Mediagazer: ViacomCBS announces a $2.5B debt sale amid COVID-19-related economic uncertainty, following similar raises by Disney and Comcast; sale expected to close April 1 (Jill Goldsmith/Deadline)

1:30 AM ET, March 29, 2020

Top News:

David Smiley / Miami Herald:

A Miami Herald reporter was barred from Florida governor's COVID-19 briefing on Saturday; a Herald editorial last week was critical of the governor's leadership — A reporter for the state capital bureau operated jointly by two of Florida's largest newspapers was denied access Saturday …

Discussion: @maryellenklas, Tampa Bay Times, @evanasmith, @suzannenossel, @bgrueskin, @jeffreyguterman, @jkennedyreport, Law & Crime and @jbenton

Ken Doctor / Nieman Lab:

Even as the pandemic spurs newfound value in local news, boosting digital subscriptions, publishers are uncertain they can overcome the collapse in ad revenue — The coronavirus pandemic is proving the value of local news to millions of readers, driving up subscriptions. But the advertising collapse is knee-buckling.

Discussion: @craigsilverman, @pdbeth, Slate, @kdoctor, @jbenton, @jbenton, @jbenton and @jbenton

Rick Edmonds / Poynter:

CEOs of News Media Alliance and the Local Media Association say they expect devastating revenue loss for members but say small publishers can still survive — ‘Our members have gone from a weak financial position to a horrible financial condition’ — Leaders of associations that represent …

Discussion: @itsren, @altweeklies and @hollyanndoan

Matt Wilstein / The Daily Beast:

Fox Business “parted ways” with Trish Regan; the move comes after Regan's on-air dismissal in early March of COVID-19 concerns as an attempt to impeach Trump — The Fox Business host was officially let go on Friday more than two weeks after she ranted against the “coronavirus impeachment scam.”

Committee to Protect Journalists:

The Philippines' COVID-19 state of emergency includes up to two months prison time, and fines of up to $19,500 for spreading “false news” — The Philippine Congress should repeal a recently enacted regulation that imposes criminal penalties for spreading 'false news …

Discussion: cnn, RAPPLER, @pressfreedom, @pressfreedom, philstar.com and Slate

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:

NY federal judge allows PEN America's suit against Trump to proceed over claims he violated First Amendment by revoking press badges, clearances in retaliation — A judge allows a limited lawsuit from PEN America. — A New York federal judge on Tuesday ruled that PEN America may proceed on some of its claims against Donald Trump.

Discussion: PEN America, courthousenews.com, @rsf_en, MediaPost, @rubesqueue and @eriqgardner

Jill Goldsmith / Deadline:

ViacomCBS announces a $2.5B debt sale amid COVID-19-related economic uncertainty, following similar raises by Disney and Comcast; sale expected to close April 1 — ViacomCBS is the latest media conglom to tap the debt market, announcing plans to raise $2.5 billion by selling notes.

Discussion: Seeking Alpha, MarketWatch, Hollywood Reporter, Broadcasting & Cable, Wall Street Journal, ViacomCBS Inc., The Wrap and Variety

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

NBC cedes primetime slot usually reserved for dramas to air hourlong coronavirus special reports on Tuesdays for at least three weeks, as viewership surges — NBC News will kick off a new show next week that's scheduled to appear for the next three Tuesdays.

Discussion: TVNewser, @tvgrimreaper, @bristei, Deadline and Broadcasting & Cable

Kali Hays / WWD:

Podtrac: podcast downloads in the US have fallen ~10% and total unique listeners are down ~20% since the start of March, with true crime podcasts down the most — It seems everyone just wants the news, on TV and online, not a true crime podcast. — Since early March, when concerns around …

Discussion: @whatthebit, @fortelabs, @genepark, @sherwoodstrauss, @iamgmjohnson, @sonnybunch, @aleyda, @carnage4life, Podtrac Measurement Blog and @eshap, more at Techmeme »

Lucinda Southern / Digiday:

Q&A with the CEO of Bloomberg Media, which saw new subs in March grow by 86% month-over-month and the week ending March 20 as its highest since paywall's debut — During these nerve-wracking times, for public health as well as economic health, people's appetite for trusted news has sky rocketed.

Discussion: @bmorrissey, @raju and Editor & Publisher Magazine

Lily Hay Newman / Wired:

Google removes Infowars app from Play Store, citing misinformation, after a video posted in the app disputed the need for measures to contain the coronavirus — Apple kicked Alex Jones out of the App Store in 2018. The Google Play Store has finally followed suit.

