 Chris Aronson |
20th Century Fox film president of distribution Chris Aronson is one of the first executives to be let go in the wake of Disney’s takeover of a large chunk of Fox’s assets. Disney is also shuttering the Fox 2000 label, which specializes in mid-budget films that are primarily targeted at female moviegoers, according to a report in Variety. Employees are reportedly being informed department by department about their futures with the newly combined company, with some being told that they will keep their jobs over a transition period lasting either three or six months. The job cuts are one of the avenues toward the $2 billion in annual cost savings that Disney plans to make by 2021. In an email sent by Walt Disney Studios chairman and president Alan Bergman to Fox staff March 21, employees were warned that the integration of the two companies “would entail quite a bit of change,” adding that the company is “only at the beginning of the process.”
 Dan Peres |
Former Details editor-in-chief Dan Peres has been chosen by Bustle Digital Group to help resuscitate Gawker, the cheeky gossip site that was shuttered thanks to a lawsuit brought by pro wrestler Hulk Hogan and bankrolled by venture capitalist Peter Thiel. Bustle, which is mainly known for a group of digital properties that target millennial women, acquired the Gawker.com domain in July. At the time, CNN reported that Bustle CEO Bryan Goldberg paid about $1.5 million for the title after placing the winning bid at a bankruptcy auction. From what Peres told the New York Times, it seems that a watered-down version of the old Gawker is likely to be the result of the relaunch. “In the later years,” he told the Times, “they probably took things too far.” The relaunch is expected to take place later this year.
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The Reading Eagle Company, which has published the daily Reading Eagle newspaper since 1868, has filed for bankruptcy protection, according to MediaPost. The company says it intends to operate normally, publishing and broadcasting under bankruptcy rules while it conducts a search for a buyer. In addition to the Eagle, the company publishes the weekly South Schuylkill News, runs radio station WEEU 830 AM and owns Pretzel City Productions along with its commercial printing subsidiary REP. Reading Eagle president and CEO Peter D. Barbey was also the final owner of the Village Voice, which went out of business last fall.
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.
