Mediagazer: Disney was never particularly interested in running FiveThirtyEight as a business; the data-driven approach to political coverage still has a bright future (Nate Silver/Silver Bulletin)

4:10 PM ET, March 6, 2025

Top News:

A look at the Trump administration's strategy to transform its traditional press shop into a rapid-response influencer operation via memes, TikTok, and podcasts — The Trump administration has transformed its traditional press shop into a rapid-response influencer operation, and “they're all offense, all the time.”

Discussion: New York Magazine, TVNewsCheck, Daily Mail, @jeisinger.bsky.social, Melanie Sill on LinkedIn, @davidenrich.bsky.social, @davidnakamura.bsky.social, PR Daily, @drewharwell@threads.net and @janemayer.bsky.social

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

Financial Times CEO John Ridding plans to step down on July 1 after 19 years, and will take an honorary FT chair title; the FT will now find a replacement — Financial Times CEO John Ridding is stepping down in June after leading the newspaper group for almost 20 years.

Discussion: MediaPost, Graham Page on LinkedIn, @ft, @pressgazette, Financial Times, Nikkei Asia, Dominic Ponsford on LinkedIn and Talking Biz News

Nate Silver / Silver Bulletin:

Disney was never particularly interested in running FiveThirtyEight as a business; the data-driven approach to political coverage still has a bright future — Silver Bulletin will begin publishing some new features soon — including Trump approval ratings. But the media just lost an extremely valuable resource.

Discussion: Daring Fireball, Status, @adrianbarnard, @brettgwinn, @naphisoc, Townhall, Front Office Sports, Poynter, The Guardian, The Daily Wire and The Daily Caller

Jeremy Barr / Washington Post:

Memo: MSNBC hires WABC-TV VP and News Director Scott Matthews to serve as head of newsgathering, and plans to hire 100 journalists as part of its news operation — The network, which recently overhauled its programming lineup, is bringing on Scott Matthews as head of newsgathering. — Just now

Discussion: The Desk, Adweek, Variety, The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, @jeremymbarr and Barrett Media

Naman Ramachandran / Variety:

ITV reports FY 2024 revenue down 3% YoY to $5.34B, Studios revenue down 6% YoY to $2.63B, digital ad revenue up 15% YoY, and its efficiency program saved $77.5M — The U.K.'s ITV revealed strong profit growth in its full-year results for 2024, despite facing challenges from the U.S. actors …

Discussion: The Media Leader, Reuters, The Standard, MorningstarUK, Variety, Shares Magazine, ITV Plc, WORLD SCREEN, Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter

S.V. Date / HuffPost:

FEC filings: Brian Glenn, a new favored White House reporter, was Right Side Broadcasting Network's main voice when it was paid $92K by Trump political groups — Brian Glenn was the one who asked Zelenskyy why he wasn't wearing a suit. RSBN, the “news” outlet he helped build, has taken $192,000 from Trump.

Discussion: New Jersey Online, @1gregtodd.bsky.social, @the-jaguarr.bsky.social, @jpacek.bsky.social, Mediaite, @svdate.bsky.social, @huffpost.com, The Guardian and The Kyiv Independent

Bill Grueskin / Columbia Journalism Review:

Prosecutors say they won't pursue charges against Stanford student journalist Dilan Gohill, arrested while covering a pro-Palestinian protest nine months ago — Dilan Gohill was arrested while covering protests on campus last summer. — Prosecutors in California said Thursday …

Discussion: @bgrueskin.bsky.social, Palo Alto Online, @freedom.press, @galvinalmanza.bsky.social, San Francisco Chronicle, Mercury News, @bgrueskin.bsky.social, The Stanford Daily and Deseret News

Mandy Dalugdug / Music Business Worldwide:

Lyric rights licensing company LyricFind sues Musixmatch and its owner TPG Growth, alleging antitrust violations that threaten competition across the industry — LyricFind has lodged an antitrust lawsuit against lyrics provider Musixmatch and its private equity owner TPG Growth.

