Forward

EXEC SUMMARY: Hello from Denver... There's news about the LA Times, Disney, Medium, Wendy Williams, Google, "Access Hollywood," and Warner Bros... But let me begin with some bad news and some good news about the state of LOCAL news:

We are haunted by "ghost newspapers"

At "Accelerate: Local News," a summit being held by Facebook, ONA and the Knight Foundation this week, optimism about the future is fighting profound pain about the past and present.

Local newsrooms have lost half of their reporting muscle in the past ten years. Papers have lost almost half of their daily circulation. And all this has happened while Google and Facebook have gained power. The result: "Ghost newspapers."

Big Tech execs say they're here to help. But many journalists are skeptical...

Are there "ghosts" where you live?

This event is being held under Chatham House Rules, so I can't name the speakers, but here's the tech giant's message: "We care deeply about local news, on and off of Facebook." When Facebook surveys users about what news they want to see more of, "local news is #1 by far." But, as the company said earlier this week, its own research has found a huge number of info-starved "news deserts."

The takeaway: "One in three users live in places where we can't find much local news."

Some states are better-informed than others... Arizona, for instance, is a stronger local news state than New Jersey, according to FB. Many of these communities still have daily or weekly papers, but they are shells of their former selves -- "ghosts," as UNC's Penelope Abernathy likes to describe them. One of the presentations at this summit on Tuesday was about "the rise of ghost newspapers" -- a phenomenon that disproportionately hurts "very vulnerable citizens" in rural areas.

Key quote: "There's a lot of research that shows that when metros pull out of outlying areas, either in terms of reporters or circulation, political activity goes down and political participation goes down."

FB is going to start sharing raw data with Abernathy and three other experts in this space... To better understand what's being consumed on FB in areas that are full of ghosts...

I promised some good news, so here it is:

Incredible collaboration in California

This effort will inspire you. Newsrooms throughout California -- 33 so far -- are working together to publish police misconduct records.

It's called the California Reporting Project. Quoting from a press release: "This unprecedented cooperation between 33 of California's newsrooms will shine a light on police misconduct and use of force. The newsrooms have agreed to set aside competition and work collaboratively given the public service this reporting will provide."

In theory, these records have recently become public under a new transparency law. But in practice, many law enforcement agencies have been slow to share the data. So newsrooms large and small are pressing for the info -- from 675 agencies in all 58 counties so far.

So many outlets are involved... CALmatters, LAist, LA Times, Woodland Daily Democrat, Press Democrat, SF Chronicle, Voice of San Diego, and so many more. The LA Times has a list of the stories "uncovered so far..."

Apple putting its muscle into media literacy efforts

Apple is becoming the latest Big Tech player to team up with media literacy programs. Tim Cook's Tuesday statement: "News literacy is vital to sustaining a free press and thriving democracy, and we are proud to be collaborating with organizations on the front lines of this effort."

Three organizations are receiving support: News Literacy Project and Common Sense in the United States and Osservatorio in Italy...

>> This announcement stokes speculation about what Apple will say re: its news efforts at next week's press event...

WEDNESDAY PLANNER

-- AT&T boss Randall Stephenson speaks at The Economic Club of Washington...

-- Dana Bash will moderate a CNN Town Hall with John Hickenlooper at CNN Center in Atlanta...

-- I'm not predicting anything will happen on Wednesday, but... In a new court filing, Robert Mueller's team says it is very busy this week...

-- On a related note, VF's Joe Pompeo wrote about "how the Mueller press corps is bracing for the big one," not knowing how big it will be...

Disney's historic moment

"This," Bob Iger says, is "an extraordinary and historic moment for us—one that will create significant long-term value for our company and our shareholders."

If you're reading this after 12:02 a.m. ET Wednesday, then Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox has taken effect. Here's the Disney press release with all the financial details. The parts of Fox that aren't moving to Disney now make up a new company, simply called Fox.

Now what?

Brian Lowry emails: Disney is getting bigger and broader with its long-pending acquisition of Fox entertainment assets. But like any marriage, combining all that joint property represents a formidable challenge -- in this case, about $71 billion worth of it -- with some areas where the two neatly fit together (see the reunion of key Marvel properties), and others where the combination could be a bit more problematic. Disney is promising "at least $2 billion in cost synergies by 2021 from operating efficiencies realized through the combination of businesses."

Read the rest of Lowry's analysis here...

Paul Ryan joins the Fox board

Former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and three others were appointed to the board of new Fox on Tuesday -- one of the necessary steps for the newly slimmed-down company. Ryan and Rupert Murdoch have been friendly for many years. Here's my full story...

