Top News:
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 …
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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.
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Hollywood Reporter, CNN, Multichannel News, The Playlist, CNN, The Week, Variety, @kerrymflynn, NME, @joeleydon, @martyswant, @jasonosia, @wajahatali, @drericding, @kelseymsutton, @xpangler, The A.V. Club, IndieWire, @thr, @kerrymflynn, The Wrap, AppleInsider, San Antonio Current and Variety
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, @jamesrbuk, @markdistef, @stevejonespa and @rasmus_kleis
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:
One Man & His Blog, researchgate.net and Fortune
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Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Daily Caller's Check Your Fact, a Facebook fact-check partner, faces criticism for labeling two stories on Trump, COVID-19 as “false”, raising process concerns
Discussion:
American Press Institute, @juddlegum, @alexstamos, @alexstamos, @tomgara, @juddlegum, The Independent, @mikeelliotbarry, @j_arthur_bloom, @alexstamos, @alexstamos, @kevinroose, @kevinroose, @alexstamos, @joshconstine, @juddlegum, @juddlegum, @mathewi, @mathewi, @mathewi, @jilliancyork, @juddlegum, @jilliancyork, @mathewi, @joshconstine, @cwarzel, @vincecoglianese, @jmgpix, @juddlegum and @asharangappa_
Jon Lafayette / Broadcasting & Cable:
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 …
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The Streamable, Multichannel News, @yesnetwork, The Streamable, The Verge, @falling_nova, @alexmsilverman, NextTV, @alexweprin and The Desk
MediaPost:
Patch Media, which publishes 1,200+ hyper-local news sites, says its sites now have a total of 32M MAU and newsletters have 2M subscribers — Patch Media, the publisher of more than 1,200 hyper-local news sites, is a comparable bright spot among publishers of local news; it's having been profitable for the past four years.
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 and The Wrap
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 …
Alex Kantrowitz / BuzzFeed News:
Twitter will begin testing “Fleets”, letting iOS and Android users make posts that disappear after 24 hours, in Brazil, finally using a Stories-like format — On Wednesday, Twitter will begin testing a feature, called “Fleets,” that will allow you to post photos, videos …
Discussion:
@kayvz, One Man & His Blog, The Verge, Nieman Lab, @kantrowitz, Variety, The Wrap, TechCrunch, @alexeheath, XDA Developers, @joshconstine, @stillgray, @cosweda, @tjmanotoc, @shem_infinite, @mitchysuch, @ow, @mims, @amandamull, @carnage4life, @sarahfrier, @adriana_lacy, @nickstatt, @felixsalmon, @amywebb, @jpbrammer, @hshaban, @caseynewton, @leslieberland, @hshaban, @stephlauren, @iwriteallday_, @sarahintampa, @pallahabdul, @walldo, @neerajka, @markdistef, @jimwaterson, @davidcochrane, @loudmouthjulia, Tubefilter, Ad Age, The Week, Fortune, Wired, Reuters, NBC News and Seeking Alpha, more at Techmeme »
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:
Raw Story
Tribune Publishing Company:
Tribune Q4: earnings of $30.8M, down from $46.5M a year ago, on revenue of $252.3M, down 11% YoY; digital-only subscribers in 2019 grew 33.6% YoY to 334K — Company Delivers Year-Over-Year Income Growth Along with Significant Growth in Digital Subscribers — Tribune Publishing Company …
Marty Swant / Forbes:
Mailchimp has acquired Courier, a London-based media company focused on entrepreneurs and small businesses, which produces a magazine, newsletter, and more — Mailchimp is expanding its presence beyond email and into the world of print. — The Atlanta-based marketing platform has acquired Courier …
Discussion:
@danielgiaco, @martyswant, @benchestnut, @lukesbeard, @newconsumer, @marcallera, @matthorrocks, @markdicristina, @jamiebrooker, @jeffxcourier and @rafat
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:
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