 Barbara Jones |
21st Century Fox, in the wake of a $90 million settlement of shareholder claims arising from the sexual harassment scandal at Fox News Channel, has formed the Fox News Workplace Professional and Inclusion Council. The Council will advise Fox News and its senior management as the company works to put into place measures that it says are designed to “ensure a proper workplace environment for all employees and guests.” Those measures are to include bolstering employee training and furthering the company’s recruitment and advancement of women and minorities. The council’s four independent members include Barbara Jones, a former judge in the U.S District Court for the Southern District of New York, and Virgil Jones, who has served as vp, talent acquisition and diversity at the Gannett Company. “The Workplace Council gives our management team access to a braintrust of experts with deep and diverse experiences in workplace issues,” Jack Abernethy, co-president of Fox News Channel, said in a statement. “We look forward to benefiting from their collective guidance.”
 Eric Schmidt |
Google says that it plans to "derank" stories from Russian-sponsored news sites Russia Today and Sputnik in response to allegations that they have been used as a tool in U.S. election meddling by the Russian government. Google's move would de-prioritize the sites in search algorithms, making it less likely that users would see their content via search. In a statement published on RT by Sputnik and RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan, she accuses Google of censorship. However, Eric Schmidt, the chairman of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, disputes the censorship claim. “I am strongly not in favor of censorship,” Schmidt said at the Halifax International Security Forum on Nov. 19. “I am very strongly in favor of ranking. It’s what we do.” RT has also been forced to comply with the requirements of the Foreign Agents Registration Act. That move has provoked a retaliatory effort by Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to Sputnik, Putin has signed into law amendments that will allow international media outlets that operate in Russia to be listed as “foreign agents”.
 Warren Schlichting |
DISH Network has reached a multi-year agreement with CBS Corp. to carry its owned and operated local stations, as well as CBS Sports Network, Pop and the Smithsonian Channel. The channels will be restored to DISH customers. “We are grateful to our customers for their patience this holiday week as months of work has resulted in a deal that delivers CBS for years to come,” said Warren Schlichting, DISH executive VP of marketing, programming and media sales. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
McClatchy, which owns 29 daily papers across 14 states (including The Miami Herald, Sacramento Bee and Kansas City Star), launches a wave of layoffs that extends to at least 13 of those papers... The Toledo Blade, which was founded in 1835, is set to shut down on Dec. 31, unless owner Block Communications manages to find a buyer for it... A bill awaiting approval by California governor Gavin Newsom would give local newsrooms a boost. 
Fox News Media issued a pretty sparse release to announce the departure of one of its stars. “Effective today, Maria Bartiromo is no longer with FOX News Media,” it reads.
Brunswick Group partner John Simons has joined CNN as senior director of business & media. He held top jobs at Time and the Wall Street Journal.
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.
Boston Globe Media acquires InstaTrac, a company that provides subscription-based services aimed at making government information easier to find, track, and understand... 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... The Fund for American Studies, an educational nonprofit, awards its inaugural Journalism Excellence Fellowships.
