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Boston Globe Media acquires InstaTrac, a company that provides subscription-based services aimed at making government information easier to find, track, and understand. Its products include MassTrac, a legislative tracking and government intelligence platform that cover developments on Beacon Hill, and MuniTrac, a municipal service offering searchable access to local meetings, agendas, minutes, and transcripts across Massachusetts. The acquisition is meant to expand Boston Globe Media's ability to access and analyze government information while creating new opportunities to strengthen reporting, support transparency, and innovate in local journalism. The InstaTrac team will join Boston Globe Media as part of the transition. Founded by former journalist Michael Segal, the company was launched in 1994 partnership with the former Phoenix Media Group. "Michael and his team recognized early on that people don't just need access to information—they need help understanding what it means. That philosophy aligns directly with our mission at Boston Globe Media,” said Boston Globe Media CEO Linda Henry.
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| Michael Caruso |
AARP names former New Republic CEO and publisher Michael Caruso as its SVP and chief content officer, unifying the organization's portfolio of media, live events and digital platforms. Caruso most recently served as chief strategy officer at SourceBase AI, a service that allows journalists, investigators and enterprises to search, query and trace answers to verified source materials. He has also held senior positions at Vanity Fair, The Wall Street Journal, Smithsonian and The Hill. In his new role, Caruso will oversee AARP's full content portfolio, including the publications AARP The Magazine and AARP Bulletin; content on AARP.org; the organization's books division; the Movies for Grownups franchise and annual awards program; and AARP Studios, which produces content across social media platforms. “Across our print, digital platforms and video, his focus will be on strengthening our editorial voice and ensuring our content resonates deeply with our audiences,” said AARP EVP and chief marketing officer Anna Banks.
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The Fund for American Studies, an educational nonprofit, awards its inaugural Journalism Excellence Fellowships. The Fellowship is designed to develop writers who can engage complex issues thoughtfully, challenge prevailing orthodoxies when warranted and contribute original, well-reasoned reporting and opinion perspectives to the national conversation. They will spend nine to 12 months working alongside top writers, reporters and media professionals at leading news outlets. The Fellows for 2026-27 are Daniel Idfresne, who will be working with The Boston Globe Opinion and Ashley Dowdney, who will be working with The Washington Post Opinion. Idfresne and Dowdney will participate in TFAS educational and professional programs alongside other participants of TFAS’s Center for Excellence in Journalism programs, including the Rago, Novak and Media Accelerator Fellows. “These roles will allow fellows to launch their careers at publications that shape how Americans understand the most important issues of our time, under the mentorship of editors and writers operating at the very top of the field,” said director of the Center for Excellence in Journalism Ryan Wolfe.
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.
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. 
