Mediagazer: Starz CEO Chris Albrecht will leave the company in March; COO Jeffrey Hirsch will manage the company along with Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer (Meg James/Los Angeles Times)

2:45 AM ET, February 2, 2019

Top News:

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: @samtlevin, The Verge, The Guardian, @dpfunke, @shortformernie, @bendwalsh, BBC, @rmac18, @tarletong, @tmclaughlin3, @samtlevin, Boing Boing, Adweek, @sarahfrier, Engadget, CNBC and Mashable, more at Techmeme »

Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch:

AP says it is “not currently doing fact-checking work for Facebook”, after Snopes said it also stopped; both leave possiblity for future collaboration open — Two of Facebook's four fact-checking partners in the U.S. are no longer working for the program: Snopes …

Discussion: Snopes.com, The Atlantic, Snopes.com, PCMag India, @shiraovide, Mediaite and Fortune, more at Techmeme »

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.

Peter Kafka / Recode:

Source: Spotify in advanced talks to acquire popular podcast producer Gimlet for $200M+; Gimlet would be Spotify's first purchase of an original content maker — Spotify wants to break out of the music streaming business. Gimlet, the company behind shows like Crimetown and Reply All, can help.

Discussion: Nieman Lab, Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, @evoterra, @nicktheandersen, @dcseifert, @blakeir, @khoi, @nicktheandersen, Variety, @nicktheandersen, Hollywood Reporter, @mathowie, @nicktheandersen, The Verge, The Wrap and Music Business Worldwide, more at Techmeme »

Maura Judkis / Washington Post:

The Washington Post is airing a 60-second ad during the Super Bowl's fourth quarter on Sunday, with Tom Hanks describing journalism's importance to society — The Washington Post will debut its first Super Bowl commercial — a message underscoring the importance of newsgathering …

Discussion: Washington Post, CNBC, @postbaron, Adweek, @maurajudkis, @maurajudkis, Variety, Skift Table and The Week

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: The Hill, @lindseywasson, @cliomiso, @hannahallam, @karlbode, @parkermolloy, @sulliview, @stevejanoski, @jeffdomingues, @romenesko and @charlesapple

Brian Fung / Washington Post:

In day one of arguments, the FCC faced tough questions from a three-judge panel on its definition of broadband and potential issues for public safety agencies — The Federal Communications Commission faced sharp questioning from a trio of appellate court judges Friday as the agency sought …

Discussion: Common Dreams, The Verge, Gizmodo, Free Press, 9to5Mac, Ars Technica and The Verge, more at Techmeme »

Meg James / Los Angeles Times:

Starz CEO Chris Albrecht will leave the company in March; COO Jeffrey Hirsch will manage the company along with Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer — Chris Albrecht, chief executive of the premium cable channel and streaming service Starz, is stepping down from the company he has managed for the last decade.

Discussion: Deadline, Variety and Broadcasting & Cable

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: Bloomberg, @darrendcarroll, @newsbyschmidt, @timhanlon and New York Post

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

Discussion: Amazon.com, Inc. - IR, On my Om, RAIN News, Marketing Land, @xpangler, Light Reading, San Francisco Chronicle and Business Insider, more at Techmeme »

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 …

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

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

Discussion: Slate, Adweek, @donara_barojan, @donie, @wiczipedia, @justinhendrix, @josh_emerson, Blog Network, @yoyoel, @policy, Al Jazeera, @wiczipedia, @dcherring, @jank0, New York Times, Twitter, Recode, Twitter, Reuters, The Week and Business Insider, more at Techmeme »

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More News:

Mark Di Stefano / BuzzFeed:
Nina Burleigh, author of the Melania Trump article for which The Telegraph apologized, is demanding the newspaper retract its apology, claiming defamation

Discussion: The Daily Caller

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

Discussion: Awful Announcing

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

Discussion: @missy_ryan and @glennkesslerwp

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

Discussion: @euforcreators

Anna Gutierrez / The Reporters Committee …:
A coalition of 28 media organizations has filed a court brief supporting a lawsuit that challenges fees for court records accessed via PACER

Earlier Picks:

Edmund Lee / New York Times:
A look at the legal grounds for Locast's existence and its role in the relationship between broadcasters and cable, satellite companies

Discussion: @edmundlee, Best Apple TV, @ronlieber, @mathewi, The Verge and Broadcasting & Cable

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
Hulu to launch banner ads, which will appear after viewers pause video, in Q2 2019; hopes all non-disruptive ads will comprise 50% of ad revenue within 3 years

Discussion: Digiday, The Verge, Mashable, /Film, Hulu, 9to5Mac, Gizmodo and Fast Company

Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Sources: CBS board wants company to grow, first through a merger with Viacom, possibly followed by Discovery acquisition; CBS hoping to find CEO by end of March

Discussion: Realscreen, Hollywood Reporter, CNN and Decider

James Walker / Press Gazette:
NewsGuard, whose trustworthiness ratings are available on Chrome and Edge, improves its rating of the Daily Mail from red to green to indicate its accuracy

Discussion: Nieman Lab, @niemanlab and @markdistef

From Techmeme:

Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
Sources: EU may accept Apple's proposal to open its NFC payments tech to rivals, and may close its antitrust probe in May, letting Apple avoid hefty fines

Gaby Del Valle / The Verge:
The US Senate reauthorizes FISA's Section 702; some communication service providers had threatened to stop cooperating with the US government in case of a lapse

George Steer / Financial Times:
Nvidia closed down 10% on Friday, falling the most since March 2020 and losing more than $200B of its market value, as investors pull back from AI bets

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