Vice Media Preps TV Show with New York Times Veteran
Deadline: Former New York Times columnist Anand Giridharadas is to front a primetime news and culture talk show for Vice TV. Giridharadas is hosting weekly series, “Seat At The Table.” The show premieres on April 22 at 10...
iHeartMedia Star Inspires Trump to Halt Own Radio Show
New York Times: President Trump said he envisioned a radio show running two hours a day, according to White House officials, and would do it were it not for the risk of encroaching on Rush Limbaugh, the conservative...
Spotify Buy of The Ringer Followed by Mansion Purchase
Variety: Two months ago, Spotify agreed to acquire The Ringer, the media company founded by sports journalist and podcaster Bill Simmons, in an all-cash deal valued at nearly $200 million. Now, Simmons has shelled out $16.1 million for a historic...
Apple to Release $399 Budget iPhone for Coronavirus Era
CNET: Apple has finally introduced the phone some fans have anticipated for years: the new iPhone SE. It couldn't have come at a better time. The most notable feature of the new phone is its selling price: $399, a level not seen by a new iPhone since...
Amazon CEO Gets $6 Billion Richer Thanks to Shutdowns
Forbes: Already the world’s richest person, Jeff Bezos saw his net worth jump nearly 5% after Amazon’s stock hit a new all-time high on Tuesday, with the e-commerce giant experiencing unprecedented demand amid widespread coronavirus-related...
Google Plans Emergency Relief Fund for Local Journalism
TechCrunch: Google is offering financial support to local newsrooms hit by the economic fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic, as part of its Google News Initiative. The company isn’t disclosing the size of its Journalism Emergency Relief...
Guardian, Telegraph, Financial Times Make Cuts in Britain
Financial Times: The Financial Times, Guardian and Telegraph media groups have unveiled significant cost cuts, the latest in a wave of publishers squeezing staff budgets to weather the coronavirus...
Gannett Journos Relay Frustrations During Staff Furloughs
Bloomberg: Journalists are being forced to the sidelines during one of the biggest stories of their careers, unable to serve readers hungry for information. “To see a big news story, and I can’t take part in it because of the furlough, is a really challenging...
New York Times Taps Journos Across Paper to Write Obits
Vanity Fair: As the coronavirus takes an enormous human toll, the New York Times finds itself in a daunting position. “The obits desk was flooded. Keeping up with the deaths, including the high number of cultural figures from New York, is a big...
Conde Nast’s Bon Appetit Among Cooking Stars on YouTube
Bloomberg: Bon Appétit and the cadre of kitchen chefs it tests has become a roaring success, with 5.7 million subscribers and social media accounts devoted to transforming its stars into memes. YouTube “has given the brand a new...
Hearst Plots Appointment Viewing for Videos on Instagram
Digiday: On any given day you can tune into a set schedule of Instagram Live streams, hosted by 20 of Hearst’s magazine titles. So far in April, the publisher is on track to have an average of more than 50 live streams per week across its...
Meredith Offers Extended Ad Guarantee Due to Covid-19
Adweek: As print advertising dollars continue to dry up amid Covid-19, publishers are going back to the drawing board for programs they can offer buyers to sweeten the deal. Meredith will show that audiences are taking action after they see an...
Valence Media Cuts Hollywood Reporter Publisher, Editors
The Wrap: More than a dozen staffers at The Hollywood Reporter — including evp and group publisher Lynne Segall — were let go this week as part of deep staffing cuts made by parent company Valence...
Axios Releases App Early Amid Coronavirus Traffic Spike
Adweek: Under normal circumstances, Axios is still weeks away from releasing its app. The more time to beta test, the better. But with Covid-19 striking across the U.S., the political and news media company pushed up the...
Report: Covid-19 Traffic Bump to News Sites Mostly Over
Nieman Lab: There’s one place where the Covid-19 curve has already gone flat: traffic to news sites. Last month’s striking surge in audience attention has ebbed week by week and has now largely washed...
Study: Most Publishers See Advertising Canceled, Paused
CNBC: The vast majority of online publishers in the US say they’ve had advertisers cancel or pause ad campaigns with them as the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown hurts advertisers, according to results of a new Internet Advertising Bureau...
