News Corp Still Faces Losses from Phone-Hacking Scandal
City A.M: Rupert Murdoch's Sun newspapers have posted another year of deep losses after the publisher was forced to pay out millions of pounds to settle phone hacking cases. News Group Newspapers, which publishes the Sun and the Sun on Sunday, reported a pre-tax loss...
Hearst Denies Dropping Writer for Trump Rape Accusation
New York Times: E. Jean Carroll's contract was terminated early, but Elle magazine maintains it wasn't because of her allegations against President Trump: "E. Jean Carroll was long a beloved voice in the pages of Elle, the decision not to renew her contract was a...
Conde Nast Plans to Scrap All Non-Disclosure Agreements
Daily Beast: Conde Nast will eliminate the use of non-disclosure agreements related to harassment and discrimination, and plans to release some employees from existing harassment or discrimination-linked arrangements. The publisher will end such NDAs, and will cease...
American Media Lays Off Editorial Staffers at Men’s Journal
WWD: Men’s Journal laid off its entire editorial staff in New York on Friday. It’s understood that its owner, David Pecker’s American Media, is merging Men’s Journal’s editorial operations with Carlsbad, Calif.-based The Adventures Sport Network, which it acquired...
Vox Media Names Horizon Media Exec as Financial Officer
Adweek: Margaret Chu has been named Vox Media’s new chief financial officer, coming over from Horizon Media where she served as evp of corporate strategy and development. Chu starts in her role on March 2. She joins the Vox Media team after its merger with New York...
BuzzFeed Seeks Internet ‘Troublemaker’ for Editor in Chief
BuzzFeed: BuzzFeed News is hiring a new editor-in-chief to lead its newsroom. "We are looking for a fearless leader who is willing to make news and make trouble," the internet media company says in an online job posting. "This is not any newsroom. This is BuzzFeed....
ViacomCBS Leans on ‘House of Brands’ in Streaming Wars
Bloomberg Opinion: "House of Brands" probably wasn't the best choice of words by ViacomCBS to describe its streaming-TV strategy. It's best for a company to avoid sounding similar to a phrase implying a shaky structure. But ViacomCBS's collection of TV and film...
AT&T’s WarnerMedia Brings New HBO Max to YouTube TV
Fast Company: YouTube TV has made a new deal with AT&T's WarnerMedia that will bring HBO and Cinemax to the service this spring and will add HBO Max when it launches in May. The deal also keeps WarnerMedia's cable channels — TBS, TNT, truTV, CNN, HLN, Turner...
Disney Rolls Out Baby Yoda Toys After Debut in Streaming
Bloomberg: Disney unveiled dozens of new products tied to its hit show "The Mandalorian" and the breakout character popularly known as Baby Yoda, ahead of New York's big Toy Fair trade show this weekend. The eight-episode "Mandalorian" program was the runaway hit for...
Dish Says DirecTV Merger ‘Inevitable’ as Satellite TV Tanks
Ars Technica: Dish chairman Charlie Ergen said a merger with the AT&T-owned DirecTV is "probably inevitable." Dish, the second biggest satellite TV company behind DirecTV, lost 194,000 subscribers in Q4 2019 and ended the year with 11.99 million TV customers....
Comcast Names Communications Chief as Veteran Retires
Philadelphia Inquirer: D’Arcy Rudnay, the head of communications at Comcast and the company's highest-ranking female executive, is retiring at the end of the year. Rudnay, who has been with Comcast for 16 years, will be replaced by Jennifer Khoury, who will serve as...
Fox’s Murdoch Offers Wine Tasting in New York Penthouse
Town & Country: "It's not every day that I get an invitation from Rupert Murdoch and Jerry Hall to visit their penthouse in New York. Although I met Mrs. Murdoch many years ago, when she was Mrs. Jagger (more or less), we had not kept up the acquaintance, and as...
Chernin Finds Success in Media After Exit from News Corp
The Information: In Hollywood, guessing Peter Chernin's next job in the entertainment industry has long been something of a parlor game. But from his office in Playa Vista, California, miles away from the nearest movie studio lot or corporate boardroom, Chernin...
iHeartMedia Plans New Book Imprint to Show Off Podcasts
Associated Press: A new book publishing imprint will be a platform for the podcasts of iHeartRadio. The imprint, announced Thursday, is called Stuff You Should Read: An iHeartBook, and is a partnership with Flatiron Books. The first release is scheduled for Sept. 29....
