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Meredith’s acquisition of Time Inc. is not paying the big dividends hoped for, according to a report on Bloomberg. While the merger made Meredith the biggest magazine publisher in the country, the combined company is not as profitable as had been expected. Meredith stock closed at 33.63 on Sep. 5, down 46 percent from its 52-week high of 62.40. Meredith CEO Tom Harty said on a conference call that ad sales for the former Time Inc. titles that remain under Meredith’s control (People, InStyle and Real Simple) have been sluggish. For the coming year, Harty predicts an increase in the mid single digits for digital ad sales, with print ad sales expected to decline slightly. Following the merger, Meredith unloaded Time, Fortune and Sports Illustrated. The company is still trying to sell FanSided, the Sports Illustrated blog that remained behind after Meredith’s deal with Authentic Brands for the magazine.
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Editor & Publisher, which narrowly averted closure almost a decade ago when Nielsen was shedding titles, has been purchased by multimedia consulting firm Blinder Group. The magazine’s October issue will be the first under its new management. Nu Yang, who has served as managing editor, will take over the editor-in-chief spot from Jeff Fleming. Fleming is remaining with Duncan Macintosh Co., which acquired E&P in 2010. While Blinder Group founder and president Mike Blinder says he will continue to publish the monthly print magazine, he adds that he will pursue more opportunities that focus on online platforms, podcasting and events. He also told Folio that the editorial scope of the magazine will shift to include “anyone who needs to create news, create an audience around that news, and then monetize that audience.” E&P’s offices will remain in Los Angeles.
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| David Cuillier |
The Brechner Center for Freedom of Information at the University of Florida has launched the Journal of Civic Information, an open-access, interdisciplinary journal that publishes peer-reviewed research related to the field of public information accessibility. The online quarterly will publish articles from both scholars and practitioners, addressing such topics as access to public records and meetings, court transparency, access to public employees and elected officials, open data and technology, and other related matters, with an emphasis on issues relevant to the state and local levels of government. The journal’s inaugural editor is David Cuillier, associate professor at the University of Arizona School of Journalism and former national president of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Symbolic.ai forms a partnership with News Corp to begin using the company’s AI-native publisher platform in the newsrooms of News Corp publications to augment research, writing and publishing... Mediaite launches a newsletter that promises to give readers a summary of—media newsletters... The Fund for American Studies launches the Journalism Excellence Fellowship, a program that will provide promising young journalists the opportunity to work alongside top writers, reporters, and media professionals.
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.
