Google’s Cookie Reversal, CNN’s Overhaul: Media News Recap for July 2024

Welcome to Media Insider, PR Newswire’s roundup of media news stories from the month.

July was another headline-making month for the media industry. In a significant shift within the digital landscape, Google announced it will abandon its long-standing effort to eliminate cookies, opting for a more balanced approach to user privacy and ad targeting.

Meanwhile, CNN announced a sweeping overhaul of the network, staffers at the South Florida Sun Sentinel voted to form a union, Paramount Global agreed to merge with Skydance Media, and a new report highlighted a decline in the number of digital news outlets that launched last year.

Read on to get the full scoop.

Google gives up trying to eliminate cookies

In a decision that shocked the ad world, Google said it no longer planned to phase out third-party tracking cookies from its Chrome web browser. Instead, it will introduce a new prompt for users to choose how they want to be tracked across Google’s search products. Google first announced plans in 2020 to eliminate support for third-party tracking cookies in Chrome, subsequently pushing the deadline to end support for cookies three times. (Axios)

However, some publishing executives are maintaining or increasing their tests of cookie-less targeting alternatives, including Google’s Privacy Sandbox. This is because Google’s proposed plan allows Chrome users to choose whether or not third-party cookies are used across their web browsing. Leaving the choice up to the user eliminates many of the certainties publishers relied on to guide their digital advertising strategies since 2020, such as a timeline, the guarantee of 100% deprecation and the fact that everyone would be in the same boat. (Digiday)

So, what’s next? In a blog post on Google’s Privacy Sandbox, the division tasked with finding solutions to the advertiser-versus-consumer privacy challenges, the company acknowledged its original plan needed more work. In the post, “A New Path for Privacy Sandbox on the Web,” they stood behind their model and said it had potential: “We expect that overall performance using Privacy Sandbox APIs will improve over time as industry adoption increases.” Google will work with regulators as they finalize the plan “on the next phase of the journey to a more private web.” (Standard-Examiner)

CNN chief Mark Thompson announces sweeping overhaul of news network, cuts 100 jobs

Mark Thompson, the CNN chief executive appointed last year to modernize the news network, unveiled sweeping changes to the iconic outlet, announcing plans to build a billion-dollar digital business, experiment with artificial intelligence and overhaul key newsroom structures.

The far-reaching measures, which Thompson described to staffers in a memo as a “key milestone in the transformation of CNN,” will result in about 100 employees, or about 3% of the workforce, being laid off. Those employees, Thompson said, will be eligible for severance packages.

Since his appointment last year, Thompson has been candid about the challenges facing CNN, stressing to staffers that swift and dramatic steps are necessary to reorient the television-focused news organization for a digital future. (CNN Business)

Other media outlets announced cuts in July:

• BBC to Lay off Hundreds More Staff With Financial Deficit Projected to Nearly Double Next Year (Deadline)
• LAist cuts 28 positions with buyouts, layoffs (Current)
• The Boston Herald’s hedge fund owner cuts three jobs (Media Nation)
• Anchorage Daily News will reduce print to 2 days a week, continue emphasis on digital growth (Anchorage Daily News)

Fewer digital news outlets launched last year, according to a new global report

The number of digital news startup launches has been slowing since 2022 in Europe, Latin America and North America, according to the new Global Project Oasis report. Global Project Oasis, a research project funded by the Google News Initiative that maps digital-native news startups globally, cited economic challenges, slow growth and political conflicts as potential reasons for the drop.

“This decline in digital news startups may also be an indication that markets are approaching a saturation point in some places, especially in big cities, where the majority start,” the report’s authors write, “but it also may be due to the fact that many of the media in the directory started informally, which can make them hard to identify in the first year or two of operation.” (Nieman Lab)

However, there was some good news on the launch front:

• CNBC launches sports vertical amid broader biz shift (Axios)
• Forbes Global Properties Unveils Online Lifestyle Magazine (MediaPost)
• CNN Will Debut Subscription Products This Year (MediaPost)
• Chalkbeat expands to public health, hires media veterans to run new parent organization (Axios)
• Rock Entertainment Group & Gray Media Launch Rock Entertainment Sports Network (TVNewsCheck)

Journalists Unite: Staffers At Alden Global Capital Paper Vote to Form a Union

South Florida Sun Sentinel journalists have voted to form a union, the NewsGuild announced.

Of journalists on board, 88% have signed cards asking the National Labor Relations Board to conduct an election and they are asking owner Alden Global Capital to recognize the union. Once that is done, the union says it will start bargaining for fair benefits.

The agreement provides for wage increases of 3% per year for two years and maintenance of existing 401K matches for all participating employees. (MediaPost)

More labor news:

• Ziff Davis and Union Reach Deal in Time for Prime Day (MediaPost)
• Mashable, PC Mag, and Lifehacker win unprecedented AI protections in new union contract (Nieman Lab)
• Gannett and Southern Florida News Guild Reach Contract Agreement (MediaPost)

Paramount Global agrees to merge with Skydance Media

Paramount Global has agreed to merge with Skydance Media in a complex transaction that will join Shari Redstone’s media empire with an upstart studio run by the son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison.

The deal breathes new life into an iconic Hollywood brand that’s lost more than 70% of its market value since 2019, when Redstone recombined Viacom and CBS. The deal values the new company — for now being dubbed “New Paramount” — at roughly $28 billion. (Axios)

In more merger and acquisition news:

• UltraRunning Magazine Acquired by Steep Life Media (MediaPost)
• LOST iN Acquires Bring Me! Travel Brand From Buzzfeed (MediaPost)
• Blank Slate Media sells to Schneps Media, joins forces with Anton Media Group (The Island 360)
• Postmedia enters agreement to acquire Saltwire (Editor & Publisher)
• Bending Spoons Acquires Digital Publishing Platform Issuu (MediaPost)

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