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12:20 PM ET, January 29, 2019

Mediagazer

 Top News: 
Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:
BuzzFeed laid off its Director of Quizzes because lots of people are willing to make quizzes for free  —  “This post has not been vetted or endorsed by BuzzFeed's editorial staff.  BuzzFeed Community is a place where anyone create a post.  Learn more or post your buzz!”
RELATED:
James Walker / Press Gazette:
BuzzFeed proposes cutting 17 of BuzzFeed UK's 37 editorial staff, with most losses to the Buzz section covering pop culture  —  Buzzfeed UK's editorial team will be cut by nearly half, its own media reporter has claimed, down from 37 to 20 journalists based in London.
Oliver Darcy / CNN:
BuzzFeed says it will pay laid off employees for paid time off they had earned but not used, after current and former staff demanded it in an open letter
ProPublica:
Changes to Facebook's site break plugins created by ProPublica and others to track and report on exactly how Facebook users are being targeted by advertisers  —  Our tool had let the public see exactly how users were being targeted by advertisers.  The social media giant urged us to shut it down last year.
Cynthia Littleton / Variety:
As Disney completes merger with Fox and prepares for Disney Plus, uncertainty remains about integration, programming, and the executives who'll lead the shift  —  Bob Iger has repeatedly called it the “highest priority” of the Walt Disney Co.  —  The launch of Disney Plus has become the talk …
Discussion: Business Insider
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Facebook shares draft proposal describing how its new content review board could work, suggesting it have 40 diverse members, none of whom are Facebook staff  —  In November, Facebook announced a new plan that would revamp how the company makes content policy decisions on its social network …
RELATED:
Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:
Study finds major US newspapers hiked home delivery prices more than 2x between 2008 and 2016, but about two-thirds of print readers remained loyal  —  Once print advertising collapsed, newspapers hiked prices to get more money from readers.  If they hadn't, they'd employ even fewer journalists and be in even worse shape today.
Alison Langley / Columbia Journalism Review:
After crowdfunding $2.4M and raising $3.5M from investors, Swiss investigative news startup Republik gets scrappy, asks initial backers to renew subscriptions  —  Republik, a Swiss news startup, raised $2.4 million in less than two weeks in 2017, when a crowdfunding campaign that promised …
Jennifer Creery / Hong Kong Free Press HKFP:
FCCC report on press freedom in China: 55% believe government interference has risen, with notable crackdowns in Xinjiang and visa denials for negative coverage  —  Over half of foreign correspondents say reporting conditions in China deteriorated last year, according to the Foreign Correspondents' Club …
RTÉ:
EU publishes first monthly reports by Facebook, Google, Firefox, and Twitter on their fight against disinformation, wants them to intensify efforts  —  The European Union has urged US internet giants and advertising firms to intensify the fight against disinformation campaigns before EU elections in May, or risk regulation.
Max Willens / Digiday:
Bloomberg Media CEO Justin Smith says the company grew revenue by 16% YoY in 2018, and that its Twitter show TicToc is already profitable  —  Welcome to the first installment of Keynote, a weekly Q&A series where top media executives discuss their businesses as well as a hot-button issue facing publishers.
Reuters:
Verizon Q4: misses expectations with revenue up 1% YoY to $34.3B, a 46K Fios video subscriber loss, and revenue for Verizon Media Group at $2.1B, down 5.8% YoY  —  rollout@ (Adds details on capital spending, subscribers)  —  Verizon Communications Inc beat Wall Street estimates …
Jon Allsop / Columbia Journalism Review:
Sarah Sanders held her first press briefing in 41 days on Monday, which CNN and MSNBC did not carry live, but Fox did  —  “Shampoo the carpets, take the sheets off the chandeliers!”  Those words, emailed around by a pool reporter and shared on Twitter by the BBC's Jon Sopel …
Discussion: The Hill and CNBC
 
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 More News: 
Donie O'Sullivan / CNN:
As “deepfake” videos become more common and convincing, the tech will give cover to those dismissing real events as fake; DARPA researches ways to detect fakes
Laura Hazard Owen / Nieman Lab:
A collaboration between Google Trends, Axios, and data visualization firm Schema finds the news cycles for big stories in the US in 2018 lasted for about 7 days
Thanks:@steverubel
 Earlier Picks: 
Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
Even as companies like Digital First Media strip-mine local newspapers for profit, their journalists continue doing important work and deserve support
Antonia Noori Farzan / Washington Post:
NBC veteran Tom Brokaw apologizes after saying “Hispanics should work harder at assimilation” on Sunday's Meet the Press, evoking further criticism
Wall Street Journal:
Bill Simmons says The Ringer, focused on its network of 28 podcasts with ~35M downloads a month is profitable; sources say it made $15M+ on podcasts in 2018
 

 
From Techmeme:

Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:
Sources: Meta is considering deep budget cuts to its metaverse efforts in 2026, potentially as high as 30% and most likely including layoffs as early as January

Kif Leswing / CNBC:
Apple says general counsel Kate Adams and policy chief Lisa Jackson will retire, and Jennifer Newstead, Meta's former chief legal officer, will replace Adams

Will Oremus / Washington Post:
Two studies suggest AI chatbots can shift political views more effectively than TV campaign ads, especially by presenting many claims, regardless of accuracy
 
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