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| Megyn Kelly |
Former Fox News and NBC anchor Megyn Kelly has launched Devil May Care Media, a self-funded venture which will produce content including podcasts and other shows discussing news, current events, legal and cultural issues. Its first production is “The Megyn Kelly Show,” a podcast debuting at the end of September. A release from the company says that the company is intended to give Kelly “a new platform for connecting directly with her audience without the constraints or political agendas of other media outlets.” Kelly was released from her NBC News contract in 2019, receiving a payout that was estimated at between $25 and $30 million. She came to NBC in 2017 from Fox, where she had been for over a decade.
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Meredith Corp. is proposing a change to its charter that could pave the way for the company to split up its magazine holdings and TV stations into two separate businesses, according to a report in the Des Moines Register. Meredith’s board of directors has already approved the charter amendment, which will be voted on by investors at a Nov. 11 meeting. The company says that while a breakup of the divisions is not necessarily in the cards, it wants to ensure a “tax-efficient separation” in the event that it does take place. Meredith acquired Time Inc. in 2017, and it currently owns publications including People, Real Simple and Better Homes and Gardens. Its TV division includes 17 stations in such cities as Atlanta, Phoenix, and Portland, OR.
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| Asad Syrkett |
Hearst Magazines has named Asad Syrkett editor in chief of Elle Decor, effective Sept. 14. He succeeds Whitney Robinson, who stepped down in April. Syrkett comes to the magazine from Hem Design Studio, where he served as business development lead. Before that, he was deputy editor at real estate and urban design web site Curbed and has held editorial positions at Architectural Digest and Architectural Record. Former Hearst Magazines president Troy Young resigned in July after employees spoke out about what they called a racist and sexist work environment at the company.
Symbolic.ai forms a partnership with News Corp to begin using the company’s AI-native publisher platform in the newsrooms of News Corp publications to augment research, writing and publishing... Mediaite launches a newsletter that promises to give readers a summary of—media newsletters... The Fund for American Studies launches the Journalism Excellence Fellowship, a program that will provide promising young journalists the opportunity to work alongside top writers, reporters, and media professionals.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which has roots going back to 1786, is going out of business, the paper’s owners, Block Communications, announced on Jan. 7... GQ editor Will Welch is stepping down to take on a new Paris-based role with the musician Pharrell, who is also men’s creative director at Louis Vuitton... Semafor says it has raised $30 million on a $330 million valuation, following its first profitable year. 
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.
