 Bryan Goldberg |
Gawker will be dishing out the gossip once more early next year, according to Bryan Goldberg, whose Bustle Media Group came out on top in an auction for Gawker Media’s assets in July.
Goldberg has enlisted Amanda Hale, the former chief revenue officer and senior VP, strategy and growth of website The Outline, to serve as Gakwer’s publisher. Hale has also served as associate publisher and VP, advertising & creative solutions for Talking Points Memo Media and advertising director of the The Nation. She was also a communications staffer for David Axelrod & Associates, working on Barack Obama’s senate campaign and John Edwards’ presidential run.
No editorial staffers for the revived site have been named.
In a memo to Bustle employees, Goldberg said: “We won’t recreate Gawker exactly as it was, but we will build upon Gawker’s legacy and triumphs—and learn from its missteps.”
Presumably the misstep it will learn the most from is the publishing of a sex tape featuring wrestler Hulk Hogan. That misstep led to a $140 million decision against Gawker Media, followed by a $31 million payout to Hogan and the bankruptcy of the company.
Gawker Media’s non-Gawker assets were then actioned off for $135 million to Univision, which is now looking into selling them off.
A spokesperson for Bustle told TechCrunch that the company “will be investing significant resources in this relaunch, and we will continue to make futher announcements as plans progress.”
Underscore Media, a new creator-led media venture dedicated to New York sports, is built around three established New York sports personalities, Sal Licata, Jimmy Traina, and John Jastremski.
McClatchy, which owns 29 daily papers across 14 states (including The Miami Herald, Sacramento Bee and Kansas City Star), launches a wave of layoffs that extends to at least 13 of those papers... The Toledo Blade, which was founded in 1835, is set to shut down on Dec. 31, unless owner Block Communications manages to find a buyer for it... A bill awaiting approval by California governor Gavin Newsom would give local newsrooms a boost. 
Fox News Media issued a pretty sparse release to announce the departure of one of its stars. “Effective today, Maria Bartiromo is no longer with FOX News Media,” it reads.
Brunswick Group partner John Simons has joined CNN as senior director of business & media. He held top jobs at Time and the Wall Street Journal.
WNET, the nation’s largest public media company, names Edward O’Keefe its next president and CEO, effective September 21. O’Keefe succeeds Neal Shapiro, who becomes president emeritus and will retire at the end of the year... The Stealth Bot Prohibition Act, which would empower news publishers and other content providers to defend themselves by mandating transparency for all bots crawling their sites, in introduced in the House by Rep. Laurel Lee (R-FL) and Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC)... Google gets socked by European Union regulators with a $1 billion fine for using the platform’s dominance as a search engine to illegally undercut competition.