>> Alex Weprin tweeted: "Ryan will receive compensation totaling $330,000 annually for serving on Fox Corp. board of directors, per an SEC filing. He will be chairman of the company's nominating and corporate governance committee..."

>> Political scientist Brendan Nyhan's reaction: "The GOP/Fox merger is becoming increasingly formalized. Trump watches and promotes it incessantly, Fox appoints Paul Ryan to its board..."

The temporary plan for Warner Bros.

Quoting from WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey's Tuesday evening memo to staffers, one day after studio chief Kevin Tsujihara's exit: "I've asked three members of the existing Warner Bros. executive team to lead the organization on an interim basis until a new Chairman and CEO is named." Toby Emmerich, Peter Roth and Kim Williams will all report to Stankey for the time being... And he says he'll be "moving quickly as we conduct a thorough and thoughtful search for a new Chairman and CEO to lead Warner Bros."

>> Nicole Sperling's latest for VF: As Tsujihara departs, "another Hollywood institution is searching for answers..."

>> Variety's Cynthia Littleton and Brent Lang say the next studio chief "will need deep digital chops..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- This will be one of Wednesday's big stories: "She was the victim in Jeffrey Epstein's secret plea deal. She didn't even know it." Read Julie K. Brown's latest... (Herald)

-- Sarah Ellison and Paul Farhi's latest: "Is Trump changing his tune on Fox News?" (WaPo)

-- "Diamond & Silk, who host a weekly show on the Fox News streaming platform Fox Nation, appeared" in a Trump campaign video on Monday... Fox told Jeremy Barr that the network merely "licenses" videos from the pair. In other words, they are not employees... (THR)

-- Rep. Devin Nunes is suing Twitter and three individual Twitter users who mocked him... And now he's being mocked even more as a result... (CNN)

-- I love newsletters. I hope you love newsletters too! The NYT's Mike Isaac does. He says his "new social network is an email newsletter..." (NYT)

Can the LA Times reach 5 million subscribers?

The paper's owner, Patrick Soon-Shiong, said in an interview with the WSJ's Lukas Alpert: "I have made a decision to invest what it will take to make sure that the Los Angeles Times remains a viable business for at least another 100 years. If we get to five million ultimately, that will make that possible."

Note: He "didn't set a timeline for achieving the goal," Alpert writes, but right now the Times only has "150,000 digital-only subscribers..."

Tim Armstrong's very golden parachute

When Tim Armstrong stepped down from Oath last December, Verizon said Oath "had an almost worthless brand value," Jackie Wattles wrote. But Armstrong didn't leave empty-handed. He "took home more than $30 million in stock awards, cash and other compensation in 2018, according to public filings posted Monday. He'll also get a $6.5 million severance package and an estimated $23.6 million in additional stock awards, depending on how the company performs..."

Medium is trying again...

Medium "is once again presenting itself as an oasis for content creators," Tom Kludt wrote Tuesday. The startup plans "to fund and distribute new publications, inviting editors and publishers to apply for its new program." It has sort of been here before...

>> The latest: "On Tuesday, former NYT food writer Mark Bittman launched Salty, an online magazine published through Medium." Ev Williams told the NYT "that there are more publications on the way; after investing $5 million in publishing last year, he said this year Medium will commit 'several multiples of that.'"

Congrats to the Cronkite Award winners!

The winners of the Cronkite Awards, presented every two years for excellence in TV political journalism, were named on Tuesday...

For individual achievement: Jacob Soboroff and A.C. Thompson...

National network news program winners: CNN's Parkland Town Hall, moderated by Jake Tapper, and NBC's "Meet the Press," for Chuck Todd's special hour about climate change.

The other winners are KXAN, WFAA, KCET, Hearst TV, E.W. Scripps Company, WTSP's Noah Pransky, ABC10's Lilia Luciano... A special achievement award for national impact went to WSOC and reporter Joe Bruno for covering NC-9... And The Brooks Jackson Prize for Fact-Checking Political Messages went to KUSA 9News here in Denver...

