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Tribune Publishing says Alden Global Capital is now the company's largest shareholder, buying 25.2% of the company from Merrick Ventures and Michael Ferro Jr. — Tribune Publishing Company (NASDAQ: TPCO), one of the nation's leading media companies, today announced that funds managed …


Gannett and New Media Investment Group's merger became official Tuesday, with executives hoping “efficiencies” will save about $300M/year — The deal to create the largest newspaper company in the nation — which became official at 4:10 p.m. on Tuesday — came about with remarkable speed …
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Torstar announces 121 layoffs, with 73 to be cut as it closes StarMetro Vancouver and four other free dailies on Dec. 20; more layoffs are in southern Ontario — Five more daily newspapers shuttered, 73 jobs lost across Canada. — Christopher Cheung is a reporter at The Tyee.
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@tarynalgrant, @anna_desmarais, @sdbcraig, @ayan604, Canada NewsWire Group, @jsource, The Conversation, @sdbcraig, @jsource and @bychrischeung


Sources: NYT is facing a succession contest to replace Dean Baquet before September 2022, with three top candidates: Joe Kahn, James Bennet, and Cliff Levy — If you're following the news these days, you'll notice that a high percentage is about the New York Times — the headlines …
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New York Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet says Trump puts journalists' “lives at risk” when he subjects them to personal attacks and calls them names
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Texas Tribune EIC and chief audience officer are stepping down to launch a national nonprofit news organization aimed at giving women “facts, tools, and info” — They'll exit their leadership roles at The Texas Tribune at the end of the year. We couldn't be more grateful …
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@amzam, @jwharris, @lmcgaughy, @jeffjarvis, @natalie_choate, @eramshaw, @amzam, @amzam, @jayrosen_nyu, @eramshaw, @amzam, @emilybell and The Wrap


Disney says there's no indication of a Disney+ security breach, in response to reports of thousands of users' accounts being hijacked and sold online for $3-$11 — - Thousands of Disney+ user accounts have been stolen by hackers and put up for sale on the dark web, according to multiple reports.
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ZDNet, BBC, The Tech Portal, The Next Web, Bloomberg, @kaspersky and New York Post
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Google announces Your News Update, an Assistant-powered audio feature that chooses stories based on interests, location, and more, available first in the US — It plays from a variety of sources instead of just the few you hand-pick — Google is rolling out a new service for Google Assistant that it's calling “Your News Update.”
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Digiday, The Keyword, TechCrunch, @reckless, Search Engine Land, @chelseactv, @backlon, @google, CNET, Engadget, RAIN News and Fortune, more at Techmeme »


During Tuesday's debate, UK's Conservative party renamed its main media Twitter account as “factcheckUK” and changed its logo to push anti-Labour material — Party accused of misleading public by tweeting anti-Labour posts as ‘factcheckUK’ — The Conservatives have been accused …
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@alexhern, First Draft, Financial Times, @lisaocarroll, @alexhern, @aljwhite, @johnedwards33, @carljackmiller, @daveleebbc, @joe_stone, @peterstefanovi2, @alexhern, @dsquareddigest, @pickardje, @midlandsound, @lisaocarroll, @dsquareddigest, @grodaeu, @jimwaterson, @broderick, @emilybell, @sdp, @cononeilluk and @alexhern


Facebook exec defends Breitbart on Facebook News, saying Breitbart is not being paid and balances out “far left” outlets, but it's unclear which ones she meant — Facebook recently announced that white supremacist propaganda site Breitbart would be considered a “high quality” …
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@ranimolla, Vox, @teddyschleifer, @alibreland, @jaredlholt, @deborahblum, @bgrueskin, Right Wing Watch, @ceciliakang, @voxdotcom, @slpng_giants, @ericboehlert, @oliverdarcy and Memex 1.1


Trump's antagonism toward Bezos, WaPo, and Amazon, followed by denial of a $10B cloud contract, should be a larger scandal than it has been treated so far — The saga of President Trump's reprisals against Amazon has lurked on the margin of the news, largely overshadowed by the Ukraine scandal.
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Washington Times, @jonathanchait, @taralogrady, @szreports, @andreweversden1, @danrather, @adamblickstein and @washtimes


The Shawnee Mission Post in northeast Kansas has grown to 2,650 paying subscribers with an annual run rate of ~$190K, two years after launching its paywall — Paywalls are working at some (inter)national news organizations. But how are they working on the local — or even the hyperlocal — level?
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American Press Institute, @shawmissionpost, The Rural Blog, @mikeachim, @jay_senter and @niemanreports


Emails show that a 2015 article, fed by Stephen Miller, ran in Breitbart with a “Breitbart News” byline at Miller's insistence, disguising opinion as editorial — The emails offer a window into just how closely Miller coordinated with Breitbart, a publication that backed President Donald Trump early in his campaign.