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| Troy Young |
Hearst Magazines global president Troy Young resigned July 23 in the wake of a New York Times story alleging that he created a toxic environment at the company and sexually harassed some of its workers. Young initially apologized in a staff memo, but said that the incidents described in the Times story “are either untrue, greatly exaggerated or taken out of context.” A subsequent memo from Hearst president and chief executive Steven Swartz announced that “Troy Young and I have agreed that it is in the best interest of all of us that he resign his position as president of Hearst Magazines, effective immediately.” Young joined Hearst in 2013 as head of the company’s digital operations. He was named global president in August 2018, succeeding David Carey, who later returned to the company as senior vice president of public affairs and communications.
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| Nicholas Sandmann |
The Washington Post has settled the lawsuit brought by the parents of Nicholas Sandmann, the Kentucky high-school student who they say was defamed by the paper’s coverage of his encounter with Native American activist Nathan Phillips on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in January 2019. In the aftermath of the incident, the encounter was cast in political terms, partly due to the MAGA hats worn by Sandmann and some of his classmates. Sandmann later said he meant no disrespect to Phillips and claimed he did not try to block his path. The family claimed that the Post defamed Sandmann in seven articles, as well as via tweets promoting the articles. The Post admitted no wrongdoing. Neither side disclosed the terms of the settlement, which foreclosed the possibility of a trial. The Sandmann's settled a lawsuit against CNN in January, and they have also filed suits against Gannett, ABC, CBS, the New York Times and Rolling Stone.
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The New York Times Company is acquiring Serial Productions, the company that produces the “Serial” podcast. Serial Productions will still commission and edit its own stories. The Times also announced that it had entered into an ongoing creative and strategic alliance with “This American Life,” the weekly public radio program founded by host and executive producer Ira Glass, under which the program will collaborate on content with Serial Productions and on marketing and advertising sales with the Times. “We feel confident the ‘Serial’ and ‘This American Life’ teams share our desire to continue to find groundbreaking ways to tell stories, grow listenership and help more and more people better understand the world,” said Times assistant managing editor Sam Dolnick, who oversees the company’s audio content.
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.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is being bought by the Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism, a nonprofit that is the parent organization of the Baltimore Banner... The British Broadcasting Corporation is axing approximately 2,000 jobs, about 10 percent of its work force... Snap, the company behind Snapchat, is also succumbing to layoff fever, announcing plans to lay off 16 percent of its employees, about 1,000 people.
CBS News Radio will go off the air on May 22, part of the axe-swinging managerial plan put into play by CBS editor-in-chief Bari Weiss... The Economist, which was first published in 1843, is changing hands. Canadian billionaire Stephen Smith has agreed to acquire a 26.9 percent stake in the publication from Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, her family and family foundation... Nexstar Media Group says it has closed its acquisition of TEGNA, the broadcast, digital media and marketing services company that was formed in 2015, when the Gannett Company split into two publicly traded companies.
