Top News:
CNN:
Twitter pulls funding for BuzzFeed's AM to DM due to the business impact of COVID-19, forcing BuzzFeed to suspend the show, with staffers' last day on April 28 — Some right-wing media personalities are encouraging Americans to protest stay-at-home orders, arguing it is time to start to re-open the economy.
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, @bfnewsunion, @hshaban, Variety, @oliverdarcy, Newser, Mediaite and abc7NY
RELATED:
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Nielsen: 31M people watched NBC, CBS, and ABC's evening shows between March 16 and April 7, a 42% rise YoY; PBS' NewsHour says its audience rose 34% — Every Friday evening, Steve Hartman takes “CBS Evening News” viewers “On The Road,” in an end-of-show segment that was originally devised …
Discussion:
Poynter, @reportinglabs, @sarajust, @tednesi and @cbsnewspress
David Robb / Deadline:
WGA East files complaint with NLRB, accusing NBCU of union busting by reassigning staffers from unionized Peacock Productions, now defunct, to NBC News Studios — UPDATED with NBCUniversal response, 1:49 PM: The WGA East today accused NBCUniversal of “union busting” in a dispute over the shuttering …
Discussion:
VICE, Writers Guild of America … and Multichannel News
Jason Lynch / Adweek:
AMC rolls out Upfront Connect for online sales, with Screening Room, which airs first looks at upcoming shows, and gives access to its branded content studio — Access is also free to new branded studio The Content Room — Key insights: — The site includes information …
Discussion:
MediaPost, Deadline, Ad Age and Broadcasting & Cable
Dan Parks / The Chronicle of Philanthropy:
American Journalism Project, which supports nonprofit local news sites, names Sarabeth Berman as its new CEO, previously head of public affairs at Teach for All — Struggling news organizations have benefited in recent years from a growing number of philanthropic efforts to support journalism.
Steve Herman / Voice of America:
Trump calls Voice of America's work “disgusting”, threatens to adjourn Congress so he can appoint his candidates to posts, including head of the agency over VOA — WHITE HOUSE - U.S. President Donald Trump is threatening to adjourn Congress because lawmakers have not approved …
Discussion:
@mitchellreports, Mediaite, Vox, Boing Boing, The Nation, @jbenton, @coreypein, @noahbierman, @miafarrow, @svdate, @christinawilkie, @farhip, @w7voa, @acosta, @pekingmike, @christinawilkie, @wehearpodcast, @aru_pande, @tedstew, @meetthepress, @jkuhnhenn, @emzorbit, @rosieogrady53, Business Insider, Vanity Fair, Mediaite, Deadline and The Hill
Kevin G. Hall / McClatchy Washington Bureau:
McClatchy's two largest creditors, Chatham Asset Management and Brigade Capital Management, offer to buy the company, setting a price “well in excess” of $300M — McClatchy's largest creditors offered to buy the company Thursday, a move that, if approved, would kick off …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal
Jon Lafayette / Broadcasting & Cable:
Ad Council launches a programmatic private marketplace to which media companies can donate inventory for digital PSAs to fight COVID-19 — Cadreon, Trade Desk, Acxiom, EMX power pro bono programmatic — Working with several ad tech companies, the Ad Council has launched …
Discussion:
Adweek, Ad Age, AdExchanger, MediaPost and Campaign
Megan Graham / CNBC:
IAB survey of 200+ US publishers: 98% expect lower 2020 revenue; 88% of news publishers had buyers ask to cancel campaigns and 86% said advertisers paused ads — - Most online publishers in the U.S. polled in a new Internet Advertising Bureau survey say they've had advertisers cancel or pause ad campaigns with them.
Josh Stearns / SSIR Blog:
New Jersey has allocated $2M in its budget for its local news funding bill, which called for $5M, and released $1M since January — In January, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy released $1 million in a groundbreaking effort to shore up local news across the state.
Discussion:
@jcstearns, @rispolimike, @newsbyschmidt and DemocracyFund
Gene Park / Washington Post:
Jason Schreier, who has covered work conditions in game development, is leaving Kotaku, citing dismay with G/O Media; Gizmodo EIC Kelly Bourdet quit Wednesday — Jason Schreier, a journalist known in the video game industry for covering working conditions inside tight-lipped game development studios …
Luke Ottenhof / The Guardian:
A look at Means TV, a worker-owned, leftist entertainment media cooperative supported entirely by its 3,700 subscribers, most of whom pay $10 per month — The entertainment media cooperative considers itself a ‘post-capitalist’ streaming service - and a critical counterweight to rightwing media
Discussion:
@dogsectionpress