Top News:
CNBC:
Elon Musk says xAI acquired X in an all-stock deal valuing xAI at $80B and X at $33B; xAI was reportedly in talks to raise funds in February at a $75B valuation — Elon Musk said on Friday that his startup xAI has merged with X, his social network, in an all-stock transaction that values …
Discussion:
@elonmusk, Reuters, Ars Technica, New York Times, The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters, HuffPost, Axios, Fox Business, The Times, @lorak.bsky.social, @unchi.org, Fortune, Social Media Today, @hallijayne.bsky.social, Us Weekly, Semafor, Shashi Bellamkonda on LinkedIn, Research & Development World, @kalihays1@threads.net, @maxbrockbank.com, PC Gamer, UPI, Greek City Times, Mashable, Austin Business Journal, @profdc9@mastodon.social, MediaPost, Rolling Stone, Yahoo Finance, E! Online, BGR, Variety, Türkiye Today, TVNewsCheck, The Hill, @harrymccracken.com, Shacknews, Spyglass, Wall Street Journal, Engadget, Deadline, The Verge, Comic Book, Business Insider, NBC News, The Wrap, Barron's Online, Cord Cutters News, Bloomberg, The Information, TechCrunch, @spencercallaghan.ca, @danny.page, Deutsche Welle, Benzinga, The Post Millennial, Forbes and San Francisco Chronicle, more at Techmeme »
Brian Stelter / CNN:
A US district court judge issues a temporary restraining order halting the Trump administration's efforts to close Voice of America, in a lawsuit by VOA staff — A federal judge sided with silenced Voice of America journalists on Friday, the latest setback for President Trump's push to shut …
Discussion:
New York Times, The Independent, The Gateway Pundit, Euromaidan Press, The Hill, The Desk, The NewsGuild, Ilann Maazel on LinkedIn, US District Court, Southern District of New York, Deadline, @brianstelter.bsky.social, @brianstelter.bsky.social, @brianstelter.bsky.social, Roll Call and New York Daily News
Dan Mangan / CNBC:
Trump commutes the criminal fraud sentence of Ozy Media founder Carlos Watson, shortly before Watson was due to begin serving a 116-month prison term — President Donald Trump commuted the criminal sentence of Ozy Media founder Carlos Watson on Friday, just hours before Watson was due …
Discussion:
The Guardian, Variety, Associated Press, Reuters, @glennemartin, Hunter Walk, New York Times, @heyjoemedia, Columbia Journalism Review, @glennemartin, @tomaxwell, @sarafischer, Bloomberg, @dsafavianesq, UPI, @sbyrnes, Mediaite, The Independent, The Wrap, NBC News, Deadline, Newser, Axios, @samblum.bsky.social, @KimPerales@toad.social and Defector
Peter Kafka / Business Insider:
In a letter to Disney CEO Bob Iger, FCC Chair Brendan Carr says the FCC is opening an investigation into DEI practices of Disney and ABC — - Brendan Carr, the head of the Federal Communications Commission, is now investigating Disney over its DEI practices.
Discussion:
@brendancarrfcc, The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, Raw Story, The Desk, New York Times, Mediaite, Forbes, @mrjoncryer.bsky.social, Associated Press, CNN, The Hill, Axios, Los Angeles Times, Media Play News, The Wrap, Cord Cutters News, Fox Business, Deadline, @christopherterry.bsky.social, Financial Times, @romitmehta.com, NBC News, Reuters, New York Post, Variety, Bloomberg, @jgo4justice.bsky.social, @fednews.bsky.social, @businessinsider.com, @pkafka.bsky.social, Inside Radio, The Hollywood Reporter and TVNewsCheck
Alex Kantrowitz / Big Technology:
World History Encyclopedia, the second most visited history site, says its traffic fell 25% in Nov. 2024 after AI search tools began presenting its information — World History Encyclopedia CEO Jan van der Crabben saw his site show up in Google's AI Overviews and ChatGPT. Then traffic dropped 25%.
Charlotte Klein / New York Magazine:
Guardian US expects $44M in donations in the US and Canada in 2025, up 33% YoY; contributions make up 60% of revenue, which exceeded costs by $16M in 2024 — There was a time in media when having a billionaire owner was an asset. For many outlets, this is still the case …
Sharon Knolle / The Wrap:
QVC lays off ~900 employees, or ~5% of its workforce, after consolidating operations with HSN earlier in 2025, as QVC pivots to “a live social shopping company” — The layoffs come as part of a reorganization for the QVC Group after consolidating with rival network HSN earlier this year
Carly Thomas / The Hollywood Reporter:
The Academy apologizes for not publicly supporting Hamdan Ballal, co-director of Oscar-winning No Other Land, after his assault and arrest in the West Bank — Filmmaker Hamdan Ballal was reportedly beaten and detained earlier this week after a conflict in the West Bank.
Discussion:
Variety, Press Association, Arab News, Screen Rant, @kimmasters.bsky.social, The Independent, The Wrap, Deadline, Raw Story, IndieWire, Oh No They Didn't! and The Ankler
Washington Post:
The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg says the Trump administration's lies regarding Signal chats on Yemen attack plans prompted him to reveal the texts — The Trump administration tried to paint the veteran journalist as a liar, so he felt compelled to prove them wrong — and he had the receipts.
Oliver Darcy / Status:
Sources: the Los Angeles Times has laid off dozens of employees on the business side this week, including VP of Communications Hillary Manning — The newspaper slashed dozens of business-side staffers this week—including its longtime chief spokesperson—in a painful new round of cuts, Status has learned.
Discussion:
Breitbart, @pinemikey.bsky.social, TVNewsCheck, The Wrap, @oliverdarcy.bsky.social and @passantino.bsky.social
Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:
Google will pay $100M in cash to settle a 2011 lawsuit accusing the company of charging for clicks on ads outside the geographic areas the advertisers targeted — Google has agreed to pay $100 million in cash to settle a long-running lawsuit claiming it overcharged advertisers by failing …
Discussion:
The Verge and MediaPost, more at Techmeme »
Student Press Law Center:
A press freedom coalition condemns US immigration officials' detention of a Turkish Ph.D. student who co-wrote an op-ed supporting Palestinians in March 2024 — - Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) — The Student Press Law Center and 10 other free speech …
