Mediagazer: Cloudflare Radar: TikTok has nearly bounced back to its original traffic levels after usage fell 85% when the app temporarily shut down on January 19 (Zach Vallese/CNBC)

5:05 PM ET, January 31, 2025

Top News:

The FCC requested footage and a transcript of 60 Minutes' Kamala Harris interview as it reviews the Paramount-Skydance merger; CBS News is working to comply — Government has asked for footage, transcript from the segment, which is the subject of a lawsuit against CBS by President Trump

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Variety, @jameeljaffer.bsky.social, @agomezfcc, @agomezfcc, @agomezfcc, @jeffjarvis.bsky.social, @adamsteinbaugh.bsky.social, @jbflint, The Hollywood Reporter, Associated Press and Deadline

New York Times:

Sources: Paramount is in talks with Donald Trump to settle his $10B 60 Minutes lawsuit, believing a deal would persuade Trump to not block its planned merger — A settlement, if reached, would be an extraordinary concession by a major U.S. media company to a sitting president.

Discussion: Status, The Wrap, Reason, Business Insider, Townhall, HotAir, One America News Network, Ace of Spades HQ, Fox News, The Post Millennial, Fortune, The Ankler, So What, @ericumansky.bsky.social, The Independent, @brianstelter, @brianstelter, @brianstelter, @briankrebs@infosec.exchange, Adweek, @brianstelter, @whstancil.bsky.social, Washington Examiner, @notjessewalker.bsky.social, @brianstelter, @sherman4949, @joshsternberg.com, The Bulwark, @timkarr.bsky.social, @stevenbodzin@thepit.social, @artcandee.bsky.social, @kairyssdal.bsky.social, @spignal.bsky.social, @dfriedman.bsky.social, @daveweigel.bsky.social, The Daily Wire, Mediaite, @jasonzinoman.bsky.social, Raw Story, @greenwell.bsky.social, @aricohn.com, @benmullin.bsky.social, The Wrap, @ianbassin.bsky.social, @reckless.bsky.social, @radleybalko.bsky.social, @coachfinstock.bsky.social, @davidenrich.bsky.social, Vanity Fair, Althouse and WPMT

Brian Stelter / CNN:

Sources: some CBS News journalists express alarm over reports that Paramount is trying to settle a Trump lawsuit; others say a settlement may look like a bribe — Journalists, including some at CBS News, are expressing alarm at reports that CBS parent company Paramount Global is trying …

Discussion: New York Times, Pocket-lint, The Gateway Pundit, New York Post, Livemint, Daily Kos, UPI and AV Club, more at Techmeme »

Stephanie Kirchgaessner / The Guardian:

WhatsApp says it disrupted a campaign in which 90 journalists and other members of civil society were targeted using spyware from Israel-based Paragon — Messaging app said it had ‘high confidence’ some users were targeted and ‘possibly compromised’ by Paragon Solutions spyware

Discussion: @pennythecatlady.bsky.social, @evacide.bsky.social, Al Jazeera, Engadget, Bloomberg, Reuters, @bing_chris, @natynettle, @fightforthefuture.org, TechCrunch, @malonebarry, @taliajane.bsky.social, @steffanwatkins, @glynmoody@mastodon.social and The Verge, more at Techmeme »

Mark Stenberg / Adweek:

Forbes announces layoffs that will affect roughly 5% of its total workforce; new CEO Sherry Phillips blames financial underperformance for the cuts — The cuts come after the publisher failed to meet its 2024 financial goals — The business news publisher Forbes announced a sweeping round …

Discussion: The Wrap, Talking Biz News and Mark Stenberg on LinkedIn

Alexander Lee / Digiday:

LinkedIn says short-form video is its fastest-growing content category, and total video viewership grew 36% YoY between October 30, 2024 and January 29, 2025 — LinkedIn's ongoing efforts to woo video creators paid off in the past few months, according to new figures shared by the company.

Discussion: Andie Rodriguez on LinkedIn, Miranda Head on LinkedIn, Haley Deming on LinkedIn, Catherine Taibi Autorino on LinkedIn, @trevorjd.bsky.social and @alexleewastaken, more at Techmeme »

Sharon Knolle / The Wrap:

Eric Reinhart, who wrote an op-ed for the LAT, says his lines highly critical of RFK Jr. were deleted and a misleading headline was added supporting RFK Jr. — A writer who penned an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times warning of the dangers of confirming Robert F. Kennedy Jr …

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Chuck Todd is leaving NBC News after joining in 2007; in a memo, Chuck Todd said his podcast Chuck Toddcast would be “coming with me” — Chuck Todd, the former “Meet the Press” moderator, is leaving NBC News, he told colleagues in a memo issued Friday, a move he's making in order …

Mark Stenberg / Adweek:

