Mediagazer: Starz files lawsuit against MGM for allegedly violating their ~$70M exclusivity agreements and allowing hundreds of films and TV shows to run on rival platforms (Gene Maddaus/Variety)

8:45 PM ET, May 4, 2020

Top News:

Ren LaForme / Poynter:

List of winners of the 2020 Pulitzer Prizes, including The Courier-Journal in Kentucky, The Baltimore Sun, NYT, WaPo, Reuters, Anchorage Daily News, and others — The winners of the 2020 Pulitzer Prizes are being announced in atypical fashion Monday afternoon.

Marc Tracy / New York Times:

The Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica were awarded the Pulitzer for public service, at a time when local journalism is in crisis, and NYT won three prizes — The Pulitzer board makes The Times a winner in three categories. The Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica take a major prize at a time when local journalism is in crisis.

Discussion: Mediaite, Poynter, Washington Post, @dabeard, @poniewozik, @palafo, @mehreenzahra, @kimseverson, @kevinkdrew, @palafo, @mschwirtz, @yamiche, @palafo and @palafo

Benjamin Lee / The Guardian:
The first ever Pulitzer for audio reporting went to the podcast This American Life along with Molly O'Toole of LA Times and Emily Green, a Vice News freelancer

Discussion: Newser, NPR, @pulitzerprizes and @iraglass

Hollywood Reporter:

Telemundo chief Cesar Conde to oversee NBC News, MSNBC, and CNBC as chairman of NBCUniversal News Group, succeeding Andy Lack, who will be leaving the company — NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell is reorganizing his senior leadership team at the company, marking the first major executive restructuring …

Discussion: New York Times, Mediaite, @marcatracy, Mediaite, CNN, @brianstelter, @marcatracy, @thr, @slthomas, @jasonlynch, @nytimes, @laceyvrose, @jeremymbarr, @sil_lai, @kimmasters and @oliverdarcy

Tim Baysinger / The Wrap:

Mark Lazarus to oversee all of NBCUniversal's entertainment TV operations, including the Peacock streaming service, as part of a massive company-wide reorg — Mark Lazarus will assume oversight of all of NBCUniversal's entertainment TV operations as part of a massive company-wide resturcturing.

Discussion: Ad Age, Deadline, The Wrap, Deadline, Variety, TVNewser, Broadcasting & Cable, Adweek, MediaPost, Fox News, Breitbart and @oliverdarcy

News Corp:

Almar Latour, Barron's Group publisher and EVP at Dow Jones, appointed by News Corp to be Dow Jones' CEO and The Wall Street Journal's publisher starting May 15 — News Corp announced today the appointment of Almar Latour as the new Chief Executive Officer of Dow Jones and Publisher of The Wall Street Journal.

Discussion: The Wrap, New York Times, Adweek, Talking Biz News, @davidmwessel and Wall Street Journal

Gabriel Sherman / Vanity Fair:

Sources: investor group aligned with Donald Trump Jr. and the Dallas-based Hicks family is buying a ~$200M stake in One America News Network to rival Fox News — Possibly hedging against a 2020 loss, the Trump family builds ties to a network that's much more loyal than Fox.

Discussion: @mlcalderone, @david_j_roth, @gabrielsherman, @kthorjensen, @seanbonner, @vanityfair, @johnwhuey, @cianaf, @bkoo, @reillyadam, @drvox and @giacomonyt

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:

Poynter Institute launches a COVID-19 chatbot on WhatsApp that uses information from 100+ independent fact-checkers in 70+ countries to debunk falsehoods — You can now debunk thousands of coronavirus-related hoaxes with a few texts on WhatsApp . — Poynter Institute …

Discussion: Poynter, Adweek, @hari, @poynter, @glennkesslerwp, TechCrunch and RAPPLER, more at Techmeme »

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:

A reflection on the diminished power of local newspapers, 50 years after Kent State's Akron Beacon Journal chronicled the death of four Vietnam protestors — Robert Giles, the second-in-command at the Akron Beacon Journal during a fateful moment 50 years ago, recalls what his boss said as he left …

Discussion: @laurahelmuth, @sulliview, @niemanfdn, @alanmillernlp, @larry_irving, @bykenarmstrong and TIME

Deborah Netburn / Los Angeles Times:

The EIC of Santa Barbara News-Press leaves after the newspaper published an editorial by owner Wendy McCaw that compared stay-at-home orders to Nazi Germany — UPDATED 4 PM — The Santa Barbara News-Press lost its editor in chief this weekend after the newspaper published an editorial …

Discussion: @azaleamonkeys, @craigcalcaterra, @mlcalderone, @kailijoy and @nycsouthpaw

Jason Gurwin / The Streamable:

FuboTV says it had 315K paid subscribers, up 37% YoY, at the end of 2019 and revenue of $146.5M, up 75% YoY — As part of their first shareholders letter, after merging with FaceBank Group in March, fuboTV disclosed subscriber metrics for the first time since October 2018 when they shared …

Discussion: Variety and Broadcasting & Cable

Dade Hayes / Deadline:

Source: Pluto TV and Verizon signed a streaming distribution deal spanning pay TV, connected TV, and mobile — EXCLUSIVE: Pluto TV and Verizon are breaking some new ground in streaming, unveiling what they call the industry's first comprehensive distribution deal spanning pay-TV, connected TV and mobile, Deadline has learned.

