 Susan Zirinsky |
CBS has chosen longtime “48 Hours” producer Susan Zirinsky to take over the helm at its news division. Zirinsky will become the president of CBS News on March 1, succeeding David Rhodes. Her appointment follows a series of high-profile changes at the network, including the ouster of Les Moonves as CEO following a series of sexual harassment charges. Zirinsky comes in as CBS faces a steep ratings slide for its evening newscast, “Face the Nation” and “CBS This Morning,” which saw a double-digit drop in viewership after the departure of Charlie Rose. She will be tasked with finding a new executive producer for “CBS This Morning” as well as filling the top spot at “60 Minutes,” which is currently being run on an interim basis by Bill Owens following the September firing of Jeff Fager. In a statement, Zirinsky said that restoring the division’s morale is also a priority. “I think the most important thing for me is to bring the organization together spiritually,” she said.
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The Dallas Morning News axed 43 employees on Jan. 7, including about 20 writers, editors, photographers and newsroom support personnel. The overall staff reduction represents approximately four percent of the 978 employees at the paper’s parent company, A. H. Belo Corporation. The company says the cuts were a necessary move as it prepares to make greater investments in its digital products. “We believe these steps are key to making the transition to a dynamic journalistic entity that can thrive in the digital world,’’ said A.H. Belo chief financial officer Katy Murray. Through the first three quarters of 2018, revenue for the Morning News dipped 18.9 percent to $149.77 million, from $184.55 million in the same period for 2017.
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NBCUniversal plans to cut the amount of ads in its primetime programming 20 percent by 2020, according to a report on Axios. The company already trimmed 10 percent from its ad schedules for the 2018-19 season. The reduction is part of what NBCUniversal calls “an effort to bring audiences a better viewing experience and provide marketers more engaging advertising opportunities.” NBCU plans to make up for the lower ad inventory by providing formats and technologies that it claims will add value to the commercials that still run. One of the options is what it calls “prime pods,” 60-second spots of national ad time airing near the start or end of a program. Another is a new technology meant to help advertisers align their messages with specific moments from programs. According to Variety, NBCU also says it may trim commercial inventory in daytime programs such as “Today.”
Trump Media & Technology Group today reported a $58.2M net loss on $4.1M in 2023 revenues, a disclosure that drove its stock price down 22.6 percent to $47.96.
Barry Pollack, an attorney at Wall Street’s Harris St. Laurent & Wechsler, has registered Julian Assange as a client with the Justice Dept. “out of an abundance of caution.”
Paramount Global to slash 800 jobs in what chief executive Bob Bakish calls part of an effort to “return the company to earnings growth"... Rolling Stone editor-in-chief Noah Shachtman is exiting at the end of the month due to disagreements with chief executive Gus Wenner over the direction the magazine is taking... The New York Times broke the $1 billion barrier in annual revenue from digital subscriptions in 2023... Press Forward is investing more than $500 million to strengthen local newsrooms.
The majority of news articles are read within the first three days of publication, according to a recent report.
The Los Angeles Times gives pink slips to 115 people or 20 percent of its newsroom staff... TIME is also laying off about 30 employees, which is approximately 15 percent of its editorial staff... The Baltimore Banner, which was launched by Stewart Bainum in 2022 after he failed to buy the Baltimore Sun, added 500 subscribers per day in the three days following Sinclair Broadcast Group's deal to purchase the Sun.
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