 |
Time named “The Guardians”—four individual journalists and the staff of the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, MD—as its 2018 Person of the Year. The four journalists are Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post columnist who was murdered in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul in October; Maria Ressa, chief executive of the Rappler news website in the Philippines and a fierce critic of Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte; and Wa Long and Kyaw Soe Oo, who have been held in jail for almost a year for their work to expose the mass killing of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. Five staff members of the Capital Gazette were killed when a gunman opened fire in their newsroom in June. The recipients were recognized for helping to expose what magazine called “the manipulation and the abuse of truth” occurring in countries around the world. “As we looked at the choices, it became clear that the manipulation and the abuse of truth is really the common thread in so many of this year’s major stories, from Russia to Riyadh to Silicon,” Time editor Edward Felsenthal said while announcing the award winner on Tuesday morning’s “Today” show.
 |
A Reuters report says that Sports Illustrated magazine will likely be acquired by Ulysses Lee “Junior” Bridgeman, who played for the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Clippers. After his basketball career ended, Bridgeman acquired various Chili’s and Wendy’s restaurants, which he sold for $400 million in 2016. Meredith announced its plans to sell Sports Illustrated, along with Time and Fortune, shortly after it acquired Time Inc. in January. Time was sold to Salesforce.com founder Marc Benioff for $190 million, and Thai businessman Chatchaval Jiaravanon paid $150 million for Fortune. While the deal is still being worked out, the Reuters report cites sources that indicate the selling price of SI will be around $150 million.
 |
Fox News has been the most tweeted about news outlet in the U.S. for 2018, according to Twitter News. Coming in at No. 2 is CNN, followed by The Hill, MSNBC and the New York Times. In addition to listing the news outlets, Twitter News also named the most popular reporter/host at each. Sean Hannity is at top of Fox’s roster in that regard, and Jake Tapper is the most tweeted-about reporter/host at CNN. Joe Concha takes the top spot at The Hill, and Kyle Griffin and Maggie Haberman are most popular at MSNBC and the Times. In Twitter’s list of the Most Influential Men on Twitter 2018, president Trump did not do quite as well as his favorite news source. In that ranking, the president took second place, falling behind English singer/songwriter Liam Payne, formerly of the boy band One Direction. And close behind the president is his predecessor, Barack Obama, who came in at No. 4.
Trump Media and Technology Group Corp. has replaced CEO and former California Congressman Devin Nunes with Kevin McGurn, a seasoned media sales executive.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is being bought by the Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism, a nonprofit that is the parent organization of the Baltimore Banner... The British Broadcasting Corporation is axing approximately 2,000 jobs, about 10 percent of its work force... Snap, the company behind Snapchat, is also succumbing to layoff fever, announcing plans to lay off 16 percent of its employees, about 1,000 people.
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.
