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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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@jeremymbarr, TechCrunch, @janelytv, @mollyhc, @rosadona, @mat, @dceiver, @kateaurthur, @annehelen, @edzitron, @kateaurthur, @katienotopoulos, @jane__bradley, @juliareinstein, @lindseyadler, @chrisgeidner, @ellievhall, @rachel, @buriedbybooks, @cwarzel, @cwarzel, @theferocity, @rachelysanders, @dominicholden, @hshaban, @katenocera, @mbvd, @weeddude, @cwarzel, @laura_nelson, @nick_parco, @meganpaolone and @annehelen
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BuzzFeed says it's “open to re-evaluating” decision to not pay out earned paid time off to laid-off staff, is setting up a Monday meeting with CEO and employees — - BuzzFeed's head of HR Lenke Taylor responds to employee demands that the company pay laid-off staff their earned vacation days & comp days for working weekends/breaking news/disasters - Says: “We are open to re-evaluating this decision...” - Monday will set up talks with CEO pic.twitter.com/BcEhIeuPIC
Discussion:
@hshaban, @mjs_dc and @bigmeaninternet

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
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The Cut, @csmcdaniel, 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


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?
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Vanity Fair, @lauraelizdavis, @sallykohn, @richbtig, @underoak, @niemanfdn, @jayrosen_nyu, @niemanlab, @jonfavs, @peterhamby and @niemanreports


Netflix shares few figures with studios, a negotiation tactic for licensed content, but does divulge them to its stars, who get bonuses for successful shows — When it comes to ratings, Netflix treats the public and many of its business partners like the characters in “Bird Box” …
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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:
@latimes and @juliaturner


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


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 …
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@nytimesworld, @kpoulsen, @malwarejake, @nytimes, @justinhendrix, @ridt, @drdenagrayson, Beyond Search and The Daily Beast, more at Techmeme »

US court dismisses lawsuit from RIAA labels against foreign YouTube-ripping sites, citing lack of jurisdiction since no US users or businesses were targeted — It's been quite frustrating to watch the music industry continually turn its legal gaze to whatever it insists is the “new” threat.
Discussion:
TorrentFreak, more at Techmeme »


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.
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@pomeranian99


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 and @arhine


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


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 …
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Telegraph, @donmoyn, Slate, Mediaite, The Daily Beast, The Daily Caller, The Wrap and The Gateway Pundit