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The Washington Post‘s latest step in creating a “refined product vision” for its publishing technology unit Arc XP includes shedding 54 employees. The axing of the staffers, who are not members of the Post’s union, follows the layoffs of seven Arc XP employees earlier this year. Set up in 2015 by Post owner Jeff Bezos to provide a customizable set of tools for content and site management, Arc XP had been viewed as a potential profit center for the paper. However, a Wall Street Journal report from 2023 said that it was not profitable, falling behind in meeting its goal of $200 million a year in revenue annually by 2027. Arc XP provides its services, which include content creation, workflow orchestration, asset management and live streaming, tobrands including Reuters, South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo and France’s Le Parisien.
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California Governor Gavin Newsom signs a bill mandating that state agencies develop plans to increase their advertising spending in media outlets serving California's diverse populations. AB 1511, authored by Assemblymember Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles) and sponsored by the Latino Media Collaborative, requires agencies to annually report on their progress to ensure transparency and accountability. The bill's provisions will remain in effect until July 1, 2028, ensuring that these vital investments continue for the next several years. "California's ethnic and community media are essential to keeping our diverse populations informed through independent journalism," said Latino Media Collaborative president Arturo Carmona. "This law ensures that state advertising investments will go where they are needed most, creating an economic lifeline for these media outlets while also connecting more Californians to critical state programs. “
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| Minhee Cho |
Guardian Media Group appoints Minhee Cho as communications manager for the Guardian US. She reports to Matt Mittenthal, head of communications. Cho joins the Guardian from Fountain House, a national nonprofit supporting people living with serious mental illness, where she was director, media strategy. Before that, she served as media relations manager at Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, Ethel Kennedy's social justice organization, and director of public relations for ProPublica, the Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom.
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.
Boston Globe Media acquires InstaTrac, a company that provides subscription-based services aimed at making government information easier to find, track, and understand... AARP names former New Republic CEO and publisher Michael Caruso as its SVP and chief content officer, unifying the organization's portfolio of media, live events and digital platforms... The Fund for American Studies, an educational nonprofit, awards its inaugural Journalism Excellence Fellowships.
Trump Media and Technology Group Corp. has replaced CEO and former California Congressman Devin Nunes with Kevin McGurn, a seasoned media sales executive.
