Top News:
Peter Kafka / Recode:
Sources: BuzzFeed and Group Nine have discussed merger; companies have ties via BuzzFeed's chairman Ken Lerer and his son Ben Lerer, CEO at Group Nine — BuzzFeed is cutting costs and getting leaner, but it still wants to get bigger — by exploring a deal with Group Nine.
Discussion:
Slate, New York Post, The Wrap, @jayrosen_nyu, Nieman Lab, @_alastair, @alex, @brianstelter, @_alastair and CNN, more at Techmeme »
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Oliver Darcy / CNN:
BuzzFeed News laid off 43 on Friday, closing its Spain bureau, eliminating the national desk and national security desk, and slashing the health and LGBT desks — New York (CNN Business)BuzzFeed laid off dozens of employees on Friday inside its prized news division as the media organization restructures …
Discussion:
@csmcdaniel, New York Post, @catesish, @lisatozzi, Splinter, @oliverdarcy, @tomgara, @blakersdozen, @mike_giglio, New York Times, @jeremymbarr, @davidmackau, @willoremus, @theferocity, @chrisgeidner, @mmasnick, @ridt, @passantino, @kimzetter, @natemcdermott, @elamin88, @leahvossvisuals, @jgownder, @jameshercher, @buzzfeedben, @cairaconner, Business Insider, @oliverdarcy, @emmacarew, @davechensky, @rositaboland, @joshsternberg, @annabroges, @verambergen, @fordm, @sarahjeong, Adweek, @wexler, @oliverdarcy, @kfile, @laura_nelson and @scmitchp
Rafi Schwartz / Splinter:
A source shared BuzzFeed News Slack messages in which staffers criticized the CEO for the handling of layoffs; 40+ BuzzFeed News staffers were fired on Friday — This has been an agonizingly brutal week for digital media, with mass layoffs at HuffPost, Gannett, and as of Friday, internet juggernaut BuzzFeed.
Discussion:
NPR, Columbia Journalism Review, Splinter, @mathewi, @sidizenkane, @techworkersco, @mskellymhayes, @attackerman and The Daily Beast
Washington Post:
Johns Hopkins is buying the building that houses the Newseum for $327.5M as the latter seeks a firmer financial footing — The $372.5 million deal will give the university a prime Pennsylvania Avenue address for graduate programs in international relations and other fields.
Discussion:
Baltimore Sun, NPR, TVNewser, @johnkelly, @caseymcdermott, @mccanner, @briankosh, @waltmossberg, @katielannan, @bfquinn, NB Blog and The Guardian
Science:
Study of registered US voters in 2016: 6.7% of all news consumed on Twitter was fake news, 1% of users were exposed to 80.0% of it, and 0.1% shared 79.8% of it — There was a proliferation of fake news during the 2016 election cycle. Grinberg et al. analyzed Twitter data by matching Twitter accounts …
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, @noupside, @davidlazer, VentureBeat, Washington Post and The Hill, more at Techmeme »
Sahil Patel / Digiday:
Sources: The Players Tribune lays off eight employees; the company had about 85 US full-time staffers as of April 2018 — The Players' Tribune, the athlete-centric sports publisher from Derek Jeter, has laid off eight employees as the company looks to shift its business strategy going forward …
Discussion:
@frntofficesport and Variety
Daisuke Wakabayashi / New York Times:
YouTube says it will no longer suggest videos with “borderline content” or those that “misinform users in a harmful way” even if they don't violate guidelines — SAN FRANCISCO — Whether it is a video claiming the earth is flat or the moon landing was faked …
Discussion:
YouTube Blog, The Wrap, @cwarzel, Business Insider, @daiwaka, Mashable, TheBlaze, Engadget, @fcain, @cwarzel and @nealmohan, more at Techmeme »
Jeremy Herb / CNN:
CNN describes the clues from events at the federal courthouse in Washington, DC, that led them to send a team to capture the early morning arrest of Roger Stone — (CNN)The rare, dramatic video from CNN Friday capturing the early morning FBI raid of longtime Donald Trump confidante Roger Stone's Florida home …
Engaged Journalism Accelerator:
A look at the eight latest media outlets to receive funding from the Engaged Journalism Accelerator program run by the European Journalism Centre — Engaged Journalism Accelerator director Kathryn Geels introduces our eight newest grantees, taking the total number of funded news organisations …
Discussion:
Journalism.co.uk, Nieman Lab, @benwhitelaw, @vivian and Journalism.co.uk
Seb Joseph / Digiday:
Research firms: UK ad spending is expected to slow for Facebook and grow for TV in 2019 as TV ad sellers start providing better, online-like targeting tools — Ad budgets are flowing from Facebook back into TV in the U.K. But the inversion isn't solely due to how fed up brands are with the social network …
Discussion:
Axios and @pomeranian99, more at Techmeme »
Joshua Carroll / Columbia Journalism Review:
After Reuters covered Thai government negligence, it ran a native ad whitewashing the state's actions, raising questions about whose ads outlets should publish — When Aubrey Belford started work as a special correspondent for Reuters in Southeast Asia, his new colleagues in the Bangkok bureau …
Discussion:
Talking Biz News and @lionpubs
Sahil Patel / Digiday:
Sources: WarnerMedia Investments, which had invested in Mic, Maker Studios, and Mashable under Time Warner, is no longer its own corporate entity — Prior to becoming WarnerMedia, Time Warner was one of the most prominent investors in digital media and technology companies.
Discussion:
Dallas Business Journal, Top Digital Journal News, @rafat and @petersterne
Guilherme Rambo / 9to5Mac:
Apple's first beta of iOS 12.2 for developers includes images of a magazine subscription service, rumored since Apple first bought Texture — There have been rumors about an Apple News subscription service since mid-2018, starting with a report by Bloomberg that said Apple was planing …
Discussion:
MacRumors, Mashable, The Verge and BGR, more at Techmeme »