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| Shepard Smith |
Shepard Smith, who exited Fox News last October, has moved to CNBC, where he will host “The News with Shepard Smith,” a one-hour program running weekdays at 7 p.m. Smith will also serve as CNBC’s chief general news anchor. He had become an increasingly vocal critic of president Trump while at Fox and had criticized fellow Fox host Tucker Carlson. Smith had been with Fox News since it started up in 1996, and served as managing editor of its breaking news division in addition to anchoring “Shepard Smith Reporting,” “The Fox Report” and “Studio B.”
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| Michael Pace |
Voice of America CEO Michael Pack has indicated that VOA does not plan to renew the J-1 visas of up to 100 foreign citizens who translate its content into such languages as Swahili or Mandarin, as well as report in those languages, according to reports in the New York Times and on NPR. The U.S. Agency for Global Media, which operates VOA, says the move is part of an effort to “determine that hiring authorities and personnel practices are not misused.” Pack assumed his new position in June, following Senate confirmation, and has since fired the heads of several USAGM news organizations. He also dismissed its board of directors. Among the employees who could lose their visas are Chinese, Cambodian and Thai nationals, and there are concerns that they could face retaliatory measures on returning to their home countries. Before coming to the VOA, Pack ran Manifold Productions, a film and television production company. He also produced, wrote and directed Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words, which was broadcast on PBS in May.
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Omnicom Media Group is making a big bet on the future of podcasting. According to the Wall Street Journal, OMG is planning to spend $20 million over the second half of 2020 on ads to run in podcasts available on Spotify. Podcast spending still lags far behind that of digital video, with tech site Axios reporting that 2022 ad revenues for podcasts are expected to reach $747 million, versus $127.4 billion for Internet, and $74.9 billion for TV. But it’s podcasting rate of growth that has ad buyers interested, with an expected 102 percent jump from 2018-2022, topping all other media.
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.
Rothschild family plans to unload 26.7 percent stake in The Economist... STAT, a digital media company that focuses the life sciences, brings back Damian Garde, who anchored its biotech newsletter and podcast from 2016 to 2024... High Times officially resumes print publication (following its 2024 shutdown) with the release of a limited-edition, collectible 50th anniversary issue. 
CBS News is set to hand over its reins to The Free Press co-founder Bari Weiss as Paramount acquires her site for $155M... C-SPAN comes on board as an official media partner of the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission, which is charged by Congress to lead the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence... A new Gallup survey says that the level of trust that US audiences have in the media has hit a new low.
