Journalism

Disney’s search for a new leader for ABC News continues weeks after the company unexpectedly disclosed the former president, James Goldston, would leave the post. Goldston’s last day came at the end of March and the company has yet to home in on a candidate to replace him, according to four people familiar with parts of the search process. When ABC News heads like David Westin or Ben Sherwood left in years past, Disney identified a successor. That hasn’t been the case in the current matter.

Beginning Oct. 1, Newsy will be available over the air in at least 80% of U.S. television homes — and in all major markets — carried primarily by Scripps-owned Ion stations and select Scripps stations plus those of other station groups.

A Maryland hotel magnate and a Swiss billionaire have made a bid for Tribune TPCO 0.22% Publishing Co. that the newspaper chain is expected to favor over a takeover deal it already struck with hedge fund Alden Global Capital. A special committee of Tribune’s board has determined that a roughly $680 million, $18.50-a-share bid submitted late last week by Choice Hotels International Chairman Stewart Bainum and Hansjörg Wyss is reasonably likely to lead to a proposal that is superior to Alden’s $635 million deal, people familiar with the matter said. That is legal deal-speak indicating Alden may need to raise its bid or risk losing the deal.

In The Moms of Magnolia Street, the Bay Area’s KNTV followed three women and their families who illegally moved in and occupied a single-family home that had been vacant for years, beginning a movement addressing government-sanctioned home discrimination, predatory lending and the corporatization of housing.

New TV jobs posted to TVNewsCheck’s Media Job Center include openings for an Executive Producer, a digital sales coordinator and a graphics design manager for stations owned by Hearst, Gray and Nexstar.

If defamation suits, even valid ones, are successful, long-standing First Amendment protections could be weakened; aggrieved subjects of news stories, especially those with deep pockets, may be encouraged to go after media companies of all kinds, not just hyperpartisan ones. And long, expensive court battles could put them out of business.