzzFeed News:

Kavanaugh hearings are a boon for hyperpartisan publishers on Facebook, though the most popular links on the subject come from trusted news sources like WaPo — “It is certainly the biggest story in politics since the 2016 election,” one publisher told BuzzFeed News

Discussion: @firstdraftnews

Salvador Hernandez / BuzzFeed News:

Minnesota's NBC affiliate fired reporter Jim Bunner after he wore a MAGA hat while covering a Trump rally for the station, citing a policy violation — A reporter for an NBC affiliate in Minnesota was fired Friday, one day after he was spotted wearing a “Make America Great Again” …

Discussion: Star Tribune

Janko Roettgers / Variety:

Spotify says it is beta testing Spotify for Podcasters, a program to give any podcaster the ability to syndicate their show via the music service — Spotify is beta testing a new program to get more podcasts onto its service. Spotify for Podcasters gives any podcaster the ability to syndicate …

Discussion: KnowTechie, SlashGear, TechCrunch, Radio Facts, The Verge, newsroom.spotify.com, Engadget and The Wrap, more at Techmeme »

Marisa Fernandez / Axios:

Poll of 2,200 US adults reveals ~60% rarely or never read Trump's tweets, only 15% read them very often, those who do read them are more likely to be Democrats — A new Public Affairs Council/Morning Consult poll reveals that a majority of Americans have become indifferent toward President Trump's tweets …

Jim Waterson / The Guardian:

LadBible to buy a substantial part of Unilad's £10M debt as part of administration, prompting allegations that rival site is driving Unilad out of business — LadBible's purchase of Unilad's debt prompts accusations rival is driving Unilad out of business

Discussion: @simonnricketts, @jimwaterson, @bitsocket, @futurecanon and The Guardian

Sarah Marsh / The Guardian:

Retailer Topshop abruptly canceled a partnership with Penguin featuring a collection of feminist writing; Topshop apologized and donated £25K to charity Girl Up — Store apologises and makes donation to charity after removal of pop-up promotion — Topshop abruptly cancelled …

Discussion: The Independent, BBC, @hwallop, Daily Mail, Telegraph, @tkingdot, @magic_kitten, @schooltruth and @olivershah

Jim Waterson / The Guardian:

Guardian Weekly to relaunch as glossy news magazine, will have higher cover price and greater focus on design; GW has a circulation of about 42,000 worldwide — New-look publication will have slightly increased cover price and greater focus on design — The Guardian is to relaunch …

Discussion: @jamesrbuk

Meg James / Los Angeles Times:

CBS sets new December 14 deadline to reveal recipients of $20M pledge, announced when Moonves stepped down, to groups that advocate for workplace equality — When CBS announced last month that longtime Chief Executive Leslie Moonves had stepped down amid a sexual harassment scandal …

Discussion: The Wrap, The Seattle Times, Broadcasting & Cable, Hollywood Reporter, Variety and Deadline

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 10:05 PM ET, October 5, 2018.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Accounting Specialist Editor, Remote US — Reuters

Senior Correspondent - Wealth, NY — WSJ

Asia Credit Reporter, Seoul — Bloomberg

Senior Social Media Specialist, NC — espnW

Associate Editor - Aviation, TN — Firecrown

Assistant Editor - Digital, NC — SBJ

Video Producer - YouTube, NY — Morning Brew

Senior Managing Ed. - Daily Desk — The Athletic

Multimedia Journalist, CA — Paramount

Content Managing Editor — Freedom Forum

Editor, MA — Nieman Reports

Team Editor - Breaking News, ON — Toronto Star

Senior Reporter & Event Host, NY/CA — Newcomer

Associate Editor, Remote — Tech Policy Press

Retail Reporter, MN — Star Tribune

Managing Ed. - Berks County, PA — Spotlight PA

News Editor - UK, Remote — The Verge

News Reporter, MA — Berkshire Eagle

Multimedia Journalist, PA — Observer-Reporter

Service Journalism Editor, CA — Sacramento Bee

Content Director, Remote — Campaigns & Elections

Los Angeles Issues Reporter, CA — CalMatters

Reporter - Middle East — Rest of World

Executive Editor, OR — Lookout Local

California Playbook Writer, CA — Politico

Senior Media Editor — Digiday

National Investigative Reporter, NY — HuffPost

Lexington County Reporter, SC — The State

Reporter - Offshore Wind — Canary Media

General Assignment Reporter, FL — County Record

Staff Reporter, CA — Daily Kos

Data Editor, NY — ProPublica

Add your company here

See Also:

