Mediagazer: In day one of arguments, the FCC faced tough questions from a three-judge panel on its definition of broadband and potential issues for public safety agencies (Brian Fung/Washington Post)

8:10 PM ET, February 1, 2019

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Vice to lay off 10% of staff, or ~250 people, across the company as part of restructuring effort; weekly “Vice” show on HBO also ending — The cuts, which will impact around 250 people, are part of new CEO Nancy Dubuc's strategic plan to tighten spending and achieve profitability.

Daniel Funke / Poynter:

Snopes pulls out of Facebook partnership, says Facebook's closed, manual fact-checking entry system is too labor intensive and fails to benefit the whole web — Snopes is no longer debunking misinformation in partnership with Facebook. In a statement published Friday …

Discussion: Adweek, Bloomberg, @rmac18, @samtlevin, @samtlevin, The Guardian, CNBC, The Verge, @dpfunke, Mashable, @shortformernie, @bendwalsh, @tarletong, @tmclaughlin3, Boing Boing, @sarahfrier and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch:

AP says it is “not currently doing fact-checking work for Facebook”, after Snopes said it also stopped; both leave possiblity for future collaboration open — Two of Facebook's four fact-checking partners in the U.S. are no longer working for the program: Snopes …

Discussion: Snopes.com, Mediaite, @shiraovide, Fortune and Snopes.com, more at Techmeme »

Peter Kafka / Recode:

Source: Spotify in advanced talks to acquire popular podcast producer Gimlet for $200M+; Gimlet would be Spotify's first purchase of an original content maker — Spotify wants to break out of the music streaming business. Gimlet, the company behind shows like Crimetown and Reply All, can help.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Variety, The Wrap, Hollywood Reporter, The Verge, @evoterra and Music Business Worldwide, more at Techmeme »

Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:

In interview with Trump, NYT journalists and publisher try explaining the global effect of “fake news” claims but his focus shifted to his personal grievances — President Trump takes credit for popularizing the term “fake news.” — But the consequences? Not his concern.

Discussion: New York Times, New York Times, Washington Post, @riegerreport, CNBC, @craigunger, @jimrutenberg, @frankbruni, @scottbix, @marybschneider, @brianstelter, @maxboot, Contemptor, @jdawsey1, The Daily Beast and Mediaite

Chuck Strouse / Miami New Times:

Memo: McClatchy is offering a voluntary early retirement program to about 450 employees, says it will be a one-time opportunity — This morning, Craig Forman, CEO of McClatchy Company, emailed all staff to say about 10 percent of the newspaper chain's employees would be offered voluntary buyouts.

Discussion: @lindseywasson, @cliomiso, @hannahallam, @parkermolloy, @sulliview, @stevejanoski, @jeffdomingues, @romenesko and @charlesapple

Taylor Soper / GeekWire:

Amazon's “other” revenue, which is mostly composed of its advertising services, hit $3.4B in Q4, up 95% YoY and reaching $10.1B for all of 2018 — Amazon's advertising business is showing no signs of letting up. — Amazon reports record profits of $3B, crushes Wall Street expectations for holiday quarter

Discussion: Amazon.com, Inc. - IR, On my Om, Marketing Land, RAIN News, Light Reading, @xpangler, San Francisco Chronicle and Business Insider, more at Techmeme »

Brian Fung / Washington Post:

In day one of arguments, the FCC faced tough questions from a three-judge panel on its definition of broadband and potential issues for public safety agencies — The Federal Communications Commission faced sharp questioning from a trio of appellate court judges Friday as the agency sought …

Discussion: Free Press, Ars Technica, The Verge, Common Dreams, Gizmodo, 9to5Mac and The Verge, more at Techmeme »

Ken Doctor / Nieman Lab:

For M&A possibilities among legacy newspaper companies and even digital startups, the next recession looms large and everything is on the table — In an industry where expense reduction is the prime strategy, much more consolidation is likely on the way. Little regulation prevents it, and the financials all favor it.

Discussion: New York Post, Bloomberg, @darrendcarroll, @newsbyschmidt and @timhanlon

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:

The Pentagon hasn't done an on-camera press briefing since May; formerly daily State Department briefings averaged six per month in last three months of 2018 — With President Trump sending more troops to the southern border, pulling some out of Syria and causing uncertainty among allies in NATO …

Bloomberg:

Sources: Sinclair and the MLB, among others, bid for Fox's regional sports networks minus the YES network, with offers much lower than the anticipated $20B — - Bids value assets at well below the $22 billion estimated — Latest round attracts offers from Sinclair, Apollo and MLB

Discussion: Awful Announcing

Hannah Murphy / Financial Times:

Facebook says it was able to uncover the Iranian network thanks to information from Twitter and that the two have been sharing notes sooner than previously — Facebook and Twitter have removed thousands of fake accounts originating from Iran, some dating back as far as 2010, after collaborating to combat disinformation.

Discussion: Engadget

Tony Romm / Washington Post:
Twitter says it removed thousands of malicious accounts that originated in Iran, Russia, and Venezuela for spreading disinformation about the 2018 midterms

Discussion: Slate, Adweek, New York Times, @donara_barojan, @donie, @wiczipedia, Al Jazeera, Twitter, Blog Network, @justinhendrix, @josh_emerson, @yoyoel, @policy, CNN, @wiczipedia, @dcherring, Twitter, Recode, Reuters, The Week and Business Insider, more at Techmeme »

Amy Gesenhues / Marketing Land:

MediaRadar: YouTube 2018 ad revenue rose 11% YoY, as media and entertainment companies brought in 30%+ of ad revenue and Geico and Samsung accounted for 11.5% — YouTube ad revenues increased 11 percent year-over-year in 2018, according to MediaRadar. — YouTube saw a 51 percent ad renewal …

Mark Di Stefano / BuzzFeed:

Nina Burleigh, author of the Melania Trump article for which The Telegraph apologized, is demanding the newspaper retract its apology, claiming defamation — US journalist Nina Burleigh claims The Daily Telegraph's apology has turned her into an “international poster girl for fake news”.

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Daniel Sanchez / Digital Music News:
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Anna Gutierrez / The Reporters Committee …:
A coalition of 28 media organizations has filed a court brief supporting a lawsuit that challenges fees for court records accessed via PACER

Edmund Lee / New York Times:
A look at the legal grounds for Locast's existence and its role in the relationship between broadcasters and cable, satellite companies

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Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
Hulu to launch banner ads, which will appear after viewers pause video, in Q2 2019; hopes all non-disruptive ads will comprise 50% of ad revenue within 3 years

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Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Sources: CBS board wants company to grow, first through a merger with Viacom, possibly followed by Discovery acquisition; CBS hoping to find CEO by end of March

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James Walker / Press Gazette:
NewsGuard, whose trustworthiness ratings are available on Chrome and Edge, improves its rating of the Daily Mail from red to green to indicate its accuracy

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From Techmeme:

Emilia David / The Verge:
Microsoft launches Phi-3 Mini, a 3.8B-parameter model that competes with GPT-3.5, and plans to release Phi-3 Small and Phi-3 Medium with 7B and 14B parameters

Scott Stein / CNET:
Meta opens its VR OS, now called Horizon OS, to third parties, and says Asus and Lenovo plan Horizon OS-compatible headsets; Meta plans an Xbox branded Quest

James Rundle / Wall Street Journal:
Source: UnitedHealth's Change Healthcare was compromised on February 12, nine days before the ransomware attack; the company paid a ransom to the hackers

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