New York Times Under a Shadow Amid Podcast Probe
New York Times: "Caliphate" marked a major step toward the New York Times's realization of its multimedia ambitions. The presentation carried an obvious, if implicit assumption: the central character of the narrative wasn't making the whole story up. That assumption...
Philadelphia Inquirer to Cut 500 Staffers in Printer Sale
Philadelphia Inquirer: The Philadelphia Inquirer will close its printing plant and shift production of its newspapers to a New Jersey contractor. The cost-cutting move will put as many as 500 employees out of work, but is aimed at ensuring the survival of the media...
Analysis: Media’s Pandemic Reckoning is Far from Over
Vanity Fair: Just as new embers of coronavirus transmission are flaring up, so too are fresh signs of media peril. The two publications that found themselves, unfortunately, in the headlines last week aren't exactly the most major players, but they are noteworthy and...
Facebook Dominates Social Media Rivals in Political Ads
CNBC: Google has dramatically limited targeting for political ads and Twitter banned them altogether, leaving Facebook as the only game in town for many campaigns. "For better or worse — mostly worse — Facebook is the de facto place you go." Vice News: Facebook has...
Apple Extends Free Streaming TV Trial for Three Months
CNBC: Apple will extend some Apple TV+ subscriptions on a free one-year trial for three additional months. When Apple TV+ launched last fall, Apple bundled a free one-year subscription with the purchase of an Apple product, immediately boosting the number of people...
Disney Snubs Theaters with Streaming Release of ‘Soul’
Reuters: Pixar animated movie "Soul," which had been set to hit theaters in November, will instead debut on the Disney+ streaming service on Christmas Day. Disney is testing new ways to release first-run movies while the coronavirus pandemic limits attendance at...
AT&T to Lay Off Thousands of Staffers at WarnerMedia
Wall Street Journal: WarnerMedia is restructuring its workforce as it seeks to reduce costs by as much as 20% as the coronavirus pandemic drains income. Thousands of layoffs are expected. Variety: Jean-Paul Colaco, a veteran of Hulu and Apple, has been named head of...
ViacomCBS: CNET Cuts Staffers Ahead of Closing Sale
Gamesindustry.biz: Multiple employees have tweeted about being laid off from CNET, with some tying the job losses to the group's pending acquisition by Red Ventures. The new CNET owner says it will "retain a vast majority of CNET Media Group employees," but "cannot...
Fox Corp Adds TV News Offering to Free Streamer Tubi
Cord Cutters News: The free streaming service Tubi has announced the launch of "News on Tubi," bringing live, premium news content to viewers for free. The new section will include content from FoxTelevision Stations, Bloomberg TV, NBC News Now, PeopleTV, CBC,...
Comcast’s NBC Drops Performer Over Covid Protocols
Associated Press: Morgan Wallen has been dropped from performing on "Saturday Night Live" after breaking the show's Covid-19 protocols. The country singer posted a two-plus minute video on social media Wednesday about the show's decision. He apologized after he was...
Disney Veterans Team for Investments in Media, Tech
Wall Street Journal: Tom Staggs, Kevin Mayer and Salil Mehta, all former high-ranking Disney executives, are teaming up with basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal and one of Martin Luther King Jr.'s sons to make acquisitions in media and technology. The group created a...
ICM Enters Sports with Buy of English Soccer’s Stellar
Bloomberg: Hollywood talent agency ICM has agreed to buy London-based Stellar Group to move into the lucrative world of English soccer. While many of its peers are firing staff and slimming down due to the pandemic, ICM is using $150 million it raised last year to...
Sirius XM’s Howard Stern Has No Plans to Join Spotify
New York Post: Howard Stern's team reportedly had "preliminary talks" to join Spotify, which didn't get very far. Sources close to Spotify confirm that the Swedish streaming giant is not in a bidding war for Stern and has no plans to poach him. "There was never a...
iHeartMedia’s Rush Limbaugh Plans Trump Radio Rally
Mediaite: Conservative radio king Rush Limbaugh announced Thursday that President Trump will be holding a "virtual radio rally" on the Friday edition of his show. "It will be special, and I am really looking forward to it." Limbaugh says listeners will have the...
Hearst Offers ‘Hard Truth’ Forum Across Media Brands
WCVB: The urgent conversation about race, equality and justice will be the focus of a live, multimedia, interactive forum across many of America's most familiar media brands, with the debut of "The Hard Truth About Bias: Images and Reality," a one-hour digital program...
