Top News:
Lora Kolodny / CNBC:
Elon Musk dismisses fear of advertisers leaving X after his controversial posts: “If somebody's gonna try to blackmail me with advertising ... go fuck yourself” — - In recent weeks, Musk has promoted and sometimes verbally endorsed what the White House called “antisemitic and racist hate” …
Discussion:
Financial Times, MediaPost, Ars Technica, The Times of Israel, @jd_durkin, @oneunderscore__@threads.net, @brianstelter, @corbinbolies, @coachfinstock.bsky.social, @apocalypticanow.bsky.social, @emptywheel.bsky.social, @drunkenmadman@aus.social, @justinling.bsky.social, Wired, TweakTown, Bill Gately on LinkedIn, @teddyschleifer, Jeremy Smith on LinkedIn, @jbarro, The Wrap, @carloseats, @karaswisher@threads.net, @rmac18, Variety, @drewharwell@threads.net, @williamlegate, 9to5Mac, @scottnover, @larakate, @danprimack, CNN, @joshuajfriedman.com, @aagave, @hollywoodreporter@threads.net, Mary Ellen Armstrong on LinkedIn, David Berkowitz on LinkedIn, The Verge, @sam.robotsfightingdinosaurs …, @drewharwell.com, @brianstelter@threads.net, Wall Street Journal, Elizabeth Rosenberg on LinkedIn, @donniecash818@masto.ai, @teddyschleifer, @scalzi@mastodon.social, @radiofreetom, Kimberly C. on LinkedIn, @drewharwell.com, The Guardian, The Overspill, Gizmodo, Josh Sternberg on LinkedIn, KNSD-TV, @jyarow, The Messenger and Boing Boing, more at Techmeme »
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Kim Masters / The Hollywood Reporter:
Former associates of Linda Yaccarino describe her as difficult and volatile but hardworking, and say high self-regard made her think she could manage Elon Musk — The former NBCUniversal ad sales chief thought she could manage the mercurial Elon Musk. Her former colleagues are baffled at the result …
Discussion:
@nsedef, @halmarshall2309, @karaswisher, The Verge, @nash076, The Information, @thr, Reclaim The Net and Engadget, more at Techmeme »
Jennifer Bowers Bahney / Mediaite:
Elon Musk says organizations that don't pay for X subscriptions don't get recommended, in a reply to a question about X's throttling of The New York Times — Elon Musk sat for a question and answer session with journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin during the 2023 DealBook Summit sponsored by The New York Times.
Discussion:
@matthewborus.bsky.social, @drewharwell@threads.net, Awful Announcing, @mmasnick.bsky.social, @motorcityadam@threads.net, @edmundlee@threads.net, @yonetteajoseph@threads.net, The Verge, @ryanlcooper.com, @w3stfa11@threads.net, @davidcarroll.org and The Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »
Alexandra Topping / The Guardian:
The BBC says Newsnight will become a “30-minute interview, debate, and discussion show” and cuts 30+ jobs to save £7.5M as part of plans to make £500M in cuts — More than half of jobs at flagship BBC Two political programme to be lost as corporation diverts money to digital platforms
Discussion:
BBC, BBC, @markurban01, @robburl, @lewis_goodall, @markayresrws, @jamesrbuk, @katierazz, @katierazz, @katierazz, @scouselakes, @liamfjournalist, @nujofficial, @georgiebingham, @liammustapha, @abdulmohamed02, @lorna_tveditor, @xtophercook, @redmadden, @johnsweeneyroar, @katierazz, @drfrancesryan, @silvesterldn, @jonlis1, @louisdegenhardt, @katierazz, Financial Times, National Union of Journalists … and The Wrap
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CBC News:
Google and Canada reach an agreement in their dispute over the country's Online News Act; Google plans to pay news companies around CA$100M, or ~$74M, per year — Agreement comes 3 weeks before Online News Act rules come into force — Google and the federal government have reached …
Discussion:
Media Voices, The Verge, @andrewlawton, Ars Technica, @bcmerchant, @cpac_tv, @supriyadwivedi, @dangillmor@mastodon.social, @bcmerchant, @bcmerchant, The Hollywood Reporter, Android Headlines, @slikk519, @doncochraneyow, CNN, The Hill, New York Post, Financial Times, Gizmodo, Canadian Press, News/Media Alliance, Bloomberg, iPhone in Canada Blog, Agence France-Presse, Engadget, Android Central, Reuters and @johnefrancis@mastodon.social, more at Techmeme »
Sports Business Journal:
NASCAR announces media rights deals with Amazon's Prime Video, WBD's TNT Sports, Fox Sports, and NBC Sports, for 2025 to 2031; sources: deals are worth $7.7B — NASCAR is on the cusp of announcing $7.7B worth of media rights deals with Fox Sports, NBC, Warner Bros. Discovery and Amazon.
Lisa Richwine / Reuters:
Disney CEO Bob Iger says ABC is not for sale, despite his earlier comment that it might not be “core” to Disney, and he'll “definitely” step down in 2026 — Walt Disney (DIS.N) Chief Executive Bob Iger said on Wednesday he would “definitely” step down when his current contract ends …
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
Analysis: 11 of the 13 local news websites that UK-based Reach plans to close before the end of 2023 saw double-digit percentage audience drops in the past year — Ten sites have announced they will no longer be updated from Thursday. — Eleven of the 13 local news websites being closed …
Institute for Nonprofit News:
The INN board announces that Karen Rundlet will become CEO of the Institute for Nonprofit News on January 8, succeeding Sue Cross — Philanthropy leader and multimedia journalist Karen Rundlet will become chief executive officer of the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN) …
Discussion:
Chris Krewson on LinkedIn and Current
Taylor Lorenz / Washington Post:
Substack rolls out video creation and editing tools to enable creators to publish video podcasts, create interactive AI-made transcripts, and customize clips — Content creators are launching original shows on Substack as the company introduces a suite of new video tools
Discussion:
On Substack, @substackinc, @hamishmckenzie, @substackinc, Tubefilter, @substackinc, Engadget, MediaPost and @taylorlorenz@mastodon.social
Paresh Dave / Wired:
Investigation: Palestinians are excluded from, or face barriers to, monetizing via Google's services, as the region's digital divide comes under new scrutiny — YouTube's revenue sharing for creators and other Google services are shut off or hard to access for people in Palestinian territories.
Discussion:
Paresh Dave on LinkedIn and @voron@mstdn.party
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Netflix plans to add Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy to its mobile app, the App Store, and Google Play on December 14, available to its users at no extra charge — The three classic titles in “Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition" will be available Dec. 14 for Netflix customers …