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The Zagat restaurant guide for New York City is back in print for its 2020 edition. Google, which purchased the guide for $151 million in 2011, discontinued its print version in 2016. Google sold it to online guide and ratings platform The Information last year. The Information chief executive Chris Stang said that the decision to start printing the guide again followed many requests from its followers. In addition to readers, Peter Luger Steak House should welcome back the guide, nabbing a spot as one of the three most popular restaurants—a big step up from its recent zero-star review in the New York Times. Also coming back in the 2020 guide is the rating system used by Tim and Nina Zagat, the guide’s originators. According to the Times, there are no set plans to bring the guide back for other cities.
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The Atlantic has released a new, subscriber-only version of its app. While the app is free to download, a paywall will kick in as soon as readers click on a story. On The Atlantic’s website, which relaunched its subscription service on Sept. 5, there is a five-article grace period before the paywall kicks in. And while subscriptions to the website are only available on an annual basis, app readers will be able to subscribe on a month-to-month basis. Andrew Phelps, the company’s senior director of product, told tech site Digiday that it is initiating its new subscription model with the app because it is “a more personal and habit-forming platform.”
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Bustle Digital Group has laid off at least 10 staffers and contributors at Bustle, its digital women’s publication. According to a report in Variety, the layoffs are due to a restructuring at the company. Layoffs also hit BDG earlier this year when it axed five staffers from science and business entertainment site Inverse after acquiring it, as well as getting rid of the entire staff of Gakwer after when its proposed relaunch was called off. The new round of layoffs comes as the company prepares for what it says is a major site relaunch in early 2020, which it says will include “several marquee hires.”
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.
Boston Globe Media acquires InstaTrac, a company that provides subscription-based services aimed at making government information easier to find, track, and understand... AARP names former New Republic CEO and publisher Michael Caruso as its SVP and chief content officer, unifying the organization's portfolio of media, live events and digital platforms... The Fund for American Studies, an educational nonprofit, awards its inaugural Journalism Excellence Fellowships.
Trump Media and Technology Group Corp. has replaced CEO and former California Congressman Devin Nunes with Kevin McGurn, a seasoned media sales executive.