Comcast to Debut Peacock Streamer with Limited Originals
Reuters: NBCUniversal’s long-awaited streaming service, Peacock, will launch free to some Comcast customers on Wednesday with a limited slate of new content, as productions for its original programming have been halted amid the global coronavirus...
Disney Nabs $5 Billion Credit Agreement to Weather Crisis
Reuters: Disney said it has entered an unsecured credit agreement for $5 billion, at a time when companies across industries are scrambling to bolster their liquidity to weather the fallout from the coronavirus crisis. Disney’s theme parks business has taken a...
Fox Corp Moves to Halt Lawsuit Over Virus News Coverage
Variety: A little-known Washington state group raised eyebrows when it filed a lawsuit calling for a judge to keep Fox News from airing false information about the coronavirus pandemic. Now it has raised some hackles, too: Fox News has moved to dismiss the legal...
AT&T-Owned CNN Describes Anchor Rant as ‘About Media’
New York Post: CNN host Chris Cuomo has had an apparent change of heart, claiming that he loves his job — a day after publicly griping, “I don’t like what I do professionally. I don’t think it’s worth my time.” The TV host on Tuesday insisted, “I didn’t mean it that...
Comcast, AT&T News Staffers Fume About Trump Pressers
Daily Beast: The internal cable-news debate over whether or not to air President Trump’s increasingly clownish daily coronavirus briefings reached a new level of hand-wringing after the president on Monday used his time to run a campaign ad attacking his...
iHeartMedia Plans $250 Million in Cost Cuts from Virus Hit
New York Post: iHeartMedia is aiming to cut $250 million in costs this year, including furloughs and pay cuts, as the radio giant looks to weather the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. CEO Bob Pittman didn’t give specifics on “meaningful reductions in...
Disney Under Fire for ‘Slightly’ Editing Films for Streaming
The Verge: In a re-edited version of the 1984 Tom Hanks mermaid movie “Splash,” Disney used CGI hair to cover actress Daryl Hannah’s briefly bare body. A Disney rep confirmed that a “few scenes” were “slighted edited to remove nudity” for Disney...
Facebook, Google Best Positioned to Weather Slump in Ads
New York Times: Google’s and Facebook’s advertising businesses may be headed for a rare stumble as the coronavirus pushes the global economy into a tailspin. However, Google and Facebook “are likely going to end up in a stronger position after all this is...
Amazon Slashes Affiliate Pay to New York Times, BuzzFeed
CNBC: Amazon is cutting commission rates for members of its affiliate program, Amazon Associates. The program is especially important for online publishers like the New York Times, BuzzFeed and Vox Media that publish online buying...
Conde Nast is ‘Shocked’ by Speed of Pandemic Devastation
Financial Times: “The impact [of this crisis] will be greater than 2008,” said Conde Nast COO Wolfgang Blau. “Everyone is shocked by the suddenness with which business came to a halt. It was within a few hours. None of us can assess yet what that new world will look...
Hearst, Conde Nast Differ in Strategies for Managing Crisis
Business of Fashion: Rival publishers Hearst and Conde Nast have so far taken different approaches to managing what’s in front of them — and anticipating what’s to come, reflecting longstanding cultural differences in the way the businesses are...
Meredith Joins Media Presenters Backing Out of NewFronts
Adweek: Meredith, the magazine publisher with publications that include People, Better Homes & Gardens and Allrecipes, will not court advertisers with a NewFronts presentation this year due to the “current climate,” the company said. “We’re taking a...
Conde Nast Offers Face Masks to Employees After Pay Cuts
Slate: Conde Nast attempted to sweeten the bad news of its pay cuts with something positive: The company will be sending each of its employees an N95 mask — the kind that help keep doctors and nurses treating coronavirus patients from getting ill...
Bloomberg Media Kills Story Fearing China Business Loss
NPR: Six years ago, Bloomberg News killed an investigation into the wealth of Communist Party elites in China, fearful of repercussions by the Chinese government. The company successfully silenced the reporters...