 Samantha Barry |
By hiring Samantha Barry as its new editor-in-chief, Glamour is making a dramatic break with the past. Barry, who comes to the magazine from CNN Worldwide, where she was executive producer for social and emerging media, has never worked at a magazine before. Barry will take over the reins from departing EIC Cindi Leive on Jan. 15. “Sam is Glamour’s first digital-native editor, which is to say she arrives from the future rather than the past,” Condé Nast artistic director Anna Wintour said. Barry’s hiring comes as the company is placing more emphasis on its digital products, such as Vanity Fair’s The Hive and them, a site aimed at the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender audience. It has also reduced the frequency of several titles, with GQ, Architectural Digest and Glamour going from 12 issues a year to 11, and Teen Vogue discontinuing its print version altogether.
 James Langford |
The Washington Examiner has hired James Langford as business editor. He will report on the impact legislative and regulatory action in the federal capital has on corporate revenues, share prices, deals and planning. In addition, the Examiner is launching a business section on its website, and Langford will soon be joined by a second business reporter to increase the paper’s business coverage both online and in print. Langford previously was banking & finance editor at TheStreet, and he has also served as deputy editor for Americas aerospace/industrial news at Bloomberg News. “Washington’s impact on business is an area of news I’ve wanted to cover better for some time,” said Examiner editorial director Hugo Gurdon, “and it’s great that it is now ready for takeoff.”
 Sean Moran |
Viacom has signed an agreement to acquire influence-marketing company WHOSAY. The company’s reach into next-generation advertising and marketing platforms and solutions is meant to boost Viacom’s capabilities across advertising, marketing and digital content. WHOSAY has executed more than 50 campaigns for MTV, BET and other Viacom brands over the past two years. In addition, the company has built a bricks-and-mortar-focused WHOSAY Shopper team, which will open up potential new retail opportunities for Viacom brands. “We’re excited about a deeper integration with WHOSAY and the strength of our combined capabilities,” said Viacom head of marketing & partner solutions Sean Moran. “This partnership will add to our linear, digital and mobile arsenal by bringing us further into the world of social media and shopper marketing.”
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. 
