DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ New York Times Co. Adds 300,000 Digital Subscribers in Quarter
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-07 | by ( Katie Robertson | More About Katie Robertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The New York Times Company added 300,000 paid digital subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2023, the company said on Wednesday, helping to push annual revenue for digital subscriptions above $1 billion for the first time. The Times reported total revenue of $676.2 million in the last three months of the year, essentially flat compared with a year earlier. Adjusted operating profit increased 8.5 percent, to $154 million. It was “a strong year for The Times that showcased the power of our strategy to be the essential subscription for every curious person seeking to understand and engage with the world,” Meredith Kopit Levien, the company’s president and chief executive, said in a statement. The company has focused in recent years on pushing a bundle of products to subscribers: its core news report as well as games like Wordle and Spelling Bee; its product review site, Wirecutter; a recipe app; and The Athletic, its sports news website.

Persons: ” Meredith Kopit Levien Organizations: New York Times Company, The Times, Athletic

When Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, the billionaire owner of The Los Angeles Times, hired Kevin Merida to be the newspaper’s top editor nearly three years ago, he hailed the journalist as someone who would maintain the publication’s high standards and journalistic integrity. Their relationship was strained in part by an incident in December when Dr. Soon-Shiong tried to dissuade Mr. Merida from pursuing a story about a wealthy California doctor and his dog, three people with knowledge of the interactions said. The previously unreported incident occurred as The Los Angeles Times, the largest news organization on the West Coast, struggled to reverse years of losses amid a difficult market for newspapers. Mr. Merida resigned this month. It is not unheard-of for the owner of a publication to be consulted on sensitive reporting, particularly if it could jeopardize the newspaper legally or financially.

Persons: Patrick Soon, Kevin Merida, Shiong, Mr, Dr, Merida Organizations: Los Angeles Times Locations: Merida, California, West Coast

☆ Journalists at New York Daily News Walk Off Job for a Day
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-25 | by ( Katie Robertson | More About Katie Robertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Journalists at The New York Daily News walked off the job on Thursday for the first time in more than three decades. Newsroom workers at The Daily News Union, which formed in 2021, are in negotiations for their first contract. The union called a one-day work stoppage to protest staffing cuts, as well as a new policy that requires workers to get advance approval for overtime. The Daily News, founded in 1919, was once a formidable city tabloid that raced for scoops against its rival, The New York Post, and was one of the largest newspapers in the country by circulation. But in recent years, the paper has been hollowed out by ownership changes and staffing cuts as it struggled against ever-declining circulation and dwindling revenue.

Organizations: The New York Daily News, The Daily News Union, Daily News, The New, The New York Post, Tribune Publishing, Alden Global Capital Locations: The New York

☆ Business Insider Laying Off 8% of Staff
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-25 | by ( Katie Robertson | More About Katie Robertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Business Insider said on Thursday that it was laying off 8 percent of its staff, the latest in a wave of sharp job cuts in the media industry this month. Barbara Peng, Business Insider’s chief executive, said in an internal note that the job cuts were part of a plan, announced late last year, to shift focus solely to news coverage of business, tech and innovation. “We have already begun to refocus teams and invest in areas that drive outsize value for our core audience,” Ms. Peng wrote. “Unfortunately, this also means we need to scale back in some areas of our organization.”Ms. Peng added: “We’re committed to building an enduring and sustainable Business Insider for the coming years and beyond.”

Persons: Barbara Peng, ” Ms, Peng, “, Ms, “ We’re, ”

Even by the standards of a news business whose fortunes have plummeted in the digital age, the last few weeks have been especially grim for American journalism. Prominent newspapers like The Washington Post are shedding reporters and editors, and on Tuesday, The Los Angeles Times laid off more than 20 percent of its newsroom. Esteemed titles like Sports Illustrated, already a shadow of their former selves, have been gutted overnight. An average of five local newspapers are closing every two weeks, according Northwestern University’s Medill School, with more half of all American counties now so-called news deserts with limited access to news about their hometowns. Of 1,100 public radio stations and affiliates, only about one in five is producing local journalism.

