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...
New York Times Mum on Return of US Election Needle
Associated Press: The Needle graphic on the New York Times website measured in real time the probability of victory on election night in 2016. There's no sign yet that the Needle will be making a reappearance on Nov. 3. The Times is said to be looking at a "range of...
New York Observer Veteran Arrested for Cyberstalking
New York Times: Ken Kurson, a close friend of the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner, has been arrested in connection with incidents stemming from his divorce. Kurson was charged with cyberstalking three people and harassing two others, including a friend whom he...
Alphabet Faces Deluge of US Election Ads for YouTube
Bloomberg: Less than two weeks before the US election, some political campaigns are dealing with an unexpected obstacle on YouTube, the internet’s largest video site: There isn’t enough space to run their ads. The site has a particular shortage of ad slots in critical...
Google Pledges Massive Hiring Effort in New York City
Crain's New York Business: Google pledged Thursday to hire 10,000 people across its US offices — including New York — by 2025 as part of an effort to diversify its workforce. The company will double the number of its Black employees within five years as part of the...
Facebook, Twitter CEOs in Crosshairs of GOP Senators
Associated Press: The GOP push against Facebook and Twitter accelerated after Republican senators threatened the CEOs of the social media companies with subpoenas to force them to address accusations of censorship. The committee wants to hear from them about “the...
ViacomCBS Spanks Trump on ’60 Minutes’ Clip Release
CBS News: President Trump violated an agreement with CBS News and released the White House's recording of an interview with "60 Minutes," three days ahead of the expected Sunday airing on CBS. The full exchange, which runs approximately 37 minutes, was taped at the...
Comcast Hits Fox News for Smear of Journalist at NBC
Mediaite: NBC News accused Fox News host Tucker Carlson and Fox News of "dangerously" targeting one of its reporters in a "Tucker Carlson Tonight" segment. Carlson and guest Darren Beattie criticized NBC News reporter Brandy Zadrozny in a segment, accusing her of...
Fox Corp Pulls News Host Amid Flap Over Gender Pay
Los Angeles Times: Melissa Francis, regularly seen on the popular Fox News midday talk show “Outnumbered,” has been off the air for two weeks and is probably at the end of her six-year run at the network. Francis had filed a gender-based pay discrimination claim...
Trump-Branded Media Outlet Floated Again by Kushner
Business Insider: Jared Kushner has been talking up the idea of starting a Donald Trump-themed news outlet or some other media company, possibly as soon as after the election. The timing so close to Election Day has Trump advisors wondering if Kushner is anticipating...
Disney’s Hulu Drops Sinclair Regional Sports Networks
Bloomberg: Hulu dropped regional sports coverage provided by Sinclair Broadcast Group’s Diamond Sports, dealing another setback to the network as its bonds sank to record lows. “We were unable to reach an agreement with Sinclair Broadcast Group to continue offering...
Sony Adds Disney, Netflix for Debut of New PlayStation
The Verge: Sony’s next-gen console will support some of the more popular entertainment apps at launch. Sony confirmed in a blog post on Thursday that several popular streaming apps, including Apple TV Plus, Amazon Prime Video, Disney Plus, Hulu, Netflix, Peacock,...
Spotify Takes On Radio with a New Daily Morning Show
TechCrunch: Spotify’s streaming music service is starting to resemble terrestrial radio with the launch of the company’s first daily morning show, “The Get Up.” Like other morning shows designed for commuters, the new program will be led by hosts and will combine...
Netflix Creator Ditches Disney Over Pass to Theme Park
MarketWatch: In the end, it was a Disneyland pass that cost Disney its biggest TV hit-maker, Shonda Rhimes. In a new interview, Rhimes described the circumstances that led to her stunning defection to Netflix. Rhimes described a tense relationship with Disney, with...
AT&T’s Changes Bring Exec Departures at WarnerMedia
The Information: WarnerMedia is making more changes to its advertising and distribution teams resulting in the departures of its two heads of distribution – Sofia Chang and Rich Warren. The company is creating a new sales and distribution team and is reorganizing its...
Tribune in Gender Pay Lawsuit at New York Daily News
New York Times: Anna Sanders, a former City Hall reporter for the New York Daily News, has sued the paper, its top editor and its parent company, Tribune Publishing, for wrongful termination, saying she was fired after questioning why she was paid less than a male...
Conde Nast Offers $100 Coffee-Table Book from Vogue
Vogue: "Vogue: Fantasy and Fashion," edited by Vogue archivist Laird Borrelli-Persson, celebrates the magazine's many reinterpretations of fantastical tales, from "Alice in Wonderland" to "Snow White." Says Borrelli-Persson: "In order to become better or move forward,...
Hearst Finds New Home for Magazines in Bowling Alley
WFMZ: It was once a car dealership, then a bowling alley. Now, the Heritage Riverview project in Easton, Pa. is almost ready for Hearst Magazines and other potential tenants to move in. Hearst Magazines will occupy most, 33,000 square feet, of the building. There will...
Penske Collects Industry Data on Entertainment, Music
WWD: Penske Media, the publisher of WWD, Variety and Rolling Stone, among others, and MRC are merging their respective data businesses. The deal will bring together PMC’s Variety Business Intelligence and Alpha Data with MRC Data (formerly Nielsen Music) and the two...
Time Magazine Replaces Logo with ‘Vote’ in New Issue
USA Today: For the first time in its 97-year history, Time magazine is removing its logo from its cover. In its place, a directive: “Vote.” Edward Felsenthal, Time’s editor-in-chief and chief executive, wrote in a note that the upcoming Nov. 3 elections are “arguably...