 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.
Michael Kaminer, who was responsible for the Observer’s “Power List” for the past 13 years, has cut ties with the publication... The New York Times Company continues the march toward its goal of 15 million subscribers by the end of 2027... The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is providing more than $6 million in funding to eight organizations working to address the challenges local news and information environments face along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Conservative outlets Fox News, Newsmax and the Daily Caller are holding back from signing Pete Hegseth’s edict restricting press access in the Pentagon... CBS News sees the first executive departure of the Bari Weiss era as head of standards and practices Claudia Milne exits... Indiana University shuts down the print version of The Indiana Daily Student.
Rothschild family plans to unload 26.7 percent stake in The Economist... STAT, a digital media company that focuses the life sciences, brings back Damian Garde, who anchored its biotech newsletter and podcast from 2016 to 2024... High Times officially resumes print publication (following its 2024 shutdown) with the release of a limited-edition, collectible 50th anniversary issue. 
CBS News is set to hand over its reins to The Free Press co-founder Bari Weiss as Paramount acquires her site for $155M... C-SPAN comes on board as an official media partner of the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission, which is charged by Congress to lead the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence... A new Gallup survey says that the level of trust that US audiences have in the media has hit a new low.
Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison has named Kenneth Weinstein, former head of the conservative Hudson Institute, as ombudsman for CBS News.
