Top News:
Pamela McClintock / The Hollywood Reporter:
Disney confirms pulling a transgender storyline from animated series Win or Lose, saying “many parents would prefer to discuss certain subjects” with their kids — The original animated show about a co-ed high school team debuts on Disney+ in February.
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Brooks Barnes / New York Times:
Sources: Disney worried that it had a flawed case in Trump's ABC lawsuit, and fighting it could hurt the Disney brand and damage press protections for others — Talks started and finished on the same day, after Disney decided that fighting the lawsuit could potentially hurt the company and protections for the press.
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Wall Street Journal:
Several ABC News staffers say its Trump settlement sets a concerning precedent and sends a message that Disney is giving priority to its corporate interests — Staffers question decision by Disney; company was looking to avoid protracted legal battle — Disney's decision …
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TVNewsCheck, Daily Kos, Twitchy, @bruno_j_navarro …, @preciouslarue.bsky.social, @swin24.bsky.social, @brunojnavarro.bsky.social, @jbflint, @bartona104.bsky.social, @lisafung.bsky.social, @photoframd.bsky.social, @carlquintanilla.bsky.social, @owillis.bsky.social, @jbflint, Raw Story, RedState and Reuters
Mark Kleinman / Sky News:
Letter: The Scott Trust's deal to sell the Observer to Tortoise came despite a last-minute bid from Ecotricity founder Dale Vince to thwart the deal — Ecotricity founder Dale Vince made a fresh bid on Wednesday morning to prevent the world's oldest Sunday newspaper from falling into Tortoise Media's hands, Sky News can reveal.
Discussion:
The Times, London Evening Standard, RTÉ, City A.M. and Associated Press
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Erik Wemple / Washington Post:
A look at GOP attacks on local news outlets across the US, including the Lancaster County Board of Commissioners' harrassment of LNP reporter Tom Lisi — Republicans claim Tom Lisi's reporting is lies to promote a liberal agenda. How should he respond? — On Feb. 1, Tom Lisi took a seat …
Michael Schneider / Variety:
Channing Dungey, incoming WBD CEO of US networks, names Brett Paul as COO and Howard Lee as chief creative officer; Dungey is succeeding retiring Kathleen Finch — That includes expanding duties for her top lieutenant at Warner Bros. TV Group, Brett Paul, who will now also serve as chief operating officer for U.S. networks.
Discussion:
The Wrap, TVNewsCheck, The Information, The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline
Harry McCracken / Fast Company:
Flipboard launches Surf, an app to create custom feeds from Mastodon, Threads, Bluesky, RSS, podcasts, and YouTube, in beta on iOS, Android, and iPadOS — Surf weaves Mastodon, Threads, Bluesky, RSS feeds, podcasts, and YouTube into something that wouldn't have been possible until recently.
Discussion:
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Katcy Stephan / Variety:
Amazon says Red One, which opened at just $32M in the US last month, had a record-breaking 50M worldwide viewers in its opening weekend on Prime Video — It's a December to remember for Prime Video. Per the streamer, the Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans Christmas flick “Red One” …
Discussion:
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Mark Stenberg / Adweek:
The NYT's Wirecutter partners with Google to add buttons with phrases like “Shop nearby with Google” to 150 curated products from December 20 to December 26 — The partnership is the biggest to date for Wirecutter, which started advertising this spring
Discussion:
Leilani Han on LinkedIn and @markstenberg3
BBC:
Analysis of Facebook data: audience engagement for Palestinian news outlets fell 77% since October 2023; the outlets say Meta severely restricted their reach — BBC Arabic, BBC World Service & BBC Monitoring — Facebook has severely restricted the ability of Palestinian news outlets …
Bloomberg:
Marc Benioff said there is “no deal on the table” to sell Time, which he has owned since 2018; a report in November said Antenna Group was in talks to buy it — “It's extremely important that we do have fair and balanced journalism, and that's why I'm very proud to be an owner of Time …
Discussion:
MediaPost, @signalandnoise.bsky.social and Fortune
Jacqui Shine / Wall Street Journal:
As demand for ghostwriters grows, high-end writers see higher salaries and more complex deals; survey: one in three reported earning more than $100,000/year — Shifts in the book industry have been a boon to writers who work quietly behind the scenes — Reality stars don't typically pride themselves on their literary prowess.
Discussion:
Dan Gerstein on LinkedIn and Gotham Ghostwriters
CBS News:
SCOTUS says it will hear a challenge on January 10 to a new law that could lead to a TikTok ban in the US, ahead of the law taking effect on January 19 — Washington — The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it will take up a challenge to a new law that could lead to a ban on TikTok in the U.S …
Discussion:
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Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Some US groups are building resources to defend against Trump lawsuits, and should gather lawyers, money, and people who know how to respond to performance art — In the wake of Donald Trump's election victory and promised revenge tour, a number of individuals have proposed the creation …
Discussion:
Raw Story, Digby's Hullabaloo, @sykescharlie, @robfardon, @spytalker, @joshtpm.bsky.social, @brendannyhan.bsky.social, @rwarnick.bsky.social, @joshtpm.bsky.social, @joshtpm.bsky.social, @joshtpm.bsky.social, @jayrosen.bsky.social, @emptywheel.bsky.social, @emptywheel.bsky.social, @emptywheel.bsky.social and @emptywheel.bsky.social
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Richard J. Tofel / Columbia Journalism Review:
ABC needs to answer questions about its $16M settlement with Trump in a libel case, especially whether it is changing accountability coverage of those in power
ABC needs to answer questions about its $16M settlement with Trump in a libel case, especially whether it is changing accountability coverage of those in power
Discussion:
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