Persons: — Organizations: Los Angeles Times, Cable, Sports, Northwestern University’s Medill School Locations: Washington

The announcement ends uncertainty about the extent of the cuts, after negotiations were held between the union and Times management. Dr. Soon-Shiong wrote in a note to staff that he and Mr. Merida had “mutually agreed” that Mr. Merida should leave. News of the layoffs — which will shrink the newsroom to the size it was when Dr. Soon-Shiong bought it — was delivered on Tuesday in a brief email to affected employees. “We are saddened to have to take this step and thank you for your work for the Los Angeles Times,” the email said. The cuts affected many departments at The Los Angeles Times, including its business desk, its Washington bureau and its “Fast Break” desk, which covers breaking news.

Persons: Kevin Merida, Shiong, Merida, Shani Hilton, Sara Yasin, — Organizations: The Times, Times, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times Locations: Merida, Washington

☆ Tensions Erupt at Los Angeles Times as Owner Weighs Deep Cuts
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-22 | by ( Benjamin Mullin | Katie Robertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Around twilight on Thursday, Los Angeles Times journalists gathered at Flora, a rooftop bar not far from the paper’s headquarters, to toast their departing editor, Kevin Merida. In the days since, internal negotiations between the company and the employee union have included talk of about 100 job cuts, or about 20 percent of the newsroom, according to two of the people, who also have knowledge about the discussions. It has put journalists at The Times at odds with their owner, the biotechnology billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong. Those relations reached a nadir on Friday when employees walked off the job, in the newsroom’s first union-organized work stoppage in the 142-year history of the newspaper. The tensions escalated even further on Monday, after several of the state’s congressional representatives sent Dr. Soon-Shiong a letter raising concerns about the scope of the cuts and employees received a note informing them that two other senior editors had departed.

Persons: Kevin Merida, Patrick Soon Organizations: Los Angeles Times, The Locations: Flora, Merida

☆ The Baltimore Sun’s New Owner Has the Newsroom on Edge
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-20 | by ( Katie Robertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A few years ago, desperate to avoid being acquired by a hedge fund, staff members of The Baltimore Sun made public pleas for a local entrepreneur to buy their publication. That request was recently realized: A Maryland businessman, David D. Smith, bought the storied newspaper, returning the 186-year-old newspaper to local hands for the first time in nearly 40 years. But Mr. Smith may not be quite what The Sun’s journalists were hoping for. Mr. Smith is the executive chairman of the conservative Sinclair Broadcast Group, one of the country’s largest local television station operators with nearly 200 stations, including Fox45 in Baltimore. Sinclair has been a reliable ally for former President Donald J. Trump; Mr. Smith reportedly told Mr. Trump in 2016, “We are here to deliver your message.” In 2018, the company required its stations to film promos echoing some of Mr. Trump’s attacks on the news media.

Persons: David D, Smith, Sinclair, Donald J, Trump, ” Organizations: The Baltimore Sun, Sinclair Broadcast Group Locations: Maryland, Baltimore

There’s an old saying about the news business: If you want to make a small fortune, start with a large one. As the prospects for news publishers waned in the past decade, billionaires swooped in to buy some of the country’s most fabled brands. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, bought The Washington Post in 2013 for about $250 million. Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, a biotechnology and start-up billionaire, purchased The Los Angeles Times in 2018 for $500 million. Marc Benioff, the founder of the software giant Salesforce, purchased Time magazine with his wife, Lynne, for $190 million in 2018.

Persons: Jeff Bezos, Patrick Soon, Marc Benioff, Lynne Organizations: Amazon, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times

☆ How to Survive Long-Haul Flights
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-22 | by ( Katie Robertson | More About Katie Robertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

“Purchase a ‘Do Not Disturb’ eye mask if you plan on sleeping through meal service,” she said. You can look ahead on the airline’s website to see what in-flight entertainment will be available on your flight. Move when you canMany people prefer an aisle seat so they are able to get up frequently without disturbing their seat neighbor. Ahead of booking, research the layout and model of planes on websites like SeatGuru to find the most legroom. “But it makes a huge difference to how quickly you adjust to the new time zone.”

