Mediagazer: The UK government has become a key source of advertising revenue for publishers during COVID-19, launching a three month partnership worth, sources say, £35M (Lara O'Reilly/Digiday)

7:55 AM ET, April 20, 2020

Top News:

Nour Haydar / ABC:

Australia orders the creation of a mandatory code of conduct requiring platforms like Google and Facebook to pay media businesses for news content — The Federal Government has ordered the competition watchdog to develop a mandatory code of conduct to govern commercial dealings between tech giants and news media companies.

Seth Schiesel / New York Times:

Facebook to launch a dedicated gaming app to let users create and watch live game streams, available on Android on Monday and on iOS when Apple approves it — Video games are surging in popularity in the pandemic. So Facebook is rolling out an app designed for creating and watching live gameplay.

Discussion: The Verge, Business Insider, Protocol, The Daily Dot, @tocelot, Engadget and Gizmodo, more at Techmeme »

Christopher Palmeri / Bloomberg:

Some linear cable TV channels are still not gaining viewers even under lockdowns, as ESPN and Disney were down 62% and 37% YoY respectively the week of April 12 — - Virus accelerates the trend to more online video viewing — Sports networks tumble, while cable news enjoys a surge

Discussion: @ashkan, @luxury, @chrispalmeri, @lucas_shaw and @alexweprin

Mark Di Stefano / Financial Times:

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle write to the editors of The Sun, Daily Express, Daily Mirror, and Daily Mail, promising to never work with them again — Former royal couple vow to cut off UK newspapers over ‘distorted and invasive’ stories — Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle …

Discussion: Press Gazette, The Guardian, @markdistef, Variety, @jimwaterson, @domponsford, @markdistef, @dionnegrant, @markborkowski, @piersmorgan and @thisislule

Hamish McKenzie / Disjointed:

Substack cofounder envisions rebuilding print media on the platform with publishers building a network of niche publications to share data and resources — I write all these late at night these days, so expect editing errors. I have a newborn. — 21 hr

Discussion: @marklittlenews, @hamishmckenzie and @hamishmckenzie

Ben Smith / New York Times:

How US State Department's decision to expel Chinese state media employees gave China an excuse to kick out American reporters right as the coronavirus took off — American journalists were showing the world the devastating effects of China's botched response to the coronavirus. Now, many have been kicked out.

Discussion: @nytimes, @mlcalderone, @stinson, @mattdpearce, @pekingmike, @ewong and Fox News

Financial Times:

Disney will stop paying more than 100,000 employees this week, nearly half its workforce, saving $500M per month, as its theme parks and hotels remain closed — Theme park owner risks reputational damage as it slashes costs more severely than rivals — Walt Disney will stop paying …

Discussion: @bengartside and @bloombergeric

Blake Robbins / Blake Robbins' Newsletter:

Profile of MrBeast, a 21-year-old YouTube content creator who pioneered video challenges and has ~34M subscribers, averaging ~1.5M+ new subscribers per month — Sign up now — MrBeast, aka Jimmy Donaldson, is the most interesting creator on YouTube. MrBeast is one of the fastest-growing YouTube creators.

Discussion: @blakeir

Lara O'Reilly / Digiday:

The UK government has become a key source of advertising revenue for publishers during COVID-19, launching a three month partnership worth, sources say, £35M — At a time when some advertisers are hitting pause on spending and others are avoiding appearing next to coronavirus articles …

Ann Cooper / Journalist's ResourceJournalist's Resource:

Q&A with CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon on recent press restrictions from governments over COVID-19 coverage and the lack of pushback from western leaders — As political leaders around the globe battle the coronavirus, a growing number of national governments are using the crisis …

Discussion: @niemanreports

Nicholas Diakopoulos / Columbia Journalism Review:

As journalists make predictions beyond elections amid the pandemic, they face a new ethical dilemma and must consider their own role in influencing outcomes — univac, the first general-purpose digital computer, was put into production in 1951. By 1952 journalists at CBS were already using …

Discussion: @cjr, @cjr, @cjr, @tiffanylohwater, @cjr, @lauraelizdavis and @ndiakopoulos

Hanaa' Tameez / Nieman Lab:

The Guardian and Kaiser Health News partner on Lost on the Frontline, a crowdsourced project documenting the lives of health care workers who died from COVID-19 — The joint Guardian-Kaiser Health News project also wants to include other hospital staff, home health aides, and nursing home workers.