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Amazon may be coming to TikTok’s rescue in the nick of time as the app faces an April 5 deadline to cut ties with its Chinese owner or face a ban in the US, according to the New York Times. An unnamed Trump administration official, who was not authorized to comment publicly, said the Amazon offer was made in a letter to Vice President JD Vance and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. However, the Times also noted that “various parties who have been involved in the talks do not appear to be taking Amazon’s bid seriously.” In addition, the Wall Street Journal reports that mobile technology company AppLovin has also made its interest in TikTok known and has talked to casino magnate Steve Wynn about backing it. President Trump has made numerous promises to save TikTok regardless of any national security concerns. He has also said that he could further extend the pause that has been put on the ban.
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| Radhika Jones |
Vanity Fair editor Radhika Jones is heading out the door at the Condé Nast title she has headed up since 2017. Her last day at the paper will be sometime this spring. After starting her editorial career as arts editor of the English-language Moscow Times, Jones served as managing editor of The Paris Review, culture editor at Time, and editorial director of the books department at the New York TImes before being tabbed to succeed Graydon Carter at Vanity Fair. During her tenure, Vanity Fair has been left comparatively unscathed, holding onto its reputation as one of Condé Nast’s strongest brands, known for such events as its annual Oscar Party as much as for the content of its editorial pages. In a memo to the magazine’s staff, Jones said that she was leaving behind her a “thriving modern publication with incisive, lively reporting,” and that having achieved most of the goals she had set for herself at the brand, she would be leaving in order to follow “the pull of new goals in my life.” Condé Nast chief content officer Anna Wintour noted that Jones would play a major role “as we start the search for a new editor.”
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Newspapers have dodged the bullet as regards the proposed tariffs on newsprint—for now. Goods that are compliant with the 2020 United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which includes newsprint and other paper-based products used by U.S. newspapers and magazines, remain exempt from the 25 percent tariffs imposed on goods from Canada and Mexico, as well as the additional 10 percent baseline tariff announced April 2. However, an investigation is still being conducted that could result in lumber-specific tariffs on imports from Canada.
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.
