Top News:
Andrew Marchand / New York Times:
Sources: ESPN and Stephen A. Smith agree to a five-year $100M contract that has Smith continuing on his daily First Take show and scaling back other commitments — Stephen A. Smith has agreed to a new contract with ESPN worth at least $100 million for five years, an agreement that will result …
Discussion:
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Sean Burch / The Wrap:
Paramount files two motions in Trump's lawsuit against CBS News, one seeking dismissal on First Amendment grounds and the second saying Texas is the wrong venue — Paramount says President Trump's lawsuit over a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris is “an affront to the First Amendment”
Discussion:
The Hill, The Independent, Axios, Variety, Deadline, Mediaite, Cord Cutters News, @bejust.bsky.social, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter and Georgetown Law
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
A journalist using the pseudonym Dissent Doe, who runs US-based DataBreaches.net, refuses a UK court order to remove two posts on a cyberattack at HCRG — A U.S.-based independent cybersecurity journalist has declined to comply with a U.K. court-ordered injunction that was sought following …
Discussion:
DataBreaches.Net
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 — Last night, as President Trump delivered his State of the Union address 1, the Wall Street Journal reported that ABC News would lay off …
Michael Savage / The Guardian:
Memo: BBC News CEO Deborah Turness announces a new department that will use AI to give people more personalized content and focus on reaching under-25-year-olds — Boss says BBC News's reach is ‘defying gravity’ and it must use AI to ‘support and accelerate our growth’
Washington Post:
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, @drewharwell.com, The Information, The Gateway Pundit, The Hill, Daily Mail, @mehdirhasan.bsky.social, TVNewsCheck, @jeisinger.bsky.social, Melanie Sill on LinkedIn, @chikitty.bsky.social, @astroboy58.bsky.social, @davidnakamura.bsky.social, @davidenrich.bsky.social, @drewharwell@threads.net, @janemayer.bsky.social and PR Daily
Reuters:
Vivendi says the net asset value of its investments was €4.83B as of December 31, 2024, following the French publishing group's spinoff of three companies — Vivendi (VIV.PA) said on Thursday that the net asset value of its investments amounted to 4.83 billion euros ($5.23 billion) …
Bloomberg:
Sources: the FCC asked 13 public radio stations, including Boston's WBUR, for details on past sponsorships by March 31, to assess potential guideline violations — The Federal Communications Commission sent letters to 13 public radio stations asking them to compile materials detailing past sponsorships …
Katie Kilkenny / The Hollywood Reporter:
Production managers, supervisors, and coordinators at Walt Disney Animation Studios ratify their first union contract, which raises minimum wage rates and more — Production managers, production supervisors and production coordinators at the ‘Wish’ studio negotiated for health and pension benefits as well as higher minimum wage rates.
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.
NewsGuard's Reality Check:
A NewsGuard audit finds that 10 leading AI chatbots repeated false claims and propaganda from a pro-Kremlin network of 150 websites 33% of the time — An audit found that the 10 leading generative AI tools advanced Moscow's disinformation goals by repeating false claims from the pro-Kremlin Pravda network 33 percent of the time
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 …
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