Mediagazer: site main

Mediagazer River: reverse chronological Mediagazer

Mediagazer Mobile: for phones

Mediagazer Leaderboard: Mediagazer's top sources

Subscribe:

Mediagazer RSS feed

Mediagazer on X

Mediagazer on Mastodon

More News:

Mark Di Stefano / BuzzFeed:
Carole Cadwalladr threatened Channel 4 with an injunction to make its reporters and editors hand over sources and transcripts linked to Cambridge Analytica

Discussion: @carolecadwalla and @buzzfeedben

Sahil Patel / Digiday:
A year after introducing a native video player, Reddit says the player has surpassed 1B views per month, with over 50% of all video views served by it

Aidan McLaughlin / Mediaite:
National Geographic Partners has laid off 12 full-time staffers from its digital operation ahead of pending sale to Disney as part of 21st Century Fox deal

Lois Weiss / New York Post:
Sources: BuzzFeed plans to open a Manhattan toy store this fall and will include an “experiential” area for selfies, with décor that changes every few months

Discussion: @andreawass and Commercial Observer

Voice of America:
VOA says it has fired or proposed to terminate 15 members of its Hausa language service that broadcasts to West Africa following a probe into improper payments

Discussion: Observer and @matthewtpage

Jack Sullivan / CommonWealth Magazine:
Sources: Boston Herald, bought by Digital First Media in February, lays off about 20 staffers, including at least two photographers and five on sports copy desk

Discussion: @pictureboston, Media Nation, BostonGlobe.com, @katielannan, @mattomalley, @jenbmiller, @massstatepolice, @peteswire, @cambridgemafire, @concordmapd, @reportah, @dankennedy_nu, @dankennedy_nu and @reportah

Earlier Picks:

Alex Heath / Cheddar:
In a 15-page internal memo sent in late September, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel sets a goal of reaching full-year profitability in 2019, admits redesign was rushed

Discussion: Adweek, @alexeheath, TechCrunch, CNBC, Business Insider, Variety, Engadget, The Wrap, Beyond Search, @shiraovide, @modestproposal1, @alexeheath, @richbtig and 9to5Mac

Mathew Ingram / Columbia Journalism Review:
Some smaller publishers say they are scaling back or giving up promoting content on Facebook because new rules for promoted posts are unwieldy and capricious

Discussion: @jzaragoza1, @kylepope and @jason_kint, more at Techmeme »

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:
Tucker Carlson settles a libel claim in a small-claims court in Washington, DC, with a former reporter for the Daily Caller, Evan Gahr

Discussion: @aaronblake, @levinejonathan, @jeremymbarr, The Daily Caller and Mediaite

Los Angeles Times:
Slate Editor-in-Chief Julia Turner is leaving to become deputy managing editor responsible for arts and entertainment coverage at The Los Angeles Times

Jason Schwartz / Politico:
Study finds that of the 700K+ Twitter accounts that linked to 600+ sites spreading misinformation in 2016, more than 80% are still active and many are bots

Discussion: Poynter, Nieman Lab, @ibarguen, @investigateru, @serena, @dpfunke, @sarahburris, @heikan2003, Knight Foundation and NPR, more at Techmeme »

From Techmeme:

Bloomberg:
Sources: Canadian authorities arrest Alexander “Connor” Moucka, who is allegedly behind the June and July 2024 hacks of up to 165 Snowflake users including AT&T

Marshall Cohen / CNN:
CCDH: before the election, Elon Musk made 87 X posts that were debunked by fact-checkers, hitting 2B+ views; his political posts had 17.1B views since July 2024

Financial Times:
In its annual report, Apple warns of future products perhaps never exceeding the iPhone's profitability, “geopolitical tensions”, and AI features' safety risks

Sister Sites:

Techmeme
Top news and commentary for technology's leaders, from all around the web

memeorandum
What US political commentators are discussing online right now

WeSmirch
The top celebrity news from all around the web on a single page