Mediagazer: New UK culture secretary says that it would “be crazy to throw [the BBC] away” but that it missed key recent political trends, likely referring to Brexit (Jim Waterson/The Guardian)

6:40 PM ET, March 5, 2020

Top News:

Negotiations break down as YouTube TV drops the YES Network along with some, but not all, Sinclair RSNs — YES Network said it is no longer on YouTube TV, which might signal a breakdown in talks between Sinclair Broadcast Group, which acquired a group of regional sports networks …

Discussion: @yesnetwork, The Streamable, Multichannel News, The Wrap, @thatgirlondeck, @alexweprin, @yankeesopranooo, @inthefade, @falling_nova, @lindseyadler, @alexmsilverman, 9to5Google, The Verge, Fast Company, The Desk and NextTV

Todd Spangler / Variety:

YouTube TV and Sinclair sign a deal for 19 RSNs, but the streamer won't carry the YES Network, Fox Sports Prime Ticket, and Fox Sports West, which airs LA games — YouTube TV and Sinclair Broadcast Group reached a deal covering most of the Fox regional sports networks …

Discussion: sbgi.net, Tubefilter, Engadget, @xpangler, Awful Announcing and @randball

Financial Times:

UK's Independent is profitable for a third consecutive year with profit of £2.3M on revenue of £27M, up 9% YoY; it ended its print edition four years ago — Digital-only strategy pays off for first major UK newspaper publisher to close printing presses

Discussion: Press Gazette, @tiagodf, @paulwrblanchard, @jeffjarvis, @jbenton, @jamesrbuk, @markdistef, @rasmus_kleis and @stevejonespa

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Twitter expands its rules around hateful conduct to include language that dehumanizes people on the basis of their age, disability, or disease — Last year, Twitter expanded its rules around hate speech to include dehumanizing speech against religious groups.

Discussion: Twitter, The Verge, Boing Boing, @bubola, @terrortola, @whatthebit, @_cingraham and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

Dominic Patten / Deadline:

Dozens of Hachette Book Group staffers stage a walkout over an imprint's plans to publish Woody Allen's memoir, in solidarity with Ronan and Dylan Farrow — Just over a month before an imprint of Hachette Book Group is set to publish Woody Allen's memoir, dozens of employees of the company have staged a walkout in New York City today.

Discussion: Page Six, Variety, Business Insider, @publisherswkly, Hollywood Reporter, Vanity Fair, EW.com, @rereadsclosely, IndieWire, @mcsnugz, Jezebel, Slate and New York Times

Elaine Low / Variety:

Source: Netflix cancels five film screenings and a panel planned for SXSW, joining others who have canceled screenings, including Apple and Amazon Studios — Netflix is the latest company to pull out of SXSW 2020, a source familiar with the situation tells Variety, canceling five film screenings and a panel for #BlackExcellence.

Discussion: @cnnpr, /Film, Washington Post, Hollywood Reporter, Dallas Morning News, CNET, NME, Engadget, NPR, CNN, Variety, The Playlist, @drericding, @jasonosia, @joeleydon, @martyswant, @wajahatali, @kelseymsutton, Multichannel News, @xpangler, @kerrymflynn, @thr, @kerrymflynn, Variety, IndieWire, The Wrap, Variety and San Antonio Current

Mark Wilson / Fast Company:

MIT study: when some news stories are labeled as fact-checked and disputed, stories with the same design but no labels are validated and seen as more accurate — In 2016, after coordinated propaganda on Facebook helped Trump win the election, the social media giant introduced a program …

Discussion: @mit_quest, @baybarsorsek, @baybarsorsek, @baybarsorsek, @baybarsorsek, @baybarsorsek, @tomgara, One Man & His Blog, @juddlegum, researchgate.net, @mikeelliotbarry, @j_arthur_bloom, @joshconstine, @juddlegum, @mathewi and Fortune

Ryan Lillis / Sacramento Bee:

Sacramento's mayor is recruiting a group to try to buy McClatchy's Sacramento Bee, convening a forum March 27 to discuss structure with a goal of raising $20M+ — Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg is working to form a local ownership group that could purchase The Sacramento Bee …

Discussion: American Press Institute, @mayor_steinberg, @jayrosen_nyu, @sacbeeguild, @seth_prince, @sammy_roth, @amandakrhoades, @jboren4507, @mareevs, @greenwombat, @suelmorrow, @mattsebastian, @webjournalist, @media_evan and @media_evan

Kevin G. Hall / McClatchy Washington Bureau:
A group of McClatchy's least-protected creditors join the federal pension agency in questioning company deals with Chatham Asset Management and Leon Cooperman

Discussion: @cltledger and US Bankruptcy Court Southern District of New York

Anna Nicolaou / Financial Times:

James Murdoch's Lupa Systems and Betaworks to fund an accelerator for start-ups to tackle disinfo; they plan to invest $100K in 10-20 projects in the first year — The former Fox CEO commits millions to battle against disinformation — James Murdoch, the younger son of Rupert Murdoch …

Discussion: Variety, Render-from-betaworks, @lisatozzi, @k8em0, @brooklynmarie, @christinemc6, @melissameehanau, @markdistef, @moorehn, @yashar and @tiagodf

Casey Michel / The Daily Beast:

Portable.TV, a news streaming app available in the App Store, masks its ties to RT, whose content it runs exclusively and with which it shares a parent company — The app bills itself as a “one-of-a-kind free streaming service & TV library of news programs.” But every single show is from Kremlin-backed TV channel.

Discussion: @noahshachtman, @walker_ct and Raw Story

Jim Waterson / The Guardian:

New UK culture secretary says that it would “be crazy to throw [the BBC] away” but that it missed key recent political trends, likely referring to Brexit — Oliver Dowden says BBC should be cherished but must also do more to represent whole of UK

Discussion: Press Gazette

Joe Otterson / Variety:

Pop TV cancels three original TV shows that were produced by outside studios as ViacomCBS prioritizes IP owned by the company — Pop TV is paring down its scripted programming commitments as dust continues to settle from the Viacom-CBS merger. Variety has learned exclusively that three original series …

Discussion: TV Insider, @brianstelter, The Wrap and Variety

Brian Stelter / CNN:

Chris Matthews abruptly announces his retirement amid his MSNBC talk show Hardball, after a string of recent controversies — (CNN Business)Chris Matthews, one of the country's best-known political talk show hosts, is retiring from MSNBC, effective immediately, after a string of recent controversies on and off the air.

Discussion: New York Times, Vox, Vogue, Vulture, The Hill, @juliezebrak, Vox, New York Post, @sarahellison, Variety, Reason, @howardfineman, @amandamarcotte, Breitbart, @martina, @nprinskeep, @digiphile, @stevesilberman and @jayrosen_nyu

Washington Post:
Sources: Chris Matthews planned to retire after the 2020 election but was forced out of MSNBC following weeks of embarrassments

Discussion: Poynter, @ericmgarcia, @lisang, bookforum.com, @gerryconway, The Daily Beast, @sarahposner, @revmusicny and Raw Story

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