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BuzzFeed News Staff Council:
In a letter to BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti and others, the BuzzFeed News Staff Council demands that BuzzFeed pay out earned paid time off to laid-off employees — To Jonah Peretti, Lenke Taylor, and Ben Smith: — We are the BuzzFeed News Staff Council, a group of employees appointed to open …
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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
Discussion:
@csmcdaniel, The Cut, HuffPost, @tomgara, @oliverdarcy, @arianelange, @catesish, @lisatozzi, @blakersdozen, @mike_giglio, NPR, Newser, @jeremymbarr, @sbstryker, @kenbensinger, @hshaban, @madeleine_rae, @lin_manuel, @andrewmartonik, @whatthebit, @arielle07, @davidmackau, @willoremus, @theferocity, @chrisgeidner, @mmasnick, @buzzfeedben, @kimzetter, @verambergen, @wexler, @talalnansari, @joshsternberg, @passantino, @elamin88, @annabroges, @oliverdarcy, @rositaboland, @natemcdermott, @kfile, @sarahjeong, @cairaconner, @emmacarew, @davechensky, @jgownder, @jameshercher, @fordm, @oliverdarcy, New York Times and Business Insider
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
Discussion:
@mathewi, @hcjewell, @sidizenkane, @ridt, @techworkersco, @mskellymhayes, @attackerman, Columbia Journalism Review, The Daily Beast and Recode
Jim Morrill / Nieman Reports:
As some criticize horse-race political coverage, a look back at The Charlotte Observer's election work using a “citizens agenda”, from a reporter who was there — In 1992, the Charlotte Observer pioneered “public journalism” in its election coverage. Is that what voters need in 2020?
Discussion:
Vanity Fair, @lauraelizdavis, @sallykohn, @richbtig, @underoak, @niemanfdn, @jayrosen_nyu, @niemanlab, @jonfavs, @peterhamby and @niemanreports
Lizzy Raben / The Idea:
Q&A with Sam Felix, Director of Audience + Platforms at NYT, about her role at the paper, how NYT uses different platforms to promote its content, and more — This week, The Idea caught up with Sam Felix to discuss how The Times thinks about reaching new audiences …
Discussion:
@ideanewsletter and @adriana_lacy, Thanks:@steverubel
Scott Shane / New York Times:
Distributed Denial of Secrets, a WikiLeaks-like online repository launched last month by transparency advocates, publishes 175 GB of leaked Russian documents — A group of transparency advocates on Friday posted a mammoth collection of hacked and leaked documents from inside Russia …
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, @nytimesworld, @kpoulsen, @malwarejake, @nytimes, @justinhendrix, @ridt and @drdenagrayson, more at Techmeme »
Ben Thompson / Stratechery:
How the success of Netflix's Bird Box film, which was watched by 58% of its user base in its first month, drives Netflix's virtuous cycle as an aggregator — Bird Box, the Netflix original film, started streaming on December 21 while I was on vacation.1 That perhaps explains why the majority …
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, @latimes and @juliaturner
Kate Bennett / CNN:
The Telegraph apologizes to Melania Trump for false statements in “The Mystery of Melania”, an article published last week, agrees to pay “substantial damages” — (CNN)A British magazine has issued an apology to first lady Melania Trump for an article it published …
Discussion:
Telegraph, @donmoyn, Slate, Mediaite, The Daily Beast, The Daily Caller, The Wrap and The Gateway Pundit
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Major TV networks like NBC and Viacom embrace addressable TV ads, which allow advertisers to create targeted ads by demographic based on viewer data — The hottest new trend in TV tech is “addressable” ads, or TV ads that can be targeted to specific households via user data.
Discussion:
@pomeranian99
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
Analytics company Parse.ly's new feature “demand sorting” identifies most in-demand topics for readers, allowing journalists to discover underreported subjects — Okay, I'll admit it: Sometimes, I write stories because I think they're going to be popular. And sometimes, those stories fall flat anyway.
Discussion:
@johnmlevitt, @arhine and MediaPost
Jill Abramson / New York Magazine:
An excerpt from Jill Abramson's book “Merchants of Truth” on her time as the New York Times' executive editor as digital disruption took off — Adapted from the forthcoming book Merchants of Truth, by Jill Abramson. Copyright © 2019 by Jill Abramson. Reprinted by permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Discussion:
Columbia Journalism Review, @newrepublic, @sesmith, @kpfinnerty, @jbenton and @lauraelizdavis
Christine Schmidt / Nieman Lab:
Research at the University of Texas finds that when more than 75% of comments on news sites are uncivil, it negatively affects readers' perceptions of the site — You never get a second chance to make a first impression. — Grandma adage aside, the comments matter, folks.
Discussion:
@niemanreports
Laura Hazard Owen / Nieman Lab:
After appealing for paid subscriptions via a printed letter and social media, Arkansas Life magazine survives by gaining 1K subscribers, reducing print issues — How many fans does it take to keep a regional print magazine afloat? — In December, subscribers to Arkansas Life received a printed letter along with their January issue.
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Edelman: number of people who read traditional news weekly rises 14% YoY to 40% as number of people who read traditional news less often drops 20% YoY to 28% — An urgent desire for societal change and a chaotic media environment is driving a renewed interest in fact-finding, according to Edelman's 2019 Trust Barometer.
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