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Vice Media Document Lays Out Plan for Layoffs Amid Coronavirus Pandemic – The Wall Street Journal

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The coronavirus crisis has added greater urgency to CEO Nancy Dubuc’s efforts to transform and streamline Vice Media.



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Christopher Goodney/Bloomberg News

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An internal document at Vice Media Group lays out a plan for substantial layoffs at the new-media company’s websites, as Vice considers a variety of options to deal with coronavirus pandemic.

The planning document, which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, calls for layoffs of over 300 people in digital operations, including major cuts at both Vice News and Refinery29, the women-focused digital publisher Vice acquired last year.

A Vice Media Group spokeswoman said the planning document represented one of several scenarios being developed inside the company for potential consideration and hadn’t been endorsed by management.

“This information also does not reflect [Vice Media Group] standard global reporting metrics and while all media companies are taking steps to plan for precautionary measures during Covid-19, no decisions at VMG have been made,” the spokeswoman said.

The savings from the cuts laid out in the document would be about $40 million, and they could result in a 30% decline in digital traffic as less content is published, the document said.

Vice is expecting online ad sales to suffer during the crisis, with expected shortfalls of 33% at Refinery29 and 39% at Vice’s entertainment and news sites, according to the document.

Virtually every company that sells ads, from TV networks and news sites to tech giants

Facebook Inc.

and

Alphabet Inc.’s

Google, is getting hit as companies slash ad spending dramatically during the pandemic. Vice’s peers across the new-media landscape, including Vox Media Inc., BuzzFeed Inc. and Group Nine Media Inc., have taken steps including furloughs, pay cuts and layoffs.

Last month, Vice told employees its top executives were taking voluntary compensation reductions of 25%, with Chief Executive Nancy Dubuc taking a 50% reduction.

Vice, the largest of the new-media companies, already was under stress before the novel coronavirus struck. It lost about $50 million last year and came in about 8% short of its $650 million revenue target, the Journal reported. It also is on the hook for big payments to investor TPG, stemming from a fundraising deal struck in 2017.

The health crisis is making it more urgent for Ms. Dubuc to transform and streamline the company. The document suggests Vice is looking to rein in international costs. One analysis in the internal document calculated that many European markets like Germany, Spain and the Netherlands had relatively large staffs for the amount of web traffic they brought in. The document said the company could potentially close its office in Canada, Vice’s birthplace, but the spokeswoman denied that is being considered.

After years of trying to sell ads across a host of sectors, Vice Media is trying to focus its sales efforts on a few big categories. The document noted the company’s 2019 performance “may indicate an ‘exhaustion of industry penetration’” by Vice.

Its largest digital-advertising category last year in North America was alcohol, followed by apparel and telecommunications, while Refinery29’s biggest category by far was fashion and retail. Geico, Adidas, State Farm and

Harley-Davidson

were among the biggest Vice advertisers.

Vice is also sorting its programming into broad categories, at times describing its ambitions in terms borrowed from big-budget television and movies, such as “series,” “franchise” and “tentpole,” according to the document. Another major effort is “transcreation,” repurposing content by translating it into another language and adjusting it to fit new cultures.

The document also notes that some of Vice digital’s international editorial staff would be transferred to “VWN,” or Vice World News. That refers to an international initiative funded by a recent deal between Vice and Antenna Group, a Greek media company that is one of Vice’s oldest international partners.

Write to Benjamin Mullin at Benjamin.Mullin@wsj.com and Keach Hagey at keach.hagey@wsj.com

Copyright ©2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

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CTV National News: Social media giants sued – CTV News

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CTV National News: Social media giants sued  CTV News

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India’s media – captured and censored

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Across almost every form of media in India – social, broadcast and print – Narendra Modi and the BJP hold sway.

With India amid a national election campaign, its news media is in sharp focus. Until recently it was believed that the sheer diversity of outlets ensured a range of perspectives, but now, India’s mainstream media has largely been co-opted by the Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Just how did the media in India get to this point and what does it mean for the upcoming elections?

Featuring:

Ravish Kumar – Former Host, NDTV
Shashi Shekhar Vempati – Former CEO, Prasar Bharati
Pramod Raman – Chief Editor, MediaOne
Amy Kazmin – Former South Asia Bureau Chief, Financial Times
Meena Kotwal – Founder, The Mooknayak

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Social media lawsuit launched by Ontario school boards

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Premier Doug Ford says that lawsuits launched by four Ontario school boards against multiple social media platforms are “nonsense” and risk becoming a distraction to the work that really matters.

The school boards, including three in the Greater Toronto Area, have launched lawsuits seeking $4.5 billion in damages against Snapchat, TikTok, and Meta, the owner of both Facebook and Instagram, for creating products that they allege negligently interfere with student learning and have caused “widespread disruption to the education system.”

But at an unrelated news conference in Ottawa on Friday, Ford said that he “disagrees” with the legal action and worries it could take the focus away from “the core values of education.”

“Let’s focus on math, reading and writing. That is what we need to do, put all the resources into the kids,” he said. “What are they spending lawyers fees to go after these massive companies that have endless cash to fight this? Let’s focus on the kids, not this other nonsense that they are looking to fight in court.”

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Four separate but similar statements of claim were filed in Ontario’s Superior Court of JusticSocial media lawsuit launched by Ontario school boards pervasive problems such as distraction, social withdrawal, cyberbullying, a rapid escalation of aggression, and mental health challenges,” Colleen Russell-Rawlins, the director of education with the Toronto District School Board, said in a news release issued Thursday.

“It is imperative that we take steps to ensure the well-being of our youth. We are calling for measures to be implemented to mitigate these harms and prioritize the mental health and academic success of our future generation.”

The school boards are represented by Toronto-based law firm Neinstein LLP and the news release states that school boards “will not be responsible for any costs related to the lawsuit unless a successful outcome is reached.”

These lawsuits come as hundreds of school districts in the United States file similar suits.

“A strong education system is the foundation of our society and our community. Social media products and the changes in behaviour, judgement and attention that they cause pose a threat to that system and to the student population our schools serve,” Duncan Embury, the head of litigation at Neinstein LLP, said in the new release.

“We are proud to support our schools and students in this litigation with the goal of holding social media giants accountable and creating meaningful change.”

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