Comcast Finds ‘Shepard Smith’ Disappointing at CNBC
Mediaite: Shepard Smith, once a star anchor at Fox News, made headlines last year when he abruptly left the network. Now, his highly anticipated — and heavily promoted — new show at CNBC is falling behind repeats of Fox Business show "Lou Dobbs...
Oprah Winfrey Picks Out Books for Challenging Times
Associated Press: Oprah Winfrey is setting aside her usual book club recommendations and instead citing seven personal favorites. Winfrey is calling her choices “The Books That Help Me Through,” works she values for “their ability to comfort, inspire, and...
Fox Corp Reveals Covid at News Channel; Staffer Dies
Daily Beast: Web video producer Rob Brown, who had been with Fox News since 1999, has died. Brown — who had not been in the Fox News offices since March — died from complications of Covid-19. Fox News has revealed that some staffers have tested positive for the...
News Corp Endorses Trump in Op-Ed at New York Post
The Hill: The New York Post has endorsed President Trump for reelection in an editorial on Monday, saying it would result in "explosive job creation, rising wages and general prosperity" and would "really tick off...
Bloomberg News Worker Exits to Start Own Newsletter
Talking Biz News: Bloomberg News tech reporter Eric Newcomer has left the news organization to start an independent newsletter called Newcomer. "I quit my job at Bloomberg — where I’ve scooped IPO news, acquisitions and financing rounds and written about startups...
Tribune Appointment Leads Women to Outnumber Men
Robert Feder: Michelle Lopez, manager of editorial operations for Tribune Publishing, has been named director of content for the Chicago Tribune. Women now outnumber men on the Tribune's masthead, including managing editor ChrissyTaylor and editorial page editor...
News Corp Hires McKinsey for Help with Digital Growth
Consultancy.com: News Corp Australia has brought consultants from McKinsey & Company on board to advise on new growth opportunities. The company has over the past year ceased the printing of 112 newspapers, McKinsey's work down under is part of a broader revamp...
Conde Nast Expat to Expand Cooking Show on YouTube
Associated Press: Leaving Bon Appetit for an independent YouTube channel could be considered risky, but the payoffs were noticeable almost immediately for Sohla El-Waylly. The three months it took to create her new series was about how long it would take to produce...
Hearst Mag Veteran in Racial Flap Over Instagram Post
New York Post: A former executive fashion director at Hearst’s Elle magazine stepped into a social-media storm when he Instagrammed, “Stop firing employees because they are white, especially men.” Kyle Anderson's message was posted over an image of an article about...
Meredith Staffers Get Laundry Advice from Facebooker
People: Equality starts at home — especially the laundry room, according to Sheryl Sandberg. The Facebook chief operating officer was speaking at the virtual launch event for #StraightTalk, a new interview series organized by the employee resource group Women @...
Playgirl Magazine Returns as Publication for Feminists
WWD: Playgirl Magazine has relaunched in print, looking very different from its last issue in 2015. This time, the cover star is not a man, but a pregnant Chloë Sevigny, expertly shot by Mario Sorrenti against a backdrop of lush mint green hues, with the caption...
Vox Media Offers ‘I Voted’ New York Magazine Stickers
Daily Front Row: This week's issue of New York Magazine sees 48 artists putting their own spin on the "I Voted" sticker. The project is divided into four covers. Each cover will show an image of 12 stickers, with a corresponding sheet of usable stickers...
Bongino Political Site Finds Popularity in Social Media
MediaPost: The Facebook page and website owned by the conservative, pro-President Trump commentator Dan Bongino have recently hit record engagement. Posts from Bongino’s Facebook page dominated a list of the top 10-most engaged links in the US on the...
BuzzFeed Likely to Break Even After $30 Million in Cuts
Wall Street Journal: BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti aims to offset the company's ad decline with around $30 million in cost cuts, through a mix of furloughs, pay reductions, layoffs and other changes meant to stabilize the company’s finances through the...
Apple, Netflix Eye New James Bond Film for Streaming
Bloomberg: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer has held discussions with Apple and Netflix about taking its new James Bond film directly to streaming, but the studio says it's committed to a theatrical release. The film, "No Time to Die," could fetch hundreds of millions of dollars...
