 |
Penske Media, which publishes titles including Variety and Deadline, has acquired a 51 percent stake in Rolling Stone. Singapore-based BandLabs Technologies retains its 49 percent share of the magazine. Jann Wenner, the magazine’s co-founder, is staying on as editorial director, and Gus Wenner will keep the positions of COO and president as well as becoming a member of Penske’s advisory board. While details of the deal have not been officially disclosed, a report from the Financial Times said that it values Rolling Stone at more than $110 million. Penske Media owner Jay Penske said his goal was to make sure that Rolling Stone “continues to ascend for decades across multiple media platforms.”
 Bill DeBlasio |
New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio says that government-supported media might be one solution to the recent woes hitting journalism, the New York Post reports. “Do I trust the public sector to create fair and responsive media more than a bunch of rich individuals from multinational corporations?,” DeBlasio said in an interview conducted by reporters from the recently shut down websites DNAinfo New York and Gothamist and posted on Medium.com. “Of course.” DeBlasio’s comments follow a piece published last month in the New York Daily News, in which New York City Councilmember Rory Lancman wrote “it’s time for New York City to get back into the business of funding local journalism.” The city was in that business with radio station WNYC until it was sold off in 1995.
 Charlie Rose |
The National Press Club Board of Governors has unanimously voted to rescind the Fourth Estate Lifetime Achievement Award it presented to Charlie Rose in 2014. The award goes to a journalist who “has achieved distinction for a lifetime of contributions to American journalism.” The board concluded the actions described in the charges made against Rose represent neither the values of the National Press Club nor the criteria for the award. In a statement posted on the NPC website, the board reaffirmed its commitment to the right of all journalists to pursue their work free from harassment or discrimination.
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.
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.
