Mediagazer

9:40 AM ET, December 15, 2025

Top News:

Chris Morris / Variety:

Acclaimed actor and director Rob Reiner, 78, and his wife Michele Singer were found dead in their home; LAPD is investigating the deaths as a homicide — Rob Reiner, who segued from starring in “All in the Family” to directing movies including “This Is Spinal Tap,” “A Few Good Men” and …

Discussion: TMZ.com, People, NBC Los Angeles, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, ABC7, @mayorofla, TVNewsCheck, Daily Mail, New York Post, E! Online, Page Six, Wall Street Journal, New York Sun, Sandra Rose, Us Weekly, Entertainment News, TODAY.com, The Hill, @jbenton, Suggest, WPXI-TV, FemaleFirst, NewsMax.com, GamesRadar, Townhall, Daily Star, Washington Post, NPR, Dexerto, Fortune, InStyle, Empire, France 24, El País, The Sun, Mirror, Fox News, NBC News, Nicki Swift, @erikdavis, Rolling Stone, Le Monde, Forbes, The Hollywood Reporter, @letterboxd, Breitbart, @da__dealer, RADAR, World of Reel, @nickterrymgr, @angus.bsky.social, @reallorispencer, Deadline, The Indian Express, The Japan Times, USA Today, The Scottish Sun, The Forward, The Wrap, Looper, TVLine, Vogue, NDTV Profit, @lonsj.bsky.social, Comic Book, @trumanswhack, @fightingliberal.bsky.social, @tjandcasper, Pasadena Star News, Lawyer Monthly, RedState, @phillewis.bsky.social, Entertainment Weekly, Raw Story, @vronskies, @yashar, Extra, @spongebobsloth, @ceo_branding, @variety, @michaeljstern.bsky.social, @collinrugg, WWL-TV, The Post Millennial, NBC Bay Area, Benzinga, @theflickpick, @richarderoeper, /Film, The Guardian, UPI, Gizmodo, @antonia2024bsky.bsky.social, Vanity Fair, Advocate, @madgreek2024.bsky.social, TV Insider, Business Insider, @variety, @sherripizza, Consequence, @danielsilvabook, David Earl Williams III on LinkedIn, CBS News, HELLO!, IndieWire, Channel2 NOW, @elex_michaelson, @stylesgala, @unhealthytruth, New York Daily News, Oh No They Didn't!, Press Telegram, CNBC, Just Jared, IJR and Washington Examiner

Rose Henderson / Bloomberg:

Memo: Greg Peters and Ted Sarandos lay out Netflix's WBD case, moving to quell concerns about job losses and the end of theater releases, after Paramount's bid — The two chief executive officers of Netflix Inc. laid out the company's case for acquiring Warner Bros Discovery Inc. …

Discussion: Variety, Business Insider, Reuters and @mgsiegler, more at Techmeme »

Scott Fitzgerald / Wall Street Journal:

Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on antitrust, argues consumers stand to benefit from Netflix's acquisition of WBD — Consumers stand to benefit from Netflix's acquisition of Warner. — In a crossover event fit for Hollywood, Netflix is acquiring Warner Bros …

Rohan Goswami / Semafor:
In a letter to the Trump administration, the GOP Senatorial Committee Chair Sen. Tim Scott said the Netflix-WBD deal raises “significant antitrust problems”

Discussion: Chris Heatherly on LinkedIn, U.S. Senator Tim Scott …, Gizmodo and The Wrap

Lauren Hirsch / New York Times:
Sources: WBD chose Netflix partly fearing limited recourse if Paramount's bid failed, since Larry Ellison has not provided a personal guarantee

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Paul Krugman, CBC News, Livemint, Front Office Sports, Fortune and Mobile World Live

Mike Masnick / Techdirt:

How media coverage of Trump's AI EO overstated federal authority over states and overlooked how the order's interstate commerce argument could backfire — The mainstream media just failed a basic civics test so badly that you'd think their brains have been pickled by the kinds of folks who spend all their time on X (oh, wait...).

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Major brands were replaced by direct-response advertisers during commercial breaks of CBS News' December 13 town hall with Erika Kirk, moderated by Bari Weiss — During a Saturday-night town hall led by Bari Weiss, the recently named editor in chief of CBS News, most of Madison Avenue sought an off-ramp.

Max Tani / Semafor:

Internal tests show WaPo launched its AI podcast feature despite 68%+ of generated scripts failed its standards, saying it would “iterate through” the issues — The Scoop — The Washington Post began putting out AI-generated podcasts even after internal tests found …

Discussion: @maxwelltani, @status.news, @oliverdarcy.bsky.social, Futurism, NPR, The Wrap, Status, Instapundit, TVNewsCheck and Mediaite

Kanis Leung / Associated Press:

Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai is found guilty of colluding with foreign forces to endanger national security and conspiring to publish seditious articles — Jimmy Lai, the former Hong Kong media mogul and outspoken critic of Beijing, was convicted in a landmark national security trial …

Freddy Mayhew / Press Gazette:

PA Media, the UK's largest press agency, says it has adopted a “video-first” strategy to meet increased demand for live and vertical social media content — PA has adopted a “video-first” approach to its content offering in response to increased demand for live and vertical video content …

Sara Fischer / Axios:NEW!

