Mediagazer: The “Rust” tragedy reflects troubling trends on sets, including inexperience and complacency, as production companies cut costs to keep up with content demand (Cynthia Littleton/Variety)

4:55 PM ET, October 25, 2021

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Internal docs show frequent heated debates among Facebook staff and execs about how to rank, fact check, and moderate content of right-wing pubs like Breitbart — Employees allege content rules aren't enforced for Breitbart and other right-wing publishers for fear of public blowback …

Ben Smith / New York Times:

How Frances Haugen maximized the impact of her leaked Facebook documents, rolling them out first to WSJ and then broadening to a large group of outlets — In a time of mega-leaks, journalists' sources have become power players. Frances Haugen, the former Facebook executive who shared company documents …

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More than 12 news outlets, including AP and Fox Business, form a consortium to sift leaked Facebook docs from Frances Haugen, reporting stories separately — It's not often that major news organizations coordinate to sift through a large trove of leaked company documents and agree …

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Craig Timberg / Washington Post:
Whistleblower claims Facebook VP Joel Kaplan defended a Breitbart exemption from platform rules, asking: “Do you want to start a fight with Steve Bannon?”

Ben Hubbard / New York Times:

Citizen Lab: the iPhone of Ben Hubbard, an American reporter for NYT, was hacked in 2020 and 2021, likely by Saudi Arabia using NSO's Pegasus; NSO denies claim — Invasive hacking software sold to countries to fight terrorism is easily abused. Researchers say my phone was hacked twice, probably by Saudi Arabia.

Financial Times:

Fox launches Fox Weather in a new HQ with 120 meteorologists and a ceiling that changes color with the weather, as critics say it will face credibility issues — TV channels bet that reports of increasingly extreme climate can pull them out of a ratings nosedive

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Cynthia Littleton / Variety:

The “Rust” tragedy reflects troubling trends on sets, including inexperience and complacency, as production companies cut costs to keep up with content demand — The details of what went horribly wrong on the New Mexico set of “Rust” will be gathered in the coming weeks through multiple public and private investigations.

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Los Angeles Times:
Sources: citing unsafe working conditions, a half-dozen camera crew workers walked off the Rust set hours before Alec Baldwin fatally shot a cinematographer

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Dan Froomkin / Press Watch:

Interview with LA Times politics columnist Jackie Calmes, who calls on reporters to end false equivalence by never using quotes with lies without refuting them — Jackie Calmes, a veteran former New York Times White House reporter, lit up media Twitter over the weekend with a powerful …

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Amrith Ramkumar / Wall Street Journal:

LA-based esports collective FaZe Clan to go public through a SPAC merger, valuing the company at ~$1B — Backed by the singer Pitbull and other entertainment and sports celebrities, FaZe Clan targets Gen Z and millennial consumers — Youth-focused online platform FaZe Clan Inc. is nearing …

Discussion: Variety, The Wrap, Hollywood Reporter, @loudmouthjulia, @jasongwild, Ad Age and Insider, more at Techmeme »

Stephen Witt / New Yorker:

Profile of Patrick Soon-Shiong, a controversial doctor who bought LA Times with “little due diligence” thinking owning it would be “easier than curing cancer” — The billionaire doctor has become one of Los Angeles's most prominent civic leaders, after a boundary-pushing ascent in medicine.

Discussion: @niemanlab

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Cameo makes its first acquisition, buying Represent, which develops and operates direct-to-fan ecommerce sites for celeb clients like Leonardo DiCaprio — Cameo, the startup that has built a fast-growing business selling video shout-outs from celebrities (and others), is extending into a new line of fandom business.

Discussion: TechCrunch, Axios, Tubefilter, @bookcameo, @adweek, @mr312, The Wrap, @sarafischer and Hollywood Reporter

Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:

Vox Media's branded podcast More Than This features an “immersive transcript” rich in visuals for audiences that are deaf and hard of hearing — The podcast More Than This had a challenge. How could they recreate the emotions, pacing, and atmosphere of their episodes without using any audio?

Discussion: American Press Institute, @janebsinger and @kathyluwho

Todd Spangler / Variety:

YouTube's VP of Content Partnerships Malik Ducard leaves the company after a decade to join Pinterest as its first chief content officer — After a decade at YouTube, Malik Ducard is moving on: He's been hired by Pinterest as the image-sharing and social media company's first chief content officer.