Mediagazer: Layoffs are under way at newspapers owned by Gannett; one employee has tracked at least 24 newsroom staffers affected, with 40 pressroom positions cut (Barbara Allen/Poynter)

12:45 AM ET, February 28, 2020

Top News:

Dan Froomkin / Press Watch:

Top media outlets normalized Trump's often incoherent press briefing Wednesday on the coronavirus, downplaying his campaign-style insults and slinging of blame — Here is some of what Donald Trump had to say Wednesday evening at a briefing intended to inform and reassure the American public about a public-health emergency:

Discussion: @brhodes, CNN, New York Times, Talking Points Memo, The Daily Beast, Washington Post, @froomkin, @froomkin, @froomkin, @brianbeutler, @b52malmet, @vermontgmg, The Hill and The Hill

Barbara Allen / Poynter:

Layoffs are under way at newspapers owned by Gannett; one employee has tracked at least 24 newsroom staffers affected, with 40 pressroom positions cut — Layoffs continued Thursday at Gannett newspapers, which recently merged with GateHouse to form the nation's largest newspaper chain.

Business Wire:
New Gannett reports revenue of $699M and net loss of $95M, print ad revenue of $241M and digital ad rev of $90.1M; Gannett expects $60M in annual savings

Discussion: @apantazi, @maryannbatlle, @bysarajane, @kerrymflynn, @kerrymflynn, MarketWatch, @peterlattman and @cristymsilva

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Discovery names Hulu's Lisa Holme head of direct-to-consumer content strategy, in charge of commissioning and acquiring US content — Lisa Holme, a Hulu veteran who had been leading its international expansion strategy, has joined Discovery in a newly created role to oversee content …

Discussion: Deadline and Multichannel News

Anna Nicolaou / Financial Times:
Discovery to grow Dplay, its on-demand European streaming service, to 18 countries in 2020; Joyn, its ad-supported German streaming service, has 7M users

Discussion: @discoveryinctv

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:
Discovery reports Q4 earnings of $476M, up 77% YoY, on revenue of $2.87B, up 2% YoY; ad revenue grew 1% and distribution 5% thanks in part to carriage on MVPDs

Discussion: Variety, @thr, @thr, The Wrap, Broadcasting & Cable, Discovery Communications and The Streamable

Jason Gurwin / The Streamable:

YouTube TV is dropping Fox Regional Sports Networks and YES Network on February 29, calling the move “a reflection of the rising cost of sports content” — Just before the start on baseball season, YouTube TV is about to lose 21 Fox Regional Sports Networks and YES Network beginning February 29th.

Discussion: Awful Announcing, Awful Announcing, MediaPost, Variety, @onaircoop, @davidcarroll3, @randinaughton, Cord Cutters News, Radio & Television …, The Streamable and Broadcasting & Cable

New York Post:

Carson Griffith, tapped in January 2019 to revive Gawker, sues the Daily Beast over a story she claims portrayed her as racist and homophobic — A former Gawker editor has sued the Daily Beast over an explosive exposé last year that portrayed her as racist and homophobic …

LaToya Drake / The Keyword:

Google News Initiative Innovation Challenge opens applications today for projects focusing on diversity, equity, and inclusion in journalism — Most communities in North America are diverse. They are comprised of people of various ethnicities, income levels, and countries of origin.

Discussion: Digiday, @markyk and @googlenewsinit

James Hale / Tubefilter:

YouTube says it is testing a way for creators to sell ads directly to brands “with whom they already have a relationship” — In the perhaps not-too-distant future, YouTube will let creators sell ad space on their own videos. — “We're experimenting with a new way for creators …

Discussion: @profcarroll, @taylorlorenz, The Verge and @digiphile

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

UK regulator IPSO dismisses five complaints from the ruler of Emirate of Sharjah about nine stories in the Sun, Mail, and Metro newspapers on his son's death — The ruler of the Emirate of Sharjah has lost complaints about coverage of his son's death in the Sun, Mail and Metro newspapers …

Discussion: @ipsonews

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

The Boston Globe partners with Applied XLabs, which aims to help newsrooms automatically gather and process data and generate insights — Applied XLabs is a new startup building tools that can automate data-gathering for journalists — and eventually, for knowledge workers in other industries.

Discussion: The Boston Globe, @hilszy and @fpmarconi

iQIYI, Inc.:

iQIYI reports Q4 revenues reached $1.1B, a 7% increase YoY, as membership grew 21% to 106.9M subscribers — iQIYI, Inc. (Nasdaq: IQ) ("iQIYI" or the “Company"), an innovative market-leading online entertainment service in China, today announced its unaudited financial results for the fourth quarter …

more at Techmeme »

Sahil Patel / Wall Street Journal:

NBCU launches NBC Spot On, a streaming ads business for its local TV stations group, as advertisers shift budgets from local spot TV ads to streaming TV — The company plans to hire up to 20 staffers for a new local ads business tasked with tackling the surging local TV streaming ads category

Discussion: FierceVideo and PR Newswire

Li Yuan / New York Times:

In China, people openly criticize state media as Beijing sends hundreds of journalists to Wuhan and other regions to publish stories of sacrifice — Beijing is pushing tales of perseverance, but many young people are openly questioning the Communist Party's message.

Discussion: @jeffgiesea, ABC17NEWS, @brianstelter, @jeffgiesea, @senrickscott and @marklittlenews

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