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Thursday, April 20, 2023

Friday is around the corner. As a reminder, this newsletter has been nominated for a Webby Award. If you enjoy this newsletter, we'd appreciate your support. You can vote for us here!

Lachlan Murdoch drops his suit against Crikey, Smartmatic sends message to Fox, Insider lays off 10% of its staff, Dan Bongino exits Fox News, Elon Musk kills verification on Twitter, Alec Baldwin sees "Rust" charges dropped, and more. But first, the A1.

THE A1

The Fall of BuzzFeed News

CNN Photo Illustration/Spencer Platt/Getty Images

It is the end of an era.

BuzzFeed News, the digital news outlet that harnessed the power of social media to take the internet by storm, is shuttering, as we first reported Thursday. The move marks the end of the digital media upstart frenzy rooted in the late aughts that enlisted a new generation of young journalists and once threatened entrenched legacy news organizations.

The outlet once inspired tremendous jealousy from the likes of CNN and The New York Times. Flush with venture capital cash, it poached top journalists at establishment outlets, opened bureaus across the world, and touted its ability to send stories viral across the web.

Back then, BuzzFeed was the envy of media and its employees the cool kids of the industry. The outlet was sown into the fabric of the culture. Lists and quizzes saturated social media feeds and dominated the internet.

The digital news pioneer rode the early growth of platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to soaring heights. While older competitors were weary about the new horizon opening up on the web, BuzzFeed leaned into it, tapping the platforms for their audiences' attention and reaping the incredible rewards.

But that was a very different time. Like an oil field tapped dry, publishers can no longer exploit Facebook as a firehose for traffic and revenue. And Twitter, where BuzzFeed News made a name for itself among the journalism community, often ensuring the entire industry read a story by having its stable of reporters tweet an article simultaneously, is collapsing under Elon Musk.

Jonah Peretti, the BuzzFeed co-founder and chief executive, effectively said this in his memo to staffers on Thursday when he accepted blame for the shuttering of the news division. Peretti acknowledged he was "slow to accept that the big platforms wouldn't provide the distribution or financial support required to support premium, free journalism purpose-built for social media."

Ben Smith, the Semafor co-founder who was the founding editor of BuzzFeed and has a forthcoming book due out about the "billion-dollar race to go viral," was more explicit: "I do think it makes really clear the relationship between news publishers and social media is pretty much over," Smith told me on Thursday.

Smith, who said he is "heartsick" by the shuttering of the news division that he spent years fostering, is spot on. As the dinosaurs of the social media era get their lunch eaten by newcomers such as TikTok, so are the outlets that previously wielded those same platforms as their superpowers.

In fact, you can trace the rise and fall of BuzzFeed News with the rise and fall of Facebook. The outlet, which exploded onto the scene about a decade ago, soared on the wings of the social platform before slowly waning. While it managed to win a Pulitzer Prize in 2021, it had become evident in recent years that BuzzFeed News was in decline from its glory days. Leadership slashed its acclaimed investigations team, shuttered entire verticals, and pared down the newsroom's size and ambition for global domination.

The move to kill off its news division doesn't necessarily spell great news for BuzzFeed at large either, which is perhaps why its stock tanked 20% on the announcement. BuzzFeed News gave BuzzFeed writ large prestige that the other content companies of the bygone era (ViralNova, Distractify, etc.) didn't have. BuzzFeed used to boast that it didn't just do silly quizzes, but also invested in serious hard-hitting journalism. What is it now?

Peretti has said he would like to now draw on the power of A.I. to help create content for BuzzFeed. Like his resolve to lean into the new frontier of social media in the late aughts, Peretti is once again betting his business on adapting faster than his competitors to the latest cutting-edge technology that will reshape the industry.

But BuzzFeed's ability to thrive in this brave new era remains to be seen.

THE SIDEBAR

The move to shutter BuzzFeed News was part of broader layoffs at BuzzFeed, with the company slashing its workforce by 15%, or 180 employees. Peretti said some BuzzFeed News staffers might be able to find roles in the bigger company or at HuffPost, which it also owns. (CNN)
"I'm deeply sorry," BuzzFeed News Editor-In-Chief Karolina Waclawiak told staffers. "I wanted more for you than what is happening now. You deserve better." (Twitter)
"My own regret is not aligning a strong business with our news operation from the start, something I knew little about and wasn't particularly good at," Ben Smith wrote. (Semafor)
Sharon Waxman: "BuzzFeed News is the ultimate cautionary media tale." (The Wrap)
Charlie Warzel: "The end of BuzzFeed News means the coming of a new internet." (The Atlantic)
"A number of alumni work for the more established news organizations it sought to disrupt ... and those newsrooms have embraced many of the practices that BuzzFeed pioneered in search of readers online," Benjamin Mullin and Katie Robertson pointed out. (NYT)
BuzzFeed had "gone through several rounds of buyouts and layoffs before its end was announced," Paul Farhi and Elahe Izadi noted. (WaPo)

