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Facebook is planning to make a $300 million investment in local news coverage. The investment is expected to include more than $20 million to expand Facebook’s Accelerator program, which is intended to assist local publishers with their membership and subscription models. It also will fund such initiatives as the U.K.-based Community News Project, a program that will recruit trainee “community journalists” and place them in local newsrooms, the Pulitzer Center and the Local Media Association and Local Media Consortium. Facebook’s new efforts will not be tied to Facebook-related products, recipients of the investments told Reuters. Facebook vice president of global news partnerships Campbell Brown said the investments are part of the company’s “responsibility to help local news organizations grow and thrive.” The move follows recent criticism of Facebook, claiming that it offers a platform for hate speech, misinformation and meddling in politics.
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Adam Moss is leaving the editor-in-chief spot at New York magazine, a position he has held since 2004. Both Moss and New York Media chief executive Pamela Wasserstein said that it was Moss’s decision to step down. Moss, who was editor of the New York Times Magazine and the late 1980s weekly 7 Days, was one of several people considered to take over at Vanity Fair when Graydon Carter stepped down as editor in 2017. At New York, Moss was credited with maintaining the tone of the publication, while successfully steering it into the digital age. “Adam showed the world that a legacy print publisher could lead invention in digital products,” Wasserman said in a statement. “He leaves the company in an enviable position—reaching the largest, most engaged audience in our history.” In November, Moss oversaw the implementation of a pay wall for the company’s websites. According to the New York Times, Wasserstein is expected to announce a successor in the coming days.
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Netflix is looking to subscribers to help foot its ever increasing bill for original content and finance its substantial debt. The company’s most popular streaming plan will see its price tag go up from $11 per month to $13, while its basic plan will rise from $8 per month to $9. The increases are the largest since the company started its streaming service 12 years ago. Wall Street seemed to approve of the move, with Netflix’s stock up by $20.91 (6 percent) on Tuesday morning. The price hike still makes Netflix less expensive than HBO, whose streaming service runs $15 per month. Amazon’s streaming services comes as part of its $13 per month Prime shipping service, while Hulu’s ad-free service is $12 per month. The move comes as a slew of competing streaming services—from Apple, Walt Disney and NBCUniversal, among others—prepare to launch.
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.
