Top News:
Maggie Haberman / New York Times:
Trump campaign spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany has been named press secretary; sources: the chief of staff wants her to focus on defending the president on TV — She replaces Stephanie Grisham, who had the job for nine months, and will return to Melania Trump's staff.
Discussion:
The Hill, The Wrap, @maggienyt, Mediaite, Politico, @kylegriffin1, The Guardian, Slate, Talking Points Memo, @metaquest and The Week
RELATED:
CNN:
Stephanie Grisham is leaving her job as press secretary, having never held a briefing, and returning to her previous job as Melania Trump's chief of staff — (CNN)White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham is leaving the job without ever having briefed the press.
Joan E. Solsman / CNET:
CNN buys Canopy, a privacy-focused content-recommendation startup that created news reader Tonic, as the network develops its news aggregation service — Canopy, a privacy-focused recommendations startup, has been acquired by CNN, a unit of wireless giant AT&T through its WarnerMedia devision.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Variety, Wall Street Journal, @gabrielvaldivia, @basseye, @arctictony and @robynkanner
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Sensor Tower: Quibi had more than 300,000 downloads on its launch day; heavily promoted in Apple's App Store, it reached #3 but just #29 on Google Play — Quibi, the oddly-named mobile streaming service founded by Jeffrey Katzenberg, was downloaded over 300,000 times on launch day …
Discussion:
The Wrap, Variety, The Streamable, Business Insider, @frankpallotta, @amather, @frankpallotta and @tvmojoe, more at Techmeme »
RELATED:
Poynter:
News orgs' removal of paywalls for pandemic coverage is noble, but makes no sense, and the industry seems to think public service can't coexist with revenue — Food is essential, but grocery stores aren't giving it away. Police are being paid during the crisis. So why are we making our journalism free?
Discussion:
@stephbpurifoy, @jfagone, Deez Links, @callaghanpeter, @newsterrier, @saroff_nyc, @newsalliance, @corinaknoll, @e_vb_, @thesarahkelly, @mikeorren, @scott_maxwell and @dkiesow
Broadcasting & Cable:
Broadcasters Foundation of America expands its emergency grants, which provides up to $1,000, to radio and TV employees in financial need due to COVID-19 — Expands emergency grant definition to include financial need due to novel coronavirus infection — The Broadcasters Foundation …
Discussion:
Broadcasters Foundation …, TV Technology, Radio & Television … and AllAccess.com
Kayleigh Barber / Digiday:
Food & Wine, Eater, and Thrillist are helping the restaurant industry during the pandemic by offering guides, promotion, and other resources — The restaurant industry is searching for assistance from external sources during the coronavirus pandemic and food publishers are stepping in to help.
Discussion:
American Press Institute, @newsalliance and @groupninemedia
Sam Allard / Scene and Heard:
Cleveland Plain Dealer EIC bars remaining 14 newsroom staff from covering state issues and Cleveland stories, leaving those beats to a non-union sister newsroom — On the first workday after a brutal and debilitating round of layoffs at The Plain Dealer, Editor Tim Warsinskey delivered what will be the paper's final and cruelest blow.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, @pdnewsguild, @tessaduvall, @doctorow, WEWS, @jcrutchmer, @connieschultz, @clevelandscene and @megreenwell
Janko Roettgers / Protocol:
Hollywood is working from home to meet streaming demand as animation, which can be done remotely, is seeing a boom in the number of shows greenlit to series — Hollywood has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. Theaters across much of the country have closed, movie shoots have come …
Maria Halkias / Dallas Morning News:
Dallas Morning News' parent company is tapping into its $8M cash reserve, reducing staff pay between 3% and 17%; it started the year with $48.6M in cash — A. H. Belo Corporation is also cutting its dividend by 50%. — The parent company of The Dallas Morning News is responding …
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, @mwilstory, @mgerrydoyle, @keithcampbell48, @dellcam, @lmcgaughy and GlobeNewswire
Variety:
Sources: AMI exec Dylan Howard, who was embroiled in scandals involving Weinstein and Trump, is out, after his March 31 contract was not renewed — American Media Inc. executive Dylan Howard is out after more than a decade at the publishing company, Variety has learned exclusively.
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, MediaPost, @jimrutenberg, @thedailybeast, @ewagmeister and The Wrap
Catherine Sweeney / Poynter:
Journalists and unions in the US are starting fundraisers to help laid-off and furloughed journalists, with one fund raising $38K+ from which 110 requested aid — After many of the country's most prominent newspaper companies implemented furloughs, journalists sprung to action to help their colleagues.
Dylan Byers / @dylanbyers:
Memo: BuzzFeed has begun a search for partners to take over brands and news operations in Germany and Brazil; failing that, those offices will close — #Break: BuzzFeed jettisoning Germany, Brazil offices, per internal memo: “We've begun an immediate search for business partners to take over our brands and news operations in both markets... If we aren't able to identify partners, we will unfortunately have to cease operations..”
Discussion:
@neilthackray and @baseballcrank