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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.
Trump Media & Technology Group today reported a $58.2M net loss on $4.1M in 2023 revenues, a disclosure that drove its stock price down 22.6 percent to $47.96.
Barry Pollack, an attorney at Wall Street’s Harris St. Laurent & Wechsler, has registered Julian Assange as a client with the Justice Dept. “out of an abundance of caution.”
Paramount Global to slash 800 jobs in what chief executive Bob Bakish calls part of an effort to “return the company to earnings growth"... Rolling Stone editor-in-chief Noah Shachtman is exiting at the end of the month due to disagreements with chief executive Gus Wenner over the direction the magazine is taking... The New York Times broke the $1 billion barrier in annual revenue from digital subscriptions in 2023... Press Forward is investing more than $500 million to strengthen local newsrooms.
The majority of news articles are read within the first three days of publication, according to a recent report.
The Los Angeles Times gives pink slips to 115 people or 20 percent of its newsroom staff... TIME is also laying off about 30 employees, which is approximately 15 percent of its editorial staff... The Baltimore Banner, which was launched by Stewart Bainum in 2022 after he failed to buy the Baltimore Sun, added 500 subscribers per day in the three days following Sinclair Broadcast Group's deal to purchase the Sun.
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