Hearst Names Interim Magazine Leader After Chief Exits
New York Times: Debi Chirichella, the chief financial officer of Hearst Magazines, will step in after the departure of Troy Young, who was accused of making lewd remarks in the workplace. Chirichella will face the challenge of driving traffic and advertising revenue...
Conde Nast Unveils New Video, Audio Products for Health
MediaPost: Conde Nast Health, the company's commercial division dedicated to the health advertising category, held its second annual upfront, announcing new opportunities for pharmaceutical marketers, in addition to new products and franchises across company...
McClatchy CEO to Depart in Sale Deal with Private Equity
Sacramento Business Journal: McClatchy's current board of directors will leave the company, along with CEO Craig Forman, at the close of the transaction with Chatham Asset Management. "All employees will be offered their current job with new...
New York Times CEO Warns of Curbing Google, Facebook
Reuters: Regulation intended to address the news industry's problems with Google and Facebook could have adverse consequences, says outgoing New York Times CEO Mark Thompson. He sees risk in giving regulators more control of...
Washington Post Settles Lawsuit from Viral Video Teen
Fox News: The Washington Post is the latest news organization to settle a defamation lawsuit launched by Covington Catholic High School student Nicholas Sandmann over botched coverage of a viral confrontation with a Native American...
Los Angeles Times Top Editor ‘Verbally Harasses’ Journo
TheWrap: The guild representing Los Angeles Times journalists has accused executive editor Norman Pearlstine of verbally harassing and retaliating against a reporter and being “hostile and dismissive” in response to “concerns about ethical...
Trend: Top Journos Are Leaving Jobs to Start Newsletters
Washington Post: A growing number of writers are gravitating to Substack and other newsletter platforms — a trend that has accelerated as the coronavirus recession hammers at the long-beleaguered news industry. "People should be realistic about...
Media Giants Shift to New M&A Targets During Covid Age
Hollywood Reporter: Content libraries and video game assets are seen as possible takeover targets in the media and telecom industries during the coronavirus pandemic. Podcasting remains a hot deal area. Traditional film and TV assets have "not seen a lot of...
AT&T’s WarnerMedia Loses $1.5 Billion from Coronavirus
Ad Exchanger: The impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on AT&T and WarnerMedia are far reaching, totaling $2.8 billion in the second quarter alone. AT&T's WarnerMedia division took the brunt of the hit from the pandemic, with $1.5 billion in lost...
Disney to Delay ‘Mulan,’ Other Films in Ongoing Pandemic
New York Post: Disney is delaying the release of some of its biggest blockbusters, including "Mulan," "Star Wars" and "Avatar," as the coronavirus pandemic continues to wrack the globe. "Mulan," the live-action remake of its animated classic, has been postponed...
Fox Corp to Add Virtual Fans in TV Broadcasts of Baseball
Associated Press: Fox will be taking viewers out to the ballgame by adding a virtual crowd in parks during its baseball broadcasts this season. The network will include computer-generated fans in the stands beginning with three games on...
AT&T Says New Streamer Attracted 4 Million Subscribers
TechCrunch: HBO Max, the AT&T-owned streaming service that combines HBO with WarnerMedia content, now has 4.1 million subscribers who have activated their accounts, since its launch on May 27. HBO-HBO Max reach a total of 36.3 million US...
Quibi, After Protest, Allows Viewers to Make Screenshots
TheWrap: Quibi, after being criticized for launching without a way for fans to share their favorite moments, now lets viewers screenshot content. But Quibi is doing it a bit differently. Viewers press and hold on a show they're watching, allowing them to pick an image...
ByteDance’s TikTok Starts $200 Fund to Help US Creators
Bloomberg: TikTok has created a $200 million fund that will be distributed to some US users with large followings to encourage them to continue providing innovative content. TikTok already helps its stars find advertising partnerships and deals with talent...
Twitter Sees Record User Growth, Explores Subscriptions
Bloomberg: Twitter reported another quarter of record user growth as people joined the service for news and entertainment during the pandemic. But its advertising business was hammered amid a global marketing retraction as businesses pulled back on...
