For the Record

Broadway Extends Cancellations:

The Broadway League announced "the continued suspension of all ticket sales for Broadway performances in [New York City] through May 30, 2021" Friday, citing the continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Dates for returning and new shows "will be announced as individual productions determine the performance schedules for their respective shows." Broadway League President Charlotte St. Martin added that the trade organization's membership "is committed to re-opening as soon as conditions permit us to do so."

Powell Jobs Cuts Journalism Investments:

Laurene Powell Jobs "is offloading some of her investments in journalism as the pandemic decimates the media industry," Kerry Flynn of CNN reported Thursday. Powell Jobs' Emerson Collective has "has cut ties with Pop-Up Magazines Productions, which owns Pop-Up Magazine and California Sunday Magazine," according to tweets posted by the company's union. The news follows recent layoffs at The Atlantic, where Emerson Collective owns a majority stake, inspiring a "backlash from journalists and media observers who are wondering why Powell Jobs, who Forbes estimated was worth $16.4 billion in April, is pulling back on her journalism investments in the middle of a global health crisis." 

Jim Dwyer (1957-2020):

1995 Commentary winner Jim Dwyer died Thursday in Manhattan from complications of lung cancer. He was 63. A lifelong resident of New York City, Dwyer earned degrees from Fordham University and Columbia Journalism School before pursuing a career as a metropolitan reporter and columnist at the New York Daily News and Newsday, culminating in his appointment as The New York Times' "About New York" columnist in 2007. In an email to the newsroom, Executive Editor Dean Baquet and Metro Editor Clifford Levy lauded Dwyer as a "mentor to multitudes."

Patch Sees Increased Revenue Amid Local News Void:

Local news platform Patch "just had its record month for the number of client bookings and revenue in September" and has seen a 30% year-over-year increase in revenue "thanks in part to an increase in direct sales," Kayleigh Barber of Digiday reported Tuesday. "The news cycle over the last eight months has tilted really towards the local lens and the community lens," said Warren St. John, the company's president. Prominent advertisers include Amazon’s home security system Ring (which has underwritten a franchise profiling local heroes) and "telecom companies like Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile."

Palmer and Sherman To Leave Politico:

Politico Playbook co-authors Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer "will leave the outlet at the end of the year" and collaborate on a new venture, Mimi Montgomery of Washingtonian reported Tuesday. The duo took over the morning newsletter from Axios co-founder Mike Allen in 2016. "We’ve been able to build upon and create a franchise that will live on long beyond our time at Politico," said Palmer, alluding to the addition of an early evening newsletter, audio briefings and other features.

House Report Condemns Big Tech Monopoly Power:

A 449-page report released by the House Judiciary Committee's Democratic leadership Tuesday characterized Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google as "the kinds of monopolies we last saw in the era of oil barons and railroad tycoons," according to Cecilia Kang and David McCabe of The New York Times. The report "recommended restoring competition" in such industries as search, social networking and publishing "by effectively breaking up the companies, emboldening the agencies that police market concentration and throwing up hurdles for the companies to acquire start-ups" alongside the implementation of reformed antitrust laws. However, ranking Republican member Jim Jordan "said that the report was 'partisan' and that the committee had not tackled conservatives’ anecdotal allegations that the online platforms were biased against their views," while Ken Buck, a Republican of Colorado, said that he "[agreed] with about 330 pages of the majority's report" but opposed antitrust actions.

Pearlstine To Step Aside:

Los Angeles Times Executive Editor Norman Pearlstine announced that he will transition into an advisory role at the publication Monday after participating in the selection process for his successor, according to Katie Robertson of The New York Times. "I am proud of what we have accomplished," Pearlstine said in an internal email obtained by Robertson. "I also recognize it’s the right time to find a successor — an editor who embodies the qualities needed to continue The Times’s revival." Although the paper "has grown more robust during his time in charge," it also "has faced a number of new challenges, including a sluggish digital subscription business, pay cuts and furloughs related to the coronavirus pandemic, and turmoil among the staff over what an article in the paper described as a 'painful reckoning over race.'"

New Yorker Union, Condé Nast Agree on 'Just Cause' Clause:

The New Yorker Union and Condé Nast have agreed to a "just cause" clause in a forthcoming bargaining agreement hours before scheduled picketing was set to commence, the unit announced Monday. In a statement to Kerry Flynn of CNN, a spokesperson for the magazine said that the clause (which ensures that an employer must have a fair reason for imposing any disciplinary action on an employee) is part of a "tentative agreement [...] on a number of issues" and that the magazine is hopeful that "this moment will lead to productive talks on the remaining issues." (New Yorker Editor David Remnick is a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board.)

Shear: No White House Contact Tracing:

Michael Shear, a New York Times White House correspondent diagnosed with the novel coronavirus, said that he "has not heard one word from the White House about any contract tracing efforts" in an interview with CNN's Alisyn Camerota and John Berman Monday. "I have not been contacted by the White House," Shear said. "Nobody from the White House has said 'boo' and asked anything about where I was or who I talked to or who else I might have infected." Shortly after Shear's interview, Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany announced that she had tested positive for the virus. Three journalists assigned to the White House have tested positive since late last week; Shear is the only one to have come forward thus far.

Independent Bookstores Respond to Pandemic:

With year-to-year sales of print books up by as much as 13% in August, independent booksellers have "[rewritten] the rules of engagement" amid the COVID-19 pandemic by matching such online retailer perquisites as free shipping and hosting Zoom readings, according to Haley Velasco of The Wall Street Journal. "Books on racism, the sales have been unbelievable," said Tom Lowenburg, owner of Octavia Books in New Orleans. "I can’t think of anything comparable in my 20 years as a bookseller."