Report: Newsroom Layoffs at Record High Amid Pandemic
WWD: Newsroom layoffs surged almost 170 percent over the past year as the coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc on the media industry. There have been 11,027 job cuts revealed this year, compared to 4,087 in the first half of 2019, according to Challenger, Gray &...
Comcast Faces NBC Affiliate Snub Amid Debut of Peacock
Vulture: NBC's biggest local affiliate groups have decided not to broadcast the network’s "30 Rock" reunion special, meaning at least half the country won't be able to see it when it debuts Thursday. NBC News: NBCUniversal launches its new streaming service Peacock on...
Fox Corp’s News Channels Dominate Trump’s TV Tweeting
Multichannel News: President Trump tweeted in response to TV programs almost 300 times in the first six months of 2020, according to a new report from media watchdog Media Matters for America, with nine out of 10 in response to a show on either Fox News or Fox...
Disney-ABC Nabs Historic Ratings at ‘World News Tonight’
Mediaite: ABC's "World News Tonight" with David Muir has made history by finishing top in the ratings against not just its network news rivals, but against every single show on broadcast and cable television. The ABC newscast was the No. 1 program in all of television...
Comcast Returns NBC ‘Tonight’ Show to Rockefeller Center
Associated Press: Jimmy Fallon is out of his home and back to the "Tonight" show stage. The NBC late-night host has returned to NBC's Rockefeller Center headquarters, saying he hoped he could provide his audience with a little more "normal" during the coronavirus...
ViacomCBS Fires Cannon Over Anti-Semitism on Podcast
Forward: ViacomCBS is ending its decades-long relationship with Nick Cannon after the actor and TV host propagated anti-Semitic conspiracy theories on his podcast. "We are deeply troubled that Nick has failed to acknowledge or apologize, and we are terminating our...
Facebook to Add Licensed Music Videos to Rival YouTube
TechCrunch: Facebook is preparing to launch officially licensed music videos on its social network in the US next month, in a direct challenge to YouTube. Facebook informed page owners linked to artists they'll need to toggle on a new setting to add their music videos...
Google, Facebook Take Half of Digital Display Ad Revenue
Pew Research: A majority of digital display ad revenue goes to two tech companies. In 2019, about half (53%) of digital display ad revenue went to Facebook (42%) and Google (11%). Another 12% went to other tech companies, including Amazon, Verizon, Twitter, and...
Vox Media Preps New Layoffs as Business Fails to Improve
CNBC: Vox Media, the owner of media properties including New York Magazine, The Verge, SBNation and Eater, has informed its worker unions to prepare for company-wide layoffs. Many of Vox's furloughed workers who haven't already taken buyouts are likely to be laid...
BuzzFeed Not for Sale Despite Devastation in Digital Media
Financial Times: BuzzFeed has received approaches from smaller companies but CEO Jonah Peretti does not want to sell. He is said to be focused on growing the company independently. The Information: "The future for free news will be five or six platforms that all have...
Vice Media Makes Free Ad Space Offer to Local Businesses
MediaPost: Vice Media is attempting to help small local businesses experiencing unprecedented challenges due to Covid-19 by offering free advertising across its websites, potentially reaching millions of eyeballs. The "Locals Only" initiative invites owners to upload...
New York Times Writer Blasts Twitter Ethos in Resignation
Vice: Bari Weiss, a writer and editor for the embattled New York Times opinion section, has resigned from the paper. Weiss leaves in the wake of what she recently described as a civil war at the Times between "(mostly young) wokes" and "(mostly 40+) liberals."...
Vox Media to See Top Columnist Leave New York Magazine
New York Post: Andrew Sullivan, the prominent conservative commentator, announced Tuesday that he will move on from New York magazine. "The reasons for the split are pretty self-evident and I’ll be discussing the broader questions involved in my last column this...
McClatchy Journalists Wary of New Enquirer-Owning Buyer
Washington Post: America's newest newspaper baron is a hedge fund whose co-founder and CEO has ties to President Trump's most tabloid-worthy stories and whose publishing assets include the National Enquirer. "We don't know what they're up to, and that's an ominous...
