Mediagazer: ViacomCBS confirms streamlining of its creative units, leading to departures including Comedy Central head Kent Alterman and Media Networks COO Sarah Levy (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)

1:00 PM ET, November 11, 2019

Top News:

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Twitter shares draft of its new deepfakes policy for public input through Nov. 27, says it won't ban deepfakes but will label them and warn users before sharing — Twitter last month said it was introducing a new policy to help fight deepfakes and other “manipulated media” that involve photos …

Discussion: Twitter, VentureBeat, The Week, Engadget and @donie, more at Techmeme »

Bloomberg:

Instagram covers IGTV video production costs for some creators as long as the videos do not include content about social issues, elections, or politics — - Contract clause conflicts with Facebook stance on free speech — IGTV asks stars not to post about politics and social issues

Discussion: @tarletong, @lucas_shaw, @sarahfrier, @rasmus_kleis and @fryan, more at Techmeme »

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:

During the impeachment hearings journalists should focus on the substance of what is being proved or not proved, not distracting speculation or publicity stunts — The national media's shortcomings have been all too obvious in recent years as Donald Trump has gleefully thrown the norms of traditional journalism into a tizzy.

Discussion: @sulliview, @jamesfallows, @emptywheel, Poynter, @nprkelly, @miriamelder, @jbenton and @rtmannjr

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

ViacomCBS confirms streamlining of its creative units, leading to departures including Comedy Central head Kent Alterman and Media Networks COO Sarah Levy — Following the merger of CBS and Viacom announced earlier this year, the combined company today confirmed its plans to restructure …

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable, Variety, CBS Corporation, The Wrap, Variety, Bloomberg, Hollywood Reporter and Hollywood Reporter

Deanna Ting / Digiday:

Dow Jones' Barron's Group combines two of its brands, Barron's and MarketWatch, to launch MarketBrief, a live, weekly 10-minute show covering financial news — Dow Jones' Barron's Group is combining two of its brands — Barron's and MarketWatch — to launch a new live …

Discussion: Talking Biz News

Barbara Allen / Poynter:

As The Texas Tribune turns 10, EIC Emily Ramshaw, cofounders John Thornton and Evan Smith, and others reflect on its early days and lessons learned since launch — In 2008, John Thornton, the managing partner of a venture capital firm and an Austin philanthropist, started seeing …

Discussion: @niemanlabfuego and @texastribune

Julia Alexander / The Verge:

YouTube's updated ToS says it is under “no obligation” to host content and reinforces its right to terminate users it deems “no longer commercially viable” — Other changes affect children's content — YouTube is rolling out updated terms of service on December 10th …

Discussion: @fordfischer, @backlon and 9to5Google, more at Techmeme »

Maxwell Tani / The Daily Beast:

Staff at Hearst Magazines say they plan to unionize with WGA East, encompassing editorial, photo, video, and social-media employees across 24 major properties — From Cosmo and Road & Track to Esquire and Elle, the new unit will become one of the largest new unions in media.

Discussion: HuffPost, @berniesanders, @bdwilliams910, @jackholmes0, @hearstunion, @hearstunion, @jlorileman and @heykmenz

Quinn Myers / MEL Magazine:

An oral history of the rise and fall of LimeWire, which at its peak was estimated to be responsible for 80% of all illegal music downloads in the US — And the untold story of a Spotify killer that never saw the light of day — In 2001, the internet's premier file-sharing service Napster …

Discussion: @wearemel, @annehummert, @wearemel, @rgodlewicz and The A.V. Club

Mark Di Stefano / BuzzFeed:

BBC apologizes for showing old footage of Boris Johnson laying a wreath, not recent footage of him apparently making an error, says it was a production mistake — Less than 24 hours after Boris Johnson was criticised for mis-laying a wreath, the BBC has apologised for running old footage …

Discussion: Deadline, Mirror.co.uk, @avasantina, @jimwaterson, @markdistef, @bbcbreakfast, @markdistef, @markdistef and @markdistef

Karen Longwell / Nieman Lab:

How a community in Quebec, facing the closure of its local paper, The Gleaner, rebuilt it as a community nonprofit — More than 250 media outlets closed across Canada from 2008 to 2019, according to a 2019 study by the Local News Research Project. A small Quebec paper, The Gleaner, nearly joined them.

Discussion: @niemanlab and @niemanlab

Damian Radcliffe / What's New in Publishing:

A deep dive into BuzzFeed's ecommerce expansion, from establishing a dedicated Commerce division and a Product Lab in 2016 to partnering with Walmart — Damian Radcliffe takes a deep dive into BuzzFeed's eCommerce expansion, from establishing a dedicated Commerce division to its recent roll …

more at Techmeme »

New York Times:

In a letter, WhatsApp says 121 users in India were targeted with NSO spyware; 22 of the alleged targets were activists, journalists, and civil rights lawyers — Recent revelations in India show that the threat from the company's spyware to activists and journalists isn't limited to autocratic regimes.

Discussion: @nicoleperlroth, Memex 1.1, @tamarmegiddo, @petercronau, @nytimes, @alexstamos, @emptywheel, @peterwsinger, @snowden, The Hindu and Reuters

Columbia Journalism Review:

CJR/The Nation's Covering Climate Now initiative published 3,640+ stories on climate change by 323 outlets during the week of the UN climate summit on Sept. 23 — Some good news, for a change, about climate change: When hundreds of newsrooms focus their attention on the climate crisis …

Discussion: American Press Institute, @niemanreports and @ecorinews