 David Pecker with Donald Trump |
American Media CEO David Pecker may be using his ties with President Trump as a bargaining chip as he considers expanding his business into Saudi Arabia, according to the NewYork Times. The story notes the presence of Kacy Grine, a French businessman who has brokered deals between Saudi investors and companies in France, Senegal and the U.S., at a July White House meeting that included Pecker and Trump. American Media has put out a glossy magazine, “The New Kingdom,” that extols the virtues of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and his country. The magazine, which includes an interview with Grine (who is pictured posing with Trump in the Oval Office), is being sold at outlets including Walmart. The National Enquirer, an American Media publication, has a long history of favorable coverage of Trump. In addition to giving Trump the first presidential endorsement the paper ever made, the Enquirer also paid a $150,000 kill fee to ensure that former Playboy model Karen McDougal’s account of her alleged affair with the President was not published. Pecker’s ties with the Saudis include a January attempt to secure Saudi funding for the potential acquisition of Time magazine.
 Laura Ingraham |
Laura Ingraham has formally apologized for a tweet mocking Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg, but she only did so after the success of a campaign by Hogg that called for advertisers on Ingraham’s Fox News show to pull their ads. TripAdvisor, Wayfair, Hulu, Nutrish, Nestle and Stitch Fix all agreed to remove their ads, and Expedia said it had also pulled its spots from the program. Ingraham then jumped back onto Twitter to post her apology. “On reflection, in the spirit of Holy Week, I apologize for any upset my tweet caused him or any of the brave victims of Parkland,” her tweet says. Hogg was unimpressed by the apology. “She’s only apologizing after a third of her advertisers pulled out and I think it’s really disgusting the fact that she basically tried promoting her show after apologizing — or ‘apologizing’ to me,” Hogg said in a CNN interview.
 Jacob Brogan |
Jacob Brogan is coming on board at the Washington Post as an editor for the paper’s Outlook/PostEverything digital team. Brogan currently hosts the Slate podcast “Working,” in addition to writing about culture, politics, and the natural world for the site., He has also written for publications including The New Yorker, Smithsonian and The New Republic, covering TV, literature, emerging technologies and Internet history, among other topics. He has also served as an editor at the think tank New America. Brogan will join the Post on April 9.
Boston Globe Media acquires InstaTrac, a company that provides subscription-based services aimed at making government information easier to find, track, and understand... AARP names former New Republic CEO and publisher Michael Caruso as its SVP and chief content officer, unifying the organization's portfolio of media, live events and digital platforms... The Fund for American Studies, an educational nonprofit, awards its inaugural Journalism Excellence Fellowships.
Trump Media and Technology Group Corp. has replaced CEO and former California Congressman Devin Nunes with Kevin McGurn, a seasoned media sales executive.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is being bought by the Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism, a nonprofit that is the parent organization of the Baltimore Banner... The British Broadcasting Corporation is axing approximately 2,000 jobs, about 10 percent of its work force... Snap, the company behind Snapchat, is also succumbing to layoff fever, announcing plans to lay off 16 percent of its employees, about 1,000 people.
CBS News Radio will go off the air on May 22, part of the axe-swinging managerial plan put into play by CBS editor-in-chief Bari Weiss... The Economist, which was first published in 1843, is changing hands. Canadian billionaire Stephen Smith has agreed to acquire a 26.9 percent stake in the publication from Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, her family and family foundation... Nexstar Media Group says it has closed its acquisition of TEGNA, the broadcast, digital media and marketing services company that was formed in 2015, when the Gannett Company split into two publicly traded companies.
USA TODAY brings on Jamie Stockwell as VP of news, effective March 30. Stockwell was most recently deputy managing editor of news for the Washington Post... YouTube expands its likeness detection capabilities to a pilot group of government officials, journalists and political candidates... The AP Fund for Journalism adds 50 news organizations to its local news program, bringing the total number of participating newsrooms to 100. 
