After failing in his attempt to buy Tribune Publishing, businessman Stewart Bainum Jr. appears to be moving ahead with plans to create an online news start-up to cover Baltimore. The project is reportedly still in the exploratory stage and could be scrapped if it’s determined to be unworkable, but Bainum is advertising for management staff. His main goal in the effort to buy Tribune was to gain control of the Baltimore Sun.
Meanwhile, in Chicago, Colin McMahon has stepped down as editor in chief after 18 months at the top of Tribune’s flagship paper, the Chicago Tribune. He is being replaced by Mitch Pugh who is coming to Chicago from the Post and Courier of Charleston, South Carolina.
We are watching closely to see what Tribune’s new owners, Alden Global Capital, may have planned for the Hartford Courant, or if anyone sees Alden ownership of the Courant as an opportunity to enter the news market with a new news product in Hartford.
If you are planning a September trip to a major journalism conference, the RTNDA is going ahead with its plans for an in person meeting next month, but the Society of Professional Journalists has decided its September conference will be virtual.
You May Want to Know…
Neal Conan, the former host of NPR’s Talk of the Nation, and one of the founding staffers of the network has died at age 71 of cancer.
It’s official, former NBC/MSNBC reporter/anchor Kasie Hunt is joining CNN where she will be chief national affairs analyst and a primary anchor for the network’s soon to launch streaming service.
Noticed…
The same week Sue Bird helped team USA win an Olympic gold in women’s basketball she appeared as a clue in the New York Times crossword puzzle. So she’s got that going for her.
