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| Rashida Jones |
MSNBC president Rashida Jones is stepping down, after close to four years in the job. Jones will stay on in an advisory role until the end of March. She has been with MSNBC since 2013 and before being named president oversaw daytime and weekend news programming. Rebecca Kutler, currently SVP, content strategy at the channel, will step in as interim president. While MSNBC was the second-most-watched cable network in the runup to the 2024 election (with Fox News holding on to the lead), its post-election ratings have dropped. Jones’s departure is not the only change that MSNBC faces. It is one of several cable channels (including CNBC, USA and Syfy) that is slated to be spun off into a new unit by its owner, Comcast. NBCUniversal Media Group chairman Mark Lazarus said that MSNBC is also looking to recruit a new head of news gathering and head of talent.
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| Mark Zuckerberg |
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is preparing for what he says will be “an intense year” by dumping staffers that he terms “low performers.” The company plans to axe about five percent of its employees, which will probably amount to about 3,600 people. This will be the biggest cut since it let 10,000 workers go in March 2023. “We typically manage out people who aren’t meeting expectations over the course of a year,” Zuckerberg said in an internal memo, “but now we’re going to do more extensive performance-based cuts.” He does, however, plan to soften the blow with “generous severance in line with what we’ve provided with previous cuts.” The announcement of the layoffs follows recent decisions to eliminate third-party fact checkers, get rid of its DEI-focused team and eliminate diversity programs in its hiring process.
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| Susan Zirinsky |
CBS News is putting Susan Zirinsky, who served as its president from January 2019 until April 2021, back in the driver’s seat as its interim executive editor, a new position created “with the specific mandate of ensuring we have the expertise, resources and oversight to enable coverage of the most challenging issues with the highest degree of balance and integrity,” according to CBS CEO George Cheeks. Since stepping down as president, Zirinsky has led CBS’s documentary division See It Now Studios, where she will remain in charge. CBS News has received criticism recently over perceived bias in some of its programming, particularly with regard to several stories about the Middle East crisis that were deemed anti-Israel.
USA TODAY brings on Jamie Stockwell as VP of news, effective March 30. Stockwell was most recently deputy managing editor of news for the Washington Post... YouTube expands its likeness detection capabilities to a pilot group of government officials, journalists and political candidates... The AP Fund for Journalism adds 50 news organizations to its local news program, bringing the total number of participating newsrooms to 100. 
Versant Media Group, the NBCUniversal cable TV spin-off, today reported its first financial results as 2025 revenues dipped 5.3 percent to $6.7B and standalone EBITDA dropped 9.1 percent to $2.2B.
Trump Media & Technology Group is discussing a spin-off of the Truth Social platform following the expected closing of its $6B merger deal with TAE Technologies... Condé Nast sells off Them, the digital LGBTQ-focused platform it launched in 2017, to Equalpride, publisher of Out, The Advocate, Out Traveler, Health PLUS Wellness and Pride.com... CBS News has parted ways with longevity influencer Peter Attia, one of the 19 contributors that editor-in-chief Bari Weiss brought on as part of her plan to present a wider variety of voices on the platform. 
Symbolic.ai forms a partnership with News Corp to begin using the company’s AI-native publisher platform in the newsrooms of News Corp publications to augment research, writing and publishing... Mediaite launches a newsletter that promises to give readers a summary of—media newsletters... The Fund for American Studies launches the Journalism Excellence Fellowship, a program that will provide promising young journalists the opportunity to work alongside top writers, reporters, and media professionals.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which has roots going back to 1786, is going out of business, the paper’s owners, Block Communications, announced on Jan. 7... GQ editor Will Welch is stepping down to take on a new Paris-based role with the musician Pharrell, who is also men’s creative director at Louis Vuitton... Semafor says it has raised $30 million on a $330 million valuation, following its first profitable year. 
