Top News:
Ken Doctor / Nieman Lab:
COVID-19 has gravely accelerated the need for newsrooms to confront issues like need for talent, appropriate staff size, and cutting print days, among others — As local newspapers' businesses hit the skids, they're finding themselves careening right now into a future they'd thought was still several years away.
Discussion:
@laobserved, @sarahspain, @conor64, @kateaurthur, @kerrymflynn, @jbenton, @brynstole, @maxwelltani, @ninaberries, @joegoldman, @dannysullivan, @ckrewson, @brettdl, @jadande, @jbenton, @sulliview and Tampa Bay Times
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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
Discussion:
@gregholmannl, @thesarahkelly, Poynter, @aaron_leib, @slooterman, @davidgilbertccm, @sstirling, @jbenton, @newsguild, @jbenton, @rachelwalexande, @rachelacrosby, @aprilehrlich, @ryanchittum, @markferenchik, @brianduggan, @jemelehill, @gerryconway, @pkafka, @emdrums, @reporterdavidj, @dicktofel, @thrasherxy, @reporteramber, @lpolgreen, @brynstole, @craftypanda, The Hill, @rickedmonds, @maxwelltani, @tednesi, @maxwelltani, Awful Announcing, The Wrap, New Jersey Globe and Florida Politics
Brian Stelter / CNN:
CNN's Chris Cuomo has been diagnosed with COVID-19, but he says he is feeling well and will continue anchoring his show from his home — New York (CNN Business)CNN anchor Chris Cuomo has been diagnosed with Covid-19, the network said in a memo to employees on Tuesday.
Discussion:
@chriscuomo, @nygovcuomo, Associated Press, abc7NY, The Hill, NPR, @andrewyang, The Wrap, @davidshepardson, @vanlathan, @bykellycohen and @marygeorgant
Jessica Toonkel / The Information:
Sources: Amazon, Walmart suspend commerce marketing deals with digital media such as BuzzFeed and Vox Media; ~20% of BuzzFeed 2019 revenue came from such deals — Publishers are bracing for a pullback in advertising amid the Covid-19 pandemic. And one big shoe has already dropped …
Discussion:
@jessicalessin, @jtoonkel and @ericmanlunas, more at Techmeme »
Freddy Mayhew / Press Gazette:
The BBC warns that decriminalizing nonpayment of the TV license fee would cost the service more than £1B over 5 years and require significant programming cuts — The BBC has warned that decriminalising non-payment of the TV licence fee would cost it more than £1bn over five years and …
Discussion:
@arusbridger, @dvatw, @toooldforit, @adambanksdotcom and @ta_mills
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Jim Waterson / The Guardian:
BBC says the license fee could eventually be replaced by a monthly tax on broadband connections in response to proposals to decriminalize nonpayment of the fee — Corporation responds to government plan to decriminalise non-payment of licence fee — The BBC has said the television licence fee …
Marc Tracy / New York Times:
Profile of STAT, a science and medical news site that was early to cover COVID-19 and has attracted ~30M unique visitors this year, 4x to 5x its usual traffic — Stat, started in 2015 by the Red Sox owner John Henry, is drawing four to five times its normal audience. “We were built for this,” one of its editors said.
Discussion:
@rebeccadrobbins, @sivavaid, @deborahblum, @ona, @davemcclure, @alanmillernlp, @swheaton, @acsifferlin, @ghs, @jmaxlevin, @levfacher, @pathtweets, @marcatracy and @jessbidgood
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:
@readdanwrite, @jeffjarvis, @michellemanafy, @substackinc, TechCrunch and @delia_cai
John Ourand / Sports Business Daily:
Sources: DAZN is telling sports leagues it won't pay rights fees for any suspended games, will defer payments for future seasons; some staff to be furloughed — DAZN has started telling sports leagues that it will not pay rights fees for any games that have been suspended or content …
Discussion:
Awful Announcing and The Streamable
Samantha Conti / WWD:
Conde Nast Britain to offer free digital access to May issues of its magazines; Conde Nast Italy offering free access to its magazines for the next three months — Rihanna, wearing a durag designed by Stephen Jones Millinery, fronts the May edition of British Vogue.
Rick Edmonds / Poynter:
Rebutting Ben Smith's idea of abandoning local papers in favor of all-digital newsrooms, mostly nonprofit: supporting local journalism needs multiple tactics — I get that your new job for The New York Times is to offer provocative takes on the media. Seven columns in, you are doing just fine with that.
Discussion:
@carareports, @brettdl, @benmullin, The Rural Blog, @benyt, @benyt, @sammy_roth and @cfelsenthal
Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:
Free alt-weekly Chicago Reader lost 90% of its ad revenue and is turning to ideas like a fundraising colouring book and a souvenir issue to fill the funding gap — Considering the regimentation of pre-digital publishing — repeating the same workflows day after day, week after week — journalists are very adaptable animals.
Discussion:
@briannawellen, @mdoukmas and @niemanlab
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 says it plans to raise $1.2 billion through the sale of senior notes and use the money “for general corporate purposes.”
Discussion:
Hollywood Reporter, Multichannel News, Broadcasting & Cable and Variety
Freddy Mayhew / Press Gazette:
Press Association furloughs 44 sports and racing journalists, using the UK government retention plan covering 80% of salaries; senior execs are taking 30% cuts — PA has confirmed 44 of its journalists covering sport and racing will be furloughed in action to “mitigate the financial impact of Covid-19”.
Discussion:
@markdistef and @pwaldieglobe
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