Discussion: LyricFind, MLex, Music Ally, Bloomberg Law, Digital Music News, CMU and @lyricfind

Wayne Friedman / MediaPost:

BIA estimates core US local ad spend to grow 6.1% YoY to $171B in 2025, with digital media having a 52.4% share and traditional media having 47.6% — Core, non-political U.S. local advertising is estimated to grow 6.1% in 2025 to $171 billion from a year ago, according to BIA Advisory Services.

Discussion: Inside Radio, RADIO ONLINE, TV Tech, TVNewsCheck, Barrett Media and Radio & Television …

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:

Netflix plans to host its second live boxing special on July 11 at Madison Square Garden with a rematch of Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano — The all-women's boxing card will be held at Madison Square Garden July 11, and will stream live on Netflix. — Netflix is back in business …

Discussion: The Streamable, Streaming Better, Media Play News, ESPN, @netflix, Bleacher Report, Variety, New York Times, Advanced Television, @serranosisters, Nakisa Bidarian on LinkedIn, Cord Cutters News, EVOKE, Deadline, Winnipeg Free Press, Just Jared, RTÉ and The Verge

Mark Stenberg / Adweek:

Politico unveils an AI tool that lets Politico Pro subscribers generate detailed policy reports using data from Politico's reporting and analysis — In February, the White House announced plans to cancel $8 million of Politico Pro subscriptions — Political news publisher Politico unveiled …

Discussion: Nieman Lab, Shaun Modi on LinkedIn, Gabriel Brotman on LinkedIn, Politico and Jane Friedman

Chris Welch / The Verge:

All Elite Wrestling and Amazon Prime Video announce a new multi-year agreement to offer AEW's pay-per-view events in the US, Canada, and the UK on Prime Video — The new pay-per-view streaming partnership kicks off this weekend with AEW Revolution, which costs $49.99.

Discussion: All Elite Wrestling, Slam Wrestling, Sports Illustrated, @jonalba, Wrestlezone, The Streamable, Cageside Seats, TVNewsCheck, Variety, Awful Announcing, Barrett Media and Advanced Television

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: @danrshafer, @aaronnagler, @joshua_newman, @andrew_cohen0 and @michaelsocolow

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

Discussion: NewsGuild of New York and New Jersey Globe

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Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch:
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Todd Spangler / Variety:
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Brian Stelter / CNN:
Washington Post Media Reporter Will Sommer joins The Bulwark, where he will be publishing a twice-a-week newsletter on “the forces driving today's far-right”

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Rebecca Stewart / Adweek:
Publicis acquires Lotame, which analyzes people's online behavior across 109 countries, and plans to integrate Lotame into its Epsilon service

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The Wrap:
Sources: LAT's Hector Becerra faced an HR probe in 2022 over alleged “insulting” behavior, including bullying; LAT says it has “been addressed and resolved”

Discussion: @sharonwaxman, @sharonwaxman, @sharonwaxman and @gstarr.bsky.social

Gordon Smith / Journalism.co.uk:
How the Financial Times is using online polls to engage readers and grow subscriptions; polls in FT newsletters regularly record engagement rates above 75%

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Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:
UK journalist Graham Johnson estimates he cost News UK £500M through his testimony, books, and legal research since his phone hacking conviction in 2014

Forbes:
A TollBit analysis of 160 websites on its content licensing service finds AI search engines drive 96% less referral traffic than Google Search

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Todd Spangler / Variety:
Netflix CFO Spencer Neumann says Netflix plans to spend ~$18B in cash on content in 2025, up nearly 11% YoY, and the amount is “not anywhere near a ceiling”

Discussion: The Streamable, @tylerbishop, @tvgrimreaper, Deadline, The Wrap and Media Play 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

Variety:
Variety.com names Zack Sharf as managing editor; Sharf joined Variety in January 2022 as digital news director after seven years at IndieWire

From Techmeme:

CNBC:
Circle files for a US IPO, with plans to list on the NYSE under CRCL; Circle, which issues the USDC stablecoin, is reportedly seeking a $4B to $5B valuation

John Hudson / Washington Post:
Sources: White House National Security Advisor Michael Waltz and other NSC members have conducted government affairs over personal Gmail accounts

Reuters:
Sources: Arm decided not to pursue a deal after recently seeking to acquire Alphawave, a UK-listed supplier of semiconductor IP that is exploring a sale

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