Top News:
Lucas Manfredi / The Wrap:
Paramount stock jumps ~14% after reports Skydance Media CEO David Ellison and RedBird Capital's Gerry Cardinale are “kicking the tires” on acquiring its assets — The companies are reportedly interested in parent company National Amusements' majority stake in the media conglomerate
Discussion:
Puck, Deadline, MediaPost, CNBC, Next TV, Matthew Belloni on LinkedIn, The Information, The Hollywood Reporter, @benmullin and Cord Cutters News
Reuters:
After a Reuters report found that Israel fired the shells that killed journalist Issam Abdallah, Israel says Abdallah was in an active combat zone — The Israeli military, responding on Friday to a Reuters investigation that determined its forces killed a Reuters journalist in southern Lebanon on Oct. 13 …
Discussion:
Media Nation, The Wrap, HuffPost, Talking Biz News, CBS News, @jsymmescobb@threads.net, Mediaite, PetaPixel, Why Evolution Is True, The Messenger, UPI and The Guardian
Nick Robertson / The Hill:
ABC News plans to host the sixth Republican presidential primary debate, in New Hampshire on January 18, three days before a CNN debate at the same location — ABC News announced Thursday that it will host the sixth GOP debate on Jan. 18 in Manchester, New Hampshire, set to take place just days before a CNN event at the same location.
Discussion:
Fox News, New York Times, Mediaite, The Daily Beast, WMUR, HuffPost, ABC News, The Messenger, Politico and CNN
RELATED:
CNN:
CNN plans to host two Republican presidential primary debates, set for January 10 in Iowa and for January 21 in New Hampshire; CNN Max will stream both debates
CNN plans to host two Republican presidential primary debates, set for January 10 in Iowa and for January 21 in New Hampshire; CNN Max will stream both debates
Discussion:
Bloomberg, The Hill, Fox News, PolitiFact, Wisconsin Examiner, The Messenger, Politico, Drake University Newsroom, @rondesantis, Associated Press, Newser, @dylanbyers, @daveweigel, @bgrueskin, @a_newsman, @alessandrobenc, @mollyjongfast, @muellershewrote, @dylanbyers, @shanegoldmacher, @cnnpr, New York Times, Mediaite, WFAA-TV, The Daily Beast, UPI, New York Post, The Wrap, Bloomberg and Florida Politics
Lee Enterprises, Inc.:
Lee Enterprises reports Q4 operating revenue down 15.3% YoY to $164M, a net loss of $1.3M, and 721,000 digital-only subscribers, up 36% YoY — Total Digital Revenue(1) was $73M in the quarter, representing 44% of revenue — Digital-only subscribers total 721,000, exceeding guidance and up 36% YOY
Discussion:
MediaPost and @byjonharris
Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:
An experiment involving nearly 1,500 US readers showed that people perceived news outlets as less trustworthy when the outlets labeled articles as AI-generated — “We already expect quite a lot from the public in terms of media literacy to be able to navigate the contemporary information environment …
Discussion:
American Press Institute, @nic221@techhub.social, @joelmathis.bsky.social, Media Voices and Digiday
Poynter:
Challenger, Gray & Christmas: the news sector of the media industry has seen 2,681 job cuts announced through November 2023, more than in all of 2022 or 2021 — The news sector alone has lost 2,681 jobs so far in 2023 — more than it did in all of 2022 or 2021.
Discussion:
Donovan Farnham on LinkedIn, @skyler_higley, @danackerman, Challenger … and Variety
Lisa Heyamoto / LION Publishers:
Lessons from LION's Revenue Growth Fellowship: revenue growth requires operational readiness, a clear strategy, leader involvement, and hiring the right person — How strategy, structure and consistency are essential for revenue growth, and other lessons learned from our Revenue Growth Fellowship
Discussion:
Anika Anand on LinkedIn
Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
An untitled countdown timer viewable only on the Threads.net homepage in EU countries suggests that the service will be expanded to EU users on December 14 — Following its rollout in countries like the US and UK this past July, Threads will finally be expanded to users in the European Union on December 14th.
Discussion:
Engadget, The Messenger, Interhacktives, @Cafeine@mastodon.social, 9to5Google and 9to5Mac, more at Techmeme »
Reuters:
Axel Springer is shutting down its news aggregator app Upday at the end of December and plans to relaunch it as a “trend news generator” driven by AI in 2024 — Axel Springer is shutting down the news outlet Upday, the German publishing giant said on Friday, in plans to revive the brand as a …
Discussion:
Axel Springer SE
Bloomberg:
Sources: sports streaming company DAZN Group, backed by Len Blavatnik, is exploring ways to raise as much as $1B as it seeks to speed its global expansion — - Blavatnik's sports broadcaster holds talks with advisers — CEO previously said DAZN would welcome strategic partners
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: X has held preliminary talks with Amazon to make ads available via Amazon's ad-buying software, and PubMatic, seeking to attract more small advertisers — Social-media platform has had preliminary talks with Amazon to sell ads through e-commerce giant's ad-buying software
Discussion:
PRWeek, The Messenger, Reuters, The Guardian, @iedamarcondes.com, Forbes, The Hill, The Daily Beast, NPR, New York Post, Financial Times and Bloomberg, more at Techmeme »
Sam Kille / Report for America:
Report for America adds dozens of new host newsrooms and opens applications for 50+ new reporting jobs, including seven involving statehouse coverage for the AP — Report for America has announced the selection of dozens of new host newsroom partners while opening applications for just over 50 …
Discussion:
The GroundTruth Project and AZ Luminaria