 |
The Washington Post is putting out the last edition of Express, its free commuter paper, Sept. 12. Express has been published by the Post since 2003. The Post says that the growth of WiFi in Washington’s Metro system means that more readers are consuming the paper’s content digitally, via such products as its mobile site, apps, newsletters and podcasts. The Post plans to offer Express readers a 60-day, free trial for unlimited digital access to the Washington Post.
 |
Snapchat is launching a news channel that will focus on the 2020 presidential debates, according to Axios. The curated "Democratic Primary Debate Channel" will kick off with live coverage of the debate in Houston Sept. 12. The channel will exist as a pop-up around each debate leading up to the election. The company began testing the idea during July's Democratic debates. Axios says that the channel will live within Snapchat's content arm, Discover, and will feature updates from the candidates that are on Snapchat, plus coverage of the primaries from vetted news providers and some vetted user content. All of the 10 candidates that qualified for the Houston debate have Snapchat accounts.
 |
The relaunching of progressive news site Think Progress as a “hub for expert analysis and commentary” has at least temporarily been called off, according to a report on The Wrap. The Center for American Progress, the independent nonpartisan policy institute which operates the site, had put it up for sale in July. However, the lack of a prospective buyer for the site led to the announcement of its closure on Sept. 6, putting its remaining reporters out of work. On Sept. 9, CAP announced that the site would come back to life as a source for “analysis of the news, policy, and politics,” but without original reporting. That announcement led to a backlash from the Writers Guild of America, East, which represents ThinkProgress writers. The WGA called the new plan “an affront to the ThinkProgress mission” and said that its members were exploring legal options. In response, CAP announced that there would be “no further posting” to the site.
Underscore Media, a new creator-led media venture dedicated to New York sports, is built around three established New York sports personalities, Sal Licata, Jimmy Traina, and John Jastremski.
McClatchy, which owns 29 daily papers across 14 states (including The Miami Herald, Sacramento Bee and Kansas City Star), launches a wave of layoffs that extends to at least 13 of those papers... The Toledo Blade, which was founded in 1835, is set to shut down on Dec. 31, unless owner Block Communications manages to find a buyer for it... A bill awaiting approval by California governor Gavin Newsom would give local newsrooms a boost. 
Fox News Media issued a pretty sparse release to announce the departure of one of its stars. “Effective today, Maria Bartiromo is no longer with FOX News Media,” it reads.
Brunswick Group partner John Simons has joined CNN as senior director of business & media. He held top jobs at Time and the Wall Street Journal.
WNET, the nation’s largest public media company, names Edward O’Keefe its next president and CEO, effective September 21. O’Keefe succeeds Neal Shapiro, who becomes president emeritus and will retire at the end of the year... The Stealth Bot Prohibition Act, which would empower news publishers and other content providers to defend themselves by mandating transparency for all bots crawling their sites, in introduced in the House by Rep. Laurel Lee (R-FL) and Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC)... Google gets socked by European Union regulators with a $1 billion fine for using the platform’s dominance as a search engine to illegally undercut competition.
