Top News:
Natalie Jarvey / Hollywood Reporter:
Vice to lay off 10% of staff, or ~250 people, across the company as part of restructuring effort; weekly “Vice” show on HBO also ending — The cuts, which will impact around 250 people, are part of new CEO Nancy Dubuc's strategic plan to tighten spending and achieve profitability.
Daniel Funke / Poynter:
Snopes pulls out of Facebook partnership, says Facebook's closed, manual fact-checking entry system is too labor intensive and fails to benefit the whole web — Snopes is no longer debunking misinformation in partnership with Facebook. In a statement published Friday …
Discussion:
Snopes.com, Adweek, Mediaite, The Guardian, Engadget, The Verge, CNBC, @sarahfrier, Boing Boing, @tmclaughlin3, Mashable, Snopes.com, @tarletong, @dpfunke and @bendwalsh, more at Techmeme »
Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:
In interview with Trump, NYT journalists and publisher try explaining the global effect of “fake news” claims but his focus shifted to his personal grievances — President Trump takes credit for popularizing the term “fake news.” — But the consequences? Not his concern.
Chuck Strouse / Miami New Times:
Memo: McClatchy is offering a voluntary early retirement program to about 450 employees, says it will be a one-time opportunity — This morning, Craig Forman, CEO of McClatchy Company, emailed all staff to say about 10 percent of the newspaper chain's employees would be offered voluntary buyouts.
Discussion:
@lindseywasson, @sulliview, @cliomiso, @parkermolloy, @charlesapple, @jeffdomingues, @stevejanoski and @romenesko
Taylor Soper / GeekWire:
Amazon's “other” revenue, which is mostly composed of its advertising services, hit $3.4B in Q4, up 95% YoY and reaching $10.1B for all of 2018 — Amazon's advertising business is showing no signs of letting up. — Amazon reports record profits of $3B, crushes Wall Street expectations for holiday quarter
Paul Farhi / Washington Post:
The Pentagon hasn't done an on-camera press briefing since May; formerly daily State Department briefings averaged six per month in last three months of 2018 — With President Trump sending more troops to the southern border, pulling some out of Syria and causing uncertainty among allies in NATO …
Ken Doctor / Nieman Lab:
For M&A possibilities among legacy newspaper companies and even digital startups, the next recession looms large and everything is on the table — In an industry where expense reduction is the prime strategy, much more consolidation is likely on the way. Little regulation prevents it, and the financials all favor it.
Discussion:
@darrendcarroll, @timhanlon and @newsbyschmidt
Hannah Murphy / Financial Times:
Facebook says it was able to uncover the Iranian network thanks to information from Twitter and that the two have been sharing notes sooner than previously — Facebook and Twitter have removed thousands of fake accounts originating from Iran, some dating back as far as 2010, after collaborating to combat disinformation.
Discussion:
Engadget
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Tony Romm / Washington Post:
Twitter says it removed thousands of malicious accounts that originated in Iran, Russia, and Venezuela for spreading disinformation about the 2018 midterms
Twitter says it removed thousands of malicious accounts that originated in Iran, Russia, and Venezuela for spreading disinformation about the 2018 midterms
Discussion:
Adweek, New York Times, Twitter, @wiczipedia, @donara_barojan, @donie, @justinhendrix, CNN, @josh_emerson, @yoyoel, @policy, Blog Network, @wiczipedia, @dcherring, Twitter, Recode, Reuters, The Week and Business Insider, more at Techmeme »
Colin Lecher / The Verge:
What to expect as oral arguments begin Friday in Mozilla's lawsuit to stop FCC's repeal of net neutrality rules — The FCC will make its case against the rules — Oral arguments will begin tomorrow for one of the most important cases in internet law history.
Discussion:
Free Press, Ars Technica, Common Dreams, NPR, 9to5Mac and Washington Post, more at Techmeme »
Bloomberg:
Sources: Sinclair and the MLB, among others, bid for Fox's regional sports networks minus the YES network, with offers much lower than the anticipated $20B — - Bids value assets at well below the $22 billion estimated — Latest round attracts offers from Sinclair, Apollo and MLB
Discussion:
Awful Announcing
Amy Gesenhues / Marketing Land:
MediaRadar: YouTube 2018 ad revenue rose 11% YoY, as media and entertainment companies brought in 30%+ of ad revenue and Geico and Samsung accounted for 11.5% — YouTube ad revenues increased 11 percent year-over-year in 2018, according to MediaRadar. — YouTube saw a 51 percent ad renewal …
Daniel Sanchez / Digital Music News:
A ranking of music streaming services by royalty payouts: Napster leads the way with $.019/stream, and YouTube trails with $.00069/stream — Late last month, Digital Music News updated its list of what streaming music services pay. — Thanks to information from third-party websites and actual artists …
Discussion:
@euforcreators