BuzzFeed Acquires News Website HuffPost From Verizon Media

GetUp, Activist Groups Distort Senator’s Tough Stance on CCP as Racism, Call for Condemnation

Grassroots activist group GetUp has filed a petition for the prime minister to denounce Liberal Senator Eric Abetz for asking three Chinese Australians whether they were willing to condemn the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The petition has allegedly garnered over 25,000 signatures and was delivered to Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s official residence Kirribilli House last week by representatives from GetUp, the Asian Australian Alliance, and Per Capita. The latter two organisations also sent a joint letter to Acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge calling for Senator Abetz to apologise for his questions. The Australian Values Alliance, a pro-democracy group comprised of Chinese Australians (many who have suffered at the hands of the CCP) has hit back, sending an open letter to the prime minister, criticising the campaign against Abetz as “unfounded”…

BuzzFeed on Thursday bought news website HuffPost from Verizon Communications Inc in the latest sign of consolidation in the online media world.

The deal brings two once-hot digital properties—viewed as the future of news media but which have suffered from competition for ad dollars from Alphabet’s Google and Facebook—under the control of one of HuffPost’s co-founders.

Verizon, which also owns Yahoo and TechCrunch, said it will invest in the new combined company and take a minority stake.

The companies will syndicate content across each other’s platforms, explore monetization opportunities and leverage ad formats, the companies said in a statement.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In an interview, BuzzFeed Chief Executive Officer Jonah Peretti, who co-founded the Huffington Post in 2005, said he was attracted to the property’s more affluent and age-diverse audience which “enhanced the size and scale of our media network.”

Verizon has struggled to grow its media properties, declaring them nearly worthless with a $4.6 billion write-down in 2018. Last year it sold blogging platform Tumblr for an undisclosed sum. It also tested the market for potential buyers of Yahoo Finance, according to Reuters reporting, but ultimately ended that search.

Verizon Media has no plans to sell other properties at this time, said CEO Guru Gowrappan in an interview.

In the past few years, HuffPost has struggled with declining advertising revenue and adopted a series of cost-cutting measures, including layoffs. The outlet has tried to pivot to a subscription model since last year, with limited success, according to a person familiar with its operations.

Independent digital media outlets have consolidated to compete for ad dollars against big rivals. Vox Media last year acquired New York Media—the publisher of a print magazine and several online properties—and Vice Media bought Refinery29, an online publication geared to women.

By Helen Coster

Focus News: BuzzFeed Acquires News Website HuffPost From Verizon Media

MPs Press Officials on Beijing-Linked Nuctech Bid to Supply Security Equipment to Canada’s Embassies

Opposition MPs pressed government officials on Wednesday to explain why a Chinese state-owned company embroiled in alleged bribery scandals was awarded a standing offer to supply security equipment to Canada’s embassies. In July, high-tech Chinese company Nuctech was awarded a $6.8 million contract with the federal government to install X-ray security equipment for 170 Canadian embassies, consulates, and high commissions around the world. But the deal raised immediate concerns related to security due to Nuctech’s connection to the highest levels of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), having been founded by the son of former CCP leader Hu Jintao, as well as its links to the Chinese military. “My problem is still that the Government of Canada accepted to go forward with a request for standing offer with Nuctech,” Conservative MP…