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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.
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.
Rothschild family plans to unload 26.7 percent stake in The Economist... STAT, a digital media company that focuses the life sciences, brings back Damian Garde, who anchored its biotech newsletter and podcast from 2016 to 2024... High Times officially resumes print publication (following its 2024 shutdown) with the release of a limited-edition, collectible 50th anniversary issue. 
CBS News is set to hand over its reins to The Free Press co-founder Bari Weiss as Paramount acquires her site for $155M... C-SPAN comes on board as an official media partner of the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission, which is charged by Congress to lead the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence... A new Gallup survey says that the level of trust that US audiences have in the media has hit a new low.
Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison has named Kenneth Weinstein, former head of the conservative Hudson Institute, as ombudsman for CBS News.
