Hawaiian Paper Uses AI To Create Newscasts (mediapost.com)

Revenue at Scholastic rose 3% in the third quarter ended February 28, over the comparable period a year ago, from $336.2 million to $344.7 million. However, investments to improve the company’s profitability and one-time charges led to a net loss of $49.2 million in the most recent quarter, up from $15.4 million a year ago. Despite the higher loss, Scholastic chairman Dick Robinson said the company’s results were in line with expectations. He noted that Scholastic is upping its per-share earnings forecast for the fiscal year ending May 31.

Meredith Corporation announced that it has accepted a revised proposal from Gray Television, Inc. to acquire Meredith's Local Media Group for approximately $2.825 billion in cash, and that the two companies have entered into an amendment to their previously announced definitive merger agreement reflecting the revised terms. Under the terms of the revised Gray proposal, Meredith Corporation shareholders would receive $16.99 per share in cash, revised from the previously announced $14.51 per share in cash, and 1-for-1 equity share in post-close Meredith. Meredith received an unsolicited proposal from another party after announcing the definitive agreement with Gray and subsequently received the revised Gray proposal. Meredith's Board of Directors gave due consideration to both proposals and carefully assessed the risks and benefits of each and unanimously approved the revised Gray proposal. The Board of Directors of Meredith unanimously recommends that Meredith shareholders vote in favor of the revised Gray proposal.

Last year was a bad one for newspaper staffs. A full 31% of papers with Sunday circulations of 50,000 or more experienced layoffs, and 11% had multiple rounds, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis. In contrast, 27% of papers saw layoffs in 2019, up from 18% in 2019. And many of them took hits. The largest papers — those with Sunday circ of 250,000 or more — were the hardest hit, with 55% suffering staff cuts. The year before, the pain was roughly similar across groups.