Mediagazer: Atlantic Canada's largest newspaper chain SaltWire Network says it is temporarily laying off 40% of its staff and shutting down all its weekly publications (Anjuli Patil/CBC News)

8:55 AM ET, March 25, 2020

Top News:

Oliver Darcy / CNN:

Fox News anchors, from its supposedly hard-hitting news division, failed to challenge Trump as he repeatedly misled viewers during the coronavirus town hall — New York (CNN Business)Anchors at Fox News failed to meaningfully challenge President Trump as he repeatedly misled …

Discussion: New York Times, Columbia Journalism Review, Hollywood Reporter, @dougkass, @juddapatow, @speechboy71, @oliverdarcy, The Wrap and Mediaite

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

Anjuli Patil / CBC News:

Atlantic Canada's largest newspaper chain SaltWire Network says it is temporarily laying off 40% of its staff and shutting down all its weekly publications — All SaltWire weeklies temporarily shutting down amid loss of ads due to COVID-19 — Atlantic Canada's largest newspaper chain …

Discussion: CBC News, @robertmmahoney, @johngushue, @mathewi and @jbenton

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

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: USA Today, XDA Developers, @psilosophy, Wired, TechCrunch, Variety, Android Central, Business Insider, 9to5Google, Fast Company and The Verge, more at Techmeme »

Jim Waterson / The Guardian:

Some major towns in the UK lose their only print newspaper, leaving self-isolating older people without trusted news sources, as JPI Media suspends 12 titles — Many self-isolating older people left without trusted news source as presses stop rolling — Major towns including Milton Keynes …

Discussion: @pressgazette, @pressgazette and @jimwaterson

HBO PR:

HBO says time spent with HBO Now since March 14 is up 40% from its four-week average; overall viewing across its portfolio grew nearly 20% during the same time — This post is by Cheryl Idell, Chief Research Officer, WarnerMedia Entertainment & Direct-to-Consumer.

Discussion: @dylanbyers, @nickwingfield, @koblin, IndieWire, @lucas_shaw, The Streamable, The Wrap and CNET

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, @charliecookdc, @donlday, @koblin and @bristei

Lucinda Southern / Digiday:

Subscription tech service Piano says US digital subscriptions rose 63% YoY in the past week while European newspaper subs across its network grew 267% YoY — Publishers are seeing a spike in subscriptions over the last four weeks in the U.S. and Europe, fueled by readers' appetite to stay …

Discussion: American Press Institute, @simonowens, @jason_kint, @kerrymflynn, @larakiara, @durgaraghunath and What's New in Publishing

Jon Lafayette / Broadcasting & Cable:

Nielsen says local news viewing in the top 25 markets was up 6.9% for the week of March 9 compared to the previous week, with about 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: Broadcasting & Cable, TVNewsCheck, @tvnewscheck and MediaPost

Michael McCarthy / Front Office Sports:

Newsrooms adjust to the absence of sports with suspended or diminished sports sections, reporters redeployed to new beats, and creative story ideas — - Washington Post redeploying some sports reporters to Coronavirus coverage, while Boston Globe goes to the well for story ideas.

Discussion: @mmccarthyrev, @mmccarthyrev and @frntofficesport

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:

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: @maggienyt, BuzzFeed News, Vox, @mattyglesias, The Guardian, @maggienyt, Wired and Science

Laura Mallonee / Wired:

Photojournalists on the front lines in China, Italy, and the US share their experiences of documenting life amid COVID-19 while trying to stay safe and sane — During a war waged by an invisible enemy, photographers on the frontlines share images of solitude and separation.

Discussion: @wired, @janisfrayer, @mattmckibben and @davidmryder

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 8:55 AM ET, March 25, 2020.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Senior Data Journalist, NY — WSJ

Manager - Publishing Editorial, Manila — Reuters

Oil Reporter, Singapore — Bloomberg

Newsperson - State Govt. & Politics, CA — AP

Business Reporter, SC — Post & Courier

State Government Reporter, WA — Seattle Times

Climate Crisis Columnist — Prospect UK

Multimedia Journalist, CA — Paramount

Community Engagement Mgr., DC — Freedom Forum

Senior California Politics Reporter, CA — SFGATE

Staff Writer - Business, NY — WIRED

Team Editor - Opinion, ON — Toronto Star

Assistant Correspondent, DC — Kyodo News

Climate & Weather Reporter, MN — Star Tribune

Senior Tech Editor, Remote US — The Verge

Lead Business Reporter, TN — Daily Memphian

Managing Editor, WA — Everett Herald

Private Credit Reporter, NY — Debtwire

City Correspondent, London — Financial News

Legislative Reporter, CA — Sacramento Bee

Reporter, PA — Tribune-Review

Visual Editor, Remote — Rest of World

Staff Writer, MI — Watershed Voice

Senior Political Reporter, DC — The Lever

California Playbook Writer, CA — Politico

National Investigative Reporter, NY — HuffPost

Business & Gaming Reporter, NV — Las Vegas Sun

Coastal Climate Reporter, SC — Island Packet

Environment & Energy Reporter, CT — CT Mirror

Coordinating Editor, OR — OPB

Editor, Remote US — Daily Kos

Business Reporter, WA — Longview Daily News

Editor-in-Chief, AZ — Phoenix New Times

Add your company here

See Also:

Mediagazer: site main

Mediagazer River: reverse chronological Mediagazer

Mediagazer Mobile: for phones

Mediagazer Leaderboard: Mediagazer's top sources

Subscribe:

Mediagazer RSS feed

Mediagazer on X

Mediagazer on Mastodon

More News:

Scott Nover / Adweek:
Pinterest introduces a new Today tab, a hub for curated topics and trending posts managed by an editorial team, as users flock to the service amid the pandemic

Discussion: VentureBeat and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

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

Discussion: @lauraabaldwin, @benhammersley, @avibryant, @liztormato, @sarahm, @ruv, @vmbrasseur, @lauraabaldwin, @waxpancake, @knieriemen, @krishnan and @reza_zadeh, more at Techmeme »

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

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

Instagram:
Instagram to remove some coronavirus-related content and accounts from recommendations and Explore, with exceptions for credible health organizations

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

Vijaya Gadde / Twitter:
Twitter is donating $500K each to the Committee to Protect Journalists and the International Women's Media Foundation

Discussion: Axios, TechCrunch, @guyberger, @dzalcman, @rifatorakzai, Adweek, @laurajaselle, @brooklynmarie, @elanfear, @siobhan, @twitternews, @nedsegal, @nolabeth, @twitterforgood, @karlrobillard1, @vijaya, The Wrap, VentureBeat and The Hill

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

Discussion: @hradzka, Reuters and NPR

Earlier Picks:

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

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: Forbes and Bloomberg

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”

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

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

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

From Techmeme:

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

The Information:
Sources: OpenAI considered developing a browser, discussed deals to power AI features on Samsung devices and search on sites and apps from Condé Nast and others

Tim Hardwick / MacRumors:
A UK CMA report finds that Apple's policies hold back innovation in mobile browsers and recommends investigating Apple and Google's mobile ecosystem activities

Sister Sites:

Techmeme
Top news and commentary for technology's leaders, from all around the web

memeorandum
What US political commentators are discussing online right now

WeSmirch
The top celebrity news from all around the web on a single page