Apple CEO: We Must Aim Higher Than a ‘Normal’ Future
MacRumors: Apple CEO Tim Cook on Thursday shared an open letter addressing the death of George Floyd while in police custody last month, referring to the "senseless killing" as "shocking and tragic proof that we must aim far higher than a 'normal'...
AT&T’s WarnerMedia Preps Projects to Combat Injustice
Hollywood Reporter: WarnerMedia on Thursday outlined actions the company plans to take to help fight social injustice. For starters, the company will donate commercial inventory to Color Of Change and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. "This is only the...
Disney Scores Restart of NBA at ESPN Florida Complex
MarketWatch: The NBA has approved a 22-team format for restarting the league season in late July at the Disney campus near Orlando, Florida, another major step toward getting teams back onto the court and playing games again.The ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex...
Comcast NBC Ousted News Anchor Plots ‘Big Interview’
Us Magazine: Matt Lauer is said to be planning to jump back into the spotlight with "a big TV interview." The news anchor's friends are "trying to convince him to record the interview himself so he has edit control." Lauer was fired from NBC in 2017 after charges of...
Google Faces Threat as Time on TikTok Nears YouTube
TechCrunch: Youngsters ages 4 to 15 now spend an average of 85 minutes per day watching YouTube videos, compared with 80 minutes per day spent on TikTok. The latter app also drove growth in kids’ social app use by 100% in 2019 and 200% in...
Netflix Metrics Bashed as Covid Cripples Movie Theaters
CNBC: Viewership metrics vary from streaming service to streaming service, making comparisons difficult. "The streaming metrics provided by Netflix are pretty useless. Who cares how many people watched a particular movie? It doesn’t translate to...
Facebook Starts Labeling Content from State-Run Media
NBC News: Facebook has started labeling some content as coming from foreign state-controlled media outlets, the company announced. Pages of overtly state-run news agencies such as Russia’s RT and Sputnik, and China’s Xinhua News and the People’s Daily, will be labeled...
Twitter Sees Record-Breaking Week as Users Seek News
TechCrunch: Civil unrest due to the nationwide George Floyd protests drove Twitter to see a record number of new installs this week, according to data from two app store intelligence firms, Apptopia and Sensor Tower. The firms agreed that Twitter's app had its...
Apple Requires Returning Office Workers to Wear Masks
Bloomberg: Apple employees heading back to work at the company's headquarters in Silicon Valley will face new realities in the Covid-19 era, such as optional testing for the virus, closed kitchens and a requirement to wear masks. Apple began bringing some workers in...
Amazon CEO’s Donations Slammed by Washington Post
Mediaite: All the money in the world apparently can’t buy you favorable press in your own paper. On Thursday, the Washington Post took a shot at its owner, Amazon chief Jeff Bezos, by calling attention to his charitable giving — or relative lack...
New York Times Admits It ‘Rushed’ with Disputed Op-Ed
Associated Press: In an embarrassing about-face, The New York Times said Thursday that an opinion piece it ran by U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton advocating the use of federal troops to quell nationwide protests about police mistreatment of black Americans did not meet its...
Philadelphia Inquirer Journalists Walk Out After Headline
WHYY: Journalists of color at the Philadelphia Inquirer refused to work Thursday, calling in “sick and tired” in an open letter to newspaper leadership decrying racial inequity in the industry and demanding changes to “careless, unsympathetic” newsroom...
Hearst Cartoonists Join Tribute to Coronavirus Workers
Associated Press: The funny papers this Sunday will have more than laughs. More than 70 comic strips and panels — from Garry Trudeau's "Doonesbury" to Jeff Keane's "Family Circus"— will have symbols hidden in the artwork to honor workers on the frontlines of the...
Meredith Offices Won’t Look the Same After Lockdowns
What's New in Publishing: Meredith's office buildings "won't look the same when we next walk into them," said strategy chief Daphne Kwon. "Changes that employees will see include heightened awareness around distancing, sanitation and disinfection, and visual clues...
Conde Nast Alum Blasted for Racism at Paper Magazine
WWD: Paper Magazine staffers have criticized owner Tom Florio for the way he responded to a recently departed staffer. They said they will slow their publishing schedule until Florio, the former longtime publisher of Vogue, addresses the "systemic racism" behind the...
