In a surprising move in media circles, Kevin Merida announced plans Tuesday to step down as executive editor of the Los Angeles Times. Merida had been with the Times only two and a half years after more than two decades at The Washington Post and another several years in charge of ESPN’s The Undefeated.

Merida wrote in a memo that he was stepping down with a “heavy heart” and did so after consulting with the paper’s owner, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, and “after considerable soul-searching about my career at this stage and how I can best be of value to the profession I love.”

Soon-Shiong wrote in a note to staff that he and Merida “mutually agreed that his role as executive editor of the L.A. Times will conclude this week.” Soon-Shiong said the Times will immediately begin an internal and external search to replace Merida and that, for now, the newsroom will be run by current senior editors.

My best guess: Merida decided to step down, and no one (i.e. Soon-Shiong) stopped him.

Merida turns 67 this month and is well-respected in the business. But it would appear his tenure as the Times’ newsroom leader did not go as anticipated.

The Los Angeles Times’ Meg James wrote, “The Times has fallen well short of its digital subscriber goals and needs a revenue boost to sustain the operation.”

Deadline’s Ted Johnson wrote, “Merida’s departure likely will trigger more consternation over Soon-Shiong’s plans for the Times, as staffers worry that he is growing increasingly impatient over the losses endured by the media outlet.”

Perhaps sensing the uneasiness of his newsroom, Soon-Shiong wrote in a note, “Our commitment to the L.A. Times and its mission has not wavered since the inception of our acquisition. However, given the persistent challenges we face, it is now imperative that we all work together to build a sustainable business that allows for growth and innovation of the L.A. Times and L.A. Times Studios in order to achieve our vision.”

Johnson also noted the Times’ struggles with the digital product, writing the news organization “has endured years of turmoil, as it has faced the challenge of transitioning to digital, with its subscriber base far behind The New York Times and The Washington Post.”

The Washington Post’s Jeremy Barr, Will Sommer and Laura Wagner wrote, “As of July 2023, the paper said that it had 550,000 digital subscriptions, an increase of 100,000 over early 2022 but still far below the New York Times, The Post and the Wall Street Journal. Soon-Shiong had wanted to reach 1 million digital-only subscribers by the end of 2022, a goal that Merida’s publication did not meet.”

Last year was a rough one for Merida and the Times. A severe round of layoffs shrunk the newsroom by 13%. And, James wrote, “On the business side, the Los Angeles Times Studios — once seen by Merida as a key area of growth — was significantly scaled back.”

James added, “The Times is struggling amid a larger landscape of rapidly declining print readers and failing upstart digital-only news organizations, including Buzzfeed News. The Times missed its revenue projections last year after Hollywood strikes curtailed ad spending by the major film and TV studios. The paper cut back sports listings, scores, standings and game coverage, angering thousands of longtime subscribers. Additionally, the newsroom union has grown more restive after going more than a year without a contract.”

Also in 2023, Soon-Shiong sold The San Diego Union-Tribune, which he had purchased along with the Times for $500 million in 2018. What made the sale worrisome was that the Union-Tribune was bought by Alden Global Capital, which has a history of scaling back its news properties through layoffs.

Still, in his note, Merida wrote he was “proud” to have been a part of a “fierce, resilient, superbly talented newsroom,” later adding, “Working with all of you has been one of the signature experiences of my career.”

X marks the spot for Lemon

Here’s a tweet you never thought you’d see. From former Fox News prime-time host Tucker Carlson: “Congratulations. It’s a new world. Welcome.”

And who was he writing that to? His former CNN rival Don Lemon, who announced on X on Tuesday that he will launch “The Don Lemon Show” on X.

Carlson and Lemon were fired on the same day last year — April 24, 2023 — and Carlson started his show on X before announcing plans to start his own streaming service. Now Lemon goes to X.

The Daily Beast’s Confider media newsletter reported over the weekend that Lemon was in talks with X about a show, and on Tuesday, Lemon made it official. He said in his tweet, “I’ve heard you … and today I am back bigger, bolder, freer! My new media company’s first project is The Don Lemon Show. It will be available to everyone, easily, whenever you want it, streaming on the platforms where the conversations are happening.”

