 |
Bloomberg News will cut about 90 employees, mostly editors, from its staff, according to the New York Times. In a memo to staffers, Bloomberg editor in chief John Micklethwait placed some of the blame for the move on “unnecessary back-reading or re-editing,” adding that after the reorganization, editors will report to managing editors, who would assign them stories. However, Micklethwait said new hires in priority areas such as data journalism would offset the layoffs and that he expects the company to end 2021 with as many journalists as it had before the pandemic. “We have always sought to make the newsroom better — to make us more nimble, to improve our content, and to help us ‘chronicle capitalism’ in an even more comprehensive way,” he said. Overall, Bloomberg News has more than 3,100 editorial and research employees, and Bloomberg Media is expected to bring in at least $100 million this year from consumer digital subscription revenue.
 |
Condé Nast is looking to trim down the amount of rent it pays for its offices in One World Trade Center in lower Manhattan. The company is withholding the $2.4 million in rent it owes for January 2021 and says it may withhold more in the future if it does not reach an agreement with its landlords, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and the Durst Organization. Condé Nast wants to reduce its square footage and its rent per square foot at the office tower. A spokesman for Advance, which owns Condé Nast, told the Wall Street Journal that the company “continues to be in discussions about bringing the lease in 1WTC into line with current market conditions and its ongoing needs at that location.” The company has also started looking for 400,000 square feet of alternative office space for at least some of its operations, with some of that space located in Jersey City, NJ.
 |
Google has launched News Showcase, which pays publishers for news content, as part of its Google News app in the UK and Argentina. The service, which covers over 120 publications in the UK and 40 in Argentina, also gives readers the ability to access some of a publication’s paywalled content for free. To read that content, users must register with the individual publisher. Participating publications receive a monthly fee to curate news stories for the service, as well as for granting access to their paywalled content. The UK publications participating include Reuters, the Financial Times, The Independent, the New Statesman, and The Telegraph. News Showcase was released in Germany and Brazil last year and in Australia last week. It now includes content from over 450 publications worldwide.
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.