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

-- AT&T / Viacom fee fight: Viacom has "begun warning DirecTV's 24 million subscribers its channels could stop being shown..." The deadline is at the end of the day Friday... (Reuters)

-- Instagram is finally testing a "shopping feature," letting people "buy things they see and like directly through the app..." (Bloomberg)

-- Smart! The Mets are offering a "Netflix-style subscription deal that lets Mets fans score standing-room-only access to nearly every regular season home game..." (NYPost)

-- About Meredith's new title "Happy Paws:" Greg Dool explains that this is how magazines launch in the digital age... (Folio)

Google launches Stadia

It is a streaming service for video games that will work via WiFi. I can't wait to try it. You've probably read all about it by now, but if not, here is Heather Kelly's overview… She interviewed Google VP Phil Harrison…

Stadia is the proper plural of "stadium." And "as the name implies, Stadia is built as much for the people who watch video game play as the ones who do the playing," Kelly wrote…

Look out for "subscription fatigue"

Brian Lowry emails: The main findings from Deloitte's latest Digital Media Trends Survey seem pretty logical -- namely, that consumers are piecing together their own web of content through streaming services and conventional pay TV -- with 43% of respondents subscribing to some combination of both. But the survey also warns about the danger of "subscription fatigue." Deloitte says 47% of consumers said they are "frustrated" by the number of subscriptions required "to watch what they want," a cautionary flag given the anticipated onslaught of studio-backed services. Additional details can be read here...

Sanders hires David Sirota... and stirs a Twitter controversy

CNN's Ryan Nobles and Gregory Krieg write: "David Sirota, a journalist and social media provocateur, was formally announced Tuesday as a new senior adviser and speechwriter for the Bernie Sanders campaign. But Sirota had been informally advising the campaign on a trial basis since the day after Sanders formally launched his 2020 bid for the presidency last month."

Up until Tuesday, I sure thought he was presenting himself as a journalist. That's what others thought too. But he was "informally advising Sanders" without disclosing those ties. He attacked many of Sanders' rivals on Twitter, etc. But as of Tuesday morning, "Sirota had scrubbed his Twitter page of some 20,000 tweets going back several years." Read more here...

>> The Sanders campaign has also hired Briahna Joy Gray, "formerly a writer and reporter for outlets such as the Intercept, as national press secretary for Sanders' campaign. Gray has also been fiercely critical of Democrats..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

-- The ratings for Monday's town-hall-off: MSNBC's 8 p.m. event with Kirsten Gillibrand averaged 224,000 viewers in the 25-54 demo, while CNN's 9 p.m. event with Elizabeth Warren averaged 273,000 in the demo. Among total viewers, Gillibrand had 1.24 million and Warren had 1.08 million...

-- Mark your calendar: Don Lemon will moderate a town hall with Cory Booker in South Carolina on March 27... (CNN)

-- Fox News will host a town hall with Howard Schultz, co-anchored by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, on April 4... (Politico)

Trump likes this CNN poll finding

"Amazingly," the president tweeted on Tuesday, "CNN just released a poll at 71%, saying that the economy is in the best shape since 2001,18 years! WOW, is CNN becoming a believer?

@CNNPR responded to Trump and said, "What we believe are facts. Our polls -- all of them -- are accurate reflections of public sentiment at the moment. This one is no different. #FactsFirst 🍎"

>> BTW, Trump still managed to mis-state the exact finding from the poll. Per CNN's Jennifer Agiesta, the poll found that "71% say the nation's economy is in good shape, the highest share to say so since February 2001."

Trump's censorship cry

Oliver Darcy emails: Social media companies faced renewed attacks on Tuesday from Republicans, including President Trump, who -- without real evidence -- accused the various platforms of censoring conservatives' political speech. A question from The Daily Caller's W.H. correspondent prompted Trump's remarks.

Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have consistently denied discriminating against users for political POV. But the narrative continues.

One of this week's examples: Dan Scavino, Trump's social media director, suggested that Facebook was "silencing" him after he was temporarily barred from leaving comments to some users on his page. A Facebook rep explained that "in order to stop automated bots," FB temporarily caps "the amount of identical, repetitive activity coming from one account in a short period of time." That's true. It happens to lots of people.

This is about whipping up the right-wing base

More from Oliver Darcy: Trump's attacks on social media companies are no surprise. For years, Republicans and conservative media organizations have pushed the flimsy narrative that conservatives are unfairly treated by social media companies, which they accuse of bias and censorship. And often when such claims fall apart, the same individuals/outlets continue to advance the narrative, irrespective of the facts.

This is largely about whipping up the right-wing base, which is why you can expect allegations of bias/censorship against social media companies to continue for some time. Like attacks on the media over allegations of bias, this sort of rhetoric deeply resonates with the Republican base...

About Tuesday's new info from the unsealed Michael Cohen warrants...

CNN's Shimon Prokupecz noted on Twitter: "If it wasn't for media requests to the Judge, these documents would not have been made public. This is just one of many examples where the press has played a key role in getting information that would otherwise remain sealed. There will be more."

"The United States of Trump"

That's the title of Bill O'Reilly's next book. It was formally announced by Henry Holt and Company on Tuesday, though the former Fox host has been teasing it for a while.

