Top News:
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 …
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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.
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Tom Kludt / CNN:
HuffPost layoffs: WGAE spokesperson says at least 15 union members laid off; non-union managers also affected; head of opinion section says unit is “no more” — New York (CNN)Some employees at HuffPost learned Thursday morning that their days in the newsroom are numbered, as layoffs hit the popular news website.
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Columbia Journalism Review, @jeremylittau, @jasoncherkis, @conz, @lollardfish, @nberlat, @indira_l, @bmaygers, @jayrosen_nyu, @jeremymbarr, @zachdcarter, @anildash, @zachdcarter, @donttrythis, @farhip, @hotlinejosh, @mccanner, @rafat, @brandyljensen, @laurenweberhp, @drvox, @reporter_savino, @oliverdarcy, @jmitchem, @_cingraham, Nieman Lab, threadreaderapp.com, The Guardian, @managewski, @yayitsrob, @alexmleo, @margarita, @benjysarlin, @chrislhayes, @citizencohn, @aterkel, @elanazak, @ashleyfeinberg, @elisefoley, @paigelav, @bmaygers, @iamandymcdonald, @bmaygers, @marinafang, @chloeangyal, Blog Network, @lebassett and Washington Post
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
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@mathewi, Columbia Journalism Review, NPR, @hcjewell, @mskellymhayes, @sidizenkane, @attackerman, @techworkersco, The Daily Beast and Splinter
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, @lauraelizdavis, @sesmith, @kpfinnerty, @jbenton and Tablet Magazine
Raphael Satter / Associated Press:
Staff from Toronto's Citizen Lab, behind exposés of government hacking tool vendors like NSO, describe meetings likely arranged to get compromising quotes — NEW YORK (AP) — The researchers who reported that Israeli software was used to spy on Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi's inner circle …
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The Citizen Lab, @caparsons, @nickconfessore, @mikko, Beyond Search, @ap, @x0rz, @ap, @chadloder, @sopandeb, @bellingcat, @razhael, @alexstamos, @salmansid, @dangillmor and Boing Boing, more at Techmeme »
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 …
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Nieman Lab, @davidlazer, @noupside, Washington Post and VentureBeat, 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
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, @digiday and @pomeranian99
Billy Perrigo / Time:
Researchers say India's political parties are using armies of volunteers to spread misinformation and hate speech via WhatsApp group chats ahead of elections — SUBSCRIBE Home U.S. Politics World Business Tech Health Entertainment Science Newsfeed Living Sports History The TIME Vault Magazine Ideas …
Discussion:
@gitagovinda, more at Techmeme »
Sara Jerde / Adweek:
Condé Nast's Bon Appétit, an ad-supported streaming channel on Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV and Roku, to launch on February 21 — Coming to Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV and Roku — Bon Appétit knows it has viewers who fall down the rabbit hole watching Brad …
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.
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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:
@janebsinger, @lionpubs and Talking Biz News
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