Media Beat: August 22, 2018

By David Farrell

Marilyn Denis is not leaving her daily CTV show

An earlier edition of this column incorrectly reported that Marilyn Denis was planning to leave her popular daily CTV morning program, The Marilyn Denis Show. The story was erroneous, according to CTV. It appears that the story falls into the category of ‘fake news’. FYI picked up the story online that was perhaps erroneously attributed to Entertainment Today. We apologize wholeheartedly for misleading our readers.

Drake among those funding Mars Reel

Mars Reel is ready to take its content game to the next level. The digital media sports company, which focuses on highlighting high school basketball with short, “snackable” clips, has secured $4.7 million from investors including Otter Media, hip-hop artist Drake, and philanthropist Dwayne Wade.– Matt Lopez, Videoink

Quebec’s ‘Trash Radio’ host fires up outrage, and big ratings

Jeff Fillion, 50, is among the most prominent and provocative talk radio hosts on Quebec airwaves, dominating what his critics call “radio poubelle,” or trash radio. His critics revile him. His fans adore him.

At a time when Mr. Trump’s tirades on Twitter and beyond are changing global political discourse, Mr. Fillion and his fellow shock jocks are drawing legions of listeners in this picturesque political capital, propagating a cocktail of anti-immigrant, anti-environment and anti-feminist views.

They are also testing the boundaries of free speech in a country that prides itself on liberalism but has seen a growing far right. – Dan Bilefsky, The New York Times

Hundreds gather to remember sports broadcasting legend Gary Dalliday

Nearly 400 people gathered to pay their respects and remember Gary Dalliday, better known around the CHEX newsroom and in hockey rinks as “the Diller.”

Dalliday died Monday in Peterborough, ON after his third battle with cancer, surrounded by his loved ones. He was 76 years old. – Jesse Thomas, Global News

Has social-media usage around the world peaked?

The world’s largest social networks blamed recent user declines on abuse crackdowns and a botched redesign, but mounting evidence points to a problem that could prove harder to fix: Social-media use may be reaching its peak.

Facebook Inc.’s core platform added no new users in the United States and Canada in the second quarter and lost one million in Europe – its most lucrative markets. Globally, the company signed up just 22 million new users, its slowest quarterly growth rate since analysts first began tracking the measure in 2011.

Twitter Inc. lost one million active users in the same time period. Snap Inc., maker of photo-and video-sharing app Snapchat, lost three million users in the second quarter – Tamsin McMahon, Globe & Mail

Melania Trump tackles 'destructive and harmful' effects of social media

First lady Melania Trump spoke out against cyberbullying Monday as part of her Be Best campaign, warning against "destructive and harmful" uses of social media and once again highlighting a messaging rift between the East Wing and the West Wing.

"In today's global society, social media is an inevitable part of our children's daily lives," Trump said at a cyberbullying summit in Rockville, Maryland. "It can be used in many positive ways, but can also be destructive and harmful when misused. This is why Be Best chooses to focus on the importance of teaching our next generation how to conduct themselves safely and in a positive manner in an online setting." – CNN

Study: Social media has replaced reading books for teens

Gone are the days of teens spending their downtime engrossed in a novel, according to findings from the new study, published Monday by the American Psychological Association. In fact, 1 in 3 U.S. high school seniors did not read a book for pleasure in 2016. In the same period, 82 percent of 12th graders visited sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram every day. – HuffPost

Livestreaming can save sports broadcasting

Televised sports are starting to lose their luster. NFL TV audiences were down 9.7 percent last year, Premier League soccer viewing was down 14 percent in the U.K., and NBC’s viewing for the 2018 Winter Olympics was down 7 percent from four years earlier, even accounting for new viewing methods. Even the Super Bowl has apparently peaked.

Among the litany of reasons mooted – engaging new channels compete for media time. – Doron Nir, VB

Anna Faris on why her show is making the leap from podcast to radio

Anna Faris is unqualified, at least according to the title of her wildly successful, book-spawning podcast, Anna Faris is Unqualified. That lack of qualification, though, isn’t stopping the actress from teaming up with America’s largest audio company, iHeartMedia, to bring her hit podcast to Top 40 broadcast radio stations nationwide. – Melissa Locker, Fast Company