Mediagazer: [Thread] Reporter starts Google Doc to track Gannett layoffs, says it's forcing people to sign NDAs to get severance, telling journalists not to tweet about it (Andrew Pantazi/@apantazi)

2:45 PM ET, December 6, 2019

Top News:

Dan Kennedy / Media Nation:

Internal memo: after the recent cuts, Gannett CEO Paul Bascobert expects more layoffs, and says “it will take a few months to work through this process” — Paul Bascobert, chief executive officer of Gannett Media Corp. (apparently number two to Mike Reed in the reconfigured …

Discussion: Poynter, @ashevegas, @ashevegas and Dan Kennedy

Andrew Pantazi / @apantazi:

[Thread] Reporter starts Google Doc to track Gannett layoffs, says it's forcing people to sign NDAs to get severance, telling journalists not to tweet about it — While I #LoveMyNewspaper, I do not love my newspaper company. I've heard Gannett is beginning layoffs today and have confirmed two in Florida. If you hear of any more, please DM me or fill out this form: https://docs.google.com/...

Discussion: @beerguytk, @apantazi, @apantazi, @sammy_roth, @paythewriter and @brianheinemann

Max Willens / Digiday:

WSJ had its biggest day of subscription sales ever Black Friday, Wired and Barron's on Cyber Monday; New York had its best four-day sales stretch that weekend — Cyber Monday and Black Friday have long been make-or-break days of the year for retailers. They have recently become important …

wellcome.ac.uk:

Charity-funded online science and health magazine Mosaic is shutting down on December 10 after five years — Mosaic, Wellcome's digital platform dedicated to long-form journalism about science and health, will be closing next week. It will publish its final stories on 10 December.

Discussion: Press Gazette, @teh_woo, @jeffdelviscio, @beebrookshire, @lindanordling, @joanna_haugen and @laurahelmuth

Jeremy Barr / Hollywood Reporter:

A small group of NBC News Digital employees apparently campaigned against a union with NewsGuild; staff voted on the union Wednesday, and results come Dec. 13 — On top of a “No NBC NewsGuild” Instagram account and a barebones website, employees have posted flyers around the network's office in Manhattan …

Discussion: @mollycrabapple, The Daily Beast, New York Post, @thr, @the1kim, @mollycrabapple, @mollycrabapple, @willsommer, @mattdpearce, @roseajacob, @grimkim, @businessinsider, @jessicaschulb, @joemfox, @mollycrabapple, @mattdpearce and TVWeek.com

Mark Di Stefano / BuzzFeed:

Conde Nast removes China's president and Thailand's king from the online version of UK GQ's 10 worst-dressed men list, says it could cause “unintended offence” — The magazine's parent company confirmed to BuzzFeed News they'd been removed over concerns of causing “unintended offence”.

Discussion: Mediaite and @jerometaylor

John McCarthy / The Drum:

Spotify says it now has 500K+ podcasts, podcast listeners are up more than 50% since the start of 2019 and podcast hours consumed by listeners grew 39% QoQ — Spotify, the global music audio streaming service, each year unpacks the listening habits of users and unveils the artists …

Discussion: The Independent, more at Techmeme »

Variety:

Netflix exec says the company is working on a system for providing transparent audience metrics for its films that give context for the numbers — Netflix is closer to getting into the numbers game than it's ever been. — Scott Stuber, the head of original films at Netflix …

Discussion: Observer and The Streamable

The Pulitzer Prizes:

Pulitzer Prize Board announces a new prize category for 2020: audio reporting, in the public interest, with “revelatory reporting and illuminating storytelling” — New York, NY (Dec. 5, 2019) — The Pulitzer Prize Board today announces a new Journalism prize category for the 2020 prize cycle: Audio Reporting.

Steven Kurutz / New York Times:

A look at Conde Nast's successful, frugally run, niche magazine The World of Interiors, which has largely eschewed digital and focused on the print product — The gold-standard shelter magazine runs on a brass-tacks budget and refuses to kowtow to the internet.

Discussion: @condelibrary, @skurutz and @katerinareports

Vikas SN / The Economic Times:

Netflix says it is spending ~$420M on content in India over the next year, a majority of which will be on original programming — India has emerged as a crucial content hub for Netflix which is facing increased competition in India and around the world — Netflix plans to spend Rs 3,000 crore …

Discussion: @tsuvik, more at Techmeme »

New York Times:

Rudy Giuliani is in Europe interviewing Ukrainians for an OANN documentary series, which is being promoted as a Republican alternative to impeachment hearings — President Trump's personal lawyer has been in Budapest and Kyiv this week to talk with former Ukrainian prosecutors …

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