WSJ launches Free Expression, a newsletter-focused opinion brand that will be available via its own channels and Substack, initially offering free content — The Wall Street Journal on Monday launched “Free Expression,” a newsletter-focused opinion brand that will be available via its own channels and Substack.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal and @sarafischer

Will McCurdy / PCMag:

Amazon rolls out Ask This Book to the Kindle iOS app, letting readers ask questions about plot or characters; authors can't opt out — Whether you're reading dense, challenging 19th-century classics or the latest thriller, sometimes even the best readers lose track of what's actually going on …

Discussion: Engadget, Writer Beware, 9to5Mac, The Verge, @carnage4life.bsky.social, @hypervisible.blacksky.app and Reactor

Anna Heim / TechCrunch:

Berlin-based Mirelo, whose AI models can interpret video content to add matching sound effects, raised a $41M seed led by Index and a16z, after a $3M pre-seed — AI lets anyone create videos, but many AI video creation tools lack support for audio. Mirelo is building AI that adds soundtracks to match the video's action.

Discussion: Mirelo AI, Florian Wenzel on LinkedIn, Tech Funding News and Index Ventures, more at Techmeme »

Elias Leight / Wall Street Journal:

Christmas music is more popular than ever, with listeners embracing it earlier in the year; by December 10, 20 of Spotify's top 25 tracks were Christmas-themed — One music manager described a holiday hit as a ‘little ATM machine’ — The group Pentatonix are known for their a capella renditions of Christmas classics.

Discussion: Barrett Media and Raw Story

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More News:

Paul Sonne / New York Times:
A profile of Ivan Urgant, a popular Russian late-night TV host who became a pariah after his suspension in February 2022 for opposing the invasion of Ukraine

Discussion: @michaeljstern.bsky.social

Lauren Edmonds / Business Insider:
Filing: Reddit says in its lawsuit against Australia's social media ban that it's “a collection of public fora” and social interaction isn't its “sole purpose”

Discussion: MediaNama, @businessinsider.com, BMI, Breitbart, Gizmodo, iPhone in Canada, Engadget, Telegraph, TechCrunch and Biometric Update

Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
A look at financial advice YouTuber Caleb Hammer, who has over 2M subscribers and 60K to 70K subscribers paying $9.99/month for exclusive content

Discussion: @dannygroner.bsky.social

Sarah Holder / Bloomberg:
A look at Netflix House in Philadelphia, a new 100K sq. ft. location for in-person experiences, which resembles a Disneyland attraction and a Dave & Buster's

Discussion: Esquire, Visit Philadelphia, The Hollywood Reporter and Sarah Holder on LinkedIn

Trip Gabriel / New York Times:
R. Bruce Dold, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist at the Chicago Tribune, where he became editor-in-chief and publisher, is dead at 70

Discussion: @raylong, Tony Hunter on LinkedIn, Colin McMahon on LinkedIn, Notre Dame Magazine, Chicago Tribune and Chicago Tribune

Pamela McClintock / The Hollywood Reporter:
Disney's Zootopia 2 surpasses $1B at the global box office, the fastest PG-rated film to do so after just 17 days in release

Discussion: Variety, @disneyanimation, @discussingfilm, @drewdisneydude, The A.V. Club, Vulture, LAmag, Reuters, People, The Walt Disney Company, Forbes, Screen, Deadline, The Movie Blog, Deadline, CNBC, The Wrap, Variety and Comic Book

Earlier Picks:

Gene Maddaus / Variety:
Google has removed dozens of AI videos from YouTube that depicted Disney characters, after Disney sent a cease-and-desist letter flagging the links

Discussion: Android Central, Beyond Search, Tech Times, Breitbart, Engadget, Alejandro Franceschi on LinkedIn, TheStreet, WinBuzzer, @carnage4life.bsky.social, Gizmodo, Mashable, Far Out Magazine, Deadline, Android Headlines, Digital Music News and Analytics India Magazine

Aidan Ryan / The Boston Globe:
Boston Globe editor Nancy Barnes steps down from her role but will remain on staff as editor-at-large; she joined the paper as the first female editor in 2023

Discussion: WPRI-TV, WBUR, Boston Business Journal and Media Nation

Financial Times:
OpenAI hopes the Disney deal boosts Sora, which has high costs and limited traction; Sensor Tower: users average 13 minutes per day on Sora vs. 90 on TikTok

Discussion: Nikkei Asia and MediaNama

Sam Roberts / New York Times:
Arthur L. Carter, who started a Connecticut newspaper in 1981, bought and sold The Nation, and founded the New York Observer in 1987, has died at 93

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
Sources: DMGT has locked down funding for its £500M acquisition of the Telegraph, in a funding package expected to comprise equity and debt

Discussion: The Guardian and The Times

From Techmeme:

Bloomberg:
iRobot files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and reaches a restructuring agreement to hand over control to its secured lender and main Chinese supplier Shenzhen Picea

Financial Times:
DTCC: credit default swaps tied to a handful of US tech groups have climbed 90% since early September, as investors seek ways to protect against an AI debt bust

Financial Times:
Sources: the UK government wants Apple, Google, and others to block explicit images at the OS level by default to protect kids and have adults verify their ages

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