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:
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Guardian, The Banner, CNN, Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Media Nation, Washington Post, Baltimore Business Journal, @newsguyusa@flipboard.social, Axios, Michael Sallah on LinkedIn, @pittbandphoto.bsky.social, @audacityofdespair.bsky.social, Straight Arrow News, 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
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
RELATED:
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
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
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, PR Week UK, BMI, Adweek, campaignlive.com, Adweek, Ad Age, The Drum and Wall Street Journal
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, Variety, New York Post, Los Angeles Times, Deadline and Bloomberg
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:
Associated Press, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, @mrericmartin, Screen and New York Times
Corbin Bolies / The Wrap:
Sources: Paramount pulls ads from The Ankler and tells staff to freeze out the outlet after an Ankler columnist was seen with bags of “Block the Merger” buttons — The company's move followed a conference call with The Ankler's top executives, sources say
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/
Hanaa' Tameez / Nieman Lab:
A CNTI survey of 43 US “indie info providers” finds only five can fully fund their lifestyle via content creation, while over 50% can't fund it at all — “Journalism isn't immune to the larger trend of the gig-ification of labor.” — There isn't yet a clear playbook …
Discussion:
Center for News …, @tongli.bsky.social and @dankennedy.net
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
