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| Kelli Raftery |
VicaomCBS executive vp corporate communications Kelli Raftery is leaving, effective April 6. Raftery’s exit is the latest in a stream of departures from the company formed by the 2019 merger of Viacom and CBS. It follows the March 2 announcement that CBS communications chief Dana McClintock, who was Raftery’s boss, is leaving later this year. Raftery, who spent 20 years at CBS, led overall media relations and communications strategy for CBS. According to a report in Variety, ViacomCBS raised its cost savings target from the merger from $500 million to $750 million.
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| Anna Wintour |
The coronavirus has taken its toll among several of the top figures in fashion media. A report in the New York Post says that Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, Elle editor-in-chief Nina Garcia and InStyle editor in-chief Laura Brown are all in “self-imposed quarantines” since they returned from Milan Fashion Week. The report adds that overall, about 30 people from the three companies that publish the titles are in self-imposed quarantine.
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| Bruce Dold |
Chicago Tribune publisher and editor Bruce Dold, who has been with the paper for 42 years, is being replaced as editor of the paper by Tribune Publishing chief content officer Colin McMahon. No replacement has been named to fill the publisher position, but McMahon will report to Chicago Tribune Media Group general manager Par Ridder, according to a memo sent to staffers from Tribune CEO Terry Jimenez, who took over from Timothy Knight earlier this month. McMahon will also continue as chief content officer, as well as retaining oversight of Tribune Content Agency’s editorial team. In addition, Peter Kendall, a 32-year Tribune vet who was of the paper’s two managing editors, is also exiting the company. The moves all follow hedge fund Alden Global Capital’s acquisition of a 32 percent stake in Tribune Publishing last year.
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.
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.
