Happy Hispanic Heritage Month! Whether or not you personally celebrate, no doubt you are seeing more and more companies making a point to do so.

A new report by Latino Data Collaborative and Wells Fargo finds that over the last decade the U.S. Latino economy has grown two and a half times faster than the U.S. non-Latino economy. In 2021, the U.S. Latino economy climbed to $3.2 trillion, up from $2.8 trillion in 2020. So, what does this mean in the grand scheme? Think about the buying power: The U.S. Latino GDP, so to speak, has now surpassed the UK, India, France and Italy and would rank fifth in the world if it was categorized as an independent country.

For U.S. communications efforts, a strategy to reach the Latino population is not just a “nice to have” it’s an imperative and needs to be a business priority.

Kathy Bloomgarden
CEO, Ruder Finn

If Employees Strike, Are You Prepared?

After 148 days of halting work, the Writer’s Guild of America strike came to an end following agreements that involve AI protections, transparency of viewership data from streaming platforms and increased compensation. Hollywood should soon return to normal once the actor’s union, SAG-AFTRA, negotiates a new labor contract. But not all strikes are coming to an end as President Joe Biden walked the picket line with the United Auto Workers outside Detroit this week, marking the first time a sitting president has joined a picket line of workers during a strike. Crises like this can be catastrophic for businesses, but as we learned from UPS who recently avoided its first strike in over 25 years, businesses must be prepared and have a strategy in place to have a genuine dialogue and get ahead of any potential crisis.

AI to Double Productivity in Next Decade

Despite resistance to adopt AI by many, Erik Brynjolfsson, an AI professor at Stanford and top economist, according to Fortune, feels the economy will experience a productivity boom and predicts a doubling of productivity growth over the next decade. He insists that companies need to embrace the technology. Just this week, Meta announced plans with its new AI-powered, celebrity-endorsed, digital assistants. The company will also weave into its platforms written prompts that can do everything from creating digital stickers to completely altering images.

A Disaster of a Debate

The second Republican primary debate was chaotic to say the least. Even without Trump in attendance (he was addressing the UAW strike), the presidential candidates continuously spoke over one another, got into shouting matches and spent much of the debate attacking one another. Viewership was on the decline from the 12.8 million viewers that tuned into the first debate with preliminary data from Nielsen suggesting that less than 10 million viewers tuned into the stations airing the drama. Many critics were left wondering if presidential debates – especially one without the clear frontrunner – have lost their luster, their influence and their relevance. And they’re also wondering, what this all means for the future of the cable networks that air them. Still, combined, Fox News, Fox Business and Univision, the networks airing the debate, garnered a larger audience than any other cable or television network on Wednesday night.

Events

• Reuters: Sustainability Reporting USA
  • October 2-3, 2023
• Fortune CEOI Initiative
  • October 3, 2023
• Fortune Most Powerful Women 2023
  • October 9-11, 2023
• Cell & Gene Meeting on the Mesa
  • October 10-12, 2023

Awards

• Red Dot Award: Product Design
  • Submissions close: September 30, 2023
• Fast Company Most Innovative Companies
  • Submissions close: October 6, 2023
• Business Intelligence Group – Awards for Business
  • Submissions close: October 13, 2023
• Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association – Woman of the Year
  • Submissions close: October 20, 2023

Media Moves

• Rupert Murdoch, the powerful right-wing media mogul who built and oversaw one of the world’s most influential news empires, announced that he will step down as chairman of his companies, Fox Corporation and News Corporation. His son, Lachlan Murdoch, is taking the helm.
• Megan Morrone has started a new role as tech editor for AXIOS. Throughout her career, Morrone has worked for Morning Brew, Protocol Workplace, Medium, and other outlets.
• Technology law reporter Isaiah Poritz has changed his beat at Bloomberg Law to have a more explicit focus on tech and internet law issues. Poritz will be dedicating more coverage to litigation and regulation around artificial intelligence, social media, Section 230 and telecommunications.
• Anna Edgerton has started a new role with Bloomberg News as Seattle bureau chief. Edgerton, who has worked at Bloomberg for over 10 years, continues to cover tech and national security.
• CBS News has promoted Beth Chalcraft-Boyle to national and planning editor. She previously served as the publication’s deputy national editor.
• Matt Goldberghas joined CBS News and Stations as VP and news director. In his new role, he will oversee the production of nine straight hours of local news each weekday.
• FOX News Channel (FNC) has named Lawrence Jonesas a co-host of the network’s FOX & Friends
• The Guardian US has appointed Callum Jones, previously with The Times of London, as deputy US business editor. Jones spent nine years with The Times and took on the role of US business correspondent in 2021.
• The New York Times has made the following appointments:
  • Shauntel Lowe has moved to Metro, where she will take over as editor in charge of the weekly Metropolitan section.

• • Hilary Moss has been promoted to deputy editor, visuals, for the Home team. Moss has worked at The Times for over nine years, initially on T Magazine, followed by the Newsroom Product team, before joining the Home team in late 2022.
  • Emmanuel Morgan has moved to the Culture team as a general assignment reporter.
  • Pulitzer Prize winner Brian Rosenthal has been tapped by the publication and will join its investigations team as a reporter.
  • Hanna Ingber has been tapped by the publication to serve as a special projects editor on the Express desk.
  • Hilary Moss, a senior editor on The Times’ Home team, has been appointed deputy editor, visuals.

• POLITICO has hired Kelsey Griffin as a digital producer. Griffin recently graduated from Harvard University, where she worked on student newspaper The Harvard Crimson, latterly as associate managing editor.
• Bryan Pietsch has been named as an international breaking news reporter for The Washington Post.
• The Washington Post has appointed Charles Lane and Stephen Stromberg as deputy opinion editors, assuming joint leadership of the editorial board. They succeed Karen Tumulty, who has returned to writing columns on politics and America, in advance of the 2024 campaign.

Image of the Week

Thanks to Taylor Swift’s large and loyal fan base, “Swifties,” Kansas City Chiefs’ tight end Travis Kelce saw a 400% increase in jersey sales following rumors of romance sparked by Swift’s acceptance of an invitation from the NFL player to attend his game this past weekend (ABC News).