Top News:
Ben Smith / New York Times:
It's time for a painful shift that means abandoning most for-profit local papers with poor business models for a national network of nimble new online newsrooms — The coronavirus is likely to hasten the end of advertising-driven media, our columnist writes. And government should not rescue it.
Discussion:
Slate, @nytimes, @nytimesbusiness, @dkahanerules, @amyalex63, @dangillmor, @scmitchp, @sulliview, @journalismproj, @mattlargey, @jaredrutecki and @jbenton
RELATED:
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.
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, Poynter, @evanasmith, Tampa Bay Times, @wpjenna, @benmullin, @jayrosen_nyu, @jennifer__brett, @ac4congress2020, @kagrox, @thelanabanana, @exavierpope, @scott_maxwell, @holderstephen, @mikevansickler, @audreycoopersf, @bubbaprog, @therickwilson, @davidfrum, @dmrevans, @peterbakernyt, @suzannenossel, @bgrueskin, @jbenton, @jeffreyguterman, @jkennedyreport and @miamiherald
Marc Tracy / New York Times:
Facebook invests $100M more to support the news industry amid COVID-19: $25M in emergency grant funding for local news and $75M in additional marketing spend — With grants and marketing spending, the social media giant hopes to support outlets doing essential local reporting but struggling with a drop in advertising.
Discussion:
Facebook, Fast Company, Reuters, BuzzFeed News, Mark Zuckerberg, Engadget, @gavmorris, Axios, Axios, @mohamedomar, @sofus_d, Wall Street Journal, The Verge, CNET and @brianstelter
New York Times:
Sources: Facebook's security team had disinfo concerns about The Daily Wire's sites in 2019, clashing with the policy team, which prevented action being taken — After spending billions to avoid a repeat of 2016, the tech giants are careening from crisis to crisis as their foes change tactics.
Discussion:
Business Insider, @rmac18, @karaswisher, @donmoyn, @kevinroose, @nytimes, @nytnational, @micahzenko and @tomfitton, more at Techmeme »
Lloyd Grove / The Daily Beast:
Sources: in a memo, David Pecker told staff that AMI is cutting the payroll of National Enquirer and at least nine other publications by 23% starting April 1 — David Pecker sent a memo to staff on Saturday, claiming coronavirus was the reason for slashing their pay by 23 percent.
Discussion:
@thedailybeast, The Daily Beast and @padresj
Meg James / Los Angeles Times:
TV's annual pilot season, expected to inject $500M into the entertainment economy, has been devastated by COVID-19 with enormous ripple effects — This year's batch of TV pilots included some ominous names: “Triage,” “Wreckage” and “Housebroken.” — Now, those show titles …
Discussion:
Numlock News
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
MX Player, an ad-supported video streaming service that has 175M MAUs in India, expands to new international markets including the US, UK, and Australia — MX Player, the on-demand video streaming service owned by India's conglomerate Times Internet, is expanding to more than half a dozen …
Elizabeth Jensen / NPR:
NPR's public editor on NPR and member stations' approaches to airing Trump's briefings, and how they square with its mission to “serve the public and democracy” — KUOW, an NPR Member station in Seattle, said earlier this week that it will no longer air the daily White House Coronavirus Task Force briefings live.
Discussion:
Columbia Journalism Review, @janearraf, @arishapiro, @samsanders, @theanchoress, @adam_morfeld, @jayrosen_nyu and @ericboehlert
Megan Graham / CNBC:
Premium publishers like CNBC and NYT, seeing cutbacks in ad spending during COVID-19, ask ad tech companies to exempt them from coronavirus-related filters — - Online publications are seeing huge jumps in traffic, but many advertisers are blocked from appearing near content mentioning coronavirus.
Discussion:
Beet.TV, @megancgraham, The Hill, @jason_kint, @kerrymflynn, Мы и … and @craigsilverman
Elahe Izadi / Washington Post:
Gallup survey of 1,020 US adults: just 44% approve of the news media's handling of the COVID-19 crisis, with 61% of Democrats approving vs. 25% of Republicans — The news media have the worst approval rating of all major American institutions grappling with covid-19 …
Discussion:
@elaheizadi, The Week and @ehananoki
Peter White / Deadline:
Q&A with Jeffrey Katzenberg on launching Quibi on April 6 in the middle of a global pandemic, why Quibi only licenses rather than owns the content, and more — Quibi is one of the most anticipated platform launches of the year and it's also one of the most talked about in Hollywood circles.