Media Insider: PBS Developing LGTBQ Show, Apollo/Cox Media Deal Complete, & More

Welcome to Media Insider, PR Newswire’s round-up of media stories from the week.

AXIOS | SARA FISCHER
PBS Is Creating an LGTBQ-focused Broadcast Show

PBS is creating a new broadcast show and digital series centered around issues affecting the LGBTQ+ community, PBS Head of Digital Studios Brandon Arolfo said at a PRNEWS event in Washington. The series will include roughly a dozen YouTube videos and a broadcast component. In a statement to Axios, a PBS spokesperson confirmed that the company is “in the early stages of development” for the upcoming show, which at this point is untitled. “As viewer habits continue to evolve, PBS is working to align content across linear and digital platforms in order to meet viewers where they are,” the spokesperson said.

What does the future hold for LGTBQ+ media? The Drum explores.

RADIO AND TELEVISION BUSINESS REPORT
Apollo/Cox Media Group Deal Is Formally Done

Cox Enterprises has officially completed the sale of its portfolio of television and radio stations; Dayton, Ohio, multimedia assets; and its affiliated CoxReps and Gamut national advertising businesses to a new media company with a familiar name: Cox Media Group. It’s a reborn CMG — now an entity majority-owned by private equity funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management. Cox Enterprises will maintain a minority stake in the new company. The business assets involved with the transaction include: 13 television stations in 10 markets; 54 radio stations reaching 14 million listeners monthly; three newspapers in the Dayton, Ohio, area; and more. Kim Guthrie will lead the new Cox Media Group, which will be headquartered in Atlanta.

Media consolidation was the name of the game this year. Read our list of 2019’s top media stories, the first of which is – you guessed it – media mergers.

PUBLISHERS DAILY | FERN SIEGEL
Christianity Today Sees Rise in Subscriptions After Calling for Trump’s Removal

Last week, Mark Galli, editor-in-chief of Christianity Today, a theologically conservative publication, took an unprecedented step in the evangelical community: He wrote an op-ed calling for Donald Trump’s removal. Published a day after the House of Representatives impeached Trump, Galli’s op-ed contends Trump’s phone call with the Ukrainian president was a violation of the Constitution and “profoundly immoral.” Over 180 evangelical leaders disagreed with Galli’s editorial. But Galli, who is leaving the magazine founded by preacher Billy Graham, also found a hidden reserve of support. In an MSNBC interview, he noted: “On the plus side, although we’ve lost hundreds of subscribers … we’ve gained three times as many subscribers.”

Over at the Christian Post, Napp Nazworth, an editor who has worked at the publication since 2011, resigned over a pro-Trump editorial slamming Christianity Today.

ADWEEK | KATHRYN LUNDSTROM
Quartz Names Former Barron’s Leader Katherine Bell as Editor in Chief

Katherine Bell is Quartz’s new editor-in-chief, succeeding co-founder Kevin Delaney, who stepped down from the position in October amid several other leadership changes. Zach Seward, who co-founded the company with Delaney and currently serves as CEO, said that Bell will be responsible for “leading our newsroom, elevating our coverage of the global economy and shifting more of our focus onto members.” Bell, who starts Jan. 6, was most recently editor-in-chief at Barron’s magazine from 2017 until earlier this year, where she oversaw the redesign of the 100-year-old publication’s website, the creation of podcasts and newsletters, and the expansion of its coverage. Before that, she was the top digital editor at the Harvard Business Review. 

Also starting a new gig in the new year: Stuart Emmerich, who was named the new editor of Vogue.com.

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Maria Perez is Director, Web Experience & Operations at Cision. She founded Bags of Love Foundation, a local nonprofit that provides cancer patients with care packages aimed at making their treatment more comfortable. In her spare time, she loves nothing more than cuddling with her blind Maltese, Toody, who thinks he rules the world.