Trade Paper Switches Up Hollywood Power List

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Hollywood’s elite has just learned how much power they really have in Tinseltown.

The Hollywood Reporter launched its inaugural “THR 100” list in its July 1 issue, ranking the 100 most influential executives, directors, producers, and actors responsible for creating and curating global entertainment content. It’s the first time men and women were ranked together in one list and follows Chief Creative Officer Janice Min’s move last fall to end the magazine’s annual “Women in Entertainment Power 100” ranking after 22 years.

Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Bob Iger tops the list, while Viacom Inc.’s Shari and Sumner Redstone shared No. 6. Actors such as Amy Schumer (No. 88) and Melissa McCarthy (No. 64) also made the cut.

Arriving at the final count proved to be as challenging as making a tentpole film, said Matt Belloni, the magazine’s executive editor.

“Every part of the business was examined by our editors,” he said. “We interviewed about two dozen executives on who they thought has the most clout, and then based on input and months of research whittled the list down from several hundred to the final 100.”

He said feedback from industry insiders has thus far been largely positive.

“This was by far the most difficult list to put together because of the rankings,” said Belloni. “In a very competitive industry, we knew it could have tremendous impact.”

Tough (IB) Times

A new round of layoffs swept the International Business Times last week, eliminating the L.A. bureau and cutting the digital media firm’s New York-based staff in half. An estimated 30 journalists were given pink slips last week when the online publisher cut its business, media, and technology desks, while also laying off some news editors.

The latest layoffs at IB Times, which covers breaking business news from around the world, come just three months after 15 other employees were laid off, and the departure of Peter S. Goodman as editor-in-chief. He has since landed at the New York Times as the paper’s European economic correspondent based in London.

International Business Times Media, which owns IB Times as well as Newsweek, could not be reached for comment.

Good and Bad

The Pew Research Center’s latest “State of the News Media” report indicates that 2015 was a huge year for mobile advertising and podcasting. It was also the worst year for newspapers since the Great Recession.

Digital ad revenue in 2015 was up 20 percent from the year before, hitting nearly $60 billion nationwide, with mobile advertising accounting for more than half of the total. Podcasting and streaming radio has also experienced audience growth; the share of people listening to online radio has more than doubled since 2010. National Public Radio, whose member stations in Los Angeles are KCRW-FM (89.9) and KPCC-FM (89.3), tallied around 12 million listeners for its flagship news programs last year.

Newspapers across the country experienced an 8 percent decline in ad revenue last year compared with 2014, and daily circulation fell 7 percent. The overall newsroom workforce experienced its sharpest decline since 2009. Locally, major staff cuts have occurred at the Los Angeles Times, San Diego Union-Tribune, and Orange County Register since April 2015. Shares of tronc Inc., the parent company of the Times and Union-Tribune, closed at $13.34 on July 29 – down 18 percent from a year ago, when the company was known as Tribune Publishing Co. The stock price had fallen below $6 in February but rebounded in May when Gannett Co. offered to buy the company for $864 million ($15 a share).

Media Moves

Booth Moore has been named fashion senior editor at The Hollywood Reporter and Pret-a-Reporter.com, the publication’s digital style vertical. Moore will cover the intersection of fashion, luxury, and entertainment. She joins the Reporter after a 17-year career at the Los Angeles Times, where she became the paper’s first fashion critic in 2004. … KPFK-FM (90.7) will end its “Deadline L.A.” program on July 11. The station is owned by Pacifica Foundation Inc. The show, which focuses on local news media, has been airing weekly for more than 20 years. The station is looking to add more Spanish-language programming in its place, but there’s a possibility the show could transition to a podcast in the future. … Jamie Annunzio Myers has been named chief operating officer at KOCE (Channel 50) – the flagship PBS station for greater Los Angeles. Myers is responsible for daily operations and strategic direction across all aspects of the organization. She was previously serving as interim chief operating officer after Andrew Russell’s promotion to chief executive last year.

Staff reporter Kristin Marguerite Doidge can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 549-5225, ext. 228.

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