 |
| Piers Morgan |
News Corp is bringing Piers Morgan back to the airwaves as the centerpiece in its launch of talkTV, a British channel set to launch early next year. According to News Corp’s British arm, News UK, the network “will be streamed live and made widely available on all platforms including linear TV and OTT with content available across social media as well as News UK’s own broad inventory of websites and apps.” In the US, Morgan’s chat show will run on the Fox Nation streaming service, and it will appear on Sky News Australia. Morgan will also write a weekly column that will appear in The Sun and the New York Post. Most recently, he hosted ITV’s “Good Morning Britain,” but he exited that position in March following his on-air accusation that Meghan Markle was not telling the truth in her CBS interview with Oprah Winfrey.
 |
Fox Corporation buys celebrity gossip brand TMZ from AT&T’s WarnerMedia. TMZ co-founder Harvey Levin will stay on as managing editor. Fox will operate TMZ’s main website, its culture site TooFab.com, its syndicated television programs and celebrity bus tours. “The unique and powerful brand Harvey has created in TMZ has forever changed the entertainment industry and we’re excited to welcome them to Fox,” Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch said in a statement. TMZ is one of the assets that AT&T is selling as it prepares for the spinoff of WarnerMedia, which is to merge with Discovery.
 |
| Roger Darnell |
Roger Darnell, founder of The Darnell Works Agency, has written a book aimed at professionals and students who want to improve their prospects in business. “The Communications Consultant’s Foundation” outlines how readers can develop the soft skills required for a successful career as a communicator, as well as offering tips on effective ways to work remotely and independently. Incorporating knowledge from established industry figures and first-hand insight from Darnell’s own career, the book explores such topics as essential business imperatives, what it means to be a PR expert in the creative industry, customer service and the basics of positive, proactive, strategic communications. Darnell has worked on projects including music videos; featured, short and brand films; integrated marketing campaigns; and Super Bowl spots.
Underscore Media, a new creator-led media venture dedicated to New York sports, is built around three established New York sports personalities, Sal Licata, Jimmy Traina, and John Jastremski.
McClatchy, which owns 29 daily papers across 14 states (including The Miami Herald, Sacramento Bee and Kansas City Star), launches a wave of layoffs that extends to at least 13 of those papers... The Toledo Blade, which was founded in 1835, is set to shut down on Dec. 31, unless owner Block Communications manages to find a buyer for it... A bill awaiting approval by California governor Gavin Newsom would give local newsrooms a boost. 
Fox News Media issued a pretty sparse release to announce the departure of one of its stars. “Effective today, Maria Bartiromo is no longer with FOX News Media,” it reads.
Brunswick Group partner John Simons has joined CNN as senior director of business & media. He held top jobs at Time and the Wall Street Journal.
WNET, the nation’s largest public media company, names Edward O’Keefe its next president and CEO, effective September 21. O’Keefe succeeds Neal Shapiro, who becomes president emeritus and will retire at the end of the year... The Stealth Bot Prohibition Act, which would empower news publishers and other content providers to defend themselves by mandating transparency for all bots crawling their sites, in introduced in the House by Rep. Laurel Lee (R-FL) and Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC)... Google gets socked by European Union regulators with a $1 billion fine for using the platform’s dominance as a search engine to illegally undercut competition.
