Muck media

Podcast content creators at Crooked Media , complaining about the “degradation of our working conditions,” have unionized with the WGA East . According to the guild, an “overwhelming majority” of the podcast company’s 55 content creators have signed cards to unionize and are calling on management to voluntarily recognize the guild as their collective bargaining representative. Founded in 2017 by former President Barack Obama staffers Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett and Tommy Vietor, Crooked Media produces podcasts including Pod Save America , What a Day , Hall of Shame and Lovett It or Leave It . “As audiences and creative opportunities expand for podcast storytelling, the guild is proud to work with the storytellers to gain a voice on the job and to improve conditions in this vital sector,” said WGA East Executive Director Lowell Peterson. In a letter delivered today to management, the company’s 55-member bargaining unit said they’re organizing because “Crooked has … [Read more...] about Podcast Content Creators At Crooked Media Unionize With WGA East

David Pecker , the longtime publisher of the tabloid National Enquirer , is leaving the role as part of a deal unveiled Friday in which the paper’s parent company American Media LLC said it was merging with Accelerate , a national wholesale distribution company. Pecker, the longtime, often controversial president and CEO of Enquirer parent American Media, will become an executive adviser to the new combined company, which will be known as A360. Chris Scardino, previously EVP and Group Publisher and an 18-year veteran of American Media, becomes president. “This is a transformative event that significantly reshapes Accelerate and American Media into a new type of media and marketing company with an unprecedented reach all the way to the sales floor,” Accelerate CEO David Parry said in a release announcing the news. This move comes over a year after it was announced the scandal hobbled Enquirer was to be sold to a new company headed by Hudson News boss James Cohen … [Read more...] about David Pecker Out Atop National Enquirer Owner American Media After Merger

EXCLUSIVE : Pamela Anderson is cooking up her latest television project. The actor is to host Pamela’s Cooking With Love (w/t) for Food Network Canada as her home renovation series Pamela’s Garden of Eden has been renewed for a second season at HGTV Canada. It comes as Anderson continues her book tour to promote Love, Pamela, which was released last month alongside Netflix documentary Pamela, A Love Story. The two Canadian series, which are produced by Fireworks Media Group for Corus Studios. Food series Pamela’s Cooking With Love is an eight-part series set to air on Food Network Canada in 2024. She will work with a variety of influential chefs to develop plant-based menus, gather diverse ingredients, and prepare meals for her friends and family including a casual afternoon cocktail party in the garden, an intimate dinner with family, or breakfast following a night around the campfire. Pamela’s Garden of Eden launched last year and will return … [Read more...] about Pamela Anderson To Host ‘Cooking With Love’ For Canada’s Corus From Fireworks Media As ‘Garden Of Eden’ Renewed For Season 2

Penske Media Corporation, Deadline’s parent company, has made a strategic investment in Vox Media and is now its largest shareholder. Vox is the owner of media brands such as Vox, New York magazine, The Verge, The Cut, Eater, Vulture, The Strategist, Polygon, SB Nation, Curbed and several more. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The companies will continue to operate independently after the transaction. “I have long admired Vox Media’s world-class editorial teams and brands,” said Jay Penske, CEO and Founder of Penske Media. “We deeply respect the track record of both Jim Bankoff and the senior leadership team at Vox, and the company’s remarkable growth over the last decade. The Penske Media and Vox Media alliance will further cement both companies as leaders in modern media and take advantage of new opportunities at scale. Our two companies share a similar history of organic and acquisitive growth over time, and it made sense to invest for the future.” Penske … [Read more...] about Penske Media Takes Stake In Vox Media, Becoming Its Largest Shareholder

Chris Spadaccini has been named Chief Marketing Officer for The CW Network, where he will oversee the network’s broadcast and digital marketing divisions. “It is very rare that any company gets to add someone of Chris Spadaccini’s stature to its team,” commented Brad Schwartz, President of Entertainment for The CW Network. “When it comes to marketers who have built and defined legendary brands for decades and created passionate emotional attachment between content and audiences, Chris is a true pioneer and the best in the business. As the broadcast and digital landscape changes at a rapid pace, we are building a dream team with the excitement and experience needed to drive The CW forward. I just wish he could have brought ‘The White Lotus’ with him.” Previously, Spadaccini as the Chief Marketing Officer for Warner Media Entertainment. He was responsible for marketing HBO, TBS, TNT, truTV, and all aspects of brand and content marketing for HBO Max, the company’s … [Read more...] about Former Warner Media Exec Chris Spadaccini Joins CW As Chief Marketing Officer

