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Fox Broadcasting Company is facing a $30-million lawsuit from Muhammad Ali Enterprises over the “unauthorized use of Muhammad Ali’s identity” in a promotional video run just before Super Bowl LI. The complaint, filed in in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, claims that “Fox never requested or received MAE’s permission to use Ali’s identity or to imply his endorsement in connection with the services offered by Fox, including its broadcast of the Super Bowl.” The video intercuts images of Ali with shots of such NFL figures as Vince Lombardi, Tom Brady and Joe Namath, using the images of Ali “to define greatness and ultimately to compare the NFL legends to Ali and thus to define them and the Super Bowl as ‘greatness’ too.” Schiff Hardin LLP, the Chicago firm that won an $8.9 million verdict for Michael Jordan in 2015 over Sports Illustrated’s use of the NBA star’s “identity” in a limited edition publication, is representing Muhammad Ali Enterprises.
 Stephen Smith |
Stephen Smith is stepping down as National Journal’s editor-in-chief at the end of the year, at which time he will become senior editor for Atlantic Media. In that position, he will focus on special editorial projects for the parent company. Ben Pershing, currently National Journal’s managing editor, will assume Smith’s duties as editor of the company’s editorial products, National Journal Daily and Hotline. Smith was editor of National Journal when David G. Bradley, Chairman of Atlantic Media, purchased the company in 1997. He was asked to return two years ago. Pershing joined National Journal in 2014 as Washington editor and was promoted to managing editor in 2015.
 Troy Patterson |
The New Yorker has added Masha Gessen and Troy Patterson to its lineup of web columnists and is bringing on Adam Entous as a staff writer for both the magazine and newyorker.com. Gessen, author of “The Future is History, How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia,” has also written for such publications as The New York Review of Books and Vanity Fair. She will be writing on political subjects, both foreign and domestic. Patterson will be a cultural critic, writing primarily about television. He is currently the style editor at Bloomberg and previously wrote the “On Clothing” column for The New York Times Magazine. Entous will be joining The New Yorker early next year. He comes to the magazine from the Washington Post and was previously a national security correspondent for the Wall Street Journal.
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. 
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.
