Mediagazer: Connected TV ad platform MNTN files for a US IPO; the company, which has actor Ryan Reynolds as chief creative officer, raised a $119M Series D in 2021 (Bailey Lipschultz/Bloomberg)

5:55 AM ET, March 1, 2025

Top News:

David Folkenflik / NPR:

Source: more than 75,000 Washington Post digital subscribers have cancelled their subscriptions following Jeff Bezos' overhaul of the paper's opinion section — More than 75,000 digital subscribers to The Washington Post have cancelled since its owner, billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos …

Jaden Amos / Axios:

Trump says he had dinner with Jeff Bezos on February 26, the day Bezos announced that WaPo's opinion pages would focus on personal liberties and free markets — - “I never even understood it,” Trump said. … - In July 2024, Bezos privately urged Trump to choose Doug Burgum as his vice president …

Discussion: @shelleybwoke.bsky.social, @mehdirhasan.bsky.social, @rewhan.bsky.social, @screw-reality.bsky.social, @cemck.bsky.social, @wagatwe.com, The Independent, The Wrap, American Prospect, Daily Mail, Columbia Journalism Review and @maxwelltani

Gene Weingarten / The Gene Pool:
Source: The Washington Post's media critic Erik Wemple wrote about the changes at its opinion section, but the piece was killed

Discussion: The Post Millennial, HuffPost, New York Post, @joshgerstein, @jpodhoretz, @jonathanchait, Eric Anderson on LinkedIn, @muwxguy.bsky.social, @jongorey@threads.net, @froomkin.bsky.social, Deseret News and CNN

Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:
Jeff Bezos' opinion section changes contradict his October 2024 edict that WaPo won't endorse a presidential candidate because it can't be seen as taking a side

New York Times:

Sources: VOA's parent opened probes into VOA journalists for reporting on criticism of Trump or for comments seen as critical; Steve Herman was placed on leave — The broadcaster placed a longtime journalist on leave amid growing concerns about its editorial independence.

Discussion: NPR, @mattmihaly.com, @tomaskenn, @davidenrich.bsky.social, @noupside.bsky.social, Raw Story, @kairyssdal.bsky.social, @lizzieohreally.bsky.social, @ampersine@mastodon.online, @pattyshea.bsky.social, @kaedotcom, The Daily Signal, @taniel.bsky.social, @noupside.bsky.social, @leahmcelrath.bsky.social and Voice of America

CNN:

A TASS journalist gained access to Trump's meeting with Zelensky, even as AP and Reuters were barred; the White House says he was unauthorized and escorted out — A member of Russia's state-owned news agency gained access to the Oval Office on Friday to cover President Trump's sit …

Erik Hayden / The Hollywood Reporter:

Golden Globes President Helen Hoehne tells about 50 paid voting members that they will no longer get salaries; they'll be offered severance of $102,500 — President Helen Hoehne informed an estimated 50 members that they'd receive severance for their deal as the awards show brand aims …

Discussion: Deadline, @mattbelloni, Variety, Los Angeles Times and The Wrap

Greg Bensinger / Reuters:

Amazon says it has cut “a small number” of jobs at its Wondery podcast unit; Wondery closed its operations in Brazil and Mexico earlier in February — Amazon.com (AMZN.O) cut “a small number” of jobs at its Wondery podcast unit, known for “Dr. Death” and “Business Wars,” …

Katie Kilkenny / The Hollywood Reporter:

NBC News' digital newsroom union and its ~300 members, represented by the NewsGuild of NY, reach a tentative contract deal, its first since forming in 2019 — The union, first formed in 2019, is set to vote on a provisional deal covering issues of wages, layoffs and forced arbitration on Tuesday.

Discussion: Fox Business, @nbcnewsguild, @kalhanr, @joemurph, @carlinmccarthy, The NewsGuild and @newsguild.org

Oliver Darcy / Status:

Sources: in a tense meeting with journalists, Pentagon Press Secretary Sean Parnell said he'll end the travel pool and implied reporters “trash the warfighter” — Inside a tense off-the-record meeting, the Pentagon's new press chief confronted reporters and indicated they will do away …

Discussion: Mediaite, Townhall, Newsbusters, @dodresponse, @sashotodorov.bsky.social, @cthomasjamh.bsky.social, TVNewsCheck, @oliverdarcy.bsky.social, @oliverdarcy.bsky.social, @ohiorob.bsky.social, @moivtx.bsky.social, @timtrautmann.com and @status.news

S.V. Date / HuffPost:
The US political press has not dealt with autocrats working this hard to seize power; trading soft coverage for access could fail media audiences and democracy

Discussion: MSNBC, The Atlantic, @joeperticone, @fritschner, @dwass, @andrewfeinberg, @svdate, @brianstelter, @lizskalka, @arifleischer, @afrakroon.bsky.social, @blueangie.bsky.social and Daily Kos

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

NBCU Chair Cesar Conde says the company will launch a “mobile-first” news outlet in Q4 2025, featuring short- and long-form videos from NBC News talent and more — NBCUniversal is working on what its top news executive called a “mobile-first” news outlet that it expects to launch in the fourth quarter of this year.

