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12:40 PM ET, March 19, 2020

Mediagazer

 Top News: 
Lukas I. Alpert / Wall Street Journal:
Playboy magazine will stop publishing its print edition in the US with its spring issue, due to coronavirus; it will publish special print issues occasionally  —  After 66 years, magazine to continue publishing online, with an occasional special edition in print
RELATED:
Janelle Irwin Taylor / Florida Politics:
Layoffs hit the Tampa Bay Times, including longtime environmental reporter Craig Pittman; source says 11 employees were laid off
Creative Loafing:
The alt-weekly Creative Loafing of Tampa Bay, owned by Euclid Media Group, lays off seven staff members in response to ad cutbacks due to COVID-19  —  Seven out of 12 staff members were let go.  —  On Wednesday afternoon, in the wake of the fallout related to the global coronavirus pandemic …
RELATED:
Detroit Metro Times:
Detroit Metro Times lays off eight as most advertisers cease operation with quarantine measures going into effect; remaining staffers are taking pay cuts
Jeff vonKaenel / SN&R Extra:
The Sacramento News & Review will suspend publication of its print edition next week and lay off nearly all of its staff, but will continue to post online
Financial Times:
EU calls on streaming services such as Netflix and YouTube to limit broadband use and offer programs only in standard, rather than high, definition  —  Brussels tells streaming companies to limit services as Facebook says managing traffic is a “challenge”  —  The EU has called on streaming services …
RELATED:
Sahil Patel / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Disney is looking to sell adtech company TrueX, which Fox had bought in 2014; Disney hasn't integrated it into its sales or tech organizations  —  TrueX is best known for offering interactive ads  —  Walt Disney Co. is looking to sell TrueX, an advertising-technology company …
Discussion: MediaPost and AdExchanger
Brittany Shammas / Washington Post:
A look at student journalists at campus news outlets across the US, diligently covering the pandemic even if they are unable to access their newsrooms  —  For the first time, the editors of the Cavalier Daily — the student newspaper at the University of Virginia — were having to plan out their issue via webcam.
Pew Research Center:
Pew study: 70% of Americans say the news media are doing fairly well covering the COVID-19 pandemic, while 37% say news media have greatly exaggerated the risks  —  About half say they have seen at least some made-up news about the coronavirus; 29% think it was created in a lab
Washington Post:
Nielsen: the most-watched TV program in the US last week was ABC's “World News Tonight”, which attracted 10.8M viewers, up 21% over its average for the year  —  In a typical week, ABC counts on shows like “The Bachelor” and “American Idol” to deliver its biggest ratings.
Rachel Kurzius / DCist:
An overview of the effects of the pandemic on local DC outlets Washingtonian Magazine, Washington City Paper, Local News Now, and Brightest Young Things  —  Even as local news outlets are seeing record traffic on their websites, one of their main revenue sources is drying up.
Sarah Whitten / CNBC:
National Association of Theater Owners asks Congress for relief for its 150K employees, authorizes withdrawal of $1M from its reserves to aid theater employees  —  - The National Association of Theater Owners is asking the federal government relief measures for its 150,000 movie theater workers.
Discussion: Reuters and Vanity Fair
Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:
LA Times publishes a video series on COVID-19, hosted by owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, without noting his role as CEO and owner of a company working on treatment  —  It's not unusual for newspaper owners to have, well, other interests.  In the old days of family ownership …
 
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 More News: 
Katie Kilkenny / Hollywood Reporter:
As Hollywood suspends or pauses most TV and film productions, “below-the-line” crew members who are gig workers, are feeling the brunt of the industry slowdown
Elizabeth Dwoskin / Washington Post:
Facebook says it is rolling out a COVID-19 information center placed atop all users' feeds to help surface news and resources
Karlene Lukovitz / MediaPost:
Sling introduces Stay in & Sling!, a free service with access to streaming news channel ABC News Live alongside movies and shows for kids and families
Discussion: The Streamable
 Earlier Picks: 
Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:
Google News Initiative teams up with LION Publishers, UNC, others to launch Project Oasis, with the aim of helping local news startups at key stages of growth
Freddy Mayhew / Press Gazette:
BBC announces new COVID-19 measures including making local radio stations hubs for helping the elderly, more educational content, pausing cuts to CBBC, more
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Facebook says it has fixed a bug in its anti-spam system that marked some legitimate COVID-19 news articles and information as spam on Tuesday
 

 
From Techmeme:

Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority:
Source: Google has canceled the development of a second-generation Pixel Tablet, planned for release in 2025, due to concerns that it wouldn't sell very well

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is testing a more conversational version of Siri, dubbed “LLM Siri”, with plans to release it in spring 2026 as part of iOS 19 and macOS 16

Hannah Lang / Reuters:
Sources: a16z, Ripple, Kraken, and Circle are jostling for a seat on Trump's promised crypto advisory council, which is expected to set up a bitcoin reserve

 
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