 |
| John Ridding |
Financial Times group chief executive John Ridding is stepping down after close to 20 years in the position. Ridding will now serve as a special adviser to Nikkei, the Japanese media company that purchased the FT in 2015. He has been a special executive director at Nikkei since the sale and will leave Nikkei’s executive board in July. Ridding started at the FT 35 years ago as a junior sub-editor in the paper’s newsroom. The FT reported operating revenue of £520M ($697M) for 2024, up from £500M ($645M) in 2023. It also has a global paying audience of 2.9 million. Nikkei group chief executive Naotoshi Okada said Ridding had “stewarded the group through a period characterized by rapid international growth, diversification and digital transformation and leaves the business in robust health.” In a note to staff, Ridding said that the FT has “built a diverse portfolio that supports our gold standard journalism and strengthens our iconic brand.”
 |
| Scott Matthews |
MSNBC hires Scott Matthews as SVP of newsgathering, effective March 17, as the network prepares for life after its connection to NBC News. The network is set to be spun off by Comcast, which also owns NBC, and MSNBC president Rebecca Kutler is working to build up an independent news operation. Matthews will be charged with staffing and setting up that operation, as well as coordinating daily and breaking news coverage and setting editorial priorities. MSNBC will be casting its net for over 100 journalists, including field producers, correspondents and photographers. “Scott’s new role reflects our plans to build out MSNBC’s domestic, Washington and international newsgathering operations and expand our presence in the field,” said Kutler. Matthews previously worked for WABC-TV in New York, where he was vice president and news director
 |
Gallup has released a report showing that two-thirds of Americans either do not trust the media very much (31 percent) or do not trust it all (36 percent). On the Republican side of the divide, things are even worse: While 29 percent of Republicans said that they had “not much” trust in the news media, 59 percent said they had no trust in at all, meaning that almost nine out 10 had low trust in the news media’s reliability. Democrats reported much higher trust levels, with only six percent saying they had no trust at all and 40 percent saying they had not much trust. To put that in some historical context, back in post-Watergate America (1976), the amount of people reporting a high level of confidence in the media topped 70 percent. In addition, the downward trend looks likely to continue. More than four out of 10 (43 percent) of respondents over 50 said they had a high level of trust in the media, but that number drops to 26 percent for those under 50.
Underscore Media, a new creator-led media venture dedicated to New York sports, is built around three established New York sports personalities, Sal Licata, Jimmy Traina, and John Jastremski.
McClatchy, which owns 29 daily papers across 14 states (including The Miami Herald, Sacramento Bee and Kansas City Star), launches a wave of layoffs that extends to at least 13 of those papers... The Toledo Blade, which was founded in 1835, is set to shut down on Dec. 31, unless owner Block Communications manages to find a buyer for it... A bill awaiting approval by California governor Gavin Newsom would give local newsrooms a boost. 
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.
