For the Record

People Digital Team Announces Intent to Unionize:

People magazine's digital team "has announced its intention to form a union, joining its print division, which is already unionized," according to Katie Kilkenny of The Hollywood Reporter. 96% of eligible employees have signed cards indicating their interest in forming a bargaining unit with the NewsGuild. People's print division, which unionized with the NewsGuild in the 1970s, has remained the only Meredith property in the union (which represents employees at many newspapers, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post) throughout the intervening decades.

Condé Nast, BuzzFeed Make Additional Cuts:

Condé Nast and BuzzFeed announced "additional belt-tighening measures" this week "as they deal with the fallout from COVID-19," according to Kerry Flynn of CNN. While the former company "is laying off about 100 staffers in the U.S. and furloughing about another 100" in addition to placing select employees on reduced work schedules, BuzzFeed has extended preexisting salary reductions through the end of 2020 alongside day furloughs for 68 studio and business employees. The company also will "negotiate with BuzzFeed News Guild about cost reduction for the news division."

Carolyn Reidy (1949-2020):

Simon & Schuster CEO Carolyn Reidy died of a heart attack Tuesday at the age of 71. According to Kerry Flynn of CNN, Reidy, who began her editorial career at Random House in 1974, played an integral role in the "success of a number of books by authors such as Pulitzer Prize winners David W. Blight, Anthony Doerr, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Frank McCourt, David McCullough and Siddhartha Mukherjee." 

Times: McNeil 'Went Too Far':

In a statement to Washington Post Media Critic Erik Wemple, a New York Times spokesperson said that health and science reporter Donald McNeil, Jr. "went too far in expressing his personal views" in a recent interview with Christiane Amanpour of CNN. In the exchange, McNeil called for the resignation of CDC Director Robert R. Redfield and characterized Vice President Mike Pence as a "sycophant." The spokesperson added that McNeil's editors "have discussed the issue with him to reiterate that his job is to report the facts and not to offer his own opinions."

Broadway Shutdown Extended Through September:

According to Michael Paulson of The New York Times, the Broadway League trade organization announced Tuesday that its 41 theaters "would remain shuttered at least through Labor Day" due to the COVID-19 pandemic, enabling "box offices and authorized ticket sellers [to] refund or exchange tickets for shows through Sept. 6." Paulson added that "many industry officials" believe the opening "will be considerably later than Labor Day" because "Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has put arts and entertainment in the last phase of his reopening plan." 

Disney+ to Stream 'Hamilton':

Disney announced Tuesday "it was fast-tracking the debut of the Broadway juggernaut “Hamilton” to its Disney+ service, where a filmed version of the blockbuster musical will begin streaming on July 3," according to Erich Schwartzel of The Wall Street Journal. The company paid $75 million for distribution rights to the film (which was shot in 2016 with Lin-Manuel Miranda, who received the 2016 Drama Prize for the work, in the title role) for a planned October 2021 release prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The release of Warner Brothers' adaptation of "In the Heights" (for which Miranda and 2012 Drama winner Quiara Alegría Hudes attained the finalist distinction in 2009) has been postponed to June 2021 due to the pandemic.

Twitter Labels Disputed COVID-19 Messages:

Twitter announced Monday that "it will start alerting users when a tweet makes disputed or misleading claims about the coronavirus," according to Amanda Seitz of Associated Press. However, Yoel Roth, Twitter’s head of site integrity, cautioned that the platform "will not be able to take enforcement action on every tweet with incomplete or disputed information about COVID-19," while Nick Pickles, a global senior strategist for public policy, said that the company will not "directly fact check or call tweets false on the site."

Facebook News' Six-Month Reckoning:

Six months after its launch, Facebook News "is still not available to all U.S. users as a tab, and has only been available to all U.S. users in the bookmark section of the app since April," according to Max Willens of Digiday. Although the platform told publishers that development "was going to be slow," several participating news organizations "have begun to worry that News has slid down Facebook’s list of priorities." A Facebook spokesperson maintained that “millions” of people use the tab.

NLRB Approves Hearst Union Election:

According to Sarah Jones of New York magazine, the National Labor Relations Board "ruled against each objection" Hearst "raised to the bargaining unit proposed by the Writer's Guild of America East" Friday, ordering a union election. Among other grievances, the media company alleged that "the presence of a mysterious Hearst International Employees Association" would preclude employees from joining the proposed bargaining unit. The election will be conducted in person and via mail.

Thompson on COVID-19:

In a Sunday interview with Brian Stelter of CNN, New York Times Company CEO Mark Thompson characterized the COVID-19 pandemic as a "moment for news organizations and newspapers to find audiences and prove the value of trustworthy news," adding: "If papers have got enough [...] cash on hand to keep going through the crisis, I think they can build audiences and build loyalty and build recognition." Despite a 15.2% dip in quarterly advertising revenue (expected to drop by as much as 50% in the June quarter), The Times "reported a record 6 million subscriptions during the first three months of 2020," according to Clare Duffy of CNN.