Top News:
Reuters:
Source: Rupert Murdoch is set to be deposed today and Wednesday as part of the Smartmatic defamation case against Fox Corp — Rupert Murdoch is set to be questioned under oath on Tuesday and Wednesday as part of voting technology company Smartmatic's $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox Corp …
Reuters:
Azerbaijan summons US, French, and German envoys for “illegal financial operations” supporting news outlet Abzas Media, which saw three staff arrested last week — Police in Azerbaijan on Tuesday arrested Aziz Orujev, head of the Kanal 13 internet television channel …
Temur Durrani / Globe and Mail:
Toronto-based venture fund Good Future plans to buy a majority stake in Canadian tech industry publication BetaKit — ////Two former leaders from Shopify Inc. are set to become the majority shareholders of tech-industry publication BetaKit and establish a new advisory board to maintain …
Discussion:
Talking Biz News, @thescribblr, @aratisharma, @cmlplunkett, The Logic, @skanwar, @betakit, @ambermac, @dskok, BetaKit, @jevon, @tobi, @seansilcoff, @skanwar, @tron, @coreyherscu, @skanwar and @jamespmcleod
Oliver Darcy / CNN:
Sources: Paramount and WBD stopped posting under certain corporate handles on X due to brand safety concerns; Disney-affiliated X accounts have also gone dark — The exodus from X is bleeding beyond just major advertisers. — In recent days, a number of prominent media brands …
Deadline:
In a Disney staff town hall a year after CEO Bob Iger's return, executives say they still plan a 2025 streaming launch for ESPN and stress quality over quantity — Bob Iger and top execs stressed a commitment to quality over quantity as the studio's film slate has had a bumpy ride …
Discussion:
Variety, The Wrap, Wall Street Journal and The Hollywood Reporter
Jonathan M. Katz / The Atlantic:
Survey of Substack and Telegram finds “scores” of white supremacist, neo-Confederate, and Nazi newsletters among Substack's ~17K total; over 16 use Nazi symbols — The newsletter platform's lax content moderation creates an opening for white nationalists eager to get their message out.
Max Tani / @maxwelltani:
Memo: WaPo CEO Patty Stonesifer says 120 employees have taken buyouts since October, but if another 120 don't do so in the next two weeks, it will start layoffs — In a memo to staff, Washington Post CEO Patty Stonesifer says 120 employees have accepted buyout packages. If the paper doesn't find another 120 people who will accept buyouts in the next two weeks, it will implement layoffs. [image]
Discussion:
The Hill and The Daily Beast
Pamela McClintock / The Hollywood Reporter:
Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour crosses $250M at the global box office, with $178.2M in North America and $71.8M overseas, and now stands at 19 on the global chart — The concert pic — costing a mere $15 million to make — is one of the most successful and profitable titles of the year.
Discussion:
Variety, @taylorswift13, Billboard, Screen, Gizmodo, @screenrant, The Daily Beast, Polygon, Netflix Junkie, Deadline, Comic Book, Forbes, Deadline, Wall Street Journal, Pitchfork, Los Angeles Times, Vanity Fair, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, The Wrap, Billboard, Forbes, ScreenRant, The Hollywood Reporter, Digital Music News, TVLine and The Messenger
Robyn Dixon / Washington Post:
Russia extends the detention of WSJ journalist Evan Gershkovich for a third time to January 30 — RIGA, Latvia — A Moscow court on Tuesday extended the detention of the Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich until at least Jan. 30, prolonging his imprisonment since March on charges of spying …
Discussion:
Talking Biz News, Committee to Protect …, The Hill, @polinaivanovva, @ychernova, The Daily Beast, Associated Press, UPI, abc7NY, The Sun and The Messenger
Maggie Harrison / Futurism:
Sources: Sports Illustrated published AI-generated articles by fake authors with AI-generated headshots; the outlet now deleted the articles and author pages — There was nothing in Drew Ortiz's author biography at Sports Illustrated to suggest that he was anything other than human.
Discussion:
The Guardian, HuffPost, @sinow, @si_union, Poynter, @jeffpearlman, The Information, Defector, @mattbrownep, Malcolm Lemmons on LinkedIn, The Rebooting, @ethangach, KLFY-TV, Media Nation, @harrymccracken, @bryancurtis, @dvnjr, @jeffeisenband, @rj_cfb, @bypatrickgeorge, @timcast, @albertbreer, @nxthompson, Whitney Stowell on LinkedIn, @derekvanriper, @weareyourfek, @mikeisaac, Gizmodo, Business Insider, @blackamazon, @khaled74, @joepompliano, Barrett Media, @craigcalcaterra, @kimnewsome, @brianbyrdman, @paultassi, @dannypage, @emptyseatspics, @chrismoranuk, @emilymbender, Awful Announcing, Fil Lourenco on LinkedIn, Mediaite, Chico Enterprise-Record, Deadline, New York Post, Fox News, Boing Boing, @w7voa@journa.host, The Hill, TMZ.com, Phil de Haan on LinkedIn, The Wrap, @miasato.2@threads.net, Dustin Gouker on LinkedIn, @stuartathompsonnyt …, Jeff Eisenband on LinkedIn, Sportico, @kashhill@threads.net, Lily Ray on LinkedIn, The Verge, David Fucillo on LinkedIn, Newser, @taylorlorenz@mastodon.social, @Zeb_Larson@zirk.us, @beep@follow.ethanmarcotte.com, @peterbutler@mas.to, @emilygorcenski@indieweb … and @emilymbender@dair …
RELATED:
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Sports Illustrated publisher Arena Group says SI's articles by allegedly fake writers came from AdVon Commerce and that it has ended its partnership with AdVon
Discussion:
@miarsato, @davidfolkenflik, @cdgoldstein, @rmac18, @weareyourfek, @ethangach, @bgrueskin, @jbenton, @nilpholan, @rmac18, @emilybell, @hollyanderson, @dancow, @kvanvalkenburg, @miarsato, MediaPost and Awful Announcing
Armando Tinoco / Deadline:
Max says Looney Tunes is not leaving the service after all, blaming an “error” for including the title in a list of shows leaving the platform, after an outcry — - ‘Agatha: Darkhold Diaries’: First Look At Behind-The-Scenes Filming Of ‘WandaVision’ Spinoff At Disney+
Discussion:
TVLine, Variety, The Wrap, The Verge, @emmatolkin, ScreenRant and UPROXX
New York Times:
How Taiwan uses international media literacy partnerships, fact checkers, and more to fight Chinese disinformation ahead of its January presidential election — Ahead of a presidential election in January, Taiwanese fact checkers and watchdogs say they are ready for Beijing. But they are still worried.
Discussion:
Bloomberg and The Messenger
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Apple says Crime Junkie was the most popular US show of 2023 on Apple Podcasts, followed by The NYT's The Daily, Dateline NBC, SmartLess, and This American Life — Apple has announced the most popular podcasts of 2023 — and true crime once again leads the pack.
Discussion:
TweakTown, Gizmodo, The Messenger and Apple
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