Discussion: Daily Mail, Variety, @reflectingman, @lilyhnewman, @zackwhittaker, @oliverdarcy, Newsweek, Gizmodo, The Verge, 9to5Google and Matt's Newsletter

Ken Doctor / Nieman Lab:

Under the CARES Act, outlets with under 1,000 staff can apply to a $300B fund, while bigger chains compete with retailers and others for money from a $454B fund — The multi-trillion-dollar CARES Act should extend a lifeline to many small local publishers.

Discussion: Washington Post, @kdoctor, @jaredrutecki, @lucasgrindley, @niemanlab and @jbenton

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More News:

Beatrice Verhoeven / The Wrap:
Disney closes California's Disneyland and Florida's Disney World indefinitely, after initially planning to close through March, will pay staff through April 18

Discussion: /Film, @ashkan, Orlando Sentinel, @lukemmoney, Newsweek, Forbes, Reuters, Los Angeles Times, Fox News, CNET, Variety and Deadline

Matt Donnelly / Variety:
Internal memo: WarnerMedia commits to $100M+ relief fund for its workers affected by production shutdowns across WarnerMedia; HBO Max on schedule for May launch

Discussion: @loudmouthjulia, @mattdonnelly, Hollywood Reporter and The Wrap

Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Facebook to add new features to make Live easier to use, including an audio-only mode, automatic closed captions, and letting logged-out users watch streams

Kerry Flynn / CNN:
Digital media like BuzzFeed, Group Nine, and Vice were all expected to earn profits in 2020, but now executives warn staff of layoffs while publicly keeping mum

Discussion: @aggancarski, @nandoodles, @kerrymflynn, @kerrymflynn, @kerrymflynn and @kerrymflynn

María Ramírez / Nieman Reports:
A look at eldiario.es in locked-down Madrid, an outlet founded by journalists in 2012 with no paywall, supported by memberships that provide a third of revenue

Discussion: @hollyvhays, @mariaramirezny, @mariaramirezny, @mariaramirezny, @rasmus_kleis, @niemanfdn, @marklittlenews, @mariaramirezny, @janebsinger, @marklittlenews and What's New in Publishing

National Geographic Society:
National Geographic Society launches a global fund for journalists covering COVID-19, with an emphasis on underserved groups and funding from $1,000-$8,000

Discussion: @indira_l, @bradfordpearson, @bradfordpearson, @opennews and @penguinsix

Earlier Picks:

Mehdi Jedinia / Reuters:
Iran has ordered media to use only official statistics when covering COVID-19, told journalists to avoid investigative reporting, and harassed those who do

Discussion: @niemanlab, @jimfryvoa and @penamerica

Jon Porter / The Verge:
Disney-owned digital movie locker service Movies Anywhere is launching its first smart TV app, on LG TVs

Discussion: Variety, Media Play News and The Streamable

Paul Heintz / Seven Days:
In the past two weeks in Vermont, one newspaper shut down, three suspended print editions, three reduced print frequency, seven announced layoffs and furloughs

Discussion: @paulheintz

Patrick Brzeski / Hollywood Reporter:
China shuts down all cinemas again, after reopening 600 of them over the past week, without providing an official explanation for the shut down

Discussion: Deadline, @thr, Variety, @brianpshea, @irinatsukerman, @variety, @jeffdlowe, @alanmcole, @zeitchikwapo, @frankpallotta, Forbes, Business Insider, Vanity Fair, IndieWire and The Week

Cynthia Littleton / Variety:
ViacomCBS withdraws 2020 financial guidance, says it has a $3.5B credit facility, and expects 16M US streaming pay subscribers and 30M Pluto MAUs by end of 2020

Discussion: @lizrhoffman, Wall Street Journal, @asharma, @benmullin, TheStreet, ViacomCBS Inc. and Digital TV Europe

From Techmeme:

Lauren Thomas / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Alphabet is in advanced talks to acquire cybersecurity startup Wiz for ~$30B; Alphabet was close to a $23B deal for Wiz last summer before talks ended

New York Times:
HR service Rippling sues Deel, accusing its rival of hiring a mole in its Dublin office to comb through trade secrets, uncovered via a “honeypot” Slack channel

Michael Nuñez / VentureBeat:
Mistral debuts Mistral Small 3.1, a 24B-parameter multimodal and multilingual open-source model it says outperforms Gemma 3 and GPT-4o-mini and runs on 32GB RAM

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