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/Leonardo Munoz/VIEWpress/Getty Images

Oh, Crikey!: Lachlan Murdoch has dropped his defamation suit against the publisher of Crikey, the scappy Australian news site, after it published an article last year that called him an "unindicted co-conspirator" in the Jan. 6 attack. "We stand by our position that Lachlan Murdoch was culpable in promoting the lie of the 2020 election result because he, and his father, had the power to stop the lies," Crikey publishers Will Hayward and Eric Beecher said. They added, "We are proud to have exposed the hypocrisy and abuse of power of a media billionaire. This is a victory for free speech. We won." Murdoch's lawyer said Murdoch was "confident" he could prevail, but that he did not wish to "facilitate a marketing campaign designed to attract subscribers and boost their profits." Here's my full story.

🔎 Zooming in: This is the third legal dispute the Murdochs have put to an end in the last 10 days, as they appear to work toward resolving ongoing legal disputes.

Smartmatic's Stance: Smartmatic wants more money than Dominion — and an apology. That's according to the company's top attorney, Erik Connolly, who spoke on Thursday with Jake Tapper. "They need to get an apology," Connolly said. "They need to get a full retraction." Smartmatic sued Fox News in 2021 for $2.7 billion, alleging the right-wing network spearheaded a "disinformation campaign" against it. Connolly said Smartmatic is "looking to take this case through trial" and wants "the vindication of a jury verdict in their favor." CNN's Marshall Cohen has more here.

IN THE FOX HOLE

Lachlan Murdoch gave his legal team the green light to increase its payout to Dominion over the weekend, Jeremy Peters, Jim Rutenberg, and Katie Robertson report. (NYT)
CFRA Research analyst Kenneth Leon downgraded Fox Corp. from "buy" to "hold," citing the Dominion settlement and Smartmatic lawsuit: "Even though these lawsuits may be mostly covered by liability insurance, FOXA's brand with advertisers and marketers has taken a hit, in our view."

THE BUSINESS

Out at Insider: Insider, which has for years proudly avoided layoffs, announced Thursday that it will slash its workforce by 10%. "The economic headwinds that have hurt many of our clients and partners are also affecting us," President Barbara Peng told staffers in a memo. "Unfortunately, to keep our company healthy and competitive, we need to reduce the size of our team." Founder and chief executive Henry Blodget added to staffers that the cuts were necessary because of the "significant" decline in digital ad spending. The Daily Beast's Corbin Bolies had more here.

IN THE INDUSTRY

Next on the chopping block? "Vice Media, which has been looking to sell itself for several months, is discussing shutting down Vice World News if a sale doesn't materialize in coming weeks," Alexandra Bruell and Jessica Toonkel report. (WSJ)
The Walter Cronkite winners have been announced: PBS led the pack with five wins. CNN, ABC News, CBS News, Vice News, and NBC News also took home awards. (Cronkite)
"The Buffalo News was the crown jewel of Warren Buffett's news empire," Angela Fu writes. "Now it's just another Lee paper." (Poynter)
The Guardian "has signed an agreement with a British technology company, Illuma, to categorize article pages for contextual advertising purposes while protecting its intellectual property rights." (Guardian)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Roy Rochlin/Getty Images

Bye, Bye, Bongino: Fox News has severed ties with right-wing bomb thrower Dan Bongino, who has been a regular fixture on the network's programming, in addition to hosting a weekend show. "Folks, regretfully, last week was my last show on Fox News on the Fox News Channel," Bongino said on Rumble, chalking up the exit to a contract dispute. "So the show ending last week was tough. And I want you to know it's not some big conspiracy. I promise you. There's not, there's no acrimony. This wasn't some, like, WWE brawl that happened. We just couldn't come to terms on an extension. And that's really it." Fox News responded in a statement, "We thank Dan for his contributions and wish him success in his future endeavors."

► The move comes says after the Fox-Dominion settlement. "Bongino was not a prominent part of the trial or slated to testify," Brian Steinberg noted, "but has been known to amplify dubious controversies, such as taking on policies that mandate getting a coronavirus vaccine, or telling social media followers that Democrats were trying to orchestrate a coup during the 2020 presidential election."