Lemon went on to praise X as “the biggest space for free speech in the world.”

X announced the partnership with a tweet that said, “We’re delighted to announce a new content partnership with @DonLemon for his new project, The Don Lemon Show. The award winning TV journalist will share his unique and honest voice in 30 minute episodes, three times a week, covering politics, culture, sports and entertainment. The show will run exclusively first on X. Welcome Don!”

Wait, there’s more

Lemon is not alone in joining Carlson on X with a show. X also announced partnerships with two others: former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and sports radio host Jim Rome.

Wait, there’s still more

On the day Lemon announced he would launch a show on X, the social media company wrote in a blog post that “X is now a video-first platform, with people watching video in 8 out of 10 user sessions.”

X made claims about being a video-first platform, saying things such as, “We launched a new surface: Immersive Video, which now has over 100 million daily users — more than half of whom are Gen Z, the fastest growing audience on X. We enabled long-form video uploads. In December alone, people watched 130 years’ worth of videos 30 minutes or longer.”

But Fortune’s Kylie Robison wrote, “… X’s blog post was short on specifics. For example, its claims of a large Gen Z audience came without any metrics to back it up. A source at X, who asked to remain anonymous because they weren’t authorized to talk to the press, was skeptical about the blog post’s assertion of a video-focused transformation. ‘I think it’s way too early to declare us a video-first platform,’ the source said.”

Robison also wrote, “Musk has been making a big bet on attracting creators to X to publish videos. The company’s pitch is that it will share ad-revenue that their videos generate.”

X concluded its lengthy blog post by writing, “X is set to revolutionize 2024 with groundbreaking products and services that will reshape how we connect, communicate, and transact. Our unwavering dedication to people, partners, and communities drives our mission to improve and innovate, boldly venturing into uncharted territory while remaining in tune with our community’s needs. Get ready for an exciting journey into the future of X!”

We shall see about that. Color us skeptical.

The Rodgers-McAfee-Kimmel saga continues

ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, left, and NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers. (Jordan Strauss/Invision for the Television Academy/AP Images, left, AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman)

Last week, NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers appeared on Pat McAfee’s show, which airs on ESPN, and seemed to suggest that ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel would appear on a list connected with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

That started a whole kerfuffle. Keep in mind that ABC and ESPN are both owned by Disney. Kimmel was understandably angry about his name inaccurately being associated with pedophilia. McAfee delicately tried to distance himself from the controversy, while being careful not to offend his pal (and attention-grabbing guest) Rodgers. That eventually led to McAfee ripping into a senior ESPN executive, accusing that exec of sabotaging his show by leaking misinformation to the media.

So here’s the latest:

First, appearing on Richard Deitsch’s sports media podcast this week, James Andrew Miller, who wrote the definitive book about ESPN and has plenty of media sources, said he believes ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro personally reached out to Kimmel in an attempt to lower the temperature on the feud. After all, as Miller noted, Kimmel could have played hardball. He easily could have gone to Disney boss Bob Iger and said, “Either me or McAfee is going to be on the air next week. But not both of us. You decide who it will be.”

Kimmel, instead, did what he does best. He used his monologue Monday night to roast Rodgers, saying Rodgers is “too arrogant to know how ignorant he is.”

Regarding Rodgers’ comments about being on the Epstein list, Kimmel said, “Either he actually believes my name was going to be on Epstein’s list, which is insane, or the more likely scenario is he doesn’t actually believe that; he just said it because he’s mad at me for making fun of his top knot and his lies about being vaccinated. He’s particularly upset, I think, because I made fun of the fact that he floated this wacko idea that the UFO sightings that were in the news in February were being reported to distract us from the Epstein list.”

There was plenty more where that came from as Kimmel alternated between some funny and clever jabs at Rodgers and serious commentary about the danger of some words. Kimmel said, “This is how these nuts do it now. You don’t like Trump, you’re a pedophile. It’s their go-to move, and it shows you how much they actually care about pedophilia.”

