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| Brian Karem |
Brian Karem, a senior White House correspondent for Playboy magazine and CNN contributor, is suing President Trump and press secretary Stephanie Grisham over the Aug. 16 suspension of his press credentials, according to a report in Politico. Karem’s hard pass was temporarily revoked following a confrontation between him and former deputy assistant to the president Sebastian Gorka in the Rose Garden following the White House’s Social Media Summit on July 11. Gorka is currently the host of “America First with Sebastian Gorka,” a talk show that runs on the conservative Salem Radio Network. Karem’s lawyer says that Grisham violated his due process rights, since the revocation of his pass was based on unwritten rules. Politico cites an Aug. 2 letter Grisham wrote to Karem in which she says she “had not previously thought that a set of explicit rules was necessary to govern behavior by members of the press at the White House.” Karem’s lawyers also say that the power to revoke a reporter’s credentials lies with the Secret Service, not with the press secretary.
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| Sean Spicer |
Sean Spicer, who exited as White House press secretary in 2017, has found a high-profile new position. Starting Sept. 16, Spicer will be a cast member on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars,” squaring off against such celebrity competition as Christie Brinkley, former NBA star Lamar Odom and ex-Baltimore Raven Ray Lewis. The show’s host, Tom Bergeron, said he was unhappy about the decision to include Spicer, saying the program should be a “joyful respite” from the “exhausting political climate.” For his part, Spicer says his strategy will simply be to "work really, really, really hard every day." Bergeron also found a silver lining to the situation. "The nice thing is Sean will be in charge of assessing audience size," he joked during the announcement of the show’s cast on "Good Morning America."
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| The logo for Facebook's News Tab |
Facebook plans to use humans, as opposed to algorithms, to select some stories in News Tab, the effort it is launching in an attempt to get itself back into the publishing game. “For the Top News section of the tab we’re pulling together a small team of journalists to ensure we’re highlighting the right stories,” said Facebook head of news partnerships Campbell Brown. According to the New York Times, Facebook says that the use of human news curators will be limited to the Top News section, while the stories across the rest of NewsTab will still be chosen by algorithm. News Tab, which is to begin testing later this year, will be separate from the platform’s main feed.
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.
