Mediagazer: Imgur plans to ban explicit images, but permit artistic nudity, from May 15, and expects issues as the service adopts a mix of automatic and human moderation (Ivan Mehta/TechCrunch)

12:55 PM ET, April 20, 2023

Top News:

Memo: BuzzFeed News is shutting down, and BuzzFeed is cutting jobs by ~15%; Jonah Peretti: “We will have a single news brand in HuffPost, which is profitable” — BuzzFeed News, which won a Pulitzer Prize but never made money, is “beginning the process of closing,” the company's founder …

Discussion: @oliverdarcy, NBC News, The Daily Beast, Axios, @benmullin, @genepark, @davidmackau, CNN, @maxseddon, Mediaite, The Wrap, Variety, @addysbaird, Talking Biz News, @maxseddon, PenguinRandomhouse.com, CBS News, Gizmodo, New York Post, The Verge, CNBC, @ericnewcomer, The Information, @sarayasin, @oliverdarcy, @apbenven, @jane__bradley, @katienotopoulos, @ericnewcomer, @benmullin, @silvermanjacob, @kantrowitz, @sapna, @maxseddon, @harry1t6, @euamiri, @cbellantoni, @mcbyrne, @charliekirk11, @bcmerchant, @caseynewton@mastodon.social, @skbaer, @cfarivar, @tomgara, @johnpaczkowski, @johnpaczkowski, @oneunderscore__, @gamoid, @radbrowndads, @hansmahncke, @freeblackgirl, @lwalubengo, @tomgara, @micsolana, @edzitron, @waouwwaouw, @davidmackau, @film_girl, @jayasax, @sapna, @kelsaywhat, The Hollywood Reporter, @markseibel, @mnshap, @valeriereports, @film_girl, @papapishu, @rvawonk, New York Daily News, @jason, @gregbensinger, @benmullin, @awolfeful, @kenbensinger, @marcusgilmer, @sarahw, @ncksmmrs, @kpfallon, @kevincollier@mastodon.social, @howelloneill@infosec.exchange, @mediumsizemeech, @1followernodad, @nycsouthpaw, @wesyang, @harrymccracken, @edmundlee, @sdkstl, @annabroges, @pfpicardi, @mikeisaac, @rdrv3, @sarafischer, @alexckaufman, @oliviasolon, @hardin, @tomnamako, @lucas_shaw, @jeffjarvis, @kemc, @selviano, @lucas_shaw, @pdmcleod, @lucas_shaw, @kfile, @oliverdarcy, @abgutman, @chelseacirruzzo, @daveyalba, @bernstein, @chaykak, @fortesalatifi, @kateaurthur, @jon_christian, @russbengtson, @oliverdarcy, @film_girl, Honolulu Star-Advertiser and Deadline

Bloomberg:

BuzzFeed CRO Edgar Hernandez and COO Christian Baesler are leaving as part of the company's cutbacks; BZFD is down 20%+ — BuzzFeed Inc. is shutting down its news operation as part of a retrenchment that will result in pink slips for about 180 employees. — Both Chief Operating Officer …

Discussion: Poynter and @petersterne

Jef Feeley / Bloomberg:

Sources: the prospect of fired Fox News producer Abby Grossberg's secret recordings being played during trial helped push Fox News to its Dominion settlement — The prospect of a fired Fox News producer's secret recordings being played during trial helped push the conservative network …

Discussion: Gizmodo and @timobrien

Julia Rock / The Lever:

Fox says it can deduct the cost of its Dominion $787.5M payout; if Fox can write off the full payment, it could amount to an estimated $213M in tax savings — Fox's massive settlement with private equity-backed voting machine company Dominion Voting Systems didn't just spare …

Discussion: Press Gazette, The Wrap, @davidsirota, New Republic, New York Times, Forbes, The Daily Beast and Rolling Stone

CNN:
Sources and the mediator detail how Fox and Dominion settled, after Dominion notified Fox that Rupert Murdoch and Tucker Carlson were among its first witnesses

Washington Post:
The Fox-Dominion settlement is the largest publicly disclosed one in a US defamation case yet; sources: Fox doesn't have to make an on-air correction or apology

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Jack Shafer / Politico:
For Fox Corp., which ended 2022 with $4.1B in “cash and cash equivalents” on hand, $787.5M is a bargain to avoid more embarrassment and continue its sleazy ways

Mariella Moon / Engadget:

Imgur says it will delete “old, unused, and inactive content” that's not tied to a user account, starting on May 15 — For years, Imgur has made sharing photos and GIFs on the internet as easy as uploading a file — you don't even need an account to use it.

Discussion: Mashable and @tomgara, more at Techmeme »

Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Imgur plans to ban explicit images, but permit artistic nudity, from May 15, and expects issues as the service adopts a mix of automatic and human moderation

Discussion: The Verge, Windows Central and Gizmodo, more at Techmeme »

Bron Maher / Press Gazette:

Insider is laying off about 10% of its US-based staff, affecting editorial and commercial roles; the company employs approximately 950 people globally — The company president emailed staff to inform them at 7am Eastern time on Thursday. — Insider is laying off 10% of its staff in the US …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, New York Post, Talking Biz News, The Information, @tomaxwell, Gizmodo, @david_slotnick, @pressgazette and @pressgazette

Steven Monacelli / @stevanzetti:

[Thread] Twitter suspends Wired's Dell Cameron, saying he broke its hacked material policy by reporting about a hack of anti-trans activist Matt Walsh's account — WOW: @dellcam has been suspended by Twitter after reporting about the hack of Matt Walsh's Twitter account https://twitter.com/...

Mark Joyella / Forbes:

Fox News host Dan Bongino says he is leaving the network after unsuccessful contract talks, ending his shows Unfiltered with Dan Bongino and Canceled in the USA — Fox News has ended its relationship with Dan Bongino, who hosted the Saturday night show Unfiltered with Dan Bongino.

Discussion: Mediaite, The Hill, The Daily Beast, @jeremymbarr and @mattgertz

Matt Binder / Mashable:

Microsoft plans to drop Twitter support from its ad platform on April 25; users won't be able to access or manage Twitter accounts through Microsoft's tool — Yet another big B2B service passes on paying for Twitter's new high-priced API. — Twitter is being removed from yet another big B2B platform.

Katherine Le Ruez / The Guardian:

The Guardian signs a licensing deal with British tech company Illuma, letting Illuma use The Guardian API to categorize article pages for contextual ad purposes — The Guardian has signed an agreement with a British technology company, Illuma, to categorise article pages for contextual advertising purposes …

Discussion: Digiday

Financial Times:

Internal presentation: Google plans to deploy generative AI in ads, allowing advertisers to supply creative material which will be “remixed” to create campaigns — Big tech groups are racing to incorporate the groundbreaking new technology into their products

Discussion: Engadget, Gizmodo, The Verge, @johnreedwrites, @ruslantrad, @cristinacriddle and @lukolejnik, more at Techmeme »

Liam Scott / Voice of America:

Two reporters in North Carolina were convicted on April 19 of trespassing following their 2021 arrests while covering a homeless encampment; they plan to appeal — Two local reporters in North Carolina were convicted Wednesday of misdemeanor trespassing after being arrested while covering …