Wednesday, August 31, 2022

Japan block runs giant anti-Trump media group

Top exec forced out as USA Today Network's controller falters

The implacably anti-Trump national newspaper network USA Today is headed into rough waters as the investment concern managing the media outfit moved swiftly to stem losses.

Rajeev Misra, a top executive at SoftBank and a key ally of the bank's chief executive, Masayoshi Son, stepped down from roles at the Japanese investment giant after it recorded losses, the company announced today.

Misra relinquished his roles of corporate officer and executive vice president at the SoftBank Group, effective today.

SoftBank owns Fortress Investment Group through an affiliate, according to InfluenceWatch. Fortress manages New Media Investment Group, which took over USA Today and two large U.S. newspaper chains in 2019 as the 2020 presidential election campaign began to loom large.

New Media Investment Group is a New York City-based private equity firm that is the parent company of Gannett Co. Inc., the largest newspaper publisher in the United States.

New Media today oversees the operations and publishing of 260 daily newspapers and 300 weekly publications in 47 states and Guam and administers over 130,000 business advertising accounts with a weekly reach of over 12 million. Many, if not most, of these local newspapers carry Washington news reported by New Media's flagship paper, USA Today.

USA Today's reporting has been decidedly one-sided on the attempts to derail Donald Trump, before, during and after his presidency. The paper's writers and editors slant their news to make Trump appear to be always in the wrong while playing down and smoothing over evidence of government misconduct under the influence of top-level Democrats.

In April, a panel of editors recommended saving money by paring the editorial pages of New Media properties. Readers dislike being told what to think, the editors said.

No comments:

Post a Comment

A sweet dose of storm aid