Conde Nast Plans First Guest-Curated Box of Products
MediaPost: GQ is partnering with NBA star Kevin Love on its first guest-curated product box. The quarterly box product offering launched in January 2018. It is sent to readers for $50 each or $190 a year. Every box is valued at over $200 and ships free, with GQ...
Meredith, Hearst Plot Reinvention of Fashion Magazines
Business of Fashion: As Covid-19 rippled around the world this year, fashion's top editors faced a new challenge: how to remain relevant. That fashion magazines continue to play a crucial role in the cultural landscape is not up for dispute, says InStyle...
Forbes to Drop the Word ‘Minority’ from News Coverage
Forbes: Forbes will no longer use the word minority to identify or classify races of people. "This wasn't a hard decision. First, non-whites are already a majority of the world's population. Second, people of color will compose a majority in America. Finally, as any...
New York Times to Help Advertisers in Pivotal Moments
Adweek: The New York Times is rolling out a new platform for marketers highlighting the publisher's research and consumer insights. The platform will be centered around six main categories: race, climate, tech, gender, sex and money. Each category will be backed by...
Los Angeles Times Circles Top Editor of New York Times
New York Post: Dean Baquet, executive editor of the New York Times, is a leading candidate for the top editorial job at the Los Angeles Times. On Monday, Norm Pearlstine told Los Angeles Times staffers he is stepping down as executive editor. Baquet will hit the New...
Penske’s Deadline Reports Mike Pence Has Coronavirus
New York Post: Online news site Deadline mistakenly published a draft story that erroneously reported Mike Pence had tested positive for the coronavirus on Thursday night. New York Post: Jay Penske unwittingly gave an extra gift to some former employees at Pastis on...
ViacomCBS Cuts Merit Pay Increases Over Coronavirus
Variety: ViacomCBS has enacted some additional belt-tightening for 2020, as employee merit pay increases have been eliminated for the year. Due to the coronavirus pandemic’s continued hammering of the media sector, ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish addressed staff in a global...
Fox Corp Breaks Through Publishing Wall at News Corp
Showbiz411: An unseen wall between the right wingers at Fox News and the genteel world of book publishing at HarperCollins has been knocked down. News Corp's HarperCollins has introduced a Fox News imprint, with the first books by Pete Hegseth and Shannon Bream. They...
AT&T Chief Advances ‘Fire Sale’ of Struggling DirecTV
New York Post: AT&T is pressing ahead with an auction of DirecTV — and it's shaping up to be a fire sale. The telecom giant last week invited a handful of suitors into the second round of an auction of the struggling satellite-TV broadcaster, even though...
Comcast Pauses ‘Jurassic World’ After Covid Positives
Associated Press: Filming on the new "Jurassic World" movie at Pinewood Studios in the UK has been suspended for two weeks because of Covid-19 cases on set. Director Colin Trevorrow tweeted Wednesday that there were "a few" positive tests for the virus. "The safety...
Disney Under Pressure to Double Budget for Streaming
Los Angeles Times: Daniel Loeb, founder of hedge fund Third Point, wrote in a letter to Disney CEO Bob Chapek that the entertainment colossus should permanently cancel its annual dividend and funnel the savings to its streaming efforts. By suspending its $3-billion...
Netflix Triples Space with New Headquarters in London
Bloomberg: Netflix is moving into a new London headquarters that will triple the amount of its West End office space, as the streaming giant expands the production of television shows in the UK. The producer of programs including "The Crown" is taking over the lease...
Facebook: Trump Can’t Recruit ‘Army’ of Poll Watchers
TechCrunch: Facebook says it will no longer allow content that encourages poll watching that uses “militarized” language or intends to “intimidate, exert control, or display power over election officials or voters.” Facebook credited the update to its platform rules...
Google Nears Copyright Deal with French Newspapers
France 24: Google says it is close to a digital copyright deal with French newspapers, which would be the first under EU rules aimed at ensuring news publishers are paid for content displayed in search results. The main points of a deal have been hammered out,...
ByteDance’s TikTok Passes Instagram Among US Teens
CNBC: TikTok has surpassed Instagram as the second-favorite social media app among US teenagers. The short-video app is now favored among teens second only to Snap's Snapchat, according to Piper Sandler. The report found that 34% of teens list Snapchat as their...