Persons: ”, Patrick Quade, Nathan Weinrich Locations: New South Wales, Australia, United States, New Jersey

☆ Bloomberg Businessweek to Go Monthly
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( Katie Robertson | More About Katie Robertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Bloomberg Businessweek, a weekly magazine for the past 94 years, is going monthly, the company told staff members on Thursday. There was no indication in the memo that the Businessweek name would change. “But we see demand in both digital and print for the ambitious long-form journalism Businessweek is now well known for.”Businessweek was a struggling brand when Bloomberg bought it in 2009. The company renamed the magazine Bloomberg Businessweek, and its bold and provocative covers generated a surge of renewed interest. But it has not avoided the persistent headwinds facing all print publications, including ever-declining circulation and lower advertising revenue.

Persons: David Merritt, Katie Boyce, ” Organizations: Bloomberg Businessweek, The New York Times, Businessweek, ” Businessweek, Bloomberg

☆ Jezebel to Be Resurrected by Paste Magazine
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( Katie Robertson | More About Katie Robertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Jezebel, the famed feminist website, is set to return less than a month after it was shuttered. Paste Magazine, a music and culture outlet, acquired Jezebel on Tuesday and planned to start publishing on the site again as soon as Wednesday, said Josh Jackson, a co-founder and the editor in chief of Paste. “The idea of there not being a Jezebel right now just didn’t seem to make sense,” Mr. Jackson said. Jezebel, once part of the Gawker universe of websites, brought a brash new kind of internet writing to feminist issues when it was introduced in 2007, paving the way for a generation of like-minded outlets. In 2019, the private equity firm Great Hill Partners bought Jezebel as part of what is now called G/O Media, a portfolio of digital news outlets that includes Gizmodo, Deadspin and The Root.

Persons: Josh Jackson, Mr, Jackson, O, Jim Spanfeller, ” Organizations: Paste Magazine, Gawker, Great Hill Partners

Gruesome photographs of Palestinian children killed in rocket strikes and Israeli infants murdered by terrorists. Digitally doctored images that whip around social media before they can be verified. Accusations — since rejected by multiple news outlets — that photojournalists had advance knowledge of the Hamas surprise attack on Oct. 7. “In every war, there is a war of narratives,” said Jonathan Levy, the executive editor of Sky News. Among the factors is how much horror a viewer or reader can tolerate, and whether an image sensationalizes or trivializes violence.

Persons: photojournalists, ”, Jonathan Levy, “ You’ve, “, Greg Headen, Headen, they’re Organizations: Hamas, Sky News, Fox News, “ Locations: Israel, United States, Europe

☆ Fired Fox News Reporter Sues Network, Accusing It of Retaliation
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-13 | by ( Katie Robertson | More About Katie Robertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A former Fox News reporter has sued the conservative network, accusing it of discrimination and retaliation for firing him after he spoke out against “false coverage” of the 2020 U.S. election and the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, according to court filings. Jason Donner, who worked for Fox News as a reporter and producer for 12 years, claimed in the lawsuit that he had been targeted after continually raising concerns with his managers about false statements allowed on the air. The lawsuit was filed in Superior Court of the District of Columbia on Sept. 27 and transferred to U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Monday. Mr. Donner had covered Capitol Hill for Fox News since 2018. He was hiding with other reporters in news booths when he heard that Fox was reporting that the attack was “peaceful,” he said.

Persons: Jason Donner, Donner, Donald J, Trump’s, insurrectionists, Fox, ” Organizations: Fox News, Capitol, District of Columbia Locations: Superior Court, U.S

☆ The New York Times Passes 10 Million Subscribers
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Katie Robertson | More About Katie Robertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The New York Times now has more than 10 million subscribers, the company said on Wednesday, edging closer to its goal of 15 million by the end of 2027. In its third-quarter report, The New York Times Company said it had added 210,000 net digital-only subscribers in the three months through September, giving it 9.41 million along with 670,000 print subscribers. The Times Company has focused on getting subscribers to sign up for more than one of its offerings, which include the core news report, Cooking, Games, the Wirecutter review site and the sports news site The Athletic. Nearly 3.8 million of the 9.41 million digital-only subscribers are subscribed to at least two products, the company said. Meredith Kopit Levien, the company’s president and chief executive officer, said in a statement that the third-quarter results showed that The Times’s “multiproduct bundle” was performing well and would “further us down the path to building a larger, more profitable company.”

