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| Kevin Merida |
The Los Angeles Times names Kevin Merida executive editor, succeeding Norman Pearlstine, who stepped down from the role in December. Merida comes to the Times from ESPN, where he served as editor-in-chief of the Undefeated, a website that covers sports, race and culture, and oversaw the platform’s investigative/news enterprise unit. Before coming to ESPN in 2015, he spent over two decades at the Washington Post, whereas managing editor he oversaw much of the paper’s newsroom. He has also served as a reporter and editor at the Dallas Morning News. “Kevin possesses a clear understanding of the rigor necessary for independent journalism and how to translate that journalism to multiple platforms,” said Times owners Patrick and Michele Soon-Shiong in a written statement.
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Meredith Corp. reaches an agreement to sell its local TV stations to Gray Television for $2.7 billion. The company says that the deal will allow it to focus exclusively on its publishing division, which includes such titles as People, Entertainment Weekly and Martha Stewart Living. “We expect the transaction to unlock meaningful shareholder value as it advances all of the company’s financial priorities: reducing net debt, improving financial flexibility, allocating capital to fast-growing digital and consumer opportunities, and providing returns to shareholders,” said Meredith chairman and CEO Tom Harty. Once the transaction is completed in the fourth quarter of this year, Gray will become one of the top three local broadcasters in the U.S., along with Sinclair and Nexstar.
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| Van Scott |
Vice Media brings on ABC director of communications Van Scott as VP of communications. He will lead all U.S. communications for Vice, including its digital brands, the Viceland cable channel and a documentary program show on Showtime. At ABC News he led coverage around political issues and breaking news, as well as working on “World News Tonight with David Muir.” Before coming to ABC in 2014, he was communications manager at CNN. Scott exits ABC News just a few weeks before Kim Godwin steps in to lead the division.
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.