The National Enquirer (U.S. and UK editions) and sister publications Globe and National Examiner are being unloaded by A360 Media to a JV of Vinco Ventures and Ted Farnsworth’s Icon Publishing. The exec was CEO of Helios & Matheson, a public company that acquired MoviePass in 2017 only see the ticketing service go belly-up three years later. The Enquirer, a nearly century-old, often scandal-plagued tabloid, most recently achieved notoriety under former publisher David Pecker with so-called “catch and kill” tactics — paying for stories that were potentially embarrassing to former President Donald Trump and never running them. That included payments to Playboy model Karen McDougal, who claimed she had an affair with Trump. In 2019, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, in the midst of a divorce, accused the tabloid of attempting to strong arm and extort him with intimate photos and texts. Terms of today’s deal weren’t disclosed but it’s reportedly worth just under $100 … [Read more...] about The National Enquirer Sold To Joint Venture With Former MoviePass Executive

After weeks of seeing his private life flooded into the public, Jeff Bezos went online today to accuse Donald Trump’s pals at the National Enquirer of attempting to strong arm him with intimate photos, texts and an intent to ruin him with Amazon shareholders. “Any personal embarrassment AMI could cause me takes a back seat because there’s a much more important matter involved here,” the world’s richest man and owner of the Washington Post wrote, regarding National Enquirer parent company American Media’s desire to shut down the investigation Bezos has started of how information about his marriage and other personal affairs became public knowledge. “If in my position I can’t stand up to this kind of extortion, how many people can? (On that point, numerous people have contacted our investigation team about their similar experiences with AMI, and how they needed to capitulate because, for example, their livelihoods were at stake),” the Amazon founder wrote. … [Read more...] about Jeff Bezos Rips National Enquirer With “Extortion” Claims, Defends WaPo

The three years in prison that Donald Trump ’s former fixer Michael Cohen received today wasn’t the only bad press the increasingly besieged former Celebrity Apprentice host was handed. The feds also revealed Wednesday that the owners of the National Enquirer have provided “substantial and important assistance” to them in their investigations. With the effective burial of the American Media Inc publication’s so-called “catch and kill” strategy to bury stores that could have adversely affected Trump, the company and CEO David Pecker were granted freedom criminal prosecution by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York for their role in paying Playboy model Karen McDougal off with $150,000 before the 2016 election. “AMI further admitted that its principal purpose in making the payment was to suppress the woman’s story so as to prevent it from influencing the election,” the U.S. Attorney’s office added announcing the non-prosecution agreement ( … [Read more...] about ‘National Enquirer’ Owner Admits “Influencing” 2016 Election With Payoffs For Donald Trump

The Only Way is Essex indie Lime Pictures has unveiled UK entertainment vet Mirella Breda as its Chief Creative Officer, Unscripted. Breda, Escape to the Chateau indie Two Rivers Media’s Head of Entertainment, joins in the newly-created role, which was revealed last month following the departure of Lime’s Sarah Tyekiff and decision by the All3Media -backed indie to forge popular factual division with All3Media stablemates Lion Television and Wise Owl Films. Lime produces reality hits such as The Only Way is Essex and Geordie Shore and scripted shows including Hollyoaks and Free Rein. Breda, whose past credits include Big Brother , Stars in Their Eyes and Tenable and is a former MD of Big Brother producer Initial, will oversee the division that will forge popular factual shows for the domestic and global market. Tyekiff is departing soon to launch her own production company while Rebecca Kenny-Smith was recently promoted to Director of … [Read more...] about ‘The Only Way Is Essex’ Indie Lime Pictures Unveils Chief Creative Officer For Unscripted

Netflix ’s complex relationship with the French cinema world took another twist on Monday as the streamer said it was bolstering its support of the Cinemathèque Française to become a major sponsor of the institution over a three-year period. The streamer has collaborated with the cinematheque since 2018, notably sponsoring the restoration of Abel Gance’s 1927 classic Napoleon in 2019 and showcasing its own originals such as Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery in the institution’s iconic Henri Langlois auditorium. Under the new accord, Netflix will sponsor several Cinémathèque operations, including film programming and masterclasses, the Toute La Mémoire du Monde Festival (March 8-12) and its youth-focused Ma Petite Cinémathèque program. The platform will also get behind the institution’s temporary exhibitions with curated online programs, kicking off with current show Top Secret: Film & Espionage and followed by Romy Schneider (March 16 to July 30) and the … [Read more...] about Netflix Cements Position In France With Cinémathèque Française Sponsorship Deal; Sets Agnès Varda Tie-In