Google’s YouTube Sells Election-Day Homepage to Trump
Bloomberg: In the immediate run up to the U.S. presidential election and on Election Day, the homepage of YouTube is set to advertise just one candidate: Donald Trump. The president's re-election campaign purchased the coveted advertising space atop the country's...
Quibi Streaming Service App is Now Available for Pre-Order
TechCrunch: Quibi, the mobile-only streaming service from Jeffrey Katzenberg, is now open for pre-orders. The company declined to fully show off its app only a month ago during its demos at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, but it appears the app is ready...
Twitter Tests Red Banners Beneath Tweets to Indicate Lies
NBC News: Twitter is experimenting with adding brightly colored labels directly beneath lies and misinformation posted by politicians and other public figures, according to a leaked demo. Twitter confirmed that the leaked demo is one possible iteration of a new...
BuzzFeed’s ‘Fake News Guy’ Turns Attention to Digital Ads
The Drum: BuzzFeed journalist Craig Silverman probably did more than anyone else in media to highlight the scourge of bogus online "stories." Recently Silverman has turned his focus on corruption in digital advertising. "I have spent most of my career being obsessed...
Thomson Reuters in Talks to Name Nielsen Veteran as CEO
Reuters: Thomson Reuters is close to naming former Nielsen president Steve Hasker as its next chief executive, succeeding Jim Smith. The appointment of Hasker, a senior adviser at private equity firm TPG and former McKinsey & Co. media consultant, could be...
Hearst Execs Sit Down with Union Committee for First Time
WWD: Are Hearst Magazines executives switching tactics in the ongoing union battle? Hundreds of staffers across 24 brands revealed their intention to unionize in November, but only on Tuesday did executives, who are yet to voluntarily recognize their efforts, finally...
Meredith’s People Claims Largest Audience for Magazines
MediaPost: A quarterly report from the Alliance for Audited Media shows Meredith's People had the largest magazine audience across platforms in December 2019. People (93.5 million), Allrecipes (79.4 million) and Good Housekeeping (60.5 million) had the largest brand...
Gannett Faces ‘Newspaper’ War with Digital News Startup
Nieman Lab: At first blush, it looks a bit like an old-fashioned newspaper war. In Memphis, two newsrooms — each with about three dozen journalists — slug it out, day after day. They both know it's possible, maybe even likely, that only one will be still standing in...
New York Times Under Attack for Op-Ed by Taliban Leader
Mediaite: The New York Times published an opinion piece Thursday by Sirajuddin Haqqani — the deputy leader of the Taliban who is currently wanted by the United States government — drawing criticism from one of the paper's own reporters. The piece is titled "What We,...
Los Angeles Times Begins Offering Buyouts to Employees
CNN: The Los Angeles Times is offering its staff voluntary buyouts less than two years after biotech billionaire Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong swooped in to buy the beleaguered newspaper in hopes of turning it around. "We need to move swiftly to make our product more...
Craigslist Still Rakes In Money as Classifieds Site Turns 25
The Conversation: Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster has been at the helm since 2001 and the founder, Craig Newmark, is still involved in the company. Today, Craigslist has more monthly page visits than the New York Times or ESPN, and it’s been incredibly profitable....
Bustle Digital Taps Revenue Chief for First-Ever President
Adweek: Jason Wagenheim, who joined Bustle Digital Group in November 2016 as its chief revenue officer, has been named president at BDG, a new position. He will continue to be the company's CRO, and still report to CEO Bryan Goldberg. In a statement, Goldberg...
Galvanized Media to Launch Digital Sites on Travel, Health
New York Post: Galvanized Media, started by David Zinczenko, has 35 employees and plans to launch two new digital sites this year: Travelicious, a travel destination site, and The Remedy, a health site written by doctors from Yale, Mount Sinai and elsewhere,...
Apple Seeks to Halt Publication of Book Revealing ‘Secrets’
Apple Insider: Apple is taking legal action against former German App Store manager Tom Sadowski and publisher Murmann Verlag to stop circulation of a book about his work, under allegations it reveals confidential "business secrets" that the author wasn't allowed to...
Netflix CEO’s New Book Explores Work Culture at Streamer
Reuters: CEO Reed Hastings has written a book based on interviews with current Netflix employees, which sheds light on the streaming giant's radical management culture and the controversial principles at the heart of the company's psyche. "No Rules Rules" is due out...
Disney’s Hulu Becomes Biggest Live-TV Streaming Service
Fast Company: Hulu is now officially the top live TV streaming service, overtaking Sling TV for the first time last quarter. Dish Network reported that its Sling TV service finished Q4 2019 with 2.59 million subscribers, having lost 94,000 subscribers. Hulu + Live...