Mediagazer: WSJ journalists laid off amid consolidation of tech and media teams include Alexa Corse, Tom Dotan, Asa Fitch, Ben Fritz, Miles Kruppa, and Aaron Tilley (Chris Roush/Talking Biz News)

11:15 PM ET, March 5, 2025

Top News:

WSJ journalists laid off amid consolidation of tech and media teams include Alexa Corse, Tom Dotan, Asa Fitch, Ben Fritz, Miles Kruppa, and Aaron Tilley — Here are The Wall Street Journal journalists whose jobs were eliminated on Tuesday: — Reporters:

Discussion: @shakeelhashim, @heathersomervil, @joannastern, @benmullin, @joannastern.bsky.social, @chaykak, @seanhollister.bsky.social, The Wrap, @willoremus.com, Joanna Stern on LinkedIn, @od_liam, Jennifer Merritt on LinkedIn, @annkspencer.bsky.social and Talking Biz News

Jack Greenberg / YouTube Official Blog:

YouTube debuts an $8/month Premium Lite tier in the US, offering most videos ad-free and music with ads, and plans to launch in Thailand, Germany, and Australia — Today we'll begin expanding our Premium Lite pilot to users in the US. Premium Lite gives viewers a new …

Discussion: TechCrunch, 9to5Google, MacRumors, Streaming Better, Engadget, 9to5Google, Gizmodo, @film_girl, The Wrap, BGR, The Verge, transistor.fm, Waleed Diab on LinkedIn, Variety, Cord Cutters News, Billboard and The Information, more at Techmeme »

Murray Stassen / Music Business Worldwide:
YouTube says YouTube Music and YouTube Premium now have 125M+ subscribers globally, including trials, after passing 100M subscribers in February 2024

Discussion: YouTube Official Blog, The Desk, The Information, TVNewsCheck, @lucas_shaw, Music Ally, Digital Music News and The Hollywood Reporter

Oliver Darcy / Status:

Source: WaPo Publisher Will Lewis quietly met with Free Beacon EIC Eliana Johnson last month, where the two discussed recruiting conservative journalists — As Jeff Bezos pushes The Washington Post to the right, publisher Will Lewis quietly met with a conservative editor last month, Status has learned.

Discussion: @joshsternberg.com, @thejeffmanghera.bsky.social, @mediaevan, New York Post, @jeffjarvis@mastodon.social, @mattdpearce.com, @oliverdarcy.bsky.social and Mediaite

Variety:

Variety.com names Zack Sharf as managing editor; Sharf joined Variety in January 2022 as digital news director after seven years at IndieWire — He previously served as digital news director since 2022. … “In the last three years, Zack has helped reinvent Variety's award-winning digital coverage …

Andrew Cohen / Awful Announcing:

Gannett posts job listings for an AI sports editor and AI-assisted sports reporter; after flubs in 2023, it paused using LedeAI for high school sports stories — Gannett plans to hire an “AI Sports Editor” and “AI-Assisted Sports Reporter” as America's largest newspaper chain doubles-down on artificial intelligence in its newsrooms.

Discussion: @andrew_cohen0, @michaelsocolow and Digital Content Next

Todd Spangler / Variety:

CFO Spencer Neumann says Netflix plans to spend about $18B in cash on content in 2025, up nearly 11% YoY, and that the amount is “not anywhere near a ceiling” — Netflix expects to spend in the neighborhood of $18 billion in cash on content in 2025 — and it sees plenty of runway …

Discussion: The Wrap, Deadline and Media Play News

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:

Sesame Workshop cuts staff as it continues to look for a TV or streaming outlet for Sesame Street; production of the series' 56th season resumes next month — The non-profit said Wednesday that season 56 will begin production next month as it seeks a new home for iconic children's show.

Discussion: NPR, TVNewsCheck, Cord Cutters News and Adweek

Ted Johnson / Deadline:

Tom Llamas will succeed Lester Holt as anchor of NBC Nightly News after Holt signs off in early summer — Llamas, who has been with the network since 2021, will continue to anchor Top Story, a signature nighttime show on NBC News Now that runs from 7-8 p.m. ET, immediately after Nightly News.

Rick Porter / The Hollywood Reporter:

Nielsen: Trump's address to Congress drew 36.6M viewers, a larger number than three of Biden's addresses to Congress but smaller than any in Trump's first term — The speech drew a larger audience than Joe Biden's last State of the Union but fell short of any from Trump's first term.

