By David Farrell
Liberals relaxing media aid plan stipulations
The federal government’s planned changes to its financial aid for news outlets in Canada should allow more of them to qualify for the financial help, industry association News Media Canada says. – CP
PM promotes ‘No Notoriety’ movement ethos in NS murder spree
The PM has asked media outlets to “avoid” both mentioning the name of the primary suspect in the shooting spree and “showing” his picture, perhaps pushing the ‘No Notoriety’ movement that puts the spotlight on victims and starves killers of the chance to become famous.
Ottawa eyes global platform payouts for Canada’s media
Following recent regs in France and Australia, the Liberal government is studying options that would force US tech giants to share ad revenues with Canadian media companies. – Jesse Snyder, National Post
Toronto Life’s May issue produced entirely from staff residences
Toronto Life released its May issue Monday, the first one in the magazine’s 54-year history to be produced remotely, entirely from the kitchen tables and living room sofas of its editorial staff. Magazines like Toronto Life are usually planned months in advance, and the May issue was well under way in mid-March when it became clear that Covid-19 was going to upend every aspect of our lives. We quickly realized that none of the stories scheduled to run still made sense. So we put them all on hold and started from scratch. – Sarah Fulford, Toronto Life
Bell donates 1.5M face masks to critical agency workers
Bell is donating 1.5M N95 and KN95 face masks worth about $7.5M to fed and provincial governments for distribution to critical healthcare agencies.
Apple, Rogers offering iPads to low-income students
To date, the Ontario government says 21K iPads have been delivered to Ontario school boards with the telecom providing free cellular internet access with the iPads for the rest of the school year.
How the lockdown has hit organized crime
To discuss how organized crime has been affected by the pandemic, Raju Mudhar talks with Peter Edwards, a reporter on the Star’s Courts Crime and Justice team, who has also written 15 non-fiction books on organized crime, many of them becoming national bestsellers (includes podcast). – The Star
Six scenarios for the post-pandemic world
Before the pandemic hit, there was a secular decline in retail space demand already underway. This will clearly be accelerated as numbers of smaller retailers and restaurants reduce, and e-commerce and delivery services increase. Work from home will reveal a lesser need for office space, so both retail and commercial property prices will decline in Europe and the US. For residential, the story is more complicated …David Galbraith, Exponential View
Disney furloughs 100K theme park and hotel workers amid coronavirus shutdown
About 70,000 laid-off Walt Disney World Resort workers have to rely now on Florida unemployment, which pays just $275 a week for 12 weeks. The layoffs could save Disney about $500M a month in salaries. – Corky Siemaszko, NBC News
Fake streaming scams dramatically increase
More than 700 fake websites mimicking Netflix and Disney+ signup pages have been created seeking to harvest personal information from consumers in the first 12 days of April alone. – The Guardian
RIP
Ronan O’Rahilly, the founder of the celebrated pirate radio station Radio Caroline, has died at the age of 79. He first became known as a player in the burgeoning “swinging London” scene of the 1960s, managing Alexis Korner (the blues-rocker who nurtured the career of the Rolling Stones) and Georgie Fame. Fame eventually had three UK No 1 singles, but O’Rahilly initially struggled to get his musicians noticed by BBC stations and the then-popular Radio Luxembourg, and so founded his own station, Radio Caroline, in 1964. – The Guardian
