Top News:
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Hamish McKenzie says Substack now has 5M paid subs, up from 4M four months ago and 3M a year ago, with 82% of its top 250 creators posting audio and video often — Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie says that creators jumping ship from ‘mainstream media’ like Jim Acosta, Joy Reid and Mehdi Hasan are a big driver of the growth.
Discussion:
@jimacosta.bsky.social, The Hill and TVNewsCheck
Michael Savage / The Guardian:
Sources: the BBC plans to ask the UK government to take on the full costs of the World Service to counter Russia's and China's “aggressive” disinformation drive — Ministers must cover full costs of championing western values abroad, senior BBC figures to argue
Discussion:
@jospang.bsky.social, @lauraphillips.bsky.social and @michaelsavage.bsky.social
Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
Blackstone rebrands Hipgnosis to Recognition, less than a year after buying the $3B group that owns the rights to Red Hot Chili Peppers, Fleetwood Mac, and more — Investment group with rights to songs by Shakira will be ‘fundamentally different’ under unified structure
Discussion:
Music Ally, City A.M. and Billboard
Ruth Marcus / New Yorker:
Ruth Marcus explains why she quit WaPo, not wanting to tell readers “what Jeff Bezos thinks I should think”, and publishes her spiked column in The New Yorker — Owner Jeff Bezos wants to transform the Opinions section of the paper, where I worked for forty years.
Discussion:
@mffisher, @benmullin, The Nation, Associated Press, The National Pulse and Fox News
Laura Wagner / Washington Post:
A profile of NPR reporter Anas Baba, who has spent 17 months in Gaza, one of the few journalists working full-time with a US news organization to remain in Gaza — The Palestinian journalist said it's his calling to stay in his native land and report on what happens.
David Cohen / Adweek:
Yahoo Sports launches a sports collectibles hub featuring news, video analysis, and more; The Athletic debuted a similar vertical in August 2024 — Partners include cllct, Mantel, and Sports Card Investor — Yahoo Sports debuted a new hub dedicated to coverage of collectibles …
Derrick Bryson Taylor / New York Times:
Netflix signs a deal with comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who angered people with insults about minority groups at a Trump rally, in a bid to appeal to Trump voters — Hinchcliffe's set at Madison Square Garden in October drew sharp criticism after he described Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.”
Chris Heath / The Atlantic:
How profane blogger Aidan Kearney, aka Turtleboy, came to believe a woman was framed for murder, terrorizing those who disagree; he was arrested in October 2023 — On overpasses and by roadsides they gather, holding banners and placards. In the early days, only a few people showed up …
Discussion:
@theatlantic, @stossel.bsky.social and @karynregal.bsky.social
Anna Nicolaou / Financial Times:
Spotify says it paid $10B+ in royalties in 2024, “the largest in music history”, making up 60%+ of its $17.13B+ 2024 revenue, with ~1,500 artists earning $1M+ — Company has long drawn ire from musicians who say streaming model does not remunerate them enough
Discussion:
Reuters, TechCrunch, Engadget, Spotify, Benzinga, The Irish Times, The Guardian, The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, The Independent and The Standard, more at Techmeme »
Todd Spangler / Variety:
In a letter, Skydance alleges Project Rise Partners, the group behind a late $13.5B rival bid for Paramount, “fraudulently misrepresented” its financing — PRP rep calls Skydance accusations ‘outrageous’ and says group has financial commitments to complete a transaction with Paramount
Discussion:
New York Post, Deadline, MLex and The Wrap
David Folkenflik / NPR:
Leaders at US-funded news outlets that broadcast overseas, including Radio Free Asia and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, say they fear deep budget cuts soon — A month ago, Elon Musk called for Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty to be shut down, tweeting …
Discussion:
TVNewsCheck, Michael Sobolik on LinkedIn, @davidfolkenflik and @davidfolkenflik
Katie Kilkenny / The Hollywood Reporter:
Q&A with Adam Bhala Lough, director of Deepfaking Sam Altman, in which he talks with an entity based on an LLM of Altman, after Altman declined an interview — The latest film from Adam Bhala Lough (who co-directed 'Telemarketers') charts the filmmaker's journey to commission and interview “Sam Bot.”
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