The conservative news outlet The Dispatch is staffing up and expanding its ad business; the outlet has ~50K subs and generated between $5M-$10M in 2024 revenue — With a subscriber base of nearly 50,000, the center-right title is now taking a measured approach to building its ads business

Discussion: @simonowens and @markstenberg3

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Adobe Chief Strategy Officer Scott Belsky leaves the company to join A24 film studio as a partner; he co-founded Behance, which Adobe acquired for $150M in 2012 — Belsky is an entrepreneur, author and creator who in 2006 founded Behance, an online platform that is used by more than 50 million professionals …

Discussion: The Adobe Blog, @dobata, @kayvz, @mignano, @om, @scottbelsky, The Verge, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline and Bloomberg, more at Techmeme »

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:

WBD and UK-based Cutting Edge Group strike a $1B+ deal to create a joint venture that will own and manage almost 100 years of film and television music — US company creates joint venture to own and manage almost 100 years of film and television music — Warner Bros Discovery has struck …

Discussion: TVNewsCheck, The Hollywood Reporter and Cutting Edge Group

Thomas Seal / Bloomberg:

Instagram and Facebook, which blocked news links in Canada, are hosting hundreds of scam ads pretending to be from news outlets ahead of Canadian elections — - Images of public figures and billionaire used in fake ads — Bogus ads fuel foreign interference fear before election

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More News:

Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:
The estate of Superman co-creator Joseph Shuster files a lawsuit alleging DC Comics' rights to Superman expired in 2017 and 2021 in UK, Canada, other markets

Discussion: The Wrap, TVNewsCheck, SlashFilm, Variety, Reuters, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter and Just Jared

Zach Vallese / CNBC:
Cloudflare Radar: TikTok has nearly bounced back to its original traffic levels after usage fell 85% when the app temporarily shut down on January 19

Discussion: Digital Music News, PR Daily, 9to5Mac, The Verge, Sherwood News and ICYMI, more at Techmeme »

Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Charter lost 123,000 video subscribers in Q4 vs. a decline of 257,000 in Q4 2023, ending 2024 with 12.9M total video customers, down ~9% from the end of 2023

Discussion: Light Reading, TVNewsCheck, Charter Communications, Benzinga, Media Play News, @waltlightshed, Bloomberg, @tvgrimreaper and The Hollywood Reporter

Chris Stokel-Walker / Sherwood News:
How Robert Kennedy Jr. implementing his proposal to ban pharmaceutical ads on TV, if he is confirmed as HHS secretary, could reshape the advertising landscape

Discussion: @stokel.bsky.social and Mediaite

Paul Sonne / New York Times:
Experts say the Kremlin's throttling of YouTube is driving Russians to state-controlled platforms; Google data shows Russian traffic to YouTube is down ~66% YoY

more at Techmeme »

Chase McCleary / Reposting vs. reporting:
How resident-run Facebook groups in Colorado are filling the void left by shuttered local newsrooms; in three counties, Facebook groups are the only news source

Discussion: Simon Owens on LinkedIn and Sarah Stonbely, PhD on LinkedIn

Earlier Picks:

CNBC:
Apple Services revenue reached an all-time high of $26.34B in Q1, up 14% YoY, beating estimates and helping lift the company's gross margin to a record 46.9%

Tess Patton / The Wrap:
Over 25 streaming partners including Disney+, Apple TV+, Netflix, and Prime Video simulcasted the FireAid fundraiser for Los Angeles, bypassing linear TV

Kelsey Warner / Semafor:
Abu Dhabi's English-language newspaper The National laid off 28 journalists; sources: cuts included employees on the multimedia, digital, and foreign desks

Discussion: @msergie

Reuters:
Sources: ITV has been holding early talks with Abu Dhabi-backed RedBird IMI about a potential merger of their production businesses, ITV Studios and All3Media

Discussion: The Times, Variety, Yahoo Finance and Deadline

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Amazon is ramping up ad spending on X, as companies re-evaluate their stances in a changing political climate; source: Apple considers a return to X

Discussion: The Post Millennial, TVNewsCheck, @dcjohnson.bsky.social, Patrick Notaro on LinkedIn, Jessica Toonkel on LinkedIn, Benzinga, The Wrap, Fox Business, @hallijayne.bsky.social, AppleInsider, Reuters, New York Post, @gregorthemendel.bsky.social, 9to5Mac, MacRumors, @rmac.bsky.social and The Information

From Techmeme:

Tripp Mickle / New York Times:
Sources: Tim Cook approved a plan to double the AI chip budget for John Giannandrea's team in 2023, but CFO Luca Maestri cut the increase to less than half that

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
OpenAI plans to retire GPT-4, launched in March 2023, from ChatGPT on April 30, to be “fully replaced” by GPT-4o; GPT-4 will remain available via OpenAI's API

Erin Woo / The Information:
Source: Google cuts hundreds of employees in its platforms and devices unit, which works on Android, Pixel, and Chrome, after offering buyouts in January 2025

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