Sage Steele leaves ESPN after settling free speech lawsuit
Steele—a Carmel High School and Indiana University graduate who covered sports in Indianapolis early in her career—filed the lawsuit against the network and its parent company last year.
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Elon Musk’s X throttling traffic to websites he dislikes, tests show
The delayed websites included X’s online rivals Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky and Substack, as well as the Reuters wire service and the Times. All of them have previously been singled out by Musk for ridicule or attack.
Indiana Local News Initiative hires Oseye Boyd for editor’s role
Ball State University alum Oseye Boyd will exit her role at The Indianapolis Star to lead the not-for-profit media startup’s newsroom.
Newspapers in Columbus, 3 other regional cities to reduce print publication days
Aim Media Indiana’s newspapers in Columbus, Greenfield, Franklin and Seymour plan to reduce the number of print publication days starting next month.
Amazon rolling out AI feature that summarizes product reviews
The company said in a blog post Monday that it will use artificial intelligence to pick out common themes in reviews and summarize them in a short paragraph on the product detail page.
Thanks to NIL, college athletes have trading cards, with hard-to-quantify values
In the two years since a Supreme Court ruling paved the way for college athletes to be compensated for their talents, it has been open season for businesses doing deals with NCAA stars—including trading card companies.
The Fan radio station shifts Jake Query to Dan Dakich’s former time slot
The sports talk radio station owned by Maryland-based Urban One will revamp its weekday morning show and launch a new midday show.
Purdue to sponsor Stewart-Haas team car in Sunday’s Brickyard race
Purdue’s sponsorship of the vehicle, financial terms for which were not disclosed, comes on the heels of the university sponsoring another Stewart-Haas car, which competes in the Superstar Racing Experience.
‘Good Bones’ series to end after new season, co-star announces
The eighth and final season of Indianapolis-based home renovation series “Good Bones” is scheduled to debut Aug. 15 on HGTV.
Simon & Schuster purchased by private equity firm for $1.62B
The acquisition comes months after a federal judge blocked Simon & Schuster’s purchase by rival publisher Penguin Random House because of concerns that competition would shrink the book market.
Big Ten Conference adds Oregon, Washington as members
Meanwhile, the Big 12 completed its raid of the beleaguered Pac-12 by adding Arizona, Arizona State and Utah.
USA Gymnastics signs 5-year deal with Nike in sign of trust in post-Nassar era
The sponsorship deal, which Indianapolis-based USA Gymnastics says is the largest ever both in terms of annual value and total value for the national governing body, runs through the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Emmis Corp. to make another attempt to go private
Emmis Corp. CEO Jeff Smulyan says he believes his fourth pitch to take the Indianapolis-based media company private will be successful.
IBJ Podcast: List of most influential Hoosiers contains dozen of new names
For this week’s edition of the IBJ Podcast, Nate Feltman, co-owner and CEO of IBJ Media, shines a spotlight on 10 of the Hoosier leaders making their first appearances on the list.
Comedian Ron Sexton, longtime member of ‘Bob & Tom Show,’ dies at 52
Indianapolis native Sexton, who was known for several characters, including Donnie Baker, appeared on “The Bob & Tom Show” for more than 20 years.
Awash in pink, everyone wants piece of ‘Barbie’ movie marketing mania
Ahead of Friday’s U.S. release of the “Barbie” movie, parent company Mattel has created a product marketing blitz with more than 100 brands plastering pink everywhere.
PR agency Hirons promotes COO to CEO
One of the largest advertising and public relations agencies in Indianapolis has a new leader following the promotion of Deana Haworth.
SRX all-star racing series returns on relaunched ‘Thursday Night Thunder’ on ESPN
ESPN is reintroducing a program that helped make drivers such as Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon famous.
Hollywood actors agree to mediation, but strike might be unavoidable
The actors could join the already striking Writers Guild of America and grind the already slowed production process to a halt if no agreement is reached.
Biden administration appeals order limiting its contacts with social media
Administration attorneys said in the motion filed at the 5th Circuit that the ruling was too broad and vague, and had the potential to chill government officials’ speech on important matters.