Scripps Cancels Spelling Bee, So Kids Create a Bee Online
Associated Press: With this year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, an online spelling bee launched by two Texas teenagers is offering a consolation prize of sorts, with competitors...
Tribune Shifts Strategy for Subscriptions During Pandemic
Digiday: Tribune Publishing made changes to its paywall and meter strategy enabling its subscriptions business to offset some of the declines in advertising revenue that its publications experienced during the coronavirus...
New York Times Among Media Rushing Out New Products
Adweek: Covid-19 has forced the media industry to reconsider how much time it takes to build, test and collect data before releasing a new product for readers and advertisers. “The pandemic is an acceleration of what trends were happening...
Seattle, Tampa Bay Newspapers Secure US Payroll Support
Reuters: Newspapers in Seattle and Tampa Bay won support from a US program aimed at helping small businesses during the coronavirus pandemic. Thousands of other local media outlets are ineligible because they are owned by larger...
Conde Nast Weighs Layoffs as Wired Staffers Form a Union
Daily Beast: Writers at the technology outfit Wired magazine will form an editorial union as the publication’s parent company Conde Nast plans deep cuts amid the coronavirus-fueled economic downturn that has ravaged the media...
Meredith’s People Magazine Celebrates 30th Year of ‘Beauty’
Associated Press: Three generations grace the cover of People magazine’s 30th anniversary “Beauty Issue.” Goldie Hawn, her daughter Kate Hudson and granddaughter Rani Rose Fujikawa will appear on the cover of the issue, which will be released...
Hearst’s Cosmopolitan Editor in Chief Offers Career Advice
Business Insider: Jessica Pels, the editor in chief of Cosmopolitan, said the biggest thing that she learned that allowed her to ascend to her current position was "to lean on my passion." Her best career advice? "Apply for everything you're not qualified for."...
American Media Former Tabloid Editor No Longer Infamous
Los Angeles Times: Dylan Howard, a skilled and controversial practitioner of the dark arts of tabloid journalism, beat the scandal drum often and loudly. But no longer. A central figure in several tawdry media tsunamis, Howard quietly left American Media in...
G/O Media Taps Deadspin Editor for New Editorial Director
New York Post: Jim Rich, the former editor-in-chief of the New York Daily News who was tapped to relaunch Deadspin in March, has been elevated to editorial director of the whole G/O Media stable of sites. He succeeds Paul Maidment, who resigned in...
Axios Qualities for Small-Business Loan During Pandemic
The Hill: News site Axios announced that it had qualified for a small-business loan as part of the economic stimulus passed amid the coronavirus outbreak. Editor Jim VandeHei indicated that the company was suffering...
Netflix Replaces TV in US as Viewership Soars in Lockdown
CNBC: Broadcast television used to be the bedrock of American culture. Now, the American zeitgeist is Netflix. The streaming giant now has more than 183 million global customers after adding more than 15 million in the first...
AT&T to Make HBO Max Free to Some Customers at Launch
Reuters: AT&T announced that it will make its HBO Max streaming service free to some customers when it launches on May 27. The HBO Max app will be pre-loaded on the AT&T TV set top box. HBO Max will also be included with the AT&T Internet 1000...
Disney Heiress Lashes Out at Executive Pay Amid Furloughs
@AbigailDisney: "OK, I've been holding my tongue on the theory that a pandemic is no time to be calling people out on anything other than failing us in a public health sense. I thought it might be a moment for peace and reconciliation. But I feel a thread coming on...
Lions Gate Revives ‘Hunger Games’ Franchise with New Film
Bloomberg: Lions Gate plans to adapt the new “Hunger Games” book into a film, reviving a movie series that generated $3 billion in box-office sales and made the independent studio a takeover target. The picture will be based on the book “The Ballad of Songbirds and...
ViacomCBS Offers ‘Balcony Stories’ About Life in Lockdown
Deadline: ViacomCBS International Studios and Fremantle have teamed for short-form "Balcony Stories," which will lean on user-generated content from people in lockdown, providing a window on how people from around the world are coping with the coronavirus...
Charter Faces Inquiry as 230 Workers Test Positive for Virus
New York Times: Employees at Charter, the internet, cable TV and phone giant known as Spectrum, have been getting sick while adhering to a company policy that has required thousands of them to work in offices and call centers rather than from...