Google Hands Out Nearly $40 Million to Boost Local News
B&T: Google has given news publishers around the world more than $39.5 million since the Covid-19 pandemic hit. The funding has been distributed across 5,600 in 115 countries as part of the Google News Initiative Journalism Emergency Relied...
Facebook CEO Threatens to Fire Employees Over Bullying
CNBC: Mark Zuckerberg in June threatened to fire Facebook employees for "bullying" colleagues, following a widespread employee walkouts protesting the company's content moderation policies. "I've been very worried about … the level of...
News Corp’s Wall Street Journal Addresses Cancel Culture
Wall Street Journal: "We've been gratified by the outpouring of support from readers after some 280 of our Wall Street Journal colleagues signed (and someone leaked) a letter to our publisher criticizing the opinion pages." However, "reassurance is in order."...
New York Times New CEO Predicts Future as Tech Leader
The Information: Imagine a New York Times where you get your music and play digital games, along with your news. That vision is a big part of what Meredith Kopit Levien, announced as the company's new CEO Wednesday, sees as the future of the...
Hearst Magazines, Editors in Uncertainty After Chief’s Exit
Business of Fashion: Troy Young leaves Hearst at a pivotal time for the magazine publisher. It is unclear whether the structure he has built will remain in place upon his departure. Young appointed most, if not all, of the current Hearst magazine...
Conde Nast, Vox Media Offer Tips on Creating Newsletters
Folio: "Newsletters today are in many ways the newspapers of yesterday; the inbox is the new doorstep,” says Jessie Li, newsletter editor at The New Yorker. "In recent years we've seen a huge explosion of newsletters in the news...
Ebony Magazine Creditors Plot Effort to Force Bankruptcy
Wall Street Journal: The owner of Ebony magazine is being forced into bankruptcy by creditors who say they want to take over the publication, which has chronicled Black culture for 75 years but has declined since being sold by founding publisher Johnson...
BuzzFeed Lays Off 50 Staffers as Pandemic Hurts Ad Deals
Bloomberg: BuzzFeed laid off 50 of the 74 employees who were furloughed this spring as the digital media company struggles to replace lost revenue during the pandemic. The cuts include 10 employees in BuzzFeed's news...
The Athletic Aims to Score New Subscribers with T-Mobile
Front Office Sports: The Athletic has unveiled its first national promotional partnership with T-Mobile. The wireless network operator is offering free, one-year subscriptions to The Athletic and MLB.TV to all US-based T-Mobile and Sprint...
Analysis: Media Audiences, Junior Staffers Now Talk Back
Financial Times: News organizations are increasingly being forced to pay attention to what their audiences and junior employees have to say. Decades ago, what was newsworthy was decided by professional newsmen. The Internet and social media have radically altered this...
Hearst Magazines Chief Resigns After ‘Toxic’ Culture Story
Business Insider: Troy Young has resigned from his position as president of Hearst Magazines, effective immediately. In a company-wide email, Hearst CEO Steve Swartz announced that Young was no longer with the company. The move comes after a bombshell story in the New...
Disney, Comcast, AT&T Eye Streaming as Virus Takes a Toll
TheWrap: As media companies prepare for a dour earnings season, streaming figures to be the lone area where anyone can claim a win. Disney, Comcast and AT&T are all expected to see revenues drop from the year-ago quarter, or in Disney's case, plummet "Tower of...
ViacomCBS Seeks to Become King of Freemium Streaming
World Screen: ViacomCBS is on track to be the global leader in freemium streaming, says CEO Bob Bakish. "In free we'll continue to build on Pluto TV." The pay services at ViacomCBS are "anchored by CBS All Access," which is being transformed into a "broad, super...
AT&T’s WarnerMedia Expands Global Content for HBO Max
World Screen: The dramas "Gomorrah" and "Veneno," the unscripted relationship series "Singletown" and the competition show "The Great Pottery Throw Down" are part of the expanded slate of international titles coming to HBO Max. "As our world becomes more connected, so...
Comcast Nabs 1.5 Million App Downloads for New Peacock
TechCrunch: NBCUniversal's Peacock appears to be having a somewhat better launch than Quibi did. While numbers pointing to new app downloads aren't a complete picture of consumer adoption for a cross-platform service, they can provide a window into early...