Penske Places Variety Editor on Leave After Twitter Tiff
Los Angeles Times: Variety editor in chief Claudia Eller was placed on administrative leave late Thursday, less than 24 hours after a heated Twitter exchange over the lack of newsroom diversity. The dust-up came late Wednesday after Variety published an opinion column...
Uzabase’s Quartz CEO Sees a Need to Improve Diversity
Talking Biz News: Quartz CEO Zach Seward sent a statement to the financial news site's staff on Thursday: "My strong feeling is that, in addition to supporting Black Lives Matter and other anti-racist movements worldwide, we need to take this moment to improve as a...
BuzzFeed: We’re Still Scrappy, Ready for Future of Media
The Drum: "Scrappy, quick-moving" BuzzFeed is still "well-positioned" for the digital future, despite recent staff furloughs, said James Lamon, head of content for Europe. Like many titles, BuzzFeed has hit record audiences during the coronavirus...
Disney Moves Up Into Top 5 US Streamers with Disney+
World Screen: Just six months since its launch, Disney+ has made it into the top five SVOD services in the US, according to Parks Associates. Disney sits behind Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu, with another new entrant, Apple TV+, rounding out the top...
AT&T’s New Streamer HBO Max Faces Brand Confusion
Adweek: HBO Max "is not the prestigious brand voice of HBO,” said WarnerMedia Entertainment CMO Chris Spadaccini. "It's completely original, designed to be expansive and additive to HBO, focusing on some key growth...
AMC Warns Movie-Theater Chain May Not Survive Covid
USA Today: The world's largest movie theater chain has warned that it may not survive the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. AMC said that that crisis has significantly undermined its finances and introduced profound uncertainty about its...
Comcast Rejects Calls for Sex-Harassment Probe at NBC
Los Angeles Times: Comcast shareholders rejected three proposals from investors, including a demand for an outside investigation into sexual harassment at NBC News. The company held its annual meeting via webcast...
Fox Corp News Channel Star, Wife Divorce After 20 Years
New York Post: Fox News host Sean Hannity and his wife, Jill Rhodes, have divorced after more than 20 years of marriage. Friends of the former couple say they have been legally divorced for more than a year, but kept it under...
iHeartMedia Fires Radio Hosts for On-Air Racist Remarks
USA Today: Two popular Rochester, New York, radio show hosts were fired after making racist comments during a live broadcast. "We made the decision to terminate Kimberly and Beck as soon as we learned of their...
Spotify’s The Ringer Faces Staff Backlash Over Diversity
New York Post: Founder and CEO Bill Simmons faced backlash from his employees at The Ringer over the sports-media company's diversity and hiring process. "Diversity in the newsroom is essential. The Ringer has a lot of work to...
AT&T’s Bleacher Report, The Athletic Eye Online Betting
The Information: The Athletic and AT&T’s Bleacher Report are looking at doing deals around online sports betting. Online betting is taking off as a growing number of states legalize it. That offers an opportunity for sports media...
Quibi CEO to Join Video Firm’s Execs in Taking Pay Cut
Wall Street Journal: Quibi has asked senior executives to take a 10 percent salary cut as the short-form streaming video service explores ways to rein in costs after a disappointing debut. CEO Meg Whitman is taking a 10 percent cut to her...
Snap No Longer Promotes Trump on Snapchat Discover
Axios: Snapchat said it will no longer promote President Trump's account on its Discover page of curated content, after Trump tweeted comments that some suggested glorified violence amid racial justice...
Reddit Ex-CEO Says Social-News Site Increases Racism
CNET: Ellen Pao, the former CEO of Reddit, harshly criticized the tech company after it published an open letter condemning racism, with Pao saying the social network knowingly makes money off hate. "I am obligated to call you out," Pao...
New York Times Writers in Revolt After ‘Troops’ Op-Ed
Fox News: The New York Times was hit with a backlash, some of it from the paper's own reporters, after publishing an op-ed in which Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., called on the US government to send in the military to quell uprisings over George Floyd's...