Bloomberg Mulls Selling Stake to Take Company Public
New York Post: Michael Bloomberg has been in talks to take his media empire public through an entity controlled by billionaire Bill Ackman. If the two reach a deal, Bloomberg’s stock would trade on the New York Stock Exchange in place of Ackman's Pershing Square...
Tribune to Outsource Printing of Oldest US Newspaper
Hartford Courant: The Hartford Courant announced Monday that the newspaper will now be printed in Springfield, Mass., ending more than 250 years of publication in Connecticut's capital city. The outsourcing will eliminate 151 jobs at the Courant's plant, effective...
Hearst Offers Buyout Plan to Staffers in San Francisco
San Francisco Chronicle: Hearst, the owner of the San Francisco Chronicle, offered employees voluntary buyouts Tuesday in an effort to cut its expenses as the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic and the outlook for many businesses remained unclear. "Some...
Gannett Breaks Tradition with Biden Pick at USA Today
Axios: USA Today, one of the largest newspapers by circulation in America, gave Joe Biden its first-ever presidential endorsement on Tuesday. "This is not something we do lightly or do eagerly," says Bill Sternberg, head of USA Today's editorial...
Conde Nast to Export US Elections Issue of Vanity Fair
WWD: Vanity Fair Italia has joined forces with the publication's American edition to develop a special issue focusing on the US presidential elections. "America Year Zero" will feature Jane Fonda as the cover star and include contents curated by the Vanity Fair US...
Hearst Ups Staffer to Editor of British Harper’s Bazaar
WWD: Hearst UK has promoted Lydia Slater to editor in chief of the British edition of Harper's Bazaar and charged her with overseeing its print, digital and "experiential offering." Slater was named acting editor in chief after Justine Picardie left the title in...
Penske Brings Back Top Editor After Leave from Variety
TheWrap: Variety editor in chief Claudia Eller will resume her role on Oct. 26 following an almost five-month leave, as part of a restructuring at the media company. Insiders say "most of the staff is unhappy about the return,” with some being “horrified” by the...
Slate Veteran Readies Network of Local News Podcasts
Medium: Launching this winter in a handful of cities, David Plotz's City Cast will be a national network of daily local podcasts. It will "combine essential local news with smart, delightful perspective about your community. It will be the passionate, curious,...
Apple Launches MTV-Style Live Music Video Streamer
Variety: Apple has launched Apple Music TV, a free 24-hour curated livestream of popular music videos that will also include "exclusive new music videos and premiers, special curated music video blocks, and live shows and events as well as chart countdowns and...
Netflix Forecast for a Rough 2021 Amid New Rivalries
CNN: Netflix subscriber growth is going to be slowing substantially in 2021, analysts say. "We think that the outlook for '21 will be more challenging for Netflix. The easy days of no competition are over for it. The bright side is that streaming usage has...
Facebook, Google Face Shift to Favor News Publishers
The Information: Rep. David Cicilline, the Rhode Island Democrat who chairs the House Antitrust Subcommittee, says he plans to move ahead with bipartisan legislation that would boost publishers' bargaining power in negotiations with tech companies. "This isn’t going...
AT&T CEO Calls for Scrutiny of Tech Giants Over Apps
Wall Street Journal: Tech giants like Amazon and Apple should be scrutinized for their power to restrict the kinds of apps and services allowed on their platforms, says AT&T CEO John Stankey. HBO Max has been hemmed in for months by disagreements with Amazon and...
Fox Corp’s News Channel ‘Takes a Pass’ on Biden Story
Mediaite: Fox News was first approached by Rudy Giuliani to report on files alleged to have come from Hunter Biden's unclaimed laptop left at a computer repair shop, but that the news division chose not to run the story unless or until the sourcing and veracity of the...
News Corp’s Biden Story is Russian Disinfo, Officials Say
Politico: More than 50 former senior intelligence officials have signed on to a letter outlining their belief that the recent disclosure of emails allegedly belonging to Joe Biden's son "has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation." Their...
Study: Younger Americans Easily Fooled by Fake News
USA Today: College students are prone to being deceived online, says a new study from researchers at Stanford University. Most sophomores, juniors and seniors were easily fooled by misinformation, even when they were given the time and resources to fact-check the...
