 Leslie Moonves |
Embattled CBS CEO Leslie Moonves has hired Daniel Petrocelli, whose legal clients have included Donald Trump in the Trump University case, former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling and the family of Ron Goldman in a civil suit against O.J. Simpson, to represent him in CBS’s ongoing internal investigation, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Petrocelli will face off against former SEC chairman Mary Jo White from Debevoise & Plimpton and ex-federal prosecutor Nancy Kestenbaum from Covington & Burling, who will be leading the probe. Petrocelli, who recently defended the AT&T-Time Warner merger, has been called “a lawyer clients call in the toughest situations,” by The American Lawyer. He is currently chair of the trial practice committee at O’Melveny & Myers. The examination into Moonves' conduct follows a New Yorker story which alleged that he made unwanted sexual advances on several women employed by CBS. CBS might be the target of a wrongful termination lawsuit if they fire Moonves. That would increase the company’s legal challenges as it looks toward an October trial with its controlling shareholder, the Shari and Sumner Redstone-owned National Amusements, over a possible merger between CBS and Viacom, also controlled by the Redstones.
 Bill Maher |
Bill Maher, host of HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” has donated $1 million to the Senate Majority PAC, a fundraising committee dedicated to building a Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate. The committee is run by allies of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. In 2012, Maher donated the same amount to Priorities USA Action to help get Obama reelected. On his show, Maher has attacked “billionaire liberals” for not making contributions on the same scale as those made by such Republican donors as Sheldon Adelson. “I’m very appreciative of Bill’s generosity and urge all Americans to do everything they can to take back the Senate and restore our democracy,” Schumer said in a statement.
 Phillip Picardi |
Phillip Picardi is the latest high-profile exit from Condé Nast. The chief content officer at Teen Vogue, which shuttered its print edition last year, as well as the founder of THEM, the publisher’s LGBT-focused media platform, Piccardi is heading to Out magazine, where he will become editor-in-chief, succeeding Aaron Hicklin. At Out, he will supervise the print magazine, as well as its digital platform. Picardi started out as an intern at Condé Nast, becoming online beauty editor at Teen Vogue in 2014, with a promotion to digital editorial director in 2015. He was considered to be a linchpin in Condé Nast artistic director Anna Wintour’s plans to refashion the company for the digital era. “He understands how young people are thinking today,” Wintour told the New York Times for a March article about Picardi.
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. 
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.