Discussion: The Streamable

Associated Press:

Amnesty International says journalism in Egypt has effectively become a crime with at least 12 journalists detained in crackdowns in the wake of COVID-19 — Egyptian government using pandemic to tighten control of media and quash dissent, rights group reports

Discussion: @cairo67unedited and @dannypostel

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More News:

Gene Maddaus / Variety:
Starz files lawsuit against MGM for allegedly violating their ~$70M exclusivity agreements and allowing hundreds of films and TV shows to run on rival platforms

Discussion: The Wrap and Hollywood Reporter

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Tumblr says it's removing ~4.47M reblogs of original posts previously suspended for hate speech, using human moderators to keep reblogs with “educational” value

Discussion: Tumblr Staff, @blackamazon and @bluechoochoo

Marc Tracy / New York Times:
Profile of Rich Jackson, who led Herald-Times in Bloomington, Indiana until being let go on Wed. and is now living in a Motel 6, blogging as The Homeless Editor

Discussion: The NewsGuild - CWA

Todd Spangler / Variety:
PewDiePie signs an exclusive livestreaming deal with YouTube, following similar deals between YouTube and other stars in recent months

Discussion: @blackamazon, @pshanley88, The Verge and Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »

Brian Steinberg / Variety:
ESPN, scrambling to fill its programming grid, strikes a deal to show six live regular-season games per week from KBO League, S. Korea's baseball organization

Discussion: @imjasondiamond, The Wrap and Seeking Alpha

Conor Gallagher / The Irish Times:
Ireland's National Union of Journalists releases a rescue plan for embattled Irish media industry, including calls for a 6% “windfall tax” on tech giants

Discussion: @kenfoxe, @ciananbrennan and @mathewi

Billboard:
SoundCloud is launching its own Twitch channel with a slate of original programming that includes panel conversations, music sets, and more

Discussion: SoundCloud Blog, Variety, The Verge and Music Business Worldwide

Mark Sweney / The Guardian:
Study of UK's flagship TV and radio news programmes in March shows 2.7 male experts were interviewed for every female expert, a three-year high imbalance

Discussion: @deeyah_khan and @rogerkline

Earlier Picks:

Meggie Gates / Consequence of Sound:
Pop artists are embracing a future where TikTok, Twitter, and Twitch dictate what's memeable and successful, with Lil Nas X, Drake, and Lizzo leading the pack

Carl Miller / BBC:
Investigation by BBC and ISD think tank into the COVID-19 “infodemic” on Facebook finds right-wing misinformation had far more interactions than the WHO and CDC

Discussion: @carljackmiller, @carljackmiller, @carljackmiller, @amaramarasingam, @carljackmiller, @carljackmiller, @carljackmiller, @carljackmiller, @byjacobward, @noupside and @jason_kint, more at Techmeme »

Aidan Connaughton / Pew Research Center:
Five takeaways from global surveys on press freedom: those with more education value a free press, most people say the press is doing a good job, and more

Discussion: @mikeisaac, @cliffordlevy and @billy_penn

Catherine Sweeney / Poynter:
Reporters covering the COVID-19 crisis may be more exposed to “anticipatory grief” that comes with unpredictable and prolonged stories with mounting losses

Discussion: Agence France-Presse, @davidclinchnews, @cartercenter, @itsren, @kristenhare, @poynter, @cathjsweeney, @poynter and @editorpublisher

Devex:
The economic fallout of the pandemic on news orgs worldwide makes global efforts like the $1B/year International Fund for Public Interest Media even more vital

Discussion: @luminategroup, @bbcmediaaction, @antelava, Politico and @jennymedina

Hanaa' Tameez / Nieman Lab:
How Politico, NYT, NBC's Nightly News, and a freelance journalist in SF are producing projects that inform kids about the pandemic without scaring them

Discussion: American Press Institute, Digiday, @nytimespr, @hanaatameez, @niemanlab, @saffronhowden and @tracischweikert

Ben Smith / New York Times:
A look at the growing role of news unions, now with more diverse leaders and class consciousness, and their potential to shape publisher-platform relationships

From Techmeme:

Bloomberg:
Sources: Canadian authorities arrest Alexander “Connor” Moucka, who is allegedly behind the June and July 2024 hacks of up to 165 Snowflake users including AT&T

Juli Clover / MacRumors:
iOS 18.2's second developer beta shows a “daily limit” for free access to “advanced” ChatGPT via Siri and an option to upgrade to ChatGPT Plus in Settings

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is exploring a push into smart glasses by conducting an internal study, codenamed Atlas, to gather employee feedback on products on the market

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