ViacomCBS Plans Stephen Colbert Election Night Show
CBS Los Angeles: Late-night host Stephen Colbert will return to Showtime to host another live election night special. “Stephen Colbert’s Election Night 2020: Democracy’s Last Stand: Building Back America Great Again Better 2020” will air Tuesday, November 3 at 11 p.m....
AT&T’s Warner Bros TV Names Netflix VP as New Chief
Reuters: Channing Dungey will take over as chairwoman of Warner Bros. Television Group, replacing veteran television executive Peter Roth, who will step down next year. Dungey, who is currently vice president of Original Series at Netflix, has previously worked at...
iHeartMedia’s Rush Limbaugh Talks of ‘Death Sentence’
Fox News: Cancer-stricken talk radio legend Rush Limbaugh provided listeners a somber update on his condition Monday after recent scans showed “some progression of cancer,” which he said is “not dramatic” but still a step in the wrong...
News Corp Turns to Street Criers to Help Protest Twitter
New York Post: The New York Post's Twitter account was frozen in the wake of its report on Hunter Biden’s e-mails, so it turned to an old-fashioned form of getting the word out: Street criers. "Our hearty band of newshounds started spreading the news early...
McClatchy Seeks to Tie Journalist Pay to Online Clicks
Sacramento Business Journal: Employees of the Sacramento Bee and their union say they are fighting an effort by owner McClatchy to base employee performance reviews on the popularity of their stories as measured by clicks. “This proposal should be troubling to...
Conde Nast Suspends Reporter for ‘Mistake’ on Zoom
Vice: The New Yorker has suspended reporter Jeffrey Toobin for "an embarrassingly stupid mistake" on a Zoom video chat between members of the magazine and WNYC radio last week. Toobin says he did not realize his video was on. "I believed I was not visible on...
Penske’s Rolling Stone Endorses Biden for President
TheHill: Rolling Stone magazine has endorsed Democratic nominee Joe Biden for president, saying in a piece on Monday that the US has lived “under a man categorically unfit to be president” for the last four years. “Joe Biden is Donald Trump’s opposite in nearly every...
Guardian Former CEO Launches Digital Branding Firm
Campaign: David Pemsel, former CEO of the Guardian Media Group, has teamed up with Julietta Dexter, founder of PR agency The Communications Store, to set up a digital branding agency called ScienceMagic. Pemsel will lead the business as chief...
Digiday Hires Former Adweek Head as Editor in Chief
Talking Biz News: Jim Cooper has been named editor in chief of Digiday, which covers the media industry. He replaces Brian Morrissey, who left last month. Cooper will lead Digiday's "tradition of high quality, honest and independent journalism for the media and...
Bustle Digital Staffers Join Media Push to Form Union
WWD: Staffers at Bustle Digital Group are forming a union with the Writers Guild of America East. A number of employees at brands including Bustle, Nylon, Input, Romper, Elite and The Zoe Report signed union cards last week and the company has been informed of the...
Group Nine Invests in Pet Insurance for New Revenue
Wall Street Journal: The Dodo, the animal-centric video brand of Group Nine Media, has built an audience of more than 90 million followers across social media platforms. Now it is getting into pet insurance. Group Nine has taken a minority stake in Petplan, a pet...
Facebook CEO Emerges as Active US Political Operator
Wall Street Journal: Mark Zuckerberg has dined with President Trump, talks regularly with White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, and has pressed lawmakers and officials to scrutinize rivals including TikTok and Apple. Zuckerberg's new moves are part of an effort to...
Twitter Backtracks on Sharing Story by New York Post
CNBC: Twitter has reversed its controversial editorial decision to block users from sharing a New York Post story that claims to show “smoking gun” emails related to Joe Biden and his son. The company and rival Facebook made the decisions to block or limit the...
Netflix Says ‘Ratched’ is Streamer’s Top Series of 2020
Business Insider: Ryan Murphy's "Ratched" was watched by 48 million members in its first 28 days, making it Netflx's biggest original first season of the year. It's the first genuine Netflix hit for Murphy after he struck a deal worth up to $300 million with the...
Disney Gets Offers to Acquire Sidelined Streamer Hulu
Bloomberg: Some outsiders have concluded that Disney's interest in Hulu might be waning. Earlier this year, Comcast's NBCUniversal approached Disney about acquiring the service, or operating it as a partnership. So did a number of private equity firms. Disney...