So after all that came Tuesday and Rodgers’ weekly appearance on McAfee’s show. Rodgers said he didn’t give a bleep what Kimmel thought of him … after spending seven minutes talking about Kimmel!

Rodgers now claims he never said Kimmel’s name would be on an Epstein list. (His exact quote that day was, “There’s a lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel, really hoping that doesn’t come out.”) On Tuesday, he stopped short of outright apologizing to Kimmel.

Rodgers said, “I totally understand how serious an allegation of pedophilia would be. For him to be upset about that? I get it. Did you watch the quote? I’m not stupid enough to accuse you of that with absolutely zero evidence, concrete evidence. That’s ridiculous.”

Then Rodgers did what was expected: He played the victim and whined about being muted and canceled, all while being given seven uninterrupted minutes to say whatever he wanted. As podcaster and journalist (and former ESPNer) Jemele Hill tweeted, “Aaron Rodgers complaining about cancel culture and mainstream media while being platformed every week on a mainstream sports network is the most Aaron Rodgers thing ever.”

(Here’s the whole clip if you’re interested.)

Rodgers said he wanted to put the whole thing to rest, and added, “And I’m glad that Jimmy is not on the list. I really am. I don’t think he is the p-word.”

But Rodgers might have done more damage than good, especially when he criticized yet another ESPN executive — Mike Foss, ESPN’s senior vice president of production, who oversees the network’s partnership with McAfee’s show. Foss had put out a statement last week saying, in part, that Rodgers made a “dumb and factually inaccurate joke about Jimmy Kimmel.”

In the end, Rodgers didn’t fully squash whatever beef he has with Kimmel or his critics.

As Deadspin’s Julie DiCaro wrote, “Rodgers is never going to come around to understanding what he did wrong, or what he says that is wrong. Because admitting he’s wrong would debunk his greatest conspiracy theory of all: That Aaron Rodgers is the last of the deep thinkers, and that anyone who criticizes him isn’t a thinking person. What Rodgers doesn’t know is that he proves that conspiracy theory wrong every time he opens his mouth.”

You have to wonder what ESPN executives are thinking. On one hand, Rodgers continues to say wild, unchecked things on McAfee’s show. On the other, the segment generates a ton of coverage and eyes. ESPN must like that.

Meanwhile, McAfee’s role in all this?

The New York Post’s sports media columnist Andrew Marchand wrote, “He appears to be very loyal to those close to him, but there is not much evidence yet that he wants to be a good teammate to ESPN. In his desire to never change and to be totally true to himself, he is completely throwing Disney CEO Bob Iger, ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro and ESPN president of content Burke Magnus under the bus. Iger, Pitaro and Magnus already handed McAfee the keys to back over them. McAfee has a five-year contract for in excess of $85 million, which allowed him to keep ownership of his program and license it to ESPN. It gives McAfee all the power in the relationship. ESPN pays him, but he is not an employee. McAfee is not dumb.”

That’s true. He is not dumb. But he better get smart when it comes to handing Rodgers a microphone and then sitting back as Rodgers torches the show, as well as whatever reputation he has left.

Media tidbits

• Speaking of the whole McAfee-ESPN dynamic, Mediaite’s Ahmad Austin Jr. with “Jemele Hill Gives Merit to Pat McAfee’s Claims of ‘Sabotage’ from ESPN Exec: ‘We Experienced A Lot of What Pat McAfee Was Talking About.’”
• Gizmodo’s Thomas Germain with “X Bans and Then Unbans Journalists and Podcasters in Twitter’s Latest Free Speech Massacre.”
• Awful Announcing’s Phillip Bupp with “Former ESPN exec Lee Fitting joins WWE as Head of Media & Production.”

Hot type

• USA Today’s Carli Pierson with “The ‘Epstein list’ and why we need to talk about consent with our kids.”
• NBC News’ Ryan J. Reilly and Anna Schecter with “The reality of Trump and Stefanik’s Jan. 6 ‘hostages.’”

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