South Carolina ETV and Public Radio has named Kristina Thacker as the interim local host of Morning Edition. Thacker, a familiar voice to South Carolina audiences, will provide state and local headlines, weather, and reports from communities across the Palmetto State. more

WXXI Public Media in Rochester, NY has named Kevin Kalvitis as its first-ever Chief Marketing Officer, a newly created role designed to help reposition the organization’s business and promotional strategy following significant federal funding losses and the shutdown of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. more

Journalism students across the United States and Canada are rethinking what a career in rural news might look like. In a new cross-border study, reporter Tandy Lau examines their hopes and anxieties — from pay and housing to political climate and pathways for advancement. The findings reveal both a real interest in rural reporting and a clear message to newsrooms: young journalists need better preparation, clearer opportunities and stronger support before they will commit to these communities. more

Exciting changes are coming to The Detroit News, so let me be the first to tell you about them. The News has been the primary source for news and information for literally millions of Michiganians since our founding in 1873, and we plan to build upon that legacy in 2026. more

The year is 2029. President Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, having spent years raging against Fox News as a propaganda organ whose very operation is illegal, has found a pressure point to control it. She enables its sale to owners who are friends of hers, and whose business depends on regulatory favors she has made a practice of doling out to allies. more

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr is touting what he calls a “historic” year of accomplishments at the Commission, highlighting sweeping deregulation, broadcast rule changes and internal reforms carried out in 2025 — while signaling more to come in the year ahead. more

Main Street Media (MSM) has reached an agreement to transition ownership of The Plainville Times to Stockton Sentinel LLC, owned by Stockton residents Bart Hamilton and Susan (Hamilton) Schneider. … more

When Andrew Ng talks about AI, people listen — in classrooms, boardrooms and Silicon Valley. The researcher-turned-educator-turned-investor has become an AI statesman of sorts, co-founding Google Brain, which became part of Google’s flagship DeepMind division that now produces some of the world’s best AI systems, and serving as chief scientist of Chinese tech titan Baidu. more

In today’s complex media ecosystem, audiences navigate an overwhelming mix of content, from branded communications and sponsored narratives to opinion-driven commentary and user-generated interpretations of news. more

YouTube nabbed the Oscars, another warning shot across broadcasters’ bow. Here’s what they need to do to press back. We all heard that loud crash right before Christmas last week when another tent pole collapsed. We all heard that loud crash right before Christmas last week … more

Before President Trump returned to the White House in January, the titans of the tech industry went all out to win him over with inauguration donations and pilgrimages to Mar-a-Lago. Yet upon … more

Digital change now moves faster than most local advertisers can track. Platforms promise ease while results feel harder to explain. This pressure shifts expectations toward sellers who connect … more

Bart Story, a veteran entertainment research executive whose work shaped marketing strategies for some of Hollywood’s biggest film and television campaigns, died Tuesday. He was 63. Story died … more

Tampa’s WUSF Public Media has chosen Leslie Laney as its next General Manager. Laney succeeds JoAnn Urofsky, who announced her retirement in October after leading the University of South … more

Hugh Osteen (Hubert Graham Osteen III) has served as Osteen Media Group’s chief operating officer since 2021. Effective Jan. 1, he has been named chief executive officer. more

Free expression in America isn’t collapsing all at once — it’s eroding quietly, often in ways the public barely notices. In a wide ranging conversation, First Amendment scholar Stuart N. Brotman warns that political pressure, platform power and public misunderstanding are reshaping the boundaries of press freedom in real time. Drawing on decades of experience across academia, government and media policy, Brotman makes the case that the next few years will be decisive. And he argues that local journalism may be the strongest remaining force capable of rebuilding trust, civic understanding and a shared commitment to free expression. more