 |
| Roy Austin |
Facebook has hired Roy Austin, partner at Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis law firm, as VP-civil rights, a new position at the social media company.
He has more than 25 years of experience as a civil rights lawyer, beginning his career in the Justice Dept. civil rights division.
Austin rose to the deputy assistant attorney general post in 2010 and shifted to the White House’s domestic policy council as an assistant to the president for the office of urban affairs, justice and opportunity.
He co-authored a report on big data and civil rights, worked with president Obama’s task force on 21st-century policing, developed the police data initiative and was a member of the president’s My Brother’s Keeper Task Force.
“I am excited to join Facebook at this moment when there is a national and global awakening happening around civil rights," Austin said in a Facebook blog. “Technology plays a role in nearly every part of our lives, and it’s important that it be used to overcome the historic discrimination and hate which so many underrepresented groups have faced, rather than to exacerbate it."
Austin will be based in Washington and report to duty on Jan. 19.
Meanwhile, Facebook expressed concern for the safety of its employees following the platform’s decision to suspend president Trump’s account and told them not to wear or carry company-branded items in public.
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.
Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison has named Kenneth Weinstein, former head of the conservative Hudson Institute, as ombudsman for CBS News.
