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| Edith Chapin |
NPR top editor and interim chief content officer Edith Chapin is planning to exit later this year, according to a report in the New York Times. Chapin’s decision follows the decision by Congress to cut all funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which supports NPR, PBS and their member stations. While NPR relies on direct federal funds for only a small portion of its budget, many of its member stations are more dependent on funds received from CPB. The Times report says that Chapin notified NPR CEO Katherine Maher before the budget cuts were approved. While Chapin’s departure will leave two of NPR’s top roles vacant, she says she will remain at the organization through the transition.
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| Jonathan Capehart |
The Washington Post, which is refocusing its opinion section on “personal liberties and free markets,” loses yet another member of the section’s staff as Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Jonathan Capehart takes a buyout. Capeheart’s decision comes in the wake of a steady stream of exits from the paper, the most recent including “Federal Insider” writer Joe Davidson and reporter and writer Philip Bump. Post CEO Will Lewis recently called on veteran staffers to take a voluntary buyout if they weren’t “genuinely enthusiastic about the new direction and focus” that have been set by owner Jeff Bezos. Capehart will continue to co-host MSNBC’s “The Weekend” and serve as a political analyst for PBS.
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Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong plans to take the paper public during the next year, he said in an interview on “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.” Soon-Shiong said the move would let the TImes “be democratized and allow the public to have ownership of this paper.” He bought the LA Times, San Diego Union-Tribune and several community newspapers in a $500-million deal with Tronc (formerly—and currently—known as Tribune Publishing) in 2018. He offloaded the Union-Tribune to MediaNews Group in 2023. The Times reportedly lost $50 million in 2024, laying off more than 20 percent of its newsroom staff. Soon-Shiong has not provided information on how the deal would work.
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. 
