Month: July 2020

Nadler: Journalism industry ‘gravely threatened’ by Google, Facebook

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House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday said that the American journalism industry was “gravely threatened” by the growing dominance of Facebook and Google, claiming that the tech giants’ power was presenting a “dangerous situation” for the future of news.

“Reporters have been fired, local newspapers have been shut down and now we hear that Google and Facebook are making money off what news they let the American people see. This is a very dangerous situation,” Nadler said while speaking during a House antitrust subcommittee hearing addressing the size and power of Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple.

Critics say that the tech giants’ dominance in the digital ad market has helped cause an emerging crisis for local news outlets, as they siphon away a critical revenue source for the industry.

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More Lawmakers Push For Financial Aid For Broadcasters

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Did you know there was a Broadcasters Caucus in Washington? If not, you do now. Several members of that Caucus have sent a letter to the House and Senate leadership pushing for financial relief for broadcasters.

Representative Tom Emmer (left) of Minnesota and Representative Brendan Boyle from Pennsylvania, who co-chair the Broadcasters Caucus, sent a letter to House and Senate leadership urging that a portion of the funding provided within the upcoming Coronavirus relief package be dedicated to support local broadcasters who have experienced financial hardship during the pandemic.

NAB CEO Gordon Smith praised the move. “During these unprecedented times, broadcasters have been hit hard by an unparalleled blow to the advertising revenue that funds local journalism and emergency news coverage. Ensuring that small broadcasters, including those that may be owned by station groups, have access to the Paycheck Protection Program will help them continue to serve their communities and provide lifeline information. NAB and America’s local radio and TV stations thank Reps. Emmer and Boyle for fighting to help broadcasters remain on the air and free to their local audiences.”

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What’s Next For Radio News?

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Come Sunday, August 30, some 962 affiliates of Cumulus Media’s Westwood One News will receive their final news update from the service. After that 11:30pm Eastern report, editors and journalists associated with the 5 1/2-year-old operation will be out of a job.

What happens next for all of those stations? While Westwood One is offering AP Radio News as a replacement, a host of competing organizations have ramped up their jockeying for soon-to-be former WWO News affiliates.

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Univision serves as lifeline to disengaged Latinos

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On Friday the thirteenth of March, Lourdes Torres, the senior vice president of political coverage at Univision News, traveled from Miami to Washington, DC. Her team was to cohost, along with CNN, the first virtual presidential debate in United States history. Nearly two thousand Americans had already tested positive for the novel coronavirus; more than forty had died. In a matter of days, the debate’s organizers had decided to move the event from a large theater in downtown Phoenix to a television studio in the nation’s capital. There would be no crowd in the room—no raucous cheers or applause, no in-person audience questions. The two Democratic candidates, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, would have to stand six feet from each other. The moderators would need to account for the public’s sense of fear and doubt over the spread of covid-19. This was to be a defining event in the election, and a test with no precedent for everyone involved. “I left Miami that day feeling as if a hurricane was coming our way,” Torres said.

Florida was still weeks from a lockdown, but people were beginning to worry about stocking up their pantries and filling up their gas tanks. Having worked at Univision for nearly three decades, Torres soon realized that covid-19 would be the single most disruptive story of her career.

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