Mediagazer: ABC, known for drama, is placing a heavier focus on news as broadcast networks see viewers of most-watched cable news anchors rise ~25% over past two weeks (Brian Steinberg/Variety)

5:00 PM ET, March 24, 2020

Top News:

Anthony Fauci conceding in an interview that Trump often provides inaccurate information is the best argument for not airing Trump's briefings on live TV — During a Saturday news briefing, President Trump fielded a question about the coronavirus timeline.

Discussion: Vox, Science, @maggienyt, New York Times, @mattyglesias, Wired, @maggienyt and Politico

Patrick Frater / Variety:

The Olympics postponement means hundreds of hours of lost programming and lost revenue for NBCU, which had sold 90%+ of its ad inventory, valued at $1.25B+ — The Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo will be postponed for a year, until 2021, Japan's Prime Minister Abe Shinzo announced Tuesday.

Discussion: USA Today, International Olympic …, CNN, @frankpallotta, The Wrap, Axios, Bloomberg, Broadcasting & Cable, Forbes, @tvmojoe, Adweek, @tiffkhsu, Axios, Business Insider and @zeitchikwapo

Craig Silverman / BuzzFeed News:

The coronavirus pandemic is shaping to be much worse for news media than the 2008 financial crisis, which saw a 19% decline in newspaper revenue in the US — The journalists at BuzzFeed News are proud to bring you trustworthy and relevant reporting about the coronavirus.

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

Mozilla launches Firefox Better Web with Scroll for Firefox tracking protection and Scroll's ad-free browsing experience for $2.50/mo. for the first six months — Mozilla just announced a new initiative called Firefox Better Web with Scroll, which combines the tracking protection built …

Discussion: The Mozilla Blog, Scroll Blog, @tryscroll, @mohamed, @tryscroll, @jeff, @osunick, IT Management, @arctictony, @tuckerkristen, Axios, CNET, @arctictony, @ryanvailbrown, The Verge and @jason_kint, more at Techmeme »

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

ABC, known for drama, is placing a heavier focus on news as broadcast networks see viewers of most-watched cable news anchors rise ~25% over past two weeks — ABC, best known for soapy programs like “Grey's Anatomy” and “Station 19,” has in recent days been more focused on the drama of real life.

Discussion: New York Times, Axios, @nrothschild3 and @bristei

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:

YouTube will change the default video resolution to standard definition worldwide for a month starting today to ease internet traffic — - Videos will default to standard definition worldwide — YouTube, Netflix already reduced video quality in Europe

Discussion: Variety, Fast Company, @psilosophy, Business Insider, The Verge, Android Central and 9to5Google, more at Techmeme »

The New York Times Company:

NYT, WSJ, WaPo publishers call on China to reverse its expulsion of their journalists: “the media is collateral damage in a diplomatic dispute” — The Chinese government's decision to expel American journalists amid a global pandemic threatens the world's access to critical information …

Discussion: New York Times, The Hill, @goldkorn, @meslackman, Fox News, @austinramzy, @gerryshih, @kenroth, @raju, @voanews, Reuters, @relevantorgans, @davidnakamura and The Guardian

Vijaya Gadde / Twitter:

Twitter is donating $500K each to the Committee to Protect Journalists and the International Women's Media Foundation — All around the world, we've seen our service connecting people with the authoritative health information they need to protect themselves and their loved ones.

Discussion: The Wrap, VentureBeat, Committee to Protect …, Axios, TechCrunch, The Hill and @twitterforgood

Instagram:

Instagram to remove some coronavirus-related content and accounts from recommendations and Explore, with exceptions for credible health organizations — People who search for information related to the coronavirus or COVID-19 on Instagram will start to see an educational message connecting …

Discussion: TechCrunch, New York Times, XDA Developers, Business Insider, MIT Technology Review, Reuters, CNET, Android Central, Jezebel and @taylorlorenz

Jon Lafayette / Broadcasting & Cable:

Nielsen says news viewing in the top 25 markets was up 6.9% for the week of March 9 compared to the week of February 3, with a ~10% increase in ages 18-54 — Nielsen said even kids are watching newscasts — Local news is seeking an increase in viewing as people seek the latest information on the Coronavirus crisis.

