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Gannett agrees to sell the Austin American-Statesman to Hearst. Hearst, which also publishes the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News, is expected to close the purchase by the end of Q1 2025. The proceeds of the sale are expected to be used by Gannett for debt reduction, according to a report in the American-Statesman. Gannett announced in September that, through other sales, it had expected to pay down at least $110 million in debt by the end of 2024. As of Dec. 31, the company’s total debt exceeded $1.1 billion. The American-Statesman sale includes the newspaper’s community publications: Bastrop Advertiser, Lake Travis View, Pflugerville Pflag and Round Rock Leader. Related digital offerings such as Austin360 and Hookem.com also are part of the sale. Gannett will retain ownership of its seven other newspapers in Texas, which include the El Paso Times, Corpus Christi Caller-Times and Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. “The sale of the Austin American-Statesman from our portfolio is a strategic decision that will complement the Hearst brand while positioning Gannett and the USA TODAY Network of more than 200 local publications for future growth,” said Gannett chairman and CEO Michael Reed.
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Fox News and Newsmax are among the 40 major news organizations that issued a letter to the White House this week asking the Trump administration to lift its ban on The Associated Press, which was barred from several official press events over the past week. The reason for the restriction: AP has not renamed the Gulf of Mexico to “Gulf of America,” as demanded by the president in a Jan. 20 executive order. Other outlets signing the letter include CNN, the New York Times, NBC and the Wall Street Journal. “The First Amendment prohibits the government from asserting control over how news organizations make editorial decisions,” the letter said. “Any attempt to punish journalists for those decisions is a serious breach of this constitutional protection.”
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ESPN is pulling the plug on its coverage of Major League Baseball after the 2025 season. While the MLB and ESPN signed a seven-year deal in 2021 that averaged $550 million per season, the organizations decided to opt out of the contract prior to a March 1 deadline. MLB pulls in an average of $729 million per season from Fox and $470 million from Turner Sports, in deals set to end after the 2028 season. ESPN has carried MLB games since 1990, reaching a peak of 90 regular-season contests, but under the current contract that number dwindled to 30. The change comes as the number of platforms interested in running MLB games increases. In a statement MLB noted "significant interest from both traditional media companies and streaming services who would like to obtain rights to MLB games.”
Trump Media and Technology Group Corp. has replaced CEO and former California Congressman Devin Nunes with Kevin McGurn, a seasoned media sales executive.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is being bought by the Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism, a nonprofit that is the parent organization of the Baltimore Banner... The British Broadcasting Corporation is axing approximately 2,000 jobs, about 10 percent of its work force... Snap, the company behind Snapchat, is also succumbing to layoff fever, announcing plans to lay off 16 percent of its employees, about 1,000 people.
CBS News Radio will go off the air on May 22, part of the axe-swinging managerial plan put into play by CBS editor-in-chief Bari Weiss... The Economist, which was first published in 1843, is changing hands. Canadian billionaire Stephen Smith has agreed to acquire a 26.9 percent stake in the publication from Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, her family and family foundation... Nexstar Media Group says it has closed its acquisition of TEGNA, the broadcast, digital media and marketing services company that was formed in 2015, when the Gannett Company split into two publicly traded companies.
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.