IN THE BATTLEFIELD

Larry Elder, the right-wing talk host who unsuccessfully ran for California governor, announced Thursday on Tucker Carlson's program he is running for president. (CNN)
Mike Lindell has been ordered to pay $5 million " to an expert who debunked his data related to the 2020 election, according to a decision by the arbitration panel," Sara Murray reports. (CNN)
Right-wing personality Matt Walsh says "there are going to be consequences" after years of his online data was hacked. (Press Citizen)
Ryan Goodman and Andrew Weissmann write about two recent news stories that illustrate how Donald Trump "has been able to control what information is available to the public, as he has repeatedly done in an effort to aggrandize and cling to his own power." (The Atlantic)

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/Drudge Report

Banishing the Blue Badges: Verification no longer exists on Twitter. Elon Musk on Thursday delivered on his months-long promise to strip public figures, celebrities, and journalists of their blue checkmarks, making it far more difficult for users to determine what on the platform is authentic and what is not. The move introduces significantly more chaos onto Twitter and will almost certainly give way to scam artists. It will also make it far more difficult for newsrooms to use the platform as a newsgathering tool, which may lead to the platform being cited less in news reports and ultimately slowly disentangle it from the media fabric it has been so tightly sown into over the last decade. CNN's Clare Duffy has more here.

► Not everyone is losing their badges though. The Verge's Jay Peters and Alex Heath reported that Twitter emailed LeBron James to "extend a complimentary subscription to Twitter Blue for your account, @kingjames, on behalf of Elon Musk." The move came after James tweeted he would not pay for a checkmark. Author Stephen King also tweeted, "MY account says I've subscribed to Twitter Blue. I haven't. My Twitter account says I've given a phone number. I haven't."

TOO MANY TABS

Alphabet "is merging an internal Google Research team called Brain with DeepMind, a move designed to bring two groups focused on artificial intelligence closer together as the battle for AI heats up," Jennifer Elias reports. (CNBC)
Google employees, meanwhile, are not too confident in Bard, Davey Alba and Julia Love report. (Bloomberg)
TikTok's algorithm "keeps pushing suicide to vulnerable kids," Olivia Carville reports, writing that the "superpopular app can serve up a stream of anxiety and despair to teens." (Bloomberg)
TikTok boss Shou Zi Chew spoke Thursday at the TED2023 "Possibility" conference in Canada, his first public remarks since being shredded before Congress. (Gizmodo)
Meta stopped using Covid-19 labels after finding they didn't do much to combat misinformation, the Oversight Board revealed Thursday. (CNN)
Facebook users can now apply for the $725 million settlement lawsuit stemming from the Cambridge Analytica scandal. (NPR)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Seth Wenig/AP

Charges Dropped: The criminal charges against Alec Baldwin stemming from the fatal shooting on the set of "Rust" have been dropped, Deadline's Dominic Patten and Anthony D'Alessandro scooped Thursday. Baldwin's attorneys celebrated the decision to abandon the involuntary manslaughter charges, telling CNN's Chloe Melas, "We are pleased with the decision to dismiss the case against Alec Baldwin and encourage a proper investigation into the facts and circumstances of this tragic accident." In a statement, special prosecutor Kari Morrissey said, "It is not appropriate for me to make extra judicial comments at this time." More from Melas here.

Suing Over 'South Park': The ugly battle between Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery (which as you know is CNN's parent) is heating up. Paramount on Wednesday filed a $50 million counterclaim against WBD over its $200 million lawsuit pertaining to the streaming rights of "South Park." The company said in a statement that WBD has "indefensibly refused to pay more than $50 million it owes for South Park content that it has undisputedly received, and which HBO Max continues to air and exploit." In response, WBD fired back, accusing Paramount of having "embarked on a multi-year scheme of unfair trade practices and deception, flagrantly and repeatedly breaching our contract." The Ankler's Elaine Low has more.

OFF STAGE

"This is a sincere and deeply felt apology": F. Murray Abraham has apologized after his exit from "Mythic Quest." The apology comes after Rolling Stone reported that his departure from the Apple TV+ show as due to sexual misconduct. Abraham said in his apology that he "told jokes, nothing more." (THR)
Disney has settled with former Marvel Studios executive Victoria Alonso, Anthony D'Alessandro and Dominic Patten report. (Deadline)
The Kardashians are — sort of — heading back to E!, with the channel acquiring the rights to a two-part series that will air May 1. (Variety)
Denise Richards is returning to the "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills." (Variety)
Netflix dropped the trailer for its popular "Selling Sunset" series. The trailer appears to confirm Christine Quinn has exited. (Vulture)
Part three of the Netflix hit "Lupin" will debut October 5. (Deadline)

Thank you for reading! This newsletter was edited by Jon Passantino and produced with the assistance of Liam Reilly. Have feedback? Send us an email here. We will see you back in your inbox next week.