Facebook Attempts to Block Research on Ad Targeting
Wall Street Journal: Facebook has demanded that a New York University research project cease collecting data about its political-ad-targeting practices, setting up a fight with academics seeking to study the platform without the company’s permission. The dispute...
Disney Mulls Future of ESPN Amid Business Disruption
Hollywood Reporter: ESPN, once Disney's cash cow, has found itself caught between two business models: the direct-to-consumer future and the pay TV past. "They have this really, really expensive machine built around a certain model. They are really kind of...
Analysis: Media Giants Admit Decline of Pay-TV Model
CNBC: A quiet consensus has emerged in the hallways and boardrooms of American media companies. They expect about 25 million US households to cancel their pay-TV subscriptions over the next five years. This is on top of the 25 million homes that have already cut the...
AT&T’s WarnerMedia Overhaul Blindsides Head of CNN
Wall Street Journal: CNN's Jeff Zucker felt blindsided by a recent restructuring carried out by parent WarnerMedia, and has had friction with its CEO, Jason Kilar. The 55-year-old's contract expires next year and he hasn’t committed to extending his deal in meetings...
Fox Corp’s News Chief, Anchors Advised to Quarantine
Showbiz411: Fox News president Jay Wallace and four Fox News anchors have been advised to quarantine after being exposed to Covid-19 on a private plane. The Fox News personalities are Bret Baier, Martha MacCallum, Dana Perino, and Juan Williams. We don't whose plane...
Vice Media ‘Squeezed’ Amid Pursuit of Youth Audience
Air Mail: Shane Smith convinced investors Rupert Murdoch and Disney that a big payday was coming at Vice Media. But it never did. "The company is a complete zero. If and when TPG seizes control of the asset, they're going to have to do a complete overhaul of the...
iHeartMedia to Acquire Podcast Tech Company Voxnest
Radio World: iHeartMedia has announced plans to acquire Voxnest, a podcast and analytics organization. The acquisition will provide iHeart’s podcast infrastructure with new features including a new podcast analytics platform, enterprise publishing tools, and targeted...
Bloomberg Offers Staffers $75 a Day in Return to Office
Talking Biz News: Bloomberg says it will provide a $75-per-day stipend to its workers as they start returning to the office. The stipend is to help pay for items such as care services, tolls, parking or public transportation. Anything above $75 per day will be...
News Corp’s Dow Jones Adds a Paywall to MarketWatch
MarketWatch: MarketWatch has introduced a paywall "in order to raise the ambitions of our journalism," says editor Jeremy Oshan. "No one wants an extra bill to pay. But as the Roman playwright Plautus said 2,000 years ago, 'You must spend money to make money.'...
Conde Nast’s Black Staffers Call for Wintour to Resign
New York Times: Under Anna Wintour, Vogue welcomed a certain type of employee — someone who is thin and white. In the view of some Black journalists at the company, Wintour should no longer be in charge of Vogue and should give up her post as Conde Nast editorial...
Hearst Faces Charge of Racism at Prestigious Magazine
Daily Beast: "The presence of white privilege and white supremacy delusion are seemingly so insidious and ingrained in Town & Country, one cannot forget its multi-century success is built on the generational wealth of white American families in the landed...
Penske Founder Likely to Seek More Media Acquisitions
Business Insider: Jay Penske has managed to transform PMC into a publishing powerhouse in an age when media companies are flailing and laying off staffers by the dozens to survive the pandemic. Penske will "create the next iteration of what Conde Nast used to be." He...
News Corp Struggles with ‘Aging’ at Wall Street Journal
BuzzFeed News: A brutal internal Wall Street Journal report has revealed how the 130-year-old newspaper is struggling mightily in the current digital and cultural age. New York Times: Journal top editor Matt Murray says: "Our rigorous and trusted journalism speaks for...
Gannett Inks Deals to Sell Newspapers to Local Owners
Media Nation: Gannett has sold the Inquirer and Mirror of Nantucket to a group of local owners. Also, Gannett has sold the Pine Bluff Commercial to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, which is itself independently owned. So maybe it is a trend. Or a mini-trend....
News Corp to Reduce Print Frequency of WSJ Magazine
WWD: WSJ. Magazine, the monthly fashion and luxury-focused insert of the weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal, plans to reduce its print frequency from 12 issues to eight in 2021 with a renewed focus on digital platforms. "There are times of the year when being...