More Media News

• Members of Congress have sent two letters that encouraged the Trump Administration to direct existing government ad campaigns to local newspapers and broadcasters. The first letter was signed by over 240 members of the House of Representatives. The second letter generated 74 senators as signatories.

• Poynter has a page of resources, training and funding to help newsrooms report on the coronavirus. Poynter compiled a list of tools that might be useful in the current climate as well. Also, the Poynter Institute’s International Fact-Checking Network has launched a chatbot on WhatsApp to connect users with the work of over 80 fact-checking organizations worldwide.

 • News Media Alliance has a page of links to resources that provide useful information for news publishers about the Stimulus Package, CARES Act, small business loans and more. The page will be updated as more resources become available, the Alliance says.

• PressReader has launched a new channel on COVID-19 on its platform. It’s a news feed of stories from publishers around the world, which PressReader has also made available as a free digital newspaper called COVID-19 News. 

• In calls to staff, New York Post publisher Sean Giancola announced that the company will take cost-cutting measures due to falling advertiser demand, the Daily Beast reported. Over a dozen staffers were laid off, people familiar with the situation told The Daily Beast. Furloughs are also part of the mix, the Daily Beast says. News Corp owns the paper. 

• The Lake County News Chronicle (Two Harbors, Minnesota) will produce its last issue May 22, the paper announced. Forum Communications owns the paper.

• The Reuters Institute’s Trust in News Project looks at what digital news sources people trust, why people invest their trust in them, and what publishers and platforms can do to help people make decisions about what news to trust online. The project is funded with a $4 million grant from the Facebook Journalism Project. 

• Leaf Group, a consumer internet company, has made a deal to transfer ownership of a library of content currently displayed on selected Hearst websites to Hearst Newspapers in exchange for $9.5 million. In addition, for a three-year period, Leaf Group and Hearst will continue to work together to manage the sites.

• Harlan Newspapers (Harlan, Iowa) has launched an advertising grant program aimed at helping local businesses through the COVID-19 pandemic this spring and maybe into the summer.

• WAN-IFRA has joined the Independent News Emergency Relief Coordination (INERC) to coordinate help during the pandemic. INERC is an effort to help funders willing to provide significant financial support for independent news media.

• Starting June 2, the Wyoming Tribune Eagle will no longer be printing a Tuesday paper.

• Starting the week of May 11, the Daily Journal (Tupelo, Mississippi) will become a five-day print paper, the paper announced

• The Daily Clintonian (Clinton, Indiana), which ceased publication on April 10, has been bought with the intent to restart the paper. The news comes from John Thomas Cribb, Cribb, Greene & Cope, who represented the Carey family in their sale to Don L. Hurd, president of Hoosier Media Group, Hometown Media and Heartland Media Group. 

• Papers in Hawaii are making changes. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser is eliminating its Saturday print edition, beginning May 9. The Hawaii Tribune Herald (Hilo) and the Garden Island (Lihue) are making the same change. The papers will produce e-editions for Saturdays. Oahu Publications, a subsidiary of Black Press, manages the papers.

• Sound Publishing has laid off 20 percent of its staff at papers in Washington and Alaska, Peninsula Daily News reports.

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