The book will come out this fall. O'Reilly claims it "will have no anonymous sources and no spin. It will be reported and written with discipline and fairness." He has spent time with Trump for it...

FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR

-- "Snapchat is planning to launch a new slate of Originals — short, made-for-mobile shows — that appear in the Discover section of the Snapchat app," Sara Fischer reports. Snap's holding an event on April 4... (Axios)

-- MoviePass is bringing back its unlimited plan... sort of. There are some catches... (USA Today)

"Access Hollywood" exec producer leaves, citing creative differences

"Access Hollywood" exec producer Rob Silverstein, a larger-than-life figure in the entertainment biz, is out, effective immediately. It's a big shock to the "Access" system, since Silverstein has been associated with the show for 23 years. But maybe the writing was on the wall when Maureen FitzPatrick came in as a consultant on "Access" and "Access Live" last year. FitzPatrick is now taking over the franchise...

>> In an internal memo, Silverstein said "my vision of the show moving forward differs from the management team, so we have agreed today will be my final day as EP. I leave behind a legacy of success for which I am immensely proud..."

What's next for Natalie Morales?

After the Silverstein news broke, The Daily Mail popped a story saying that "Natalie Morales has been fired as the host of 'Access Hollywood' by NBC executives in order to make way for new star Mario Lopez." These things have a way of becoming true eventually... But right now the network is denying it.

"Natalie is an incredibly important part of the NBC family," a source told me. "In regards to 'Access,' the new E.P. will begin next week so we really don't know the direction the show will take in the future."

Netflix Labs, day two

Frank Pallotta emails from Hollywood: Day 2 of Netflix Labs has wrapped. I could tell you about Netflix plans on taking on competitors ("don't get distracted" by them, according to Reed Hastings) or what its biggest initiatives are (global, global, global), but none of that would be the most important thing I learned. The most important thing I learned is just how much Netflix thinks about how to serve its roughly 140 million members.

Sure, it's a huge business and sure it focuses on a bottom line, but each panel really broke down, to the most basic details, how the streamer thinks about obtaining new and retaining old subscribers. The content, the interface, the design, the product, even the logo all follows the same line of thinking: How do we make our members happy?

CBS is asking for up to $1.5 million for "Big Bang" finale ads

"CBS hopes to get a bigger bang out of the very last episode of 'The Big Bang Theory,'" Brian Steinberg reported Tuesday. "The network is seeking between $1.2 million and $1.5 million for a 30-second ad in the finale of the veteran series... A price approximately five to six times higher than the average cost to run an ad in the show this season." May 16 is the day...

FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE

By Chloe Melas:

-- An incredibly brave announcement by Wendy Williams on her own show: She revealed that she's seeking treatment and living in a sober house...

-- Stephen Colbert has cancelled a surprise trip to New Zealand in the wake of last week's attacks...

-- James Corden is returning as host of the 2019 Tony Awards...

Frank's interview with Katzenberg and Whitman

Frank Pallotta emails: Jeffery Katzenberg and Meg Whitman are about a year away from launching Quibi. The pitch: High quality videos that last 10 minutes or less. I spoke with the pair at SXSW and asked if consumers will be willing to sign up for a mobile-only, short-form video service after years of being conditioned to long storytelling on big screens? "Everyone is on their mobile at so much more time than they've ever been before," Whitman said. "We're going to give them great content with a great viewing experience for in-between moments." Watch/read the rest here...

David Simon's take-down

Brian Lowry emails: "The Wire" creator David Simon put his journalistic chops to use with a lengthy takedown of talent agents and the evils of "packaging." The piece -- as usual, peppered with colorful profanity -- draws upon personal experience when his book became the NBC series "Homicide" and was the talk of the town Tuesday amid the Writers Guild's campaign against agency practices, with Simon urging solidarity among writers while wishing biblical torments upon the group representing agents. It is, as they say, quite a read...

FOR THE RECORD, PART SIX

By Lisa Respers France:

-- Amy Schumer reveals in her new Netflix stand-up special that her husband is on the autism spectrum...

-- Gwyneth Paltrow wanted to reinvent divorce with her "conscious uncoupling" and now says she was hurt and surprised by the backlash...

-- About that new Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt movie poster...

LAST BUT NOT LEAST...

To infinity, and...

The first full trailer for "Toy Story 4" is out! It has 8 million views and counting on YouTube.

The toys will embark on an adventure to save a new character... Chloe Melas has the write-up here...

Thanks for reading! Email me feedback anytime. See you tomorrow...