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Welcome to Media Insider, PR Newswire’s roundup of the biggest media stories from the past month.
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January brought a mix of ownership changes, staffing developments and product experiments across the media industry. USA TODAY Co. announced plans to acquire The Detroit News, adding to ongoing consolidation in local news. Personnel changes were also in focus, with buyouts offered and new commentators joining CBS News. Meanwhile, Sun Sentinel journalists ratified their first collective bargaining agreement, and Meta said it will test premium subscriptions across its apps.
Here’s everything you need to know.
USA TODAY Co. to Acquire The Detroit News
USA TODAY Co., the nation’s largest newspaper publisher, has entered into an agreement to acquire The Detroit News from MediaNews Group, a transaction that would place Detroit’s two daily newspapers under the same corporate ownership following the end of a long-running shared business arrangement.
USA TODAY Co. already owns the Detroit Free Press. The two publications have operated in the same market for more than 150 years, competing editorially while sharing certain business operations for much of the past four decades. According to company officials, the two publications will maintain their existing print and digital operations following the transaction. (Detroit Metro Times)
More deals announced in January:
- CNN links deal to stream video podcasts from Lemonada (The Hollywood Reporter)
- Hoffmann Media seizes control at Lee Enterprises in $50M investment deal (Editor & Publisher)
- Forum Communications purchases seven newspapers (INFORUM)
- Daily Herald publisher mulls sale (Crain’s Chicago Business)
- CherryRoad Media acquires The Carrollton Democrat (PressBee)
- Lexington Area Chamber of Commerce to acquire three Missouri newspapers from Main Street Media (Editor & Publisher)
- Newsmax expands in Europe, Mid-East with major distribution deals (Editor & Publisher)
Bari Weiss Offers Buyouts, Adds Commentators at CBS News
At a staff meeting this week, CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss announced the hiring of 18 paid commentators — on subjects ranging from national security to health and wellness — as part of an effort to “widen the aperture of the stories we tell and the voices we listen to.”
They include HR McMaster, who served as national security advisor during the first Trump administration; Reihan Salam, the president of the conservative Manhattan Institute; and the historian Niall Ferguson.
She also cited several new hires who will produce original reports from Kyiv, London and New York City with a social-media-first approach. And she said she only wants top-flight performers committed to her approach to stick around. (NPR)
The network has also begun offering buyouts to “Evening News” staffers as it looks to revamp the show under new anchor Tony Dokoupil.
CBS declined to comment on how many people were offered a buyout, but a source with knowledge of the matter said most staffers who work on the show got the email. Unionized workers, who did not get the offer, are mostly writers and technical staffers. (New York Post)
While we’re on the subject of cuts:
- Pinterest plans to lay off “less than 15%” of its workforce (Axios)
- Politico announces layoffs, new product (Semafor)
- Washington Post newsrooms expecting deep layoffs in February (NiemanLab)
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to shut down after nearly 240 years (Poynter)
Gourmet Magazine Re-launches as a Newsletter
Gourmet magazine is re-emerging as a newsletter, with new leadership and zero approval from its original owner.
Gourmet will be rebooted as an online newsletter on the platform Ghost. Like its eponymous predecessor, it will prioritize publishing words and recipes with complexity. Unlike old Gourmet, it will be operated by five 30-something journalists, without the infrastructure of a media conglomerate.
The new Gourmet joins a wave of worker-owned publications eschewing corporations such as Condé Nast, with journalists taking on more entrepreneurial roles as large media employers shrink or sell off. Contributors will be paid for the work they produce, plus a portion of profits from new subscriptions that their work attracts.
The new Gourmet’s recipes will target home-chef types, with subscriptions beginning at $7 per month. They plan to publish one feature and one recipe per week, in addition to bonus content for higher-tiered subscribers. (New York Times)
In other launch news from January:
- News Corp launches California Post (Seeking Alpha)
- USA TODAY Network launches TODAY Californian (Editor & Publisher)
- L.A. Reported prepares for launch as a weekly Substack (NiemanLab)
- Mediaite starts a media newsletter that aggregates media news from other media newsletters (New York Times)
- The Chicago Reader returns to print in February (Editor & Publisher)
- Substack launches a television app (The Ankler)
- Trib Total Media launches a weekend print publication (Editor & Publisher)
Sun Sentinel Journalists Ratify Historic First Contract
The journalists of the SunSentinel Guild voted unanimously to ratify a contract with the South Florida Sun Sentinel and parent company, Alden Global Capital, offering improved pay and job protections.
The two-year contract is the first for Sun Sentinel journalists in the newspaper’s 115-year history. It will provide two years of raises, a $1,500 bonus and job protections from artificial intelligence, among other benefits.
The contract offers the first across-the-board raises for employees in nearly a decade. Under an important provision in the contract, Sun Sentinel employees gained protections related to the growing presence of artificial intelligence. For the life of the two-year contract, no one will lose their job due to AI. (Editor & Publisher)
More union news this month:
- Hearst Magazines Union delivers strike pledge ahead of contract expiration (TheWrap)
- Science News Media Guild ratifies first contract, securing major gains in pay and leave (Editor & Publisher)
- Courier-Journal ratifies first contract, securing raises and new workplace protections (AFL-CIO)
Meta to Test Premium Subscriptions on Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp
In the coming months, Meta will offer a premium experience that gives users access to special features and more control over how they share and connect, while keeping the core experiences free. Meta doesn’t appear to be locked into one strategy, noting that it will test a variety of subscription features and bundles, and that each app subscription will have a distinct set of exclusive features.
Meta also plans to scale Manus, an AI agent it recently acquired for a reported $2 billion, as part of its subscription plans, as well as subscriptions for AI features such as Vibes video generation. (TechCrunch)
In case you missed it:
- The Atlantic adds new friends and family subscription plan (Axios)
- The Hill doubles down on print by committing to three issues a week (Publishing Insider)
- CNBC announces changes to Business Day programming (Editor & Publisher)
- OpenAI announces ads for ChatGPT (TVNewsCheck)
- Pitchfork allows comments with new $5 subscription (Axios)
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