Comcast’s NBCUniversal Sells $178 Million Stake in Peloton
New York Post: NBCUniversal has sold a $178 million stake in stationary-bike company Peloton, whose shares have lately been surging because of the coronavirus crisis. The broadcaster has been looking at its investments as it seeks to shore up its cash...
Spotify Offers Curated Playlists to Help Users Find Podcasts
USA Today: Spotify has rolled out a new suite of curated playlists, only instead of a seemingly endless list of music tracks, the playlists are for podcasts only. The podcasts are categorized into genres and categories. Each will be curated by Spotify’s content...
Snap Ad Growth Slows Despite User Spike During Covid-19
Financial Times: Snap said that revenue from the social media platform was still running ahead of last year, although the pace of growth in the second quarter so far had slowed dramatically as the coronavirus crisis squeezes its advertising clients. “We are cautiously...
McClatchy Unveils Google-Funded News Outlet in Colorado
Nieman Lab: McClatchy announced that it’s acquired the assets of the Longmont Observer, a community-run, nonprofit news site in Longmont, Colorado, and will relaunch it as the Longmont Leader. It’s the second news outlet launched in the Compass Experiment...
Tribune Reveals Furloughs Amid Ad Losses from Pandemic
Chicago Tribune: Tribune Publishing announced companywide furloughs to “ensure financial stability” as advertising revenue continues to decline amid the coronavirus pandemic. The three-week furloughs will be taken in one-week increments from May through...
Meredith Debuts New Lifestyle Magazine with Ayesha Curry
Ad Age: Meredith is doing something rather unexpected amid the coronavirus pandemic: It’s launching a new lifestyle magazine, Sweet July, in collaboration with Ayesha Curry. The quarterly magazine leverages Curry’s considerable multimedia...
Maven Recognizes Sports Illustrated Union Amid Tensions
New York Post: The NewsGuild said Sports Illustrated’s management at the Maven agreed to voluntarily recognize the union, but there is still resentment within the editorial ranks over the recent downsizing that was further stoked by the firing of veteran soccer writer...
Bustle Launches Nylon Digital Issue, Delays Edition in Print
WWD: After acquiring fashion, music and cultural site Nylon last summer, Bustle Digital Group is ready to unveil its digital relaunch — but its print issue has been delayed due to the coronavirus. The relaunch includes a new and improved...
Politico’s Tech-News Spin-Off Protocol Lays Off 13 Staffers
Nieman Lab: It was only two and a half months ago that Protocol, the tech-news website launched by the parent company of Politico, debuted on the scene. On Tuesday afternoon, Protocol announced it was laying off 13 staffers, an astonishingly quick...
Vice Media Mulls 300+ Layoffs Amid Online Ad Revenue Hit
Wall Street Journal: An internal document at Vice Media lays out a plan for layoffs at the new-media company’s websites, as Vice considers a variety of options to deal with coronavirus pandemic. The document calls for cuts at both Vice News and...
US Senate Deal Does Not Extend Aid to Local Media Outlets
Reuters: A nearly $500 billion spending deal reached by US Senate leaders does not expand payroll assistance to struggling local newspapers and broadcast stations, whose advertising revenues have plummeted during the coronavirus pandemic....
Roundup: Print, Digital News Media Face ‘Darwinian Moment’
Vanity Fair: Just a little over a month into the Covid-19 crisis, the ever-fragile news industry has been sucker-punched harder than, well, maybe any other time in the history of the news industry. As one executive put it, “This really is a Darwinian...
AT&T, Comcast Yet to Join Media Rivals in Worker Job Cuts
CNBC: Disney’s extensive furloughs stand in sharp contrast to the other two media giants – Comcast, which owns NBCUniversal, and AT&T, which owns WarnerMedia – which haven’t yet announced any furloughs or...
Disney in ‘Eye of the Storm’ as Stock Gets Third Downgrade
MarketWatch: Concerns about a long recovery period for Disney’s parks segment have prompted at least the third downgrade of the media giant’s stock this month. UBS analyst John Hodulik became the latest analyst to move to the sidelines on Disney...