 Kimberly Guilfoyle |
Kimberly Guilfoyle and Fox News have ended their relationship. The co-host of Fox’s “The Five” is leaving the network to hit the 2018 midterm campaign trail with her reported boyfriend, Donald Trump Jr., who is expected to campaign for Republican candidates across the country. Trump Jr. spokesman Andrew Surabian sent out a tweet Friday that Guilfoyle joining the president’s son to support GOP candidates “is a win for the entire GOP,” adding that “Kim is one of the most influential voices in the #MAGA movement and knows how to light up a crowd.” A big Fox News fan, president Trump often tweets about its programming and his appearances on the network. Formerly the wife of California gubernatorial candidate Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, Guilfoyle joined the Fox team in 2006.
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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, whose broadcasts are typically limited to audiences in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, has been using Facebook to target ads at United States citizens, according to a report in the New York Times. The move potentially violates laws meant to protect Americans from domestic propaganda. The ads included several human-interest stories about Russia and a graphic about NATO’s popularity. The NATO graphic ran on July 13, just after the president slammed NATO members at their Brussels summit. None of the posts in questions were labeled as political ads by Facebook’s algorithm, meaning that the amount spent on them was not disclosed. The organization, which is overseen by John F. Lansing, who was appointed during the Obama administration, said in a statement that it had purchased the ads, as well as ads in 14 other countries, to reach Facebook users who spoke specific languages. After being contacted by the Times, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty took down the ads.
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Facebook has suspended data analytics firm Crimson Hexagon over possible violations of Facebook’s policies regarding how its public data is collected and shared, according to the Wall Street Journal. Boston-based Crimson Hexagon, which says it has collected more than one trillion social media posts from Twitter and Instagram as well as Facebook, includes among its clients a Russian nonprofit organization with ties to the Kremlin and several U.S. government agencies. Facebook says that its investigation has to this point not shown any evidence that information was inappropriately collected from either Facebook or Instagram. The company also says that Crimson Hexagon is cooperating with the investigation. “We do not collect private data from social media providers or anyone else,” said Crimson Hexagon chief technology Chris Bingham.
 Jeff Zucker |
CNN president Jeff Zucker is taking a six-week leave in order to have elective surgery for a heart condition. Michael Bass, programming EVP at the network, will take over for Zucker during his absence. Zucker suffers from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a condition in which the heart muscle becomes abnormally thick, and was told that he required surgery to implant a defibrillator to treat it. According to the Los Angeles Times, Zucker chose an August date for the surgery, since the month is usually a slower one for news. CNN has seen a sizeable increase in its viewership over the course of the Trump administration, with profits above $1 billion for each of the last two years.
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. 
Versant Media Group, the NBCUniversal cable TV spin-off, today reported its first financial results as 2025 revenues dipped 5.3 percent to $6.7B and standalone EBITDA dropped 9.1 percent to $2.2B.
Trump Media & Technology Group is discussing a spin-off of the Truth Social platform following the expected closing of its $6B merger deal with TAE Technologies... Condé Nast sells off Them, the digital LGBTQ-focused platform it launched in 2017, to Equalpride, publisher of Out, The Advocate, Out Traveler, Health PLUS Wellness and Pride.com... CBS News has parted ways with longevity influencer Peter Attia, one of the 19 contributors that editor-in-chief Bari Weiss brought on as part of her plan to present a wider variety of voices on the platform. 
Symbolic.ai forms a partnership with News Corp to begin using the company’s AI-native publisher platform in the newsrooms of News Corp publications to augment research, writing and publishing... Mediaite launches a newsletter that promises to give readers a summary of—media newsletters... The Fund for American Studies launches the Journalism Excellence Fellowship, a program that will provide promising young journalists the opportunity to work alongside top writers, reporters, and media professionals.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which has roots going back to 1786, is going out of business, the paper’s owners, Block Communications, announced on Jan. 7... GQ editor Will Welch is stepping down to take on a new Paris-based role with the musician Pharrell, who is also men’s creative director at Louis Vuitton... Semafor says it has raised $30 million on a $330 million valuation, following its first profitable year. 
