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, @hshaban, The Ringer, @hshaban, @hshaban, @petersterne, @jayrosen_nyu, @rafat, @rafat, New York Post, @_alastair, @_alastair, @alex, @brianstelter, The Wrap and Variety, 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:
HuffPost, @csmcdaniel, @tomgara, @oliverdarcy, @arianelange, @catesish, @lisatozzi, @blakersdozen, @mike_giglio, @jtes, @jeremymbarr, New York Post, Splinter, @lin_manuel, @whatthebit, @andrewmartonik, @madeleine_rae, @arielle07, @sbstryker, @kenbensinger, @davidmackau, @willoremus, @theferocity, @chrisgeidner, @mmasnick, @ridt, @buzzfeedben, @kimzetter, @verambergen, @wexler, @talalnansari, @passantino, @elamin88, @joshsternberg, @annabroges, @oliverdarcy, @rositaboland, @natemcdermott, @kfile, @sarahjeong, @cairaconner, @emmacarew, @davechensky, @jgownder, @jameshercher, @fordm, @leahvossvisuals, @oliverdarcy, New York Times, Business Insider and Adweek
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”
Discussion:
@indira_l, Columbia Journalism Review, @jeremylittau, @jasoncherkis, @lollardfish, @nberlat, @conz, @bmaygers, @jayrosen_nyu, @jeremymbarr, @zachdcarter, @zachdcarter, @anildash, @donttrythis, @farhip, The Guardian, @hotlinejosh, @mccanner, @laurenweberhp, @rafat, @brandyljensen, @drvox, @reporter_savino, @oliverdarcy, Nieman Lab, threadreaderapp.com, @jmitchem, @_cingraham, @managewski, @yayitsrob, @alexmleo, @margarita, @benjysarlin, @chrislhayes, @citizencohn, @aterkel, @elanazak, @ashleyfeinberg, @elisefoley, @paigelav, @bmaygers, @iamandymcdonald, @bmaygers, @marinafang, @chloeangyal, @lebassett and Blog Network
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, Columbia Journalism Review, NPR, @hcjewell, @sidizenkane, @techworkersco, @mskellymhayes, @attackerman, The Daily Beast and Splinter
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, The Wrap, Slate, Mediaite, The Gateway Pundit, TheBlaze, The Daily Caller and The Daily Beast
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 …
Discussion:
The Citizen Lab, @mikko, Beyond Search, @ap, @x0rz, Gizmodo, @chadloder, @nathanpatin, @sopandeb, @bellingcat, @nickconfessore, @razhael, @razhael, @alexstamos, @salmansid, @dangillmor, @caparsons, @ap 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 …
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, @davidlazer, @noupside, Washington Post and VentureBeat
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:
Awful Announcing, @frntofficesport and @sportsrapport
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
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, @laurie_garrett, @caseymcdermott, @mccanner, @johnkelly, @briankosh, @waltmossberg, @katielannan, @bfquinn, TVNewser, The Guardian and NB Blog
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:
@sonaliranade, @gitagovinda and @drsyquraishi, more at Techmeme »
Jim Milliot / Publishers Weekly:
Wattpad, the online reading and writing community, is launching its own publishing division, Wattpad Books, this fall with six YA titles — Wattpad, the Toronto-based online reading and writing community that says it has received 565 million story uploads since its launch, is starting its own publishing division, Wattpad Books.
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 …
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