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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.
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@laobserved, @jbenton, @brynstole, @sarahspain, @kerrymflynn, @maxwelltani, @ninaberries, @joegoldman, @dannysullivan, @ckrewson, @brettdl, @jadande, @conor64, @jbenton, @kateaurthur and @sulliview
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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
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@gregholmannl, @jbenton, @newsguild, @jbenton, @aaron_leib, @thesarahkelly, @slooterman, @davidgilbertccm, @sstirling, @rachelwalexande, @rachelacrosby, @aprilehrlich, @ryanchittum, @markferenchik, @brianduggan, @jemelehill, @gerryconway, @pkafka, @emdrums, @reporterdavidj, @dicktofel, @thrasherxy, @reporteramber, @lpolgreen, @brynstole, @craftypanda, @rickedmonds, @maxwelltani, @tednesi, @maxwelltani, Poynter, The Hill, Awful Announcing and The Wrap


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.
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@chriscuomo, @nygovcuomo, Associated Press, @andrewyang, @davidshepardson, @vanlathan, abc7NY, @bykellycohen, @marygeorgant, NPR, Fox News and The Wrap


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 …
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@ericmanlunas, @jessicalessin, @jtoonkel and @film_girl, more at Techmeme »


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 …
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@arusbridger, @dvatw, @toooldforit, @adambanksdotcom and @ta_mills
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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 …


News Corp says it will suspend printing 60 community newspapers across Australia starting next week due to ad revenue declines amid the coronavirus pandemic — Manly Daily, Wentworth Courier, Brisbane News and Mornington Peninsula Leader among titles to move online amid coronavirus fallout
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ABC


How Kara Swisher's mom, a Fox News fan, believed the network's misinformation about COVID-19, and how she eventually listened to others as the pandemic worsened — The network spent too long spraying its viewers with false information about the coronavirus pandemic.
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@hilaryr, @karaswisher, @perrettreport, @ginaspadafori and New York Post


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.


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:
@brettdl, @benmullin, @carareports, @benyt, @benyt, The Rural Blog, @klr_editor and @sammy_roth


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.

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


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

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 …
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@jeffjarvis, @michellemanafy, @readdanwrite, @substackinc, @delia_cai and TechCrunch