Top News:
Katie Robertson / New York Times:
Baltimore Banner parent The Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism acquires the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from Block Communications to run it as a nonprofit — The Venetoulis Institute of Local Journalism, which operates The Baltimore Banner, has bought The Post-Gazette.
Discussion:
Associated Press, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Banner, The Guardian, CNN, Wall Street Journal, Media Nation, Washington Times, Washington Post, Tim Franklin on LinkedIn, Baltimore Business Journal, @emilymullin.bsky.social, @newsguyusa@flipboard.social, Michael Sallah on LinkedIn, @pittbandphoto.bsky.social, Straight Arrow News, @audacityofdespair.bsky.social, Axios, @lenfestinstitute.org, Pittsburgh Business Journal, @pras_s, @pittbandphoto.bsky.social, @lisafung.bsky.social, Bob Cohn on LinkedIn, @producertory.bsky.social, @katie_robertson, @lawrencehurley.bsky.social and Dave Lee
Ali Lyon / City A.M.:
Axel Springer says it received approval from the UK Department for Culture, Media, and Sport to proceed with its £575M deal to acquire the Telegraph Media Group — The years-long saga over the Daily Telegraph's ownership is poised to reach a conclusion, after the government announced …
Discussion:
Telegraph, The Wrap, The Independent, The Standard, @bron_maher, Axel Springer SE, Press Gazette, Financial Times, Politico, Irish Independent and RTÉ
Rick Porter / The Hollywood Reporter:
Nielsen releases its February Gauge reports after a delay over a methodology dispute; NBCUniversal-Versant dethroned YouTube for the largest TV viewing share — A dispute over methodology changes pushed the release of February's summary back several weeks.
Discussion:
MediaPost, Media Play News, Nielsen and The Wrap
RELATED:
Patrick Coffee / Wall Street Journal:
An NBCU executive says Nielsen's monthly report, the Gauge, overestimates streaming viewership and differs from the Big Data + Panel report, confusing marketers — The measurement firm has undercounted traditional TV viewership at the expense of its largest clients, according to some network execs
Discussion:
MediaPost, Dow Jones Newswires and Deadline
Leo Marchandon / Reuters:
Publicis reports Q1 net revenue organic growth of 4.5% YoY, meeting company-provided consensus, and reaffirms its FY 2026 net organic growth outlook of 4% to 5% — Publicis (PUBP.PA) on Tuesday reported first-quarter net revenue organic growth of 4.5%, meeting company-provided consensus …
Discussion:
Financial Times, Publicis Groupe, Marketing Dive, Niel Bornman on LinkedIn, PR Week UK, BMI, campaignlive.com, Adweek, Ad Age, Adweek, The Drum and Wall Street Journal
Rob Maaddi / Associated Press:
NFL reporter Dianna Russini resigns from The Athletic after photos of her with New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel prompted an internal investigation — NFL reporter Dianna Russini has resigned from The Athletic less than a week after published photos of her and New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel …
Discussion:
TMZ.com, The Independent, The US Sun, Page Six, USA Today, Us Weekly, The Portland Press Herald, E! Online, HELLO! and Barrett Media
RELATED:
Caroline Davies / The Guardian:
Gary Neville's soccer media group The Overlap acquires Mark Goldbridge's The United Stand and That's Football YouTube channels, a source says for seven figures — Exclusive: Neville has criticised “those bloody YouTubers” - but The Overlap has now acquired channels with 3.7m subscribers for seven-figure sum
Discussion:
The Sun, @mikekeegan_dm, @footiewriter, RTÉ, The Athletic, Elliot Renton on LinkedIn, Daily Mail, Broadcast, Global, Mirror, GB News, BBC and City A.M.
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Memo: Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro informs staff of layoffs; source: around 1,000 jobs are expected to be eliminated as the company unifies marketing — “Given the fast-moving pace of our industries, this requires us to constantly assess how to foster a more agile and technologically-enabled workforce …
Discussion:
Adweek, Reuters, Business Insider, The Wrap, Glenn Moss on LinkedIn, Variety, Leonardo Fontes on LinkedIn, New York Post, Los Angeles Times, Deadline and Bloomberg
Lever for Change:
Reid Hoffman and Lever for Change award $9M to CalMatters to scale its Digital Democracy tools, which give access to legislative data and use AI for analysis — Reid Hoffman and Lever for Change have awarded $9 million to CalMatters through The Trust in American Institutions Challenge …
Discussion:
Reid Hoffman on LinkedIn, Neil Chase on LinkedIn and CalMatters
The Wrap:
Sources: Ted Sarandos met with several heads of exhibition at CinemaCon in Las Vegas and discussed the possibility of putting more Netflix films into theaters — The co-CEO's pursuit of Warner Bros. seems to have marked a change of heart — Ted Sarandos might be changing his tune when it comes to theatrical exhibition.
Discussion:
IndieWire, Associated Press, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, @mrericmartin, Screen and New York Times
Ted Alcorn / @tedalcorn:
[Thread] A dashboard shows the past 25+ years of NYT coverage, across 1.5B words, 2.2M articles, and 26K reporters; Israel-Gaza dominates international coverage — I built a dashboard to explore the last 25+ years of @nytimes coverage. 1.5B words, 2.2M articles, 26K reporters. It's fascinating to look at the world's preeminent news organization not as daily stories but as patterns of attention, ebbing and flowing. https://tedalcorn.github.io/ nyt/
Ted Johnson / Deadline:
WGAE members at CBS News 24/7 unanimously ratify a three-year contract with salary increases and AI protections, including 1.5x severance for layoffs due to AI — The contract was ratified unanimously by the 60-member bargaining unit, the guild said. — According to the guild …
Discussion:
The Wrap
