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The New York Times’ chief book critic, Michiko Kakutani, stepped down after a 38-year career at the paper, a change that many observers say will change the shape of the publishing industry. Referred to as a “one-woman kamikaze” by Norman Mailer, Kakutani was known as much for her enthusiasm toward the works she championed as she was for her often sharp jabs at works that did not meet her standards. She started at the Times in 1979 as a cultural reporter, becoming a book critic in 1983. She won the Pulitzer Prize for criticism in 1998. The Times announced Thursday that Parul Sehgal, a senior editor and columnist at its Book Review, would join Dwight Garner and Jennifer Senior as one of the paper’s book critics.
Hulu appointed Kelly Campbell as chief marketing officer. Currently, head of global growth marketing for Google Cloud, Campbell’s remit at Hulu will be to drive the company’s overall marketing strategy across both its subscription VOD business and new Live TV service. She will oversee brand marketing, performance marketing, media, content marketing, creative, entertainment publicity and consumer research teams. Campbell’s hiring comes on the heels of Hulu bringing on AMC and Sundance TV president Joel Stillerman as its chief content officer in May. As of May, Hulu says it has 47 million unique viewers.
Consumer health site HealthGuru.com is partnering with The Monday Campaigns, a non-profit public health initiative associated with Johns Hopkins, Columbia and Syracuse universities. The initiative is based on research conducted by Johns Hopkins that shows that people are more likely to start diets and exercise regimes, quit smoking and schedule doctor’s appointments on Monday than any other day. Monday Campaign initiatives, which will appear on the home page of HealthGuru.com every Monday morning, will feature a revolving set of informational videos and text on such topics as Healthy Monday, Meatless Monday and Move It Monday.

Michiko Kakutani
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. 



