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| Kristine Coratti Kelly |
The Washington Post promotes Kristine Coratti Kelly to chief communications officer, a newly created role at the paper. The Post’s PR blog says that the move is intended to “reflect the increased role the communications team is playing in The Post’s national and global expansion.” Kelly has been with the paper since 2009, most recently serving as vice president of communications and general manager of Washington Post Live, the newsroom’s live journalism platform. Taking on the vice president of communications role is Shani George, who most recently served as director of communications. “With their combined experience, we look forward to their continued dedication to growing The Post’s audience around the world,” said Post publisher and CEO Fred Ryan.
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Sinclair Broadcast Group is axing about five percent of its workforce (approximately 500 employees), in a move that the company says is due to the effects of COVID-19. “No component of our business’s ecosystem has been fully shielded from the impact of the global pandemic. In response to this, we are currently undergoing enterprise-wide reductions across our workforce, including corporate headquarters, to ensure we are well-positioned for future success.” according to a statement from a Sinclair spokesperson. Employees were notified of the layoffs in a Wednesday evening memo sent from Chris Ripley, the company's president and chief executive officer. Sinclair, which runs 186 TV stations in the U.S., reported a seven percent dip in total revenue for Q4 2020, compared to Q4 2019.
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Facebook is lifting the ban on political advertising that it instituted after the November elections. The company says that it will now permit advertisers to buy ads about “social issues, elections or politics,” from March 4, according to a report in the New York Times. The ban had been temporarily lifted in Georgia prior to that state’s senatorial runoff elections in January. Also, an article on Politico claimed that some political advertisers had been making their way around the regulations throughout the course of the ban. For now, political advertisers can either submit new ads to the platform, or reactivate existing ads. Ads will appear with a disclaimer noting that the ad was paid for by a political organization. Facebook has as yet said nothing about the “indefinite” ban placed on the account of former president Trump.
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.
USA TODAY brings on Jamie Stockwell as VP of news, effective March 30. Stockwell was most recently deputy managing editor of news for the Washington Post... YouTube expands its likeness detection capabilities to a pilot group of government officials, journalists and political candidates... The AP Fund for Journalism adds 50 news organizations to its local news program, bringing the total number of participating newsrooms to 100. 
Versant Media Group, the NBCUniversal cable TV spin-off, today reported its first financial results as 2025 revenues dipped 5.3 percent to $6.7B and standalone EBITDA dropped 9.1 percent to $2.2B.
