Mediagazer: A look at AI-generated fake movie trailers on YouTube; WBD, Paramount, and Sony have earned ad revenue from some videos instead of defending their copyright (Jake Kanter/Deadline)

1:30 PM ET, March 28, 2025

Top News:

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: The Wrap, Breitbart, @pinemikey.bsky.social, @oliverdarcy.bsky.social, @passantino.bsky.social and TVNewsCheck

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 …

Discussion: @casmudde.bsky.social, @sulliview.bsky.social, @charlottetklein.bsky.social and @mattmittenthal.bsky.social

Kyle Cheney / Politico:

AP photographer Evan Vucci and AP Chief White House Correspondent Zeke Miller testified Thursday about damage done by the White House ban on the wire service — Associated Press photographer Evan Vucci testified at a court hearing in the AP's lawsuit over being kicked out of the White House press pool.

Patience Haggin / Wall Street Journal:

Adalytics: DoubleVerify, IAS, and Human Security, paid by advertisers to detect bots, regularly miss such traffic; DoubleVerify missed 21% of bot visits — Companies that claim to help brands avoid serving digital ads to bots regularly miss nonhuman traffic

Discussion: MediaPost and Dr. Augustine Fou on LinkedIn

Olivia Solon / Bloomberg:

AppLovin hires a law firm to investigate short sellers' allegations that the mobile ad company's ad performance numbers are fraudulent — It followed