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"It's a bloodbath." That's how two longtime Disney staffers have described the wave of layoffs happening at the company Thursday. The staff reductions are taking place in Disney's General Entertainment Content unit, overseen by Peter Rice, and Dana Walden's Walt Disney Television division, including ABC and studio 20th Television.

CNN was on the receiving end of a fair share of mockery following an “exclusive” report in which documents were discovered showing China downplayed their coronavirus numbers and lied about the origins of the pandemic. The ‘breakthrough’ reporting involved information President Trump has been explaining to the American people for ten months, yet was ridiculed by the mainstream media. He was even called xenophobic for daring to blame China for mishandling the outbreak. ... Viewers were quick to jump all over CNN for reporting what was already widely known by anybody with a working set of eyes and ears. “CNN...

Fox News Channel host Eric Shawn during Sunday’s broadcast of “America’s News HQ,” accused President Donald Trump of being unable to “wrap his brain around the fact” he lost the 2020 election. Shawn played a clip from Trump’s interview with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo earlier in which he said, “This election was a total fraud.” Shawn said, “That is, of course, President Trump claiming massive voter fraud this morning. His words, ‘they stuffed the ballot box. It was, quote a ‘fake election.’ All this despite the fact that his campaign has failed to prove any of this in court....

Robby Dinero, the owner of Athletes Unleashed gym located in Orchard Park, New York, tore up a $15,000 fine from the Erie County Health Department during a live Fox News interview. Dinero got hit with the extraordinarily hefty fine following a confrontation in which roughly 50 business owners attending a meeting inside the gym refused to allow a pair of sheriffs and a health inspector entry to the building without a warrant. “They picked a fight with a Marine and a whole bunch of patriots,” the gym owner said in a separate interview with WBEN, before pointing out that “The...

Sarah Fuller became the first woman to ever play in a Power Five college football game on Saturday when she kicked off for Vanderbilt in their showdown against Missouri. Because the Tigers came into the game 3-3 and Vandy 0-7, the historic element of the kickoff was pretty much the only thing folks tuned in for. Almost immediately, the reactions began to pour in on social media. They were largely what you’d expect.

ViacomCBS is shedding another 100 employees this week across the company as the merger between Viacom and CBS — and the resulting streamlining efforts that have followed — continue to ripple through the combined corporation. The layoffs impact a range of departments across ViacomCBS, from sales to shared services such as finance and legal, per a source familiar with the situation. Several of the impacted divisions are reducing their teams by one or two employees, while others are being more greatly affected. Personnel at the company’s New York and Los Angeles offices will be impacted, though it is unclear which...

A significant round of layoffs forecast last month at WarnerMedia is getting under way today. CEO Jason Kilar emailed staffers this morning, acknowledging the process is “painful” but also calling it a “critical” step in the AT&T division’s evolution. (See his full memo below.) The entertainment outfit has seen multiple staff reductions since the acquisition of Time Warner closed in 2018. Historically, its three main units — HBO, Warner Bros and Turner — operated as mostly autonomous groups. Now, synergy is the mission, with teams being blended for the first time in decades and a lot of positions eliminated in...

ESPN is cutting another 500 jobs as pressures from the Covid-19 pandemic are weighing on the sports network. Apparently, the restart of almost all major sports – albeit draped in political messaging for the last 6 months – hasn’t been enough to save the network from a fresh round of layoffs. The network is blaming the coronavirus, naturally, because it certainly can’t blame its own politicized discussions during almost every major sporting event it has broadcast over the last few months. A memo circulated on Thursday from Jimmy Pitaro, the head of ESPN, said the cuts will include 300 layoffs...

The NBA’s viewership woes have been discussed ad nauseam over the past few months. By now, everyone knows that this year’s ratings have sunk by more than 50 percent. It is no secret that Games 2 and 3 between the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat, which did 6.1 million viewers and 5.9 million viewers, respectively, touched all-time lows. But the one thing the NBA has been hanging its hat on throughout is who has been watching. Young people, folks in major metropolitan cities, individuals in the key demo – that is who the league has been selling as its...

