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Tribune Publishing Company:
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 …
Marc Tracy / New York Times:
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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Christopher Cheung / The Tyee:
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
Ben Smith / BuzzFeed News:
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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@williams_paige, @katherinemiller, @jasonleopold, @bigmeaninternet, @michaelluo, @tomgara, @annehelen, @perpetua, @jeremymbarr, @nbashaw, @willsommer and @ckrewson
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Jim Waterson / The Guardian:
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
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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@jayrosen_nyu, @bgrueskin, @derektmead, @ajentleson, Fox News, @arawnsley, @lachlan, @govhowarddean, @josephfcox, @jakemgrumbach, @pfpicardi, @dropoutnation, @ericboehlert, @sikhprof, @ashtonpittman, @dcbigjohn, @froomkin, @soledadobrien, @reignofapril, @chick_in_kiev, @jelani9, @jbenton, @whstancil, @markjacob16, @mehdirhasan, @swin24, @pulitzerprizes, @adamgoldmannyt, @wphillips49, @laurawags, The Wrap, The Daily Beast, Washington Examiner and Mediaite
Evan Smith / The Texas Tribune:
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
Saheli Roy Choudhury / CNBC:
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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Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
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 »
Jim Waterson / The Guardian:
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
Matt Novak / Gizmodo:
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
Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
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.
Discussion:
Washington Times, @jonathanchait, @taralogrady, @szreports, @andreweversden1, @danrather, @adamblickstein and @washtimes
Christine Schmidt / Nieman Lab:
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
NBC News:
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.