 Preet Bharara |
Preet Bharara, former US Attorney for the Southern District of New York was hired as a senior legal analyst by CNN. The network also brought on Walter Shaub Jr., who resigned as director of the Office of Government Ethics in July, as a contributor. Since leaving office, Bharara has been active on a number of fronts. In addition to scoring a million-dollar book deal with Alfred A. Knopf and being named a “distinguished scholar in residence” by the NYU School of Law, he has amassed 400,000 Twitter followers and debuted a podcast, “Stay Tuned with Preet.” The first episode of that podcast, “That Time President Trump Fired Me,” tells the story of his dismissal.
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While “Megyn Kelly Today” might be the high-profile new entry in the morning news arena next week, it has some company: news and entertainment site BuzzFeed. Starting September 25, “AM to DM” will be running daily at 10 a.m. on Twitter’s BuzzFeed News channel. Hosted by BuzzFeed books editor Isaac Fitzgerald and executive editor for culture Saeed Jones, the show’s commercial format will resemble that of network television, though the number of ads running will be limited to four two-minute breaks. However, the show will also include the kind of viewer interaction that one would expect from its home on Twitter. The hosts will respond to viewer comments and will feature what they are referring to as “Fire Tweets,” some of the best Tweets of the day.
 Evan Langweiler |
Evan Langweiler, who started his career at NBC Universal as a page handling "Saturday Night Live," has risen through the ranks to become senior vice president, global communications, Universal Filmed Entertainment Group. He moves to the post from the position of VP of global communications for Universal. In his new role, Langweiler will continue to oversee the studio’s strategic media relations plans, worldwide box office reporting, transactional announcements and picture release dates, while serving as the group’s primary staff writer. "Evan works closely with many of our filmmakers, has deep relationships with media and is well respected both internally and externally," said NBC Universal's exec vp global communications and corporate affairs Cindy Gardner.
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Hyperlocal news platform Patch saw a spike in traffic during both Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma. Six thousand people read Patch's live updates of the storm, and its stories were shared more than 500 times on Facebook. The Patch newsletter also saw a surge in readership – the Florida edition added over 18,000 subscribers in just four days and in Texas, the newsletter had 3,000 new subscribers over the same period. “We were in a prime position to cover up-to-the-minute localized news including where to find gas, updates on power outages and open shelters,” said Patch CEO Warren St. John. The platform was owned by AOL before turnaround specialist Hale Global purchased a majority stake in the company in 2014.
Michael Kaminer, who was responsible for the Observer’s “Power List” for the past 13 years, has cut ties with the publication... The New York Times Company continues the march toward its goal of 15 million subscribers by the end of 2027... The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is providing more than $6 million in funding to eight organizations working to address the challenges local news and information environments face along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Conservative outlets Fox News, Newsmax and the Daily Caller are holding back from signing Pete Hegseth’s edict restricting press access in the Pentagon... CBS News sees the first executive departure of the Bari Weiss era as head of standards and practices Claudia Milne exits... Indiana University shuts down the print version of The Indiana Daily Student.
Rothschild family plans to unload 26.7 percent stake in The Economist... STAT, a digital media company that focuses the life sciences, brings back Damian Garde, who anchored its biotech newsletter and podcast from 2016 to 2024... High Times officially resumes print publication (following its 2024 shutdown) with the release of a limited-edition, collectible 50th anniversary issue. 
CBS News is set to hand over its reins to The Free Press co-founder Bari Weiss as Paramount acquires her site for $155M... C-SPAN comes on board as an official media partner of the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission, which is charged by Congress to lead the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence... A new Gallup survey says that the level of trust that US audiences have in the media has hit a new low.
Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison has named Kenneth Weinstein, former head of the conservative Hudson Institute, as ombudsman for CBS News.
