Hearst Magazine President Resigns
Posted on Thursday, July 30, 2020 at 2:33 PM
In the news: Reporting from the New York Times
Last
week, Hearst announced the resignation of magazine president Troy Young.
The abrupt departure came in the aftermath of NYT's reporting of
alleged bullying and sexual harassment by Young that contributed to a
toxic work culture, as well as reports of pervasive racism in Hearst
workplaces.
As Dade
Hayes of Deadline.com reports, Troy's initial response to the Times
allegations about his behavior were defensive. In the statement, he
referred to the complainants as "detractors" and attributed his behavior
to his "ambitious" "strength of commitment." As for alleged
inappropriate sexual comments, he claimed that frank discussions about
sex were part of the workplace culture. He softened his tone in a
subsequent company memo, reports
Greg Dool of Foliomag.com, but the damage was done; that same day,
Hearst CEO Steven Swartz announced a mutual parting of ways with Young.
Read the full NYT piece here.
(Note: Subscription or registration required.)
Also Notable
Hearst
Magazine Staffers Unionize
Just as we were about to publish
this month's EO newsletter, we saw breaking news that Hearst
staffers have voted to unionize. Kerry Flynn of CNN Business reports
that the vote was 241-83 and that Hearst will unionize through the
Writers Guild of America, East. According to Flynn, the unionization
"encompass[es] 28 digital and print brands, including Cosmopolitan,
Delish and Esquire, and it has about 500 members. It's one of the
largest unions in the media industry." Read more here.
Are
Journalists Giving Up on Twitter?
Racism in the magazine
industry is a hot topic on social media, but some Black journalists are
choosing not to participate on Twitter. Mark Lieberman of Poynter.org
discusses how K. Austin Collins, one of four Black journalists
interviewed in NYT's recent diversity initiatives at The Ringer,
has opted out of the Twitter discussion. "His decision to abandon
Twitter, motivated by a long-simmering sense that it wasn't compatible
with his emotional and intellectual well-being," reports Lieberman.
Instead, Collins has discussed issues with the article itself via text
with the journalist and discussing the matter with friends offline, a
growing trend in the journalism community at large. Read more here.
Hearst
Expands Paywall and Membership Initiatives
Looking to recoup
lost ad revenue during the Covid-19 pandemic, Hearst is expanding its
paywall program to fortify its subscription-based revenue streams.
According to Kathryn Hopkins of WWD.com, Cosmopolitan is offering
"a package including unlimited digital access and an exclusive
newsletter and content is priced at $2 a month.... For $20 a year, they
get the website, print magazine and newsletter, as well as various
deals. Without a digital subscription, readers will be able to access
four free articles a month." Read more here.
Magazines
Adapt Newsletter Strategies
"The inbox is the new doorstep," New
Yorker newsletter editor Jessi Li tells Greg Dool of Foliomag.com in
a July 21 article. Many online readers look to curated newsletters to
keep themselves up to date on topics of interest. Li tells Dool that her
publication is doing well with "more traditional formats -- link drivers
or article roundups -- that can function as a less cluttered, more
curated version of a homepage for readers." Some publications, Dool
says, citing comments from Robin Re (vice president of marketing at
Industry Dive), are still having success with the
headline-and-brief-summary format. Read more here.
O
Magazine Shutters Print Edition
This week, Oprah Winfrey's O
magazine announced that, after two decades, it will shutter its print
edition at the end of the year. The Hearst-owned brand will continue
online. As the AP notes in its reporting, the closure comes as Hearst
deals with the fallout of president Troy Young's sudden departure last
week and the industry at large grapples with plummeting print ad
revenue. Read more here.
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