Here’s what is indisputable: ratings for the NFL are down, in some cases to an ugly degree. Thursday Night Football (NFL Network) was down an astounding 70 percent from last year, but that comes with a huge caveat: last year’s game aired on NFL Network and Fox. Broadcast TV always jacks up ratings, and it’ll do the same thing when TNF returns to Fox later this season. Still: only 5.41 million watched the Denver Broncos and the New York Jets play last Thursday. Sunday Night Football (NBC) took a steep dive, falling 37 percent in viewership from last year. The...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Sacramento Bee is moving from its current location on Q Street and nearly 200 print production workers will be laid off, the paper says. The paper said the move into a smaller space will happen in July and will better suit the needs of a digital news operation.

Comcast Corp.'s NBCUniversal has started laying off employees across its entertainment portfolio, including its sports and cable channels, movie studio and theme parks, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

NBCUniversal’s vast television group is bracing for a significant downsizing as part of the pending layoffs that are expected to hit next month. A plan for layoffs and restructuring of operations have been signaled recently by newly appointed NBCU CEO Jeff Shell. Multiple sources said division heads in TV, including NBCU Television and Streaming chairman Mark Lazarus and NBCUniversal Content Studios chairman Bonnie Hammer have been evaluating production, programming, marketing and distribution operations in light of a fast-changing market for content. At NBCU’s film studio Universal Pictures, global operations are also expected to take a hit.

Key Points Vox Media has informed its unions that it plans to cut jobs as advertising revenue has slumped in the first and second quarters. Vox Media is preparing staff cuts to both unionized and non-union workers. Vox was 40% off its revenue forecast for the second quarter and plans to miss its full-year target by 25% ============================================================================ Vox Media, the owner of media properties including New York Magazine, The Verge, SBNation and Eater, has informed its worker unions to prepare for company-wide layoffs, according to people familiar with the matter. Vox spoke with union leaders Monday to inform them...

Robert De Niro says he’s running out of dinero. The coronavirus dealt a massive financial blow to the actor’s finances he revealed in court, as his estranged wife asked for an emergency order to raise her monthly American Express card credit limit from $50,000 to $100,000. The “Irishman” actor appeared by phone on a Skype call in his Manhattan divorce case with Grace Hightower as her lawyer told a judge that De Niro unfairly cut her monthly Am-Ex allowance from $100,000 to $50,000 and said she and their children had been banned from an upstate compound where De Niro is...

Memo outlines steps to combat 'culture of white supremacy' The turmoil at the New York Times has taken a dramatic turn, according to the text of a staff memo circulated among the newspaper's editorial staff. The combative document is reposted in full below: From: The People's Liberation Faction of the New York Times Editorial Guild To: Cis White Editors and Bari Weiss Since the illegitimate election of "President" XXXXXX X. XXXXX, We the People have lived in constant fear. Every day, the newspaper, and particularly its opinion section, has promoted the words of white supremacists intent on harming our Black,...

Microsoft is to replace dozens of contract journalists on its MSN website and use automated systems to select news stories, US and UK media report. The curating of stories from news organisations and selection of headlines and pictures for the MSN site is currently done by journalists. Artificial intelligence will perform these news production tasks, sources told the Seattle Times. Microsoft said it was part of an evaluation of its business. The US tech giant said in a statement: "Like all companies, we evaluate our business on a regular basis. This can result in increased investment in some places and,...

After President Trump announced he would be suspending immigration to the United States to protect the jobs and wages of millions of newly unemployed workers during the pandemic, the Spectator USA reported an “internal battle” broke out in the White House. Sources familiar with the situation told the Spectator that Kushner “is one of the loudest voices pushing back on a full ban and is seeking to carve out exemptions for refugees, temporary workers under the H1B visa program, and farmworkers under the H-2A visa program.” If that’s true, then Kushner achieved a total victory. The ban applies only to...

The coronavirus pandemic has brought significant challenges to our families and our communities. From schools to the workplace, our daily routines have been turned inside out. We have witnessed a heartbreaking loss of life. And millions have lost their jobs. The response to this pandemic is the biggest story of our lives. At The Sacramento Bee, we feel a significant responsibility to report and share with you the full picture. Read more here: https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article242198816.html#storylink=cpy

MUMBAI/AHMEDABAD, India (Reuters) - Parts of India have recorded dramatic falls in mortality rates after a nationwide lockdown was imposed to fight the new coronavirus, suggesting there has not been an undetected surge in virus-related deaths.