Top News:
Tony Maglio / The Wrap:
The 2020 Oscars drew 23.6M viewers, an all-time low and down 20% YoY; the 2018 Oscars held the previous all-time low of 26.5M viewers — Audience for 92nd Academy Awards declines 20% — The 2020 Oscars drew 23.6 million viewers on ABC, down a whopping 6 million viewers — or -20% from last year.
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Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
Netflix won only two Oscars despite 24 nominations: Best Supporting Actress for Laura Dern and Best Documentary Feature for American Factory from Obamas' studio — Although Netflix received 24 nominations (the most of any studio) at this year's Oscars, its films only ended up winning two awards.
Discussion:
The Wrap, CNBC, @barackobama, /Film, Variety, Business Insider, Fox News, @scottfeinberg, @lawrence, @sarahwhit10, Observer, The Streamable, @stevepasquale, @web and @jonerlichman
Emily Bell / The Guardian:
NYT's success in hitting a target of $800M annual digital revenue, while young startups struggle, lays bare media's disastrous winner takes all state of affairs — A handful of legacy institutions thrive as digital startups face increasing pressures — The financial health of journalism …
Discussion:
THEFUTURE, @ndhapple, @chriselliott57, @wblau, @nicnewman, @garyfoskett and @baekdal
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Adam Sherwin / inews:
Sources: the BBC is almost certain to appoint its first female Director-General, with Elisabeth Murdoch and ITV CEO Carolyn McCall as two top contenders — Prospect of Rupert Murdoch's daughter running the BBC will unnerve staff - but she has the right credentials for Downing Street
Ren LaForme / Poynter:
Muck Rack launches Trends, a Google Trends-like tool that shows which journalists and news organizations wrote about topics the most — What are journalists writing about? It seems like a question with an easy answer. Just go to a news outlet's homepage and take a peek, or do a quick internet search.
Discussion:
@poynter, @itsren and @michellemanafy
Elaine Low / Variety:
Sony Pictures Television Chairman Mike Hopkins will exit this month to oversee Amazon's video entertainment operations, including Amazon Studios and Prime Video — Sony Pictures Television Chairman Mike Hopkins is departing his post at the industry's largest independent TV studio later …
Discussion:
Deadline, The Wrap, The Streamable and Hollywood Reporter
Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
Journalists should avoid framing politics as a horserace and stop making political predictions in part because there's so little accountability if they're wrong — Of all the lessons the mainstream media should have learned over the past four years, one of them is inexcusably obvious: We're bad at predictions.
Discussion:
@sulliview, Raw Story, @jason_pontin, Columbia Journalism Review, @anandwrites, @danvock, @dangillmor, The Week, @jayrosen_nyu, @nprscottsimon and Politico
Jim Waterson / The Guardian:
Sources: George Osborne is expected to leave the Evening Standard, as the publication changes direction under CEO Mike Soutar amid widening losses — Exclusive: former chancellor expected to leave role amid shakeup by new chief executive, sources say — George Osborne's future …
Discussion:
@suzanne_moore and @markhorsleyuk
Jason Gutierrez / New York Times:
Philippines moves to end the franchise of the country's leading broadcast network ABS-CBN, the latest push by Duterte's admin against critical media outlets — It's the latest push by the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte against media outlets he views as critical of his government.
Discussion:
Agence France-Presse, @nytimes, @heyitsmemistera, @alders_ledge and @alfonslopeztena
Stephen Battaglio / Los Angeles Times:
A look at New Hampshire's WMUR, a Hearst-owned station watched by 56% of the state's households weekly and which took in ~$40M in political advertising in 2016 — The unsuccessful 1996 and 2000 presidential campaigns of publishing scion Steve Forbes may have faded from memory.
News Corp:
News Corp says WSJ passed 2M digital subscribers in Q4 2019, up 13% YoY, while Dow Jones digital subscriptions grew 17% and overall subscriptions passed 3.5M — Dow Jones Surpasses 3.5 Million Subscriptions for First Time — The Wall Street Journal Crosses 2 Million Digital Subscriptions Mark
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, MediaPost, Fox Business, @michaelmillerau, @gerryfsmith and News Corp
David Streitfeld / New York Times:
After Amazon removes Nazi and neo-Nazi books, some third-party booksellers say it seems to operate under vague or nonexistent rules regarding prohibited books — The retailer once said it would sell “the good, the bad and the ugly.” Now it has banished objectionable volumes …
Discussion:
@jgreenblattadl, @nytimesbooks, @kirstinestewart, @brendannyhan, WIRED UK, @redlianak, @henrywfowler and @puiwingtam
@CTGuild / Chicago Tribune Guild:
[Thread] Tribune Publishing's Chicago-area newsrooms are losing more than a dozen staffers who chose to take buyouts in the most recent round of cuts — Today we mark the departures of more than a dozen colleagues, both in and out of the Guild, across all Chicago-area Tribune Publishing newsrooms, who have chosen to take the most recent round of buyouts. We wish them the best in this new era for their careers and their lives.
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