Media Moves & Pandemic Pivots

A curated collection of can’t-miss news from this week, including 2021 media trends, industry inspiration and more. Sign up to get the TURNER Weekly Download in your inbox.

Ximena’s Revolution

Ximena N. Larkin’s career brings together a wide range of passions: writing, politics, food, communications and beyond. She has bylines in such outlets as The New York Times, Vice, and Thrillist. But she’s also the founder of the progressive public relations firm  C1 Revolution. If all that isn’t enough, in 2020, Larkin served as director of special projects for the DNC Convention and deputy director of Latino/Spanish media for the Biden For President campaign. In other words, she’s a  very busy person. But Ximena took a little time to chat with TURNER —  check it out!

Pandemic Pivot

The pandemic changed a lot of things in the past 12 months — especially the media. But some publications have weathered the storm and emerged stronger than ever. CNN shows how The Atlantic and STAT thrived during COVID. “Rather than race to break news or go for quantity of stories, they each focused on explanatory pieces about the realities of the pandemic,” writes Kerry Flynn. “They also produced prescient stories that predicted the pandemic's impact and continued to do so after it took hold in America.”

Digital Presence

Like the Atlantic, Harper’s Bazaar is a legacy publication that has managed to evolve with the times. Digiday looks at how Harper’s Bazaar’s social media strategy has helped maintain the outlet’s status a global fashion authority. “The brand’s digital presence not only helps amplify its print stories, but diversify revenue through e-commerce and advertising — turning fans of the magazine into digital consumers of luxury fashion and beauty.”

Travel Media Moves

How has Covid impacted travel media? Skift covers how one tiny travel newsletter confronted the pandemic and changed the narrative. “In many ways, we were pre-adapted to pandemic times because we don’t focus on the ‘how-to’ of travel,” says Statesider co-founder Andy Murdock. “We never assumed that readers were taking action on any story. We’re just trying to deliver interesting, entertaining reads to people who are curious about the U.S.”

Weekly Moment of Zen

The 6 moments you need to see from the 2021 Grammy Awards