Top News:
Justin Wise / The Hill:
18 US senators ask leadership to include aid in any future COVID-19 stimulus plan for recipients “who make a long-term commitment to high quality local news” — More than a dozen senators are calling for any future stimulus package addressing the economic fallout from the novel coronavirus …
Discussion:
Washington Post, The NewsGuild - CWA, @jonmurray, @jonmurray, @ariarmstrong, @stephenbeard, @jonmurray, @coreyhutchins, @jonmurray and @evertonbailey
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PEN America:
A coalition led by PEN America asks Congress for $5B+ in its pandemic response to help journalism by increasing CPB funding, adding funds for newsrooms, more — PEN America-led coalition letter calls on Congress to treat local news as an essential service — (Washington, DC) …
Oliver Darcy / CNN:
Pence's office says it won't let public health officials appear on CNN unless the outlet airs the part of the briefing with the VP and other task force members — New York (CNN Business)Vice President Mike Pence's office has declined to allow the nation's top health officials to appear …
Discussion:
@natashabertrand, Mediaite, Raw Story, @ericcolumbus and @oliverdarcy
Jason Gurwin / The Streamable:
Disney says Disney+ has 50M+ paid subscribers globally, and that its April 3 launch in India accounts for 8M Disney+ subscribers — Disney announced that the company has surpassed 50 million paid subscribers, following their launch in India and eight Western European countries (UK, Ireland …
Discussion:
Variety, /Film, @lucas_shaw, Hollywood Reporter, The Week, MediaNama, @xpangler, @edmundlee, @xpangler, @xpangler, @edmundlee, @trengriffin, MediaPost, AppleInsider, Adweek and Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »
Rick Edmonds / Poynter:
Sources: Hearst CEO Steven Swartz told publishers and editors that Hearst is giving a 1% bonus to employees and plans no furloughs or pay cuts amid the pandemic — The company's CEO instead announced raises and a bonus merit pool and eliminated budget targets for executive bonuses
Jim Waterson / The Guardian:
Leaked letter: UK culture secretary wrote ad industry leaders to urge them to stop blocking ads from running next to online trusted news stories about COVID-19 — Firms urged to abandon blocklisting as online stories generate record traffic but little revenue
Discussion:
@janemartinson, @sonnet_lumiere, @arvindhickman, @stephenkb, @ceylanwrites, @jimwaterson and Econsultancy
Patrick Frater / Variety:
Sony acquires a $400M, or 5%, stake in Bilibili, a Chinese online entertainment platform that spans video to mobile games and says it has 116M DAUs — Sony is to pay $400 million for a minority stake in Chinese online entertainment platform Bilibili. The deal values Bilibili at $8 billion.
Discussion:
The Wrap, TechCrunch and Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »
Clara Hendrickson / Brookings:
Half of the US counties that have reported COVID-19 cases are news deserts and 57% lack a daily paper — While the coronavirus may be a global pandemic, the public health crisis has revealed the critical role of local news outlets currently working tirelessly to cover the impact of the coronavirus on their communities.
Discussion:
The Guardian and @clarajanehen
Tristan Greene / The Next Web:
A look at the racist, right-wing conspiracy blog that Kayleigh McEnany, the new White House press secretary, ran until 2016 — I'm about three hours into a deep wallow in new US Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany's blog and - spoiler alert - it's a hot mess full of racism, Islamophobia, and right-wing conspiracy theories.
Discussion:
Washington Post, @waybackmachine, @jamesgleick, @sulliview and Washington Post
Paul Tassi / Forbes:
Quibi's Punk'd will air in parts of Fortnite, potentially setting the stage for other content deals, as Fortnite shifts to becoming a virtual meeting space — In yet another step forward to becoming the Metaverse, dataminers have pulled out information about a new playlist coming to Fortnite which will …
Discussion:
@peteschroeder
Kerry Flynn / CNN:
Ten health reporters from across the globe discuss dropping their other assignments to cover the biggest story of their careers while also trying to stay safe — New York (CNN Business)In 2017, The Washington Post health reporter Lena Sun wrote, “The Trump administration is ill-prepared for a global pandemic.”
Discussion:
@armstrongdrew, @cj_teague, @baldwin_sydney, @jennpaganelli, @stephaniemlee and @kerrymflynn
Gaspard Sebag / Bloomberg:
France orders Google to pay publishers to display article snippets, starting from October of 2019, and gives three months to come to terms with publishers — - Watchdog says Google may have caused ‘serious’ harm to press — Antitrust agency issues interim measures after press complaint
Discussion:
Reuters and Engadget, more at Techmeme »
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