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Edited post
Nicco Mele, who leaves Friday as senior vice president and deputy publisher of the Los Angeles Times, following the Austin Beutner firing, has been named a senior fellow at the USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership & Policy. He is the author of the 2013 book "The End of Big: How the Internet Makes David the New Goliath," and when he joined Beutner's team at the Times last year it was hailed as a big get in the digital news world.
From tonight's announcement by center director Geoffrey Cowan:
At CCLP, Mele will focus on emerging business models for digital journalism and the challenges traditional media models face online. Mele, 37, joins a distinguished group of senior fellows that includes journalists and media executives such as Jessica Yellin, Matthew Dowd, Cinny Kennard, Adam Clayton Powell III, and Narda Zacchino; authors and policymakers such as Dan Glickman, Richard Reeves, Orville Schell, Kirk Johnson, and Morley Winograd; among others.
"The project of media revitalization and reinvention remains one of the great challenges of our era, and is essential to a healthy democracy. I am delighted to join the distinguished team at CCLP," says Mele."Nicco Mele is a brilliant strategist who has been at the forefront of the intersection of media, politics and technological innovation for more than a decade," says Cowan, who also holds the Annenberg Family Chair in Communication Leadership at USC and is president of The Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands. "His invaluable experience will extend CCLP's important work charting new models for news and examining the role of media in our democracy. We are extremely fortunate to have him join the Center on Communication Leadership & Policy."
For the past year Mele served as senior vice president and deputy publisher of the Los Angeles Times, where he was responsible for product, content, revenue, and audience development for all of the Los Angeles Times Media Group's brands, including growing existing digital products and services, identifying possible acquisitions, developing new business opportunities and launching new products.
Here's the full release.
By the way, inside the Times newsroom, I'm told that editor Davan Maharaj called an unusual 6 p.m. meeting of the top editors. They were reportedly told that, while buyouts are coming, there are no details and specific numbers, in spite of the report this morning by former Tribune insider James Warren that up to 80 positions must be cut. The editors were thanked for keeping their minds on the work during what is a stressful time in the LA Times newsroom.
Also today:
- The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 today on a resolution that calls on Tribune Publishing to “restore local, established and invested leadership” at the Los Angeles Times or consider selling it to someone with those attributes.
- City Hall activist Jack Humphreville started a MoveOn petition calling on Tribune Publishing "to spinoff our Los Angeles Times into a separate, locally controlled company and to reinstate Austin Beutner as Publisher."
Added: Here is Mele's tweet from tonight.
Friday is my last day at @latimes - a privilege to work alongside so many exceptional people. Headed to @USC_CCLP http://t.co/c6LdjxOYPN
— nicco mele (@nicco) September 16, 2015