Persons: Meredith Kopit Levien, ” Organizations: New York Times, New York Times Company, The Times Company

☆ Will Lewis Named C.E.O. of the Washington Post
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-04 | by ( Katie Robertson | Benjamin Mullin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Will Lewis, the former Dow Jones chief executive and publisher of The Wall Street Journal, will be the next chief executive of The Washington Post. The Post confirmed Mr. Lewis’s appointment in a brief statement on Saturday evening after The New York Times first reported it. The Post’s statement included a comment from Mr. Lewis, who will start in the job on Jan. 2. “The Washington Post is a premier global media publisher of record, known for its 145-year-old history of unflinching journalism, and I am thrilled and humbled to be at its helm as both a media executive and former reporter,” he said. In the statement, Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder and owner of The Post, reaffirmed his commitment to the publication, calling Mr. Lewis an “exceptional, tenacious industry executive.”

Persons: Will Lewis, Dow Jones, Lewis’s, Lewis, ”, Jeff Bezos Organizations: Dow, Street, The Washington Post, The, The New York Times, Amazon Locations: Washington

☆ New York Times Writer Resigns After Signing Letter Protesting the Israel-Gaza War
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-03 | by ( Katie Robertson | More About Katie Robertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Jazmine Hughes, an award-winning New York Times Magazine staff writer, resigned from the publication on Friday after she violated the newsroom’s policies by signing a letter that voiced support for Palestinians and protested Israel’s siege in Gaza. Jake Silverstein, the editor of The New York Times Magazine, announced Ms. Hughes’s resignation in an email to staff members on Friday evening. That letter, which was also signed by other contributors to The Times, protested the newspaper’s reporting on transgender issues. Ms. Hughes joined The Times in 2015 and worked as an editor and writer for the magazine. The petition Ms. Hughes signed about the Israel-Hamas war was published online last week by a group called Writers Against the War on Gaza.

Persons: Jazmine Hughes, Israel’s, Jake Silverstein, Hughes’s, ” Mr, Silverstein, Hughes, Ms, Viola Davis, Whoopi Goldberg, ”, Jamie Lauren Keiles Organizations: New York Times Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, The Times, Times, American Society of Magazine Locations: Gaza, Israel

“The longer-form videos on YouTube are actually in decline year over year,” Mr. Lynch said. Some invested heavily in building in-house studios or bought them, as Vox Media did when it acquired the film and TV producer Epic in 2019. Perhaps the most ambitious of these studios was Condé Nast Entertainment, a prominent division within Condé Nast in charge of developing articles from publications such as The New Yorker, Wired and Vanity Fair — intellectual property, in Hollywood parlance — into major motion pictures and TV shows. “Cat Person,” a film based on a viral New Yorker short story that explores uncomfortable relationship dynamics, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this year. And online viewership is increasingly shifting to platforms like TikTok and YouTube, where shorter content is king and monetization elusive.

Persons: ” Mr, Lynch, Condé Nast, Dawn Ostroff, Agnes Chu, David Grann, Robert Redford Organizations: YouTube, Hollywood, Vox Media, Condé Nast Entertainment, Yorker, Wired, CW, Spotify, Disney, Sundance, Globe Locations: ”, Condé, Hollywood

☆ News Group Says A.I. Chatbots Heavily Rely on News Content
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-31 | by ( Katie Robertson | More About Katie Robertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

News publishers have argued for the past year that A.I. chatbots like ChatGPT rely on copyrighted articles to power the technology. Now the publishers say developers of these tools disproportionately use news content. The group argued that the findings show that the A.I. Representatives for Google and OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Persons: “, ”, Danielle Coffey Organizations: News Media Alliance, The New York Times, Google

The head of Instagram’s Threads app, an X competitor, reiterated that his social network would not amplify news. The company has laid off news employees in two recent team reorganizations, and some publishers say traffic from Google has tapered off. If it wasn’t clear before, it’s clear now: The major online platforms are breaking up with news. Publishers seem resigned to the idea that traffic from the big tech companies will not return to what it once was. Even in the long-fractious relationship between publishers and tech platforms, the latest rift stands out — and the consequences for the news industry are stark.

