Top News:
Aaron Freedman / American Prospect:
Five years ago, unions barely existed in digital media, and now 35 digital media brands are unionized; organizing continues amid the pandemic — Five years ago, unions barely existed in digital media. Today, they may save the industry from the worst of the COVID-19 depression—and provide a model to other working professionals.
Discussion:
@michaelsocolow, @cb1rd, @ddayen, @ddayen, @jeffyoung, @rebekahlsanders, @dylanmatt, @hearstunion, @saraqdavid, @bfnewsunion, @jeffyoung, @kerrymflynn, @freedaaron, @caitmunro, @hearstunion and @yourmandevine
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Meg James / Los Angeles Times:
LA Times Guild accepts 20% cut in pay and hours for its members for 12 weeks starting May 10, saving the paper $2M+; the guild represents nearly 440 journalists — Los Angeles Times' newsroom guild agreed Friday to accept a 20% reduction in pay and hours for its members amid a devastating decline …
Ben Smith / New York Times:
News Corp says David Rhodes, a former Fox News exec and once CBS News president, has been advising News Corp's UK operation, speculating a return to Fox News — David Rhodes, a news executive who has held leadership roles at CBS News and Bloomberg, has been advising the media empire's British operation.
Discussion:
@benyt, Variety, Financial Times, @jeffjarvis, @bristei and @oliverdarcy
Paul Farhi / Washington Post:
Pence's staff threatens to punish a VOA reporter who tweeted that Pence's office told journalists to wear masks on a clinic visit, a rule Pence didn't follow — Vice President Pence's office has threatened to retaliate against a reporter who revealed that Pence's office had told journalists …
Discussion:
@w7voa, Vanity Fair, @jaysbookman, Mediaite, @vanityfair, @deborahblum, @julibriskman, Jezebel, them., The Wrap, @glubold, PRESS RUN, @michelmcqmartin, @suzannenossel, @bradmossesq, @boutrousted, @kathleencarrll, The Week, @jcstearns, @joenbc, @devindra, @kimmasters, @riegerreport, @caramodisett, @greta, @mrdanzak, @yoda, @brettbruen, @sangernyt, @davidfolkenflik, @pbump, @amy_siskind, New York Post, Raw Story, New York Times and Fox News
Seb Joseph / Digiday:
Amazon's ad business grew 44% YoY in Q1 to $3.91B, faster than Google and Facebook, but the typical advertiser's spend/day was halved at end of March vs January — The coronavirus lockdowns have helped Amazon swallow more ad dollars. That's likely to be a long-term gain for the retailer-cum-ad-business.
Discussion:
Adweek, TechCrunch, Vox, VentureBeat, AdExchanger and Protocol, more at Techmeme »
Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:
New Tow Center report on digital security in journalism finds many news outlets fail to provide the training, resources, or encouragement to protect journalists — “This is what it is to do journalism in tech — in an online world. It's time to put the typewriters down and fire up the VPN and get out there and do your job."
Discussion:
@niemanlab, @dartcenter, @vivian, @cjr, @freedomofpress, Columbia Journalism Review and Columbia Journalism Review
Mark Di Stefano / @markdistef:
Financial Times media and technology correspondent Mark Di Stefano, who had been suspended for accessing confidential Zoom calls at rival publications, resigns — Hi, letting everyone know today was my last day at the FT. This afternoon I offered my resignation. Thank you everyone who has given support. I'm now going to take some time away and log off x
Discussion:
@911corlebra777, @mcelhearn, @matthewwells, @lalpert1, @benyt, @tomgara, @film_girl, @alexwickham, @benyt, The Guardian, @stuartmillar159, @katiejmbaker, @jonathanvswan, @rosiegray, @josephmdurso and New York Post
ABC:
Judge orders Google to pay AU$40K in a defamation case, calls Google a publisher, saying it's designed by humans who can remove objectionable content — Google has been ordered to pay $40,000 in damages to a Melbourne lawyer after a Supreme Court of Victoria ruling found the internet giant was a publisher, and had defamed the man.
Discussion:
@holden, @jbenton, @joshbbornstein, @jbenton, Reclaim The Net and Beyond Search
Alayna Treene / Axios:
Trump's new press secretary Kayleigh McEnany held the first official White House press briefing since March 11, 2019, and claims “I will never lie to you” — President Trump's new press secretary Kayleigh McEnany held her first White House briefing on Friday, the first official press briefing since March 11, 2019.
Discussion:
New York Times, The Wrap, Washington Post, Vox, Washington Post, The Guardian, New York Daily News, HuffPost, Hollywood Reporter, Forbes, Bloomberg, FactCheck.org, Breitbart, Politico, Mediaite, Washington Post, @atrupar, Fox News, Fox News, Slate, NBC News, @atrupar, The Independent, Mediaite, Raw Story, @alaynatreene, Mediaite, @factcheckdotorg, @aaronblake, Fox News, @yamiche, @anncoulter, @ddale8, Raw Story and @acosta
William Turvill / Press Gazette:
SimilarWeb figures indicate the BBC was the biggest news site in the first half of April with ~40M average daily visits, up from 33.8M at the same time in 2019 — Most of the world's biggest news websites saw their online traffic drop off in early April after interest in Covid-19 peaked …
Discussion:
@marklittlenews
Variety:
Poll of US adults finds 40% of those who go to concerts, movies sports events, and theme parks would go again before a vaccine was available, and 40% wouldn't — Universal Music Publishing Unveils ‘Solutions,’ Network of Sync Offerings for Film, TV, Advertising
KC Ifeanyi / Fast Company:
Pandora founder Tim Westergren launches Sessions, a free live-streaming platform for artists where audiences can leave tips, in beta in 200+ countries — Disillusioned after leaving Pandora, Tim Westergren set out to create a better kind of streaming platform. Can he save struggling artists while redeeming himself?
Discussion:
@pennyfractions and CelebrityAccess, more at Techmeme »