For the Record

"Ready for the Challenges Ahead":

Fact-checking site Snopes announced it will terminate its partnership with Facebook. According to founder David Mikkelson and Director of Business Development Vinny Green, "We are evaluating the ramifications and costs of providing third-party fact-checking services, and we want to determine with certainty that our efforts to aid any particular platform are a net positive for our online community, publication, and staff." 

"There's Someone To Gather The Facts":

Apple CEO Tim Cook shared The Washington Post's Super Bowl ad in support of press freedom during the event Sunday. "Proud to stand with @washingtonpost and journalists everywhere in support of press freedom," Cook said. Narrated by Tom Hanks, the ad included clips of 2016 National Reporting contributor Wesley Lowery and Fox News host Bret Baier alongside photos of slain journalists Marie Colvin and Jamal Khashoggi.

"Functional Realignment":

McClatchy CEO Craig Forman announced in an internal email Friday that the newspaper chain will offer voluntary buyouts to 10 percent of its staff. "This will be a one-time opportunity," he said. "We do not anticipate another." The reorganization of the company, whose holdings include the Miami Herald, The Kansas City Star and The Sacramento Bee, was widely anticipated following failed merger negotiations with Tribune Publishing in the autumn of 2018.

"Achieve Profitability":

Vice Media announced Friday that it will lay off 10 percent of its staff across all departments and end production of its weekly HBO show. The company "will pay out employee PTO and 10 weeks of severance and medical benefits in the U.S." to American employees, who recently ratified a new contract with WGA East.

"Feeling Bright":

Automotive scion Jay Penske assumed full ownership of Rolling Stone on January 22, purchasing a 49 percent stake from Singapore-based social media platform BandLab Technologies. It is unclear if the transition will affect the "emeritus" role of co-founder and Editorial Director Jann Wenner. Penske's other media properties include Deadline, Hollywood Life and Robb Report.

"Critical Time":

Condé Nast International and Nervora, the Dubai-based publisher of Vogue Arabia, announced the launch of Wired Middle East Thursday. The organization will launch "a dual-language website in Arabic and English" this spring before publishing "seasonal print magazine special issues" beginning in the fall.

"Getting to Profitability":

In a Wednesday all-hands meeting, BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti defended the company's initial decision not to pay earned time off to laid-off staffers and admonished employees for leaking information about the process, which culled 15 percent of the company's staff.

Risks:

Decades before #MeToo, exposes of alleged sexual misconduct by James Toback, Bryan Singer, Arnold Schwarzenegger and New Line Cinema executives failed to resonate with readers. "I was definitely concerned that much of the real meat in the story was from unnamed sources," said Jim Meigs, who worked on the New Line story as editor-in-chief of the now-defunct Premiere with John Connolly and Glenn Kenny. "But I thought the story was important. And, since I knew who the sources were, I knew they were solid."

"Keep Iterating":

"Frequently debunked" fake news publisher YourNewsWire has evaded Facebook's fact-checking system by migrating to a new domain and rebranding itself as NewsPunch. Accordng to Maarten Schenk, who tracks misinformation for Lead Stories, "I’ve been putting alerts on those so I can see if a new site is discovered by a new site as having the same advertising code. [...]  I think that’s something that Facebook could certainly do to keep track of bad actors."

Bragging Rights:

During its latest earnings call, Apple announced that the Apple News app is now used by "85 million monthly active users," a 21 percent increase from 2016. With iPhone revenue down 15 percent, the company is believed to be working on "a subscription service that includes news."