Discussion: Broadband TV News, Semafor, Adweek, NewscastStudio and Deadline

Bailey Lipschultz / Bloomberg:

Connected TV ad platform MNTN files for a US IPO; the company, which has actor Ryan Reynolds as chief creative officer, raised a $119M Series D in 2021 — MNTN Inc., a connected TV advertising platform that counts Hollywood star Ryan Reynolds as its chief creative officer …

Discussion: Reuters

Ted Johnson / Deadline:

FCC Chair Brendan Carr says the Skydance-Paramount merger review is far from finished and defends his solicitation of comments on a complaint about 60 Minutes — FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said that the agency's review of the proposed Skydance-Paramount Global merger is far from finished …

Discussion: @tvgrimreaper, @bsdtectr.bsky.social, TVNewsCheck, C-SPAN.org, Free Press, @punkonbuslives.bsky.social, New York Post, New York Times, TVNewsCheck, The Hill, Variety, Semafor, Reuters and Adweek

Jake Kanter / Deadline:

GB News wins a landmark broadcasting code case as a UK judge overturns an Ofcom ruling that said GB News broke impartiality rules with Jacob Rees-Mogg's show — In a High Court ruling, a judge found that Ofcom was unlawful in determining that GB News breached broadcasting rules …

Discussion: @nigel_farage, @gbnews, TVNewsCheck, Press Gazette, Financial Times, Telegraph, @bubbaprog.lol, Variety, GB News, GB News and Mirror

Dade Hayes / Deadline:

Disney sells out ad inventory for Oscars 2025, which will stream on Hulu for the first time; source: 30-second spots went for $1.7M to $2.3M, in line with 2024 — Advertising inventory for Sunday's Oscar telecast is sold out, Disney has confirmed, with pricing said to be holding steady with 2024 levels.

Discussion: MediaPost, Rolling Stone, Adweek, Marketing Brew, The Wrap and Variety

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 5:55 AM ET, March 1, 2025.

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Who's Hiring in Media?

Energy & Commodities Editor, Tokyo — Bloomberg

Politics Reporter, TX — Texas Tribune

Consumer Brands Reporter, GA — AJC

Deputy Editor - Health Care, VA — Politico

Product Editor, CA — CalMatters

Indigenous Affairs Editor, Sydney — Guardian US

China Markets Correspondent, Shanghai — Reuters

Bangor Reporter, ME — Bangor Daily News

Commerce Editor - Health, Remote US — Yahoo

Sports Editor, MI — Detroit News

Managing Editor, Remote US — Velo

Lex Writer, London — FT

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More News:

Kathleen Kingsbury / The New York Times Company:
The NYT announces David Leonhardt will be joining Opinion as an editorial director and says it won't retreat from having editorials or an editorial board

Discussion: @gregjkrieg, @maxwelltani, @tweetbenmax and @glennf.com

Etan Vlessing / The Hollywood Reporter:
Fubo reports Q4 North America revenue up 8% to $433.8M, a net loss of $40.9M, down from $71M in Q4 2023, and 1.67M paid subscribers; FUBO drops 21%+

Discussion: Advanced Television, Motley Fool, Yahoo Finance, Engadget, StreamTV Insider, Benzinga, Deadline, Cord Cutters News, Streaming Better, The Streamable and ir.fubo.tv

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
GB News reports revenue for the year to May 2024 up 132% YoY to £15.8M, losses down ~23% YoY to £33.4M, bringing total losses since its 2021 launch to £105.9M

Discussion: The Times

New York Times:
Sources: at a Paramount board meeting this month, Shari Redstone said she was in favor of resolving President Trump's $20B lawsuit against CBS News

Discussion: TVNewsCheck, @mediaevan, @mattgertz, Reason, Associated Press, CBS News and @mgallagher.bsky.social

Earlier Picks:

Patrick Coffee / Wall Street Journal:
Websites and apps for all 32 NFL teams had been collecting detailed consumer data without notice or opt-out choices; the NFL has updated policies to fix issues

Discussion: Adweek, TVNewsCheck and The Hill

Mark K. Miller / TVNewsCheck:
Nexstar Q4: revenue up 14.1% YoY to $1.49B, ad revenue up 29.6% to $758M driven by election year political advertising, net income of $229M; NXST jumps 11.1%

Discussion: RADIO ONLINE, Yahoo Finance, The Desk and Nexstar Media Group, Inc.

BBC:
The BBC apologizes and admits “serious flaws” in the making of a documentary on children in Gaza, after criticism that the narrator was a Hamas official's son

Discussion: BBC, The Guardian, Algemeiner.com, The Sun, Canary, Reuters, GB News, Twitchy, Declassified Media Ltd, The Independent, BBC, @baldybane.bsky.social, Deadline, GB News, The Wrap and Variety

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
TikTok is preparing to shut down Creator Marketplace, which connects brands with creators, and replacing it with TikTok One, which includes AI tools, on April 1

Discussion: Passionfruit, Digiday and TikTok For Business

From Techmeme:

Tripp Mickle / New York Times:
Sources: Tim Cook approved doubling Apple's AI chips budget in 2023 after John Giannandrea sought more GPUs, but CFO Luca Maestri cut the increase to under half

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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