For the Record

Kanai Assumes Marie Claire Editorship:

Aya Kanai has been appointed editor in chief of the U.S. edition of Marie Claire, the magazine announced Monday. According to Kathryn Hopkins of WWD, incumbent editor and former Pulitzer Prize juror Anne Fulenwider will step down at the end of the year "to launch an entrepreneurial venture focused on women's health." Kanai has served as the chief fashion director of Hearst Magazines since 2016.

Newseum Plans Next Steps:

Although the Newseum's Washington, D.C. exhibit space will close to the public on December 31, the organization will continue to maintain six traveling exhibits, an additional two exhibits in Washington's airports and a loan program. "There’s a good bit of complicated work ahead, for sure, to make this happen, but maybe because we've done this once before, we're looking at this as a blank page," said Executive Director Carrie Christoffersen. "It's sort of exciting to see what we might be able to put on that page next. Certainly, it's complicated and intense work, but who knows what exciting thing might rise out of this next."

Doctor: Only Two National Newspaper Chains by Mid-2020:

According to NiemanLab's Ken Doctor, a likely merger between Tribune Publishing and Alden Global Capital’s MNG Enterprises (exemplified by a recent cooperation agreement) in mid-2020 will be followed by McClatchy's "play" of "join[ing] up with the new Tribune/MNG — or maybe even New Gannett," potentially leaving only two major newspaper chains in the United States. "We've got ghost newspapers, news deserts, and now an assortment of Biblical references to choose from," said Doctor. "What sounds like Hollywood summer fare, though, comes down to one sobering word: reality."

Haddad Resigns from Newsweek:

Newsweek reporter Tareq Haddad resigned from the publication Friday after alleging that his "attempts to publish newsworthy revelations about the leaked OPCW [Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons] letter were refused for no valid reason." According to a Reuters staff report, Wikileaks "published an internal email to the former chief of staff at the OPCW" in November "in which an unidentified inspector described a report as having been edited to appear more conclusive than the inspectors' findings" concerning the Douma chemical attack of April 2018. In a statement to Fox News, a Newsweek spokesperson said: "The writer pitched a conspiracy theory rather than an idea for objective reporting. Newsweek rejected the pitch."

Owens: InfoWars Editorial Process Favored Fake News:

In a first-person account for The New York Times Magazine, former InfoWars video editor Josh Owens alleged that the conspiracy-oriented media company frequently embellished stories and contrived false narratives. "The information did not meet our expectations, so we made it up, preying on the vulnerable and feeding the prejudices and fears of [founder/host Alex] Jones's audience," Owens said. "We ignored certain facts and took situations out of context to fit our narrative." Jones dismissed Owens' story as "a compendium of lies, disinformation, and half-truths" in a voicemail message left with Mediaite.

Pantazi Tracks New Gannett Layoffs:

Florida Times-Union reporter Andrew Pantazi has compiled a list of layoffs initiated by Gannett, which merged with New Media Investment Group's GateHouse Media last month. According to Pantazi, 199 employees have been laid off as of Friday afternoon. Although the terminations and buyouts have been concentrated among IT, human resources and business personnel, over 40 newsroom staffers at various publications (including the Detroit Free Press and USA Today's Sports Media Group) have been let go. "In addition to the utter unfairness of people losing their jobs, losing this many people in IT across the company is going to make everyone else's jobs a lot harder," said Pantazi.

Information Launches New App:

Known for its primary $399/year annual subscription plan, technology news site The Information announced Wednesday that it has launched Tech Top 10, a $29.99/year or $2.99/month app based on its nightly Briefing email. "Tech news has become SO important to the lives of everyone, not just business professionals. But the choices for following it — really following it — are tough," said Editor-in-Chief Jessica Lessin.

Chile Embraces Fact-Checking:

A 30-pesos raise of Santiago's subway fare in October inspired an April 2020 constitutional referendum and a new wave of fact-checking initiatives in the wake of attendant misinformation, including efforts by five national news organizations and such indie upstarts as Fake News Report. "We don’t have money, but we can provide new methods to contribute with a more critical society, so the readers trust us," said Fabián Padilla, the founder of independent site FastCheckCl. "Disinformation generated a lot of chaos and fear, creating a toxic and very dangerous collective mood."

Daily News Podcasts Surge:

New research from Nic Newman and Nathan Gallo of Oxford University's Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism details the ascent of daily news podcasts (exemplified by The Daily, Post Reports and The Journal), with nearly 40 programs emerging since the first quarter of 2018. In October, The Daily and NPR's Up First topped Podtrac's monthly chart. "Publishers are making significant investments in news podcasts, hoping to attract younger audiences, build audience habits, and bring in additional revenue," said Newman. "[B]lue-chip advertisers are now showing strong interest in podcasts, changing the economics."

Page, Brin Leave Alphabet Executive Positions:

Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin announced Tuesday that they are stepping down from executive roles at Alphabet, the platform's parent company. Longtime Google CEO Sundar Pichai will replace Page as chief executive of Alphabet while retaining his current position. Although Page and Brin largely relinquished day-to-day operations to Pichai in 2015 to focus on less commercial ventures (including life-extension technologies), they will "will remain directors on Alphabet's board and the company's two largest individual shareholders," according to Jack Nicas and Daisuke Wakabayashi of The New York Times.