Top News:
Max Willens / Digiday:
How BuzzFeed is reorganizing and charting a path to a sustainable business, according to sources and a memo CEO Jonah Peretti sent to employees Tuesday night — The next version of BuzzFeed is being whittled into focus. — Over the past week, the venture-backed publisher has been gripped by a very public multi-day round of layoffs.
Discussion:
@mathewi, @parkermolloy, @bgrueskin, @jackmirkinson, @dansinker, @leighgiangreco, @caulfieldcm, @digiday, @tolly_t, @rossalynwarren, @jamesrbuk, @maxseddon and @danieldrepper
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Rafi Schwartz / Splinter:
Leaked audio from a BuzzFeed all-hands staff meeting indicates CEO Jonah Peretti acknowledged the layoff process was “terrible” and criticizes company leaks — With BuzzFeed's latest round of mass layoffs over, CEO Jonah Peretti hosted an all-hands meeting on Wednesday …
Discussion:
@skiscontent, @jasonshevrin, @benmullin, @mattdpearce, @libbycwatson, @mattdpearce, New York Magazine, Axios, @daveyalba, @rachelysanders, @charles_kinbote and @maggyvaneijk
Will Oremus / Slate:
The global layoffs at BuzzFeed, once a successful beacon in a shrinking industry, mark an end of innocence for the outlet and for staffers with big social reach
Discussion:
New York Times, Slate, @jrosenbaum, @bgrueskin, @fmanjoo, @ennisnyt, @chinampa, Politico, @aaschapiro, @senzaflash, @moneyries, @evanselinger, @jblumgart, @clarajeffery, @willoremus, @willoremus, @willoremus, @chrisgeidner, @monicaamarelo, @julianakataoka, @mattdpearce, Axios, @hshaban, @verambergen and @mjs_dc
Madison Malone Kircher / New York Magazine:
Q&A with a Michigan college student who has made 692 quizzes for BuzzFeed as a hobby, becoming the 2nd-highest traffic driver for the site's quizzes worldwide
Discussion:
New York Magazine, @raewitte, Gizmodo, Observer, @choire, @willoremus, @reckless, @laurawags, @lrhogan, @mathewi, @4evrmalone, @4evrmalone, @mattdpearce, @auntbeckyrose, @sarahlkaufman, @nymag, @jakeswearingen, @austin_walker, @eleanorbate, @jeff__benjamin, @karaschlegl, @niemanlab, @conroyforreal, @robferdman and @kwameopam
Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
The media's both-sides, middle-lane approach to politics isn't good for the public, but it's great for politicians and pundits who bill themselves as centrists — One of supposed golden rules of journalism goes like this: “If everybody's mad at your coverage, you must be doing a good job.”
Discussion:
@patbagley, @brianstelter, @ejdionne, @theplumlinegs, @mlcalderone, @sulliview, @dagensnyhetermj, @jayrosen_nyu and @jayrosen_nyu
David Bauder / Associated Press:
Reporters at Insider were told to take a break from tweeting and reading TweetDeck for a week; other journalists have panned and defended the value of Twitter — NEW YORK (AP) — If Twitter is the town square for journalists, some are ready to step away. — That's happening this week …
Discussion:
New York Times, @daphnehk, @aallan, @paulapoindexter, @jeffjarvis, @mathewi, Fox News and The Daily Caller
Joe Pompeo / Vanity Fair:
Axios made roughly $25M and nearly broke even in its second full year, and plans to launch a high-end subscription business in 2019 — The start-up, forged by former Politico all-pros, made $25 million in its second full year. What's next? Subscriptions, naturally.
Discussion:
@reedfrich, @patrickruffini, @dylanbyers, @rafat, @niubi and @vanityfair
Lucinda Southern / Digiday:
Publishers are finding meaningful revenue from podcast advertising, a model that some publications, including The Economist, find more viable than video ads — Publishers are finding meaningful revenue from podcasts, a format that, in some cases, offers a more viable ad model than video.
Discussion:
@xenocryptsite, @pkafka, @mmasnick, @mccanner and @awealthofcs
David Cohen / Adweek:
Reddit launches cost-per-click ads following a months-long beta with 50+ advertisers, saying it's Reddit's first foray into performance-driven ad bidding — They announced their new initiative on Wednesday — Reddit is making what it calls its first foray into performance-driven ad bidding …
Discussion:
MediaPost, Marketing Land, Ad Age, AdExchanger and The Drum
Todd Spangler / Variety:
AT&T Q4: WarnerMedia revenue was up 5.9% YoY to $9.2B, but Entertainment Group revenue was down 4.8% YoY to $12B amid subscriber losses for DirecTV, DirecTV Now — AT&T posted healthy growth in wireless and WarnerMedia segments for the fourth quarter of 2018, but missed top-line revenue targets …
@nymagunion:
Thread: New York Media recognizes the New York Magazine Union, with about 180 full-time and part-time staff across Vulture, Intelligencer, the Cut, and more — Thrilled to report @NYMag has officially recognized the #NYMagUnion! Our statement from the Organizing Committee: pic.twitter.com/nRPipnFIO1
Stephanie Sugars / Committee to Protect Journalists:
Analysis of Trump's anti-press tweets since announcing his candidacy show an escalation from targeting specific journalists to attacking the media as a whole — Since announcing his candidacy in the 2016 presidential elections to the end of his second year in office, U.S. President Donald Trump …
Discussion:
@rowlsmanthorpe, @pressfreedom, @penamerican, @pressfreedom, @sam_vinograd, @stephanie_alena and @pressfreedom
Ben Sisario / New York Times:
Documenting the R. Kelly case: interviews with Jim DeRogatis, who has reported on the case for almost 20 years, and Dream Hampton, who made Surviving R. Kelly — CHICAGO — For the journalists who have dug the deepest on R. Kelly, these should be satisfying days.
Discussion:
@kierafeldman, @bretteats, @ennisnyt, @bellwak, The Daily Caller, @raceforward, @nytimes, @nytimesmusic, Vox and Daily Herald
Daniel Funke / Poynter:
Fake news outlets switch domain names to get past Facebook's fact-checking system, publishing old stories under new names to regain reach on Facebook — One of the most frequently debunked fake news publishers on Facebook is still getting past the platform's fact-checking system — and it's doing it by using the simplest of tricks.
Discussion:
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