Top News:
Oliver Darcy / @oliverdarcy:
Fox Corp says Fox Soul “looks forward to interviewing the President for Super Bowl Sunday” and that there was “some initial confusion” about the interview — Update: Fox Corp. just sent me this statement: “After the White House reached out to FOX Soul Thursday evening, there was some initial confusion. FOX Soul looks forward to interviewing the President for Super Bowl Sunday.”
Discussion:
The Hill, The Daily Beast, New York Daily News, @vincecoglianese, CNN and Deadline
RELATED:
CNN:
The White House says Fox Corp canceled a pre-Super Bowl interview with Biden on Fox Soul; Biden declined interview requests with Fox News hosts and anchors — President Joe Biden has snubbed a Fox News request for a pre-Super Bowl interview on Sunday, as the Democratic president continues …
Discussion:
Variety, Variety, New York Times, Mediaite, Bloomberg, Insider, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap, The Hill, Forbes, @oliverdarcy, IndieWire, New York Post, @nycsouthpaw, @tommyxtopher, @isaiah_bb, @claytravis, @tommyxtopher, @oliverdarcy, @oliverdarcy, @geoffpilkington, @blanchardjrb, TVNewsCheck, The Comeback, @ltthompso, @rossalincoln, @variety, @pettylupone, Awful Announcing and Deadline
Christopher Palmeri / Bloomberg:
Sources: Fox turned down $2B+ unsolicited offers for Tubi, which the company acquired for $440M in 2020; Tubi lost ~$50M in Q4 and grew sales 25% YoY to $200M+ — Fox Corp. has turned down unsolicited offers of more than $2 billion for its Tubi streaming service, over four times …
Discussion:
The Streamable, Insider, The Wrap, @tsoh_investing, @tvgrimreaper and Media Play News
Taylor Lorenz / Washington Post:
Report: ads next to tweets posted by 10 extremist accounts that Twitter restored under Elon Musk's “general amnesty” likely generated $19M in annual revenue — Ads from major brands are running alongside hateful content and dangerous conspiracy theories from far right Twitter users, group claims
New York Times:
After a three-month strike, the HarperCollins union and the company reach a tentative deal that includes increasing minimum salaries and a one-time $1,500 bonus — After a three-month strike, the two parties reached a tentative deal that includes wage increases and a one-time bonus.
Discussion:
Vox, Publishers Weekly, @hcpunion, @mclendaniel, @bonesleopard, @liz_a_harris, @maureenjohnson, Associated Press, Wall Street Journal and The Bookseller
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Sources: Amazon is in talks with Times Internet to acquire MX Player, a top VOD streaming service in India; Times Internet acquired MX Player for $140M in 2018 — Amazon is engaging with Times Internet to explore the acquisition of MX Player, one of the largest on-demand video streaming services in India …
Discussion:
The Information and Cord Cutters News, more at Techmeme »
Alex Williams / New York Times:
Marianne Mantell, who co-founded Caedmon, a groundbreaking label that issued recordings of writers reading their words, the precursors to audiobooks, dies at 93 — In her early 20s she co-founded the groundbreaking spoken-word record label Caedmon, which had a hit with Dylan Thomas's “A Child's Christmas in Wales.”
Jenna Burrell / Poynter:
Journalists must challenge the notion that AI will replace humans; ChatGPT proves that finding the truth is trickier than pairing data with the right algorithm — Don't let these tools dazzle you beyond reason. Don't anthropomorphize them. Ask hard questions about what they're purported to do.
Discussion:
@jennaburrell, MediaPost, Boing Boing, @mike_salter, @spj_tweets, @poynter and @datasociety
New York Times:
An excerpt from an upcoming book on the Redstone family and its media empire: how Shari Redstone took control of Paramount, which emerged from CBS and Viacom — Her father doubted her much of her career. Les Moonves launched a bid at CBS to overrule her. That was before sexual misconduct allegations came to light.
Discussion:
@jamesstewartnyt, @benmullin, @nytimes and Bloomberg
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
News Corp plans to cut its headcount by ~5%, or ~1,250 positions, by the end of 2023 and says the company is still in talks to sell its digital real estate unit — The owner of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones was impacted by a difficult economic environment.
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NBC News:
White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield is stepping down at the end of February and will be succeeded by Ben LaBolt — Another core Biden veteran is leaving the administration but the communications director is expected to consult a re-elect campaign.
Discussion:
The White House, The Hollywood Reporter, Mediaite, PRWeek, Axios, CNN, The Hill, The Wrap, New York Post, CBS News, Fox News, @paniskoff, @steveschale, Deadline and Politico
Donie O'Sullivan / @donie:
Harry Lambert / New Statesman:
A look at the UK's Evening Standard and Independent under owner Evgeny Lebedev; while the Indy is profitable, the media outlets have lost £150M over 11 years — Buying British newspapers gave the Lebedevs clout in Tory high politics. Over a decade on, it remains unclear what they hope to achieve.
Discussion:
@newstatesman, @harrytlambert, @newstatesman and @newstatesman
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