News Corp to Unveil 50 Digital-Only Titles Across Australia
Mumbrella: News Corp. has announced a plan to launch more than 50 new digital titles primarily targeting regional areas across Australia. The news comes a few months after ending the print life of more than 100 regional and community titles and 500 to 1,000 job...
Conde Nast Admits to ‘Black Women Problem’ at Vanity Fair
WWD: Vanity Fair editor in chief Radhika Jones is calling out the glossy magazine's long lack of diversity on its covers: "For most of the magazine's history, a Black artist, athlete or politician appearing on a regular monthly issue of Vanity Fair was a rare...
Bezos’s Washington Post Makes Articles Available in Audio
MediaPost: Audio versions of all Washington Post articles are now available on the Post app for Android and iOS. Using text-to-speech capabilities built into the Android and iOS operating systems, every Post native article now has an audio...
Nikkei’s Financial Times Ex-Editor to Unveil ‘Private Diaries’
TalkingBizNews: WH Allen has bought the rights to publish the memoirs of former Financial Times editor Lionel Barber, which offers portraits of global figures. "The Powerful and the Damned: Private Diaries in Turbulent Times" will debut Nov....
Craigslist ‘Confessional’ Reveals Anonymous User Secrets
New York Post: A few years ago, Helena Dea Bala logged on to Craigslist and placed a personal ad: "Tell me about yourself." The writer began writing down strangers' intimate stories. The result is the new book "Craigslist...
Apple Pessimistic on Return to US Offices, Stores in 2020
Bloomberg: Apple is readjusting operations as Covid-19 cases continue to spike in the US and other parts of the world. The tech giant is pushing retail staff to work remotely and told staff in a memo that a full return to US offices won't occur before the end of the...
Disney Optimism Grows on Potential of Parks, Streaming
CNBC: Goldman Sachs is getting behind media giant Disney, betting its streaming service numbers will top expectations and its theme parks will return to normal following the pandemic. The Wall Street firm initiated coverage of Disney with a buy...
Comcast Plans NBC ‘Today All Day’ Streaming at Peacock
NBC News: NBC's "Today" show, the long-running morning news and lifestyle franchise, is going all day and all night, as part of a new plan to expand the show's content into a 24-hour streaming service. "Today All Day" is the latest flourish for the broadcast TV show...
Discovery CEO Spat Led to Departure of Streaming Head
The Information: Discovery said abruptly in mid-June that Peter Faricy would leave, even though his big project — a streaming service internally called Discovery Plus — hasn't yet launched. His exit comes after tensions between him and CEO David...
Fox Corp CEO Buys Remote Land with Ancient Art in Utah
Times-Independent: At the end of last year, a limited liability corporation belonging to the family trust of Lachlan Murdoch acquired six parcels of land along Mill Creek in Utah. The parcels he acquired total 156 acres. The area is thick with cultural...
Google Ex-CEO Hosts Secretive Ideas Summit in Montana
Recode: Each year, around this time in July, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt invites a few dozen celebrities, economists and politicians to Big Sky country — and few people know about it. This particular conclave has remained highly secretive by...
Disney Heiress Calls for ‘Rich Tax’ to Pay for Covid Fallout
Fast Company: More than 80 of the world's richest people have called on world governments to initiate immediate, substantial and permanent taxes on the rich in order the help fund the economic recovery that’s needed as a result of the Covid-19...
ViacomCBS Announces Diversity Goals for Writers at CBS
The Undefeated: CBS will commit at least 25% of its script development budget to creators and producers who are Black, Indigenous and people of color, starting with the 2021-22 development season, the network...
AT&T’s WarnerMedia to Expand Racism Coverage at CNN
TheHill: CNN plans to launch an expanded team to "shed a light on the growing movement against institutional racism." The race team will be headed by former Associated Press Chicago deputy news director Delano Massey, who was recently hired by...
Fox Corp News Star Takes Vacation Following Writer Flap
Associated Press: Tucker Carlson says that his former writer who posted racist comments online was wrong but criticized "ghouls now beating their chests in triumph" after his staffer's resignation. Carlson plans to take the rest of the week off to go trout...
Disney’s ESPN Staffers Talk of Racism Behind the Camera
New York Times: ESPN employees have criticized the career pipeline and diversity of top leadership, eliciting a promise from executives to do better. ESPN has apologized twice in recent years for on-air segments that were criticized as...