A history of BuzzFeed News, Part I: 2011–2017

[Nieman Lab: The Daily Digest] Thursday, April 20, 2023 [A history of BuzzFeed News, Part I: 2011–2017]( The time of “BuzzFeed is the most important news organization in the world.” By Laura Hazard Owen. [The Harvard Crimson aims to fill local news gaps with a new Cambridge-focused newsletter]( “As local journalism resources become scarcer in Cambridge, it is more important than ever for us to look beyond our campus and to our community and the issues facing it.” By Hanaa' Tameez. What We’re Reading The Washington Post / Kelsey Ables [Have you used Facebook in the past 16 years? You may qualify for payment. →]( “Current or former Facebook users can now file for compensation as part of the $725 million settlement reached in a lawsuit that alleged the social media company, owned by Meta, shared users’ data without their consent.” CNN / Marshall Cohen and Oliver Darcy [Inside the historic settlement between Fox News and Dominion →]( “In the lead up to the last-second deal, attorneys for both Fox News and Dominion were fully expecting a trial.” The Wall Street Journal / Alyssa Lukpat and Max Rust [A record number of journalists were detained worldwide prior to Evan Gershkovich’s arrest →]( “There were 363 journalists detained in more than 30 countries last year, with the highest number of detainees held in Iran, China and Myanmar, according to the CPJ. The overall figure is nearly double from 2015 and the most since the press-freedom group began tracking imprisonments three decades ago.” Politico / Jack Shafer [“Sorry — of course I’m going to name that person” →]( “It’s worth observing here that journalists almost always do the utmost to protect their confidential sources, often going to jail when subpoenaed. But that calculus does not automatically apply if the source is not yours.” TechCrunch / Sarah Perez [Flipboard brings editorial curation to Mastodon with “desks” for news and discovery →]( “The company will launch four desks — [News]( [Tech]( [Culture]( and [Science]( — which it says won’t be automated by bots but instead by professional curators who have expertise in discovering and elevating interesting content.” Forbes / Matt Novak [Wired journalist banned from Twitter for reporting on hack of anti-trans activist Matt Walsh →]( “Dell Cameron, a senior writer at Wired who covers big tech, [wrote about the hack]( on Wednesday and even interviewed the person allegedly responsible for posting to Walsh’s account. That interview was apparently enough to get Cameron banned for violating Twitter’s rules on ‘distribution of hacked material.'” Poynter / Angela Fu [The Buffalo News was the crown jewel of Warren Buffett’s news empire. Now it’s just another Lee paper. →]( “Even as Buffett acquired more newspapers, he kept the News separate from the rest of his portfolio, giving the paper significant autonomy in its operations. But The Buffalo News under its new ownership is now finding it isn’t protected anymore.” The Daily Beast / Corbin Bolies [Insider to lay off 10% of U.S. staffers, company says →]( “Non-union editorial employees will be notified on Thursday, [management] said, while the size of unionized editorial employees will be reduced. There will not be a hiring freeze, the company said, but it will only hire ‘critical, must-have talent’ and backfill essential roles.” The Atlantic / Ben Smith [Ben Smith: “If I had to do it again, I would still publish the Steele dossier” →]( “In technical terms, that means I wouldn’t simply publish it as a PDF, destined to float free from our earnest caveats. At best, we could have published the document as screenshots attached to the context we had and the context we would learn. Perhaps in some small way, this would have limited its transformation from a set of claims into a banner of the ‘resistance.’ But I’m not under the illusion that journalists could have contained its wildfire spread, any more than I think we could have concealed it.” [Nieman Lab]( / [Fuego]( [Twitter]( / [Facebook]( [View email in browser]( [Unsubscribe]( You are receiving this daily newsletter because you signed up for for it at www.niemanlab.org. Nieman Journalism Lab Harvard University 1 Francis Ave.Cambridge, MA 02138 [Add us to your address book](