Discussion: Variety, Adweek, USA Today, TVLine, Forbes, TVNewsCheck, New York Times, The Wrap, Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg, Deadline, PoliticusUSA, Winnipeg Free Press, @radarradar.bsky.social and Media Play News

Mike Isaac / New York Times:

Digg co-founder Kevin Rose and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian are relaunching Digg, after acquiring the site from Money Group for an undisclosed sum — Two decades after creating Digg, a community-focused social message board, Kevin Rose is reviving the site and teaming up with a founder of Reddit.

Ray Schultz / MediaPost:

Gannett unionized employees and management have reached tentative contract deals at six newspapers in New Jersey and New York after threatened walkouts — Walkouts were averted at six Gannett titles in New Jersey and New York when employees agreed on “ life-changing” increases in pay and job protections.

Discussion: NewsGuild of New York and New Jersey Globe

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:

Q&A with Jonathan Capehart, Eugene Daniels, and Jackie Alemany on co-hosting MSNBC's The Weekend beginning in April, the channel's transition period, and more — Eugene Daniels, Jonathan Capehart and Jackie Alemany talk about what they plan to bring to the newly-expanded weekend program.

Discussion: Advocate, Adweek, @msnbcpr.bsky.social, The Wrap, Barrett Media, Editor and Publisher, MSNBC, Deadline and Variety

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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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Ian Carlos Campbell / Engadget:
Amazon announces an “AI-aided dubbing” pilot program on Prime Video, starting with dubbing in English and Latin American Spanish on 12 movies and series

Discussion: Deadline, TechCrunch, Reuters, @thedesk.net, BGR and Quartz, more at Techmeme »

Variety:
A look at Neon's unconventional strategy to win an Oscar for Anora, including merchandise like branded thongs and spending $18M, a fraction of its rivals

Discussion: IndieWire, @brentalang and Seriously? OMG! WTF?

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
The Sun names Jon Lloyd, previously behind TV content formats like Come Dine With Me, as its director of video to lead a video-first commissioning strategy

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
WPP invests in Stability AI as part of a deal to use its models across images, video, and audio, and says it is increasing its AI investment to ~£300M per year

Discussion: Authority Magazine, Ad Age, Adweek and Fortune

Earlier Picks:

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
TNT Sports strikes a deal with DAZN to televise 24 of the 63 FIFA Club World Cup 2025 matches on TNT, TBS, and truTV, including the final

Discussion: Awful Announcing, New York Times, The Sun, Media Play News, Stacey Richman on LinkedIn, Winnipeg Free Press, The Streamable, TV Tech, Barrett Media, Front Office Sports, @nick-waters.bsky.social, Sports Video Group, WORLD SCREEN and Advanced Television

Benjamin Svetkey / The Hollywood Reporter:
Streaming has been a major setback for classic movies, largely due to platforms that ignore or bury old films; the oldest film on Netflix is from 1973

Discussion: @chrisyogerst.com, @tvhilton.bsky.social and Screen Rant

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Patch CEO Warren St. John says its AI-curated newsletters, with 400K subscribers, have grown Patch's reach from 1,100 to 30K US communities in just a few months

Discussion: Will Figueroa on LinkedIn and Mike Carraggi on LinkedIn

Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:
Disney is cutting nearly 6% staff, or ~200 jobs, across ABC News and Disney Entertainment Networks; ABC is also eliminating 538, which had ~15 employees

Discussion: The Independent, Mediaite, The Desk, ZeroHedge News, Awful Announcing, @natesilver538, The Guardian, Page Six, HuffPost, @brianstelter, The Daily Beast, HotAir, @brianstelter, Nieman Lab, Breitbart, Silver Bulletin, @jbflint, @jakesherman, Adweek, @jbflint, @gelliottmorris.com, Fox Business, The Daily Wire, @claremalone, @gelliottmorris, Daily Kos, Radio & Television …, New York Post, @statisticurban, @databyler, @ecaliberseven, @mattyglesias, @natesilver538, @grace_panetta, @electionsjoe, @drewsav, Barron's Online, @walthickey, The Wrap, Yahoo Finance, Fast Company, Variety, The Hill, Benzinga, Deadline, CNN, Cord Cutters News, TVNewsCheck, Advanced Television, Ace of Spades HQ, The Post Millennial, The Hollywood Reporter, The Daily Caller, Entrepreneur, USA Today, Reuters, Bloomberg and @oliverdarcy@threads.net

From Techmeme:

Bloomberg:
The Trump administration exempts smartphones, laptops, hard drives, processors, memory chips, and machines used to make semiconductors from reciprocal tariffs

Connor Jones / The Register:
UK government report: 43% of businesses faced a cyber breach or attack in the past year; phishing was the most common type, affecting 85% of those attacked

Washington Post:
Arguments start Monday in the FTC's antitrust suit targeting Meta's acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, amid reports Zuckerberg asked Trump to intervene

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