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The Knight Foundation is investing $5.4 million to create the Knight Growth Challenge Fund, which will support both non-profit and for-profit news outlets that have proven journalistic and business prowess and a solid business plan for sustainability. By supporting the efforts of these outlets to expand into new markets, the fund hopes to open up access to local journalism. The newsrooms included in the first group of recipients are: The Assembly (statewide in North Carolina), Cityside (Richmond, CA), The Post and Courier (Myrtle Beach and Columbia, SC), The Salt Lake Tribune (statewide in Utah), Spotlight PA (State College, PA) and Georges Media/Shreveport-Bossier City Advocate (Shreveport, LA). The effort, administered by the Miami Foundation, is supported by Blue Engine Collaborative, which will provide coaching, consulting and other resources to each of the selected publishers. “These first six organizations can prove that local news can find ways to grow to serve more communities, and we’re absolutely thrilled to help them reach their full potential over the next two years,” said Blue Engine Collaborative founder and CEO Tim Griggs.
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The New York Times will no longer make endorsements in the city’s elections, ending a policy it initiated in 1897. According to Times Opinion editor Kathleen Kingsbury, while the paper will continue to offer “perspective on the races, candidates and issues at stake,” it will not take a position in this fall’s Senate, congressional or state legislative races, and also plans to stay on the sidelines in Mayor Eric Adams’ re-election bid next year. The announcement follows similar plans by the Baltimore Sun and Alden Global Capital, the country’s second-largest newspaper chain.
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Playboy is headed back into print, with an annual print edition set to make its debut in February 2025. Former Men’s Journal editor-in-chief Mark Healy will head up the new version. The previous print incarnation of the brand was shuttered in 2020. Not only will the magazine’s trademark interview appear in the new edition’s pages, the Playmate of the Year will return, as well as features dedicated to such emblems of the swinging lifestyle as cars and audio equipment. There will be a “new class” of Playboy Bunnies, who will represent the brand at events. The publication also says it has redesigned Playboy.com and launched ecommerce initiatives and features that embrace the creator economy. “Playboy is the quintessential iconic brand, and it has always been more than a magazine—it is the original creator business,” according to PLBY Group CEO Ben Kohn.
Russia bans NYT, WSJ, WaPo journalists for being “liberal globalist media outlets involved in manufacturing and spreading fake claims" about the country... Florida-based Trump Media & Technology Group gets help from Nebraska Congressman... The California General Assembly passed a bill requiring internet browsers and mobile operating systems to let consumers easily opt out from the sharing and selling of their private data with websites that use it for targeted advertising. 
Formedics, the healthcare professional community and engagement platform, has acquired AMC Media, a healthcare publisher, digital marketer and events operation.
Condé Nast and OpenAI have reached an agreement that will give the AI company access to content from the publisher’s properties... ABC News names Almin Karamehmedovic, senior executive producer of “World News Tonight with David Muir,” to serve as its next president... Time magazine is laying off 22 staffers.
Ziff Davis, which owns such tech publications as Mashable, IGN and Lifehacker, picks up CNET from Red Ventures in a deal valued at over $100M... Oliver Darcy, who took over CNN’s Reliable Sources newsletter when Brian Stelter exited the company in 2022, has left to start up Status, an independent, subscription-based news site dedicated to the media industry... Axios is handing out pink slips to about 50 staffers—or about 10 percent of its staff.
Trade media plays an essential role in informing business leaders, influencing sales and driving industry growth, according to a new survey of B2B business executives.
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