Dan Wakeford on LinkedIn: Excited to head to Cannes later this month. Let me know if you are there… (2024)

The Kelce Brothers are the break out stars of the last year. So in time for Mother’s Day we interviewed mom Donna Kelce about how she brought up such well rounded, emotionally available, self assured men. Pick up this week’s issue for the full story. a360media

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We’re looking for a super creative, pop culture obsessed editor to join our team at Us Weekly and be part of an exciting journey as we reshape this iconic brand.

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Good jobs with a great boss

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22 years ago when I was coming to America I had to decide between two job offers. One was to work at US magazine which had just begun a new life as a weekly. I turned it down for a different adventure and have always had twinge of doubt wondering “what could have been?”. Today I get to explore that sentiment two decades later as I step up as the iconic brand’s new Editor-in-chief to bring it into a new era of pop culture. https://lnkd.in/eW3iNGV4

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I am still processing the devastating news about The end of The Messenger but right now my focus is on my colleagues. I worked with the best journalists in the business. The editorial team built a brand from scratch in a short amount of time and achieved our goal of creating a neutral news brand that fit perfectly into a middle lane, appealing to insiders and outsiders. The team are some of the top journalists in the business and created best in class breakthrough work and accurate, neutral writing, reporting and editing. They delivered beyond expectations in just seven months - with traffic results to prove it. Comscore had us at 11,302,000 US uniques, and 89 million total page views reaching 4.1% of US total internet in December. And this month we were set to smash way beyond this, our momentum and growth was unprecedented. As Semafor recently said “The Messenger has lived up to some of its initial promises. It’s broken some interesting stories about New York City Mayor Eric Adams and the 2024 presidential campaign, and is quickly gaining a large online audience.” Adding, “That’s no easy feat in an environment where social media traffic has collapsed and AI content has made search traffic harder to come by.” And so much more, we led the way with our coverage of Trump’s legal issues, breaking international and military scoops week after week. And so many entertainment exclusives. The biggest celebrity story of last year, Taylor and Travis dating, was broken by our team.I’ve been bowled over by our access to some of the biggest names in America despite being a new brand. We started off with Donald Trump and Joe Manchin, on day one and have since interviewed Robert DeNiro, George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Cindy Crawford, and so many more. If anyone is looking for any journalists, editors and storytellers please reach out to me as there are so many I would like to recommend. Being out of work is dreadful but it’s even worse in the toughest moment media has ever gone through so let me know if you know of any leads for these truly remarkable folks.

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This week The Messenger launched Messenger Sports helmed by Dan Kaufman and staffed with some of the best in the business. I am very proud of what we have achieved in just three and half months at The Messenger, growing at unprecedented speed, delivering break through journalism and achieving our mission of delivering neutral news to a polarized America. More verticals are launching soon. Watch this space!

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Today we launched our first newsletter The Messenger Morning. Sign up at the link below to get all the unbiased news you need to know to start your day. Congratulations Cameron Hood on your first Messenger baby! http://eepurl.com/hMR8pr

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Today we launched www.TheMessenger.com with exclusive interviews with former president Donald Trump, Sen. Joe Manchin, and Sen. Sherrod Brown. We have a blockbusting investigation into conflicts of interest in congress, reports from the border, a fresh perspective on AI, exclusive stories on Britney Spears and the University of Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger, an investigation into the arming of Taiwan and interviews and exclusive reports from Hollywood and so much more.My hope is that you read these stories and find that they are accurate, true, fair and have compelling takeaways. The essential task of keeping up with the news and being engaged in the world is something that many have given up on. Americans have been tuning out the news because they don’t trust the media and are exhausted by extreme politics and platforms who inflame the divisions in our country by slanting stories towards an audience’s bias.The Messenger conducted a study in partnership with The Harris Poll that showed 82% of voters overwhelmingly agree a new news media platform dedicated to even-handed treatment of issues without political bias is needed. 3 in 4 voters think the media gives a biased picture of political events. Most voters think journalists practice advocacy over unbiased journalism, regardless of political affiliation. The Messenger will provide accurate news, and by doing so, we aim to help fix the deep fissures in America. We will bring people together with our storytelling by being actively neutral, not omitting events and issues, focusing on reporting and demystifying the news. Aggressive rhetoric has characterized our society and by being neutral in our approach, we will disregard the hyperbole. We hope by sharing multiple perspectives on issues, readers can gain deeper insight into opposing views, develop more clarity on where they stand and learn to respect each other and different communities. In an age where you have to work hard to find the truth in media, The Messenger will make it easier and more fun.For those of you who have tuned out one-sided news sites, we hope that you will embrace The Messenger’s balanced reporting and insightful commentary. Today, we launch with more than 150 editorial staff and we are proud of what we are delivering. The team has done an amazing job creating a site full of compelling stories in record time.But to be sure, this is only day one. We won't be perfect from the start, but we plan to make our journalism better every day. Over the coming months, The Messenger will continue to grow bigger and better with new sections launching each month. Please look forward to expert stories across Entertainment, Business, Tech, Sports, Health and Wellness, Purpose, Travel, Food, and Style. We look forward to bringing you stories both serious and fun across all genres and with our focus on objectivity, we hope The Messenger’s stories will be welcomed into every home.www.themessenger.com

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I'm excited for the world to soon see what we have been building over the last few months and to welcome some of the best in the business to The Messenger: Ben Goldberger Amy Eisinger Dan Kaufman David M. Ewalt Thanks Sara Fischer for your support as we head to launch.

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