Discussion: TVNewsCheck and MediaPost

Freddy Mayhew / Press Gazette:

UK's Newsquest, with ~200 newspapers and magazines, is furloughing a “significant number” of staff, who will get 80% of their salaries; others get pay cuts — Newsquest is placing a “significant number” of its staff on furlough while all those who remain will face a wage cut in action to …

Discussion: @markdistef, @markdistef, @markdistef, @chrisburn_post and @markdistef

Ted Johnson / Deadline:

WHCA says a member of the press corps has a suspected case of coronavirus and reduces briefing room to a pool of 14 reporters — The White House Correspondents' Association said that a member of the press corps has a suspected case of the coronavirus and is advising journalists and others …

Discussion: Reuters and NPR

Laura Baldwin / O'Reilly Media:

O'Reilly Media announces it is canceling all of its upcoming in-person conferences and permanently shutting down that portion of its business — It has been a rough few weeks as we've seen the COVID-19 virus take a toll on our livelihoods, our families and the world economy.

Discussion: @lauraabaldwin and @lauraabaldwin, more at Techmeme »

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More News:

Ted Johnson / Deadline:
Fox News will hold a two-hour virtual town hall today with Trump and members of the coronavirus task force; there will be no White House briefing today

Discussion: The Hill, Fox News, @morningmika, @miriamelder and @tvietor08

Andrew Chung / Reuters:
SCOTUS sends Byron Allen's $20B racial bias suit against Comcast back to lower courts, says Allen must prove that the contract was denied solely due to racism

Discussion: Bloomberg and Forbes

New York Times:
Facebook internal report: US users are reading more COVID-19 content from “higher-quality” sources based on its ranking of top publishers adopted last year

Discussion: Nieman Lab, Ad Age, @nytimesbusiness, @sarthakgh, @sethclewis, @hshaban, @jbenton, @oliverdarcy, @gabrieldance, @kevinroose, @dseetharaman and @marklittlenews, more at Techmeme »

Ariel Shapiro / Forbes:
Streaming services see signup spikes in the past week, boosted by free trials, with Disney+ up over 300%, HBO Now 90%, Showtime 78%, Netflix 47%, Apple TV+ 10%

Discussion: @forbes, more at Techmeme »

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Twitter withdraws Q1 guidance due to COVID-19, says it expects Q1 revenue to be down YoY but the number of monetizable DAUs has hit 164M, up 8% QoQ and 23% YoY

Discussion: Ad Age, MediaPost, @oliverdarcy, MarketWatch, Reuters, CNBC, Wall Street Journal, PR Newswire, ZDNet, Deadline and Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »

Poynter:
During the pandemic, newsrooms should remove paywalls so as not to miss the short window of opportunity to build trust and show the significance of their work

Discussion: American Press Institute, @marcela_elisa, @nicholsuprising, @rosental, @katrinanation, @kellymcb, @media_evan, @poynter, @janebsinger, @rispolimike, @poynter, @jayrosen_nyu, @poynter and @kellymcb

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How Twitch is becoming an increasingly valuable way for independent electronic musicians to connect with their fans through live streaming recording sessions

Peter Kovacs / The Advocate:
The Times-Picayune and The Advocate to temporarily furlough about a tenth of their 400-member workforce with the rest on four-day workweeks

Discussion: New York Times, Poynter, @sarasneath, @ckm_news, @kerrymflynn, @kerrymflynn, @joeyerardi, @edasante77, @bmccarthynews, @robbiefaulk247, @nicdawes, @patbagley, @aegallo, @apantazi, @rebekahallen and @jbenton

Todd Spangler / Variety:
VidCon cancels its US edition, scheduled to run from June 17-20, due to the pandemic, and says it is looking to stage the event sometime in the fall

Discussion: @vidcon, @jeffsaxtonvlogs, @jennmcallister, @xpangler and @laurenzside

Melynda Fuller / MediaPost:
Time is offering Time for Kids, normally only available in schools, to students, families, and teachers at home for free

Discussion: Vanity Fair, @keithgrossman, Deadline and New York Times

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Amazon opens up free streaming access to more than 40 children's shows, including its original series, to all customers worldwide with an Amazon account

Discussion: The Streamable, Fox News, Hollywood Reporter, The A.V. Club, MediaPost, @oliverdarcy, @brianstelter, @manori_r, /Film, Business Insider, ComingSoon.net and Engadget

Hillel Italie / Associated Press:
Woody Allen's memoir was released by Arcade Publishing; Allen alleges Hachette vowed to publish it despite him “being a toxic pariah and menace to society”

Discussion: NME, The Guardian, @thr, bookforum.com, @bobweide, The Wrap, @mousterpiece, Slate, The Independent, The Week, The Wrap, The Playlist, Vanity Fair, Jezebel, Publishers Weekly, Variety, Bookseller News and IndieWire

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Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner says China-linked Salt Typhoon group listened to phone calls and read texts by hacking US telecom networks

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Anthropic raised another $4B from Amazon, will make AWS its primary training partner, and is working with Annapurna Labs to develop new Trainium accelerators

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