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Sinclair Broadcast Group is firing back at Tribune Media over the $1 billion breach of contract suit Tribune filed earlier this month concerning the collapse of a deal in which Sinclair would have acquired 42 TV stations currently owned by Tribune, as well as the national network WGN America. In a countersuit filed on Aug. 29 in Delaware Chancery Court, Sinclair claims that Tribune failed to meet its contractual obligations by not engaging in “reasonable best efforts” to close the deal. Sinclair also says that Tribune is looking to profit from the scuttled deal. “We were extremely disappointed that the Tribune transaction was terminated,” Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley in a statement. “We are likewise disappointed that Tribune, through its meritless lawsuit, is seeking to capitalize on an unfavorable and unexpected reaction from the Federal Communications Commission to capture a windfall for Tribune.”
 Kristen O'Hara |
Snap Inc. has appointed Kristen O’Hara VP-U.S. global business solutions. O’Hara comes to Snap after 16 years at WarnerMedia (the former Time Warner), most recently as chief marketing officer for global media. She succeeds Jeff Lucas, who left the company in February. Before coming to Time Warner, O’Hara was senior partner, account director at WPP agency Young & Rubicam. In her new post, she will be in charge of Snap’s U.S. sales operations, reporting to chief strategy officer Imran Khan. The Wall Street Journal reports that Snap’s estimated share of the global digital ad market currently lags far behind competitors Facebook and Google. Numbers from research firm eMarketer give Snap about 0.5 percent of that market, while Facebook and Google come in at 18 percent and 31 percent respectively. Snap, which launched its self-serve programmatic platform in June, grew revenue by 44 percent to $262 million during the second quarter this year.
 Alex Hardiman |
The Atlantic has hired Facebook head of news products Alex Hardiman as chief business and product officer. Before coming to Facebook, Hardiman was vice president, news products at the New York Times. At Facebook, she led the product and engineering teams for news and oversaw the news experiences for all Facebook users, as well as working to expand the company’s subscriptions product for news organizations and serving as a liaison with publishers as part of The Facebook Journalism Project. She will be responsible for guiding audience experience and product strategy across the brand’s platforms; leading the product, engineering, data and growth teams; and shaping The Atlantic’s initiatives on digital consumer revenue. Bob Cohn, The Atlantic’s president that Hardiman’s stints at Facebook and the Times “give her an unrivaled perspective on digital media, and her audience-first focus will sharpen the appeal of our work.”
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.
