Tribune Media CEO Peter Liguori to step down

Tribune Media CEO Peter Liguori is leaving Tribune Media after three years leading the TV news and entertainment company.

Liguori, who will step down in March, said in a statement his decision to exit the company that needed “a new leader” to navigate the broadcast-centric corporation.

Tribune Media — then known as Tribune Company — spun off its newspapers into a separate company, Tribune Publishing, in 2014. Its stock price has declined since 2014, falling sharply to $28.98 from a two-year high of $69.75 in December 2014.

Peter Kern, who sits on the company’s board of directors, will serve as interim chief executive while Tribune Media replaces Liguori.

Liguori has been head of Tribune Media since 2013. Before that, he was Chief Operating Officer of Discovery Communications, a position he attained after serving as chairman of entertainment for Fox.

Benjamin Mullin is the managing editor of Poynter.org. He previously reported for Poynter as a staff writer, Google Journalism Fellow and Naughton Fellow, covering journalism innovation, business practices and ethics. He’s also reported for USA TODAY College and The Sacramento Bee, and he was editor in chief of The Orion, Chico State’s student-run newspaper. An Air Force brat who grew up around Northern California, he’s still adjusting to the Florida sunshine.