Persons: Campbell Brown, —, Adam Mosseri, Elon Musk Organizations: Twitter, Google, Publishers Locations: Instagram

☆ Fox Sued by New York City Pension Funds Over Election Falsehoods
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-12 | by ( Katie Robertson | More About Katie Robertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The State of Oregon, representing Oregon’s public employees retirement fund, joined the New York City funds in their lawsuit against Fox. The lawsuit, which was filed in Delaware, was shared with The New York Times. It will remain under seal at the court for five days to allow time for redactions before it is made public. The board includes the media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan Murdoch, who control the company. Fox has faced numerous legal battles in the wake of its promotion of election conspiracy theories.

Persons: Fox, Donald J, Trump, “, ”, Rupert Murdoch, Lachlan Murdoch Organizations: New, Fox, Fox Corporation, The New York Times, redactions, Fox News, Dominion Locations: Oregon, New York City, Delaware

☆ Philanthropies Pledge $500 Million to Address Crisis in Local News
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( Katie Robertson | More About Katie Robertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

John Palfrey, the president of the MacArthur Foundation, said Press Forward aimed to help news outlets that did not have enough revenue to sustain their business. The goal, he added, is to eventually raise and invest $1 billion for the effort. “There’s extraordinary opportunity,” Mr. Palfrey said in an interview. Digital news outlets and nonprofit newsrooms have sprung up across the United States, but not in numbers large enough to fill the gap. According to the Northwestern report, most of the new outlets serve urban centers, leaving some economically struggling and rural communities at a loss.

Persons: John Palfrey, “, Mr, Palfrey Organizations: MacArthur Foundation, Press, United States —, Northwestern University’s Medill School Locations: United States, Northwestern

☆ NPR C.E.O. to Retire at Year’s End
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-05 | by ( Katie Robertson | More About Katie Robertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

NPR’s chief executive, John Lansing, said on Tuesday that he would retire at the end of the year, ending a rocky four years atop the public broadcaster. He said that he had made the decision to retire after discussions with his wife, Jean. A veteran media executive, Mr. Lansing joined NPR as its chief executive in 2019 after running the U.S. Agency for Global Media. During his tenure, NPR faced serious financial difficulties, some of them brought on by the pandemic. In early in 2020, executives including Mr. Lansing took pay cuts to help with budget gaps.

Persons: John Lansing, Lansing, Jean, “, ” Organizations: NPR, U.S . Agency for Global Media, Mr

☆ Jamila Robinson Is Named Next Editor of Bon Appétit Magazine
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-28 | by ( Katie Robertson | More About Katie Robertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Jamila Robinson, a top editor at The Philadelphia Inquirer, will be the next editor in chief of the food magazine Bon Appétit. Ms. Robinson is the assistant managing editor for food and culture at The Inquirer, which she joined in 2020. She was previously an editorial director at Atlantic Media and has also worked at the USA Today Network, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The Detroit Free Press. Ms. Robinson recently served as chair of the James Beard Foundation’s Journalism Awards Committee and is a chair for the World’s 50 Best Restaurants annual list. Anna Wintour, Condé Nast’s chief content officer and global editorial director of Vogue, described Ms. Robinson in a statement as “a community builder and a major editorial talent,” as well as “an absolute star in the kitchen.”

Persons: Jamila Robinson, Condé Nast, Bon Appétit, Robinson, James Beard Foundation’s, Anna Wintour, Condé Organizations: Philadelphia Inquirer, Vogue, Atlantic Media, USA Today Network, The Atlanta, Detroit Free Press

☆ Lachlan Murdoch Pays $840,000 to Site He Had Accused of Libel
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-22 | by ( Katie Robertson | More About Katie Robertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Mr. Murdoch sued Crikey last August over an opinion column with the headline: “Trump is a confirmed unhinged traitor. And Murdoch is his unindicted co-conspirator.” The column did not specify whether it was referring to Mr. Murdoch or his father, Rupert Murdoch. Dominion had accused Fox of defaming it by repeatedly linking it to the false voter fraud claims in multiple broadcasts. That donation was a condition of the agreement with Mr. Murdoch. “This money was raised from the good will of people across Australia who believe in the importance of free speech,” Mr. Hayward said.

Persons: Murdoch, Crikey, “ Trump, Rupert Murdoch, Fox, Will Hayward, “, Mr, Hayward, ” Organizations: Fox News, Dominion, Private Media, Alliance for Journalists ’ Locations: crowdfunding, Australian, Australia

Search resuls for: "Katie Robertson"

25 mentions found