Top News:
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, New York Times, Washington Post, Newser, TVNewser, The Wrap, @davidshepardson, @marygeorgant and @bykellycohen
Kristen Hare / Poynter:
Lee Enterprises implements pay reductions and furloughs equivalent to two weeks' salary in the third quarter, while the executive team will take a 20% pay cut — The company joins other media orgs hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic — Lee Enterprises joined the list of news organizations hit hard by the coronavirus on Tuesday.
Discussion:
@amyrsisk, @_ryan_blake, United Media Guild, @mariealbiges and @itsren
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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
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
Discussion:
Digiday, Business Insider and @maxwelltani
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
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:
Nieman Lab, @gregholmannl, Poynter, @thesarahkelly, The Hill, @rachelwalexande, @rachelacrosby, @aprilehrlich, @ryanchittum, @markferenchik, @brianduggan, @jemelehill, @gerryconway, @pkafka, @emdrums, @reporterdavidj, @dicktofel, @thrasherxy, @reporteramber, @lpolgreen, @brynstole, @craftypanda, @rickedmonds, @maxwelltani, @tednesi, @maxwelltani, Awful Announcing, The Wrap, New Jersey Globe and Florida Politics
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
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
Discussion:
Washington Post, @mavencoalition, @jaseidler, @readdanwrite, @benjstrauss, @baileycarlin, @kevinmdraper, @kerrymflynn and @pkafka
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:
@marcatracy, @davemcclure and @pathtweets
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 …
Discussion:
@robshaw_vansun, @akurjata, @sulemaan and @rosajsaba
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:
@mdoukmas, @briannawellen and @niemanlab
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.
Discussion:
Spotify, TechCrunch and The Verge, more at Techmeme »
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
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.
Discussion:
Multichannel News, Broadcasting & Cable, Variety and Hollywood Reporter
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
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.
Discussion:
Variety, Broadcasting & Cable, MediaPost, IAB and AgencySpy
David Chavern / News Media Alliance:
News Media Alliance and America's Newspapers CEOs send an open letter to Trump, McConnell, and Pelosi about need for federal gov't help in sustaining local news — President and CEO of the News Media Alliance, David Chavern, and CEO of America's Newspapers, Dean Ridings …
Discussion:
@sarafischer
Bryan Curtis / The Ringer:
Baseball site FanGraphs laid off 20+ freelancers last week, foreshadowing how the next few months could be a disastrous period for freelance sportswriters — Why the next few months are going to be a disastrous professional period for sportswriters — Last week, the baseball site FanGraphs …
Discussion:
@clevezirm, @bryancurtis, @jon_greenberg and @rpjward
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:
The Streamable and Awful Announcing
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 — The coronavirus briefings have given Donald Trump a regularly scheduled reality show again — or, rather, a create-your-own-reality show.
RELATED:
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
Sources: on an internal call, Jeff Zucker defended airing Trump briefings live, arguing that viewers need to hear Trump answer tough questions from journalists
Discussion:
Fox News, @davidakaye, @dangillmor, @joshuahol, @thedailybeast, @atlanticmovpic, @lukebrussel, @juliemason, @levinejonathan, @parkermolloy, @esaagar, @daviddtss, @soledadobrien, @robbysoave, @rolandsmartin, @froomkin, @jayrosen_nyu, New York Times, @maxwelltani, Mediaite, CNN, MediaFile and Vanity Fair