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12:20 PM ET, March 31, 2020

Mediagazer

 Top News: 
Daniel Bernhard / Toronto Star:
Canadian media, starved of ad revenues for years, is on the brink of mass extinction due to the pandemic; CBC cancelled all local TV news broadcasts last week  —  By some industry estimates, many of our major media outlets will fail within weeks.  Starved of advertising revenues for years …
Tony Maglio / The Wrap:
Fox withdraws financial guidance, citing delayed productions and sports cancellations and postponements, and says it plans to amend agreements with lenders  —  Fox is the latest major media corporation to walk back its prior financial guidance due to the impact of the continuing coronavirus pandemic.
Jason Lynch / Adweek:
IAB postpones its now-virtual Digital Content NewFronts by two months to the week of June 22  —  Annual event moves from late April to week of June 22  —  Key insights:  — Buyers are increasingly skeptical that upfront talks can take place in the traditional timeframe.
Variety:
Memo: iHeartMedia CEO Bob Pittman waives salary, other execs take pay cuts, as an unknown number of staff receive 90-day furloughs without pay due to pandemic  —  iHeartMedia has joined the growing list of companies implementing sizable pay cuts for senior executives amid the upheaval caused by the coronavirus crisis.
Discussion: RAMP
Maxwell Tani / The Daily Beast:
Vice will no longer match 401k contributions, freezes promotions through July, cuts salaries for top staff including the CEO, and will furlough some top execs  —  STAY AFLOAT  —  Vice Media will cut salaries for top staff and halt retirement benefit-matching following the economic downturn spurred by the coronavirus pandemic.
Discussion: Digiday and @maxwelltani
Chris Best / Substack Blog:
Substack donates $100K in grants to writers struggling due to pandemic, drops its cut of subscription revenue for pubs donating earnings to COVID-19 causes  —  We started Substack because we believe that what you read matters and good writing is valuable.  We believe that writers, bloggers …
Discussion: TechCrunch
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Spotify for Kids launches in the US, Canada, and France on the $14.99/month Spotify Premium Family tier with 8,000 songs, of which 50% is localized  —  Spotify is giving more housebound parents — and their cooped-up kids — a new tool to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Guardian:
Maxwell Tani / The Daily Beast:
Gannett CEO announces furloughs and pay cuts across the company, says other execs will take a 25% pay cut and he won't take a salary until the cuts are reversed  —  The mass-media company, which owns many large newspapers including USA Today, announced Monday that the coronavirus downturn has forced the company to make deep cuts.
Maxwell Tani / The Daily Beast:
Sources: on an internal call, Jeff Zucker defended airing Trump briefings live, arguing that viewers need to hear Trump answer tough questions from journalists  —  Zucker said on an internal staff call that he has “probably spent more time on this topic than anything else,” …
RELATED:
James Poniewozik / New York Times:
Trump has turned his coronavirus briefings into create-your-own-reality TV with the structure, intrigue, drama, rhythm, and characters of a weekly reality show
 
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 More News: 
Kayleigh Barber / Digiday:
How entertainment and lifestyle publishers like Bustle, BuzzFeed, and People are adapting to coronavirus disrupting events and upending planned content
Michael Luo / New Yorker:
An in-depth look at the macroeconomic picture for US newsrooms since 2008: fights over paywalls, non-profit startups, the death of local news, and now COVID-19
Nesrine Malik / The Guardian:
Interview with Mehdi Hasan, whose hard-hitting interviews on Al Jazeera English become regular viral hits, on why US media is almost “irredeemable” and more
 Earlier Picks: 
TheStreet:
Maven anticipates revenue to drop by $30M in 2020 and will lay off some staff, with Sports Illustrated journalists representing 6% of the overall cost reduction
Tampa Bay Times:
The Tampa Bay Times to temporarily cut print editions to Sunday and Wednesday, says digital subscription gains are not enough to make up for advertising losses
Ina Fried / Axios:
After changing its rules, Twitter is cracking down on COVID-19 misinformation from prominent accounts, including Brazilian President Bolsonaro and Rudy Giuliani
Marc Tracy / New York Times:
Facebook says it will invest $100M to support the news industry during COVID-19: $25M in emergency funding for local news and $75M in additional marketing spend