 Susan Chira |
The Marshall Project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization focused on the US criminal justice system, has named Susan Chira editor. Chira comes to the Marshall Project from the New York Times, where she worked as deputy executive editor, foreign editor and most recently as senior correspondent focusing on gender issues. She succeeds founding editor Bill Keller, who is retiring in April. “Susan is a natural leader with a demonstrated commitment to excellence, innovation and diversity,” said Neil Barsky, The Marshall Project’s founder and chairman. The Marshall Project has also launched Life Inside, a print publication targeted at the prison population. The publication is headed up by Marshall Project communications associate Lawrence Bartley, who calls it “a collection of TMP’s award-winning journalism that relates directly to incarcerated lives.” It is currently being distributed to 30 facilities in 19 states. To find out more, or to help support The Marshall Project and Life Inside, click here.
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The Financial Times is adding Singapore-based startup Deal Street Asia to its roster of properties, according to a report on TechCrunch. The deal, which is led by Nikkei, the FT’s parent company, is expected to close in April. TechCrunch’s source says that Nikkei has agreed to buy at least one-third of Deal Street Asia, but that the total stake could reach 51 percent, depending on which investors decide to sell. Founded in 2014 by Indian journalist Joji Thomas Philip and Sushobhan Mukherjee, Deal Street Asia mixes Asia startup news with updates from financial markets and business verticals. It has reporters across Southeast Asia and India, as well as a license to use content from wires. Complete access to its website costs users $89 and up for three months. Deal Street Asia’s events business is targeted at a business crowd. Admission fees for its September summit, which features senior executives from such companies as DBS, Grab, Sea, GGV, Allianz and IFC, start at $1,000.
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Bustle Digital Group has followed up its acquisition of Gawker and Mic with the purchase of The Outline, a tech/culture site launched by former Bloomberg chief digital content officer Josh Topolsky in 2016. Topolsky, as well as the site’s editorial, tech and revenue teams, will remain in place. The Outline laid off all of its staff writers last year, so all content is produced by freelancers. Topolsky also says he still plans to launch tech site the Input. According to PitchBook, The Outline was valued at $21.2 million last May.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which has roots going back to 1786, is going out of business, the paper’s owners, Block Communications, announced on Jan. 7... GQ editor Will Welch is stepping down to take on a new Paris-based role with the musician Pharrell, who is also men’s creative director at Louis Vuitton... Semafor says it has raised $30 million on a $330 million valuation, following its first profitable year. 
The Walt Disney Company and OpenAI reach an agreement that will make a set of more than 200 animated, masked and creature characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars available for use by Sora, OpenAI’s short-form generative AI video platform... CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss has moved Tony Dokoupil, a co-host at “CBS Mornings” since 2019, into the anchor’s chair for the “CBS Evening News,” following the departure of John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois... USA Today editor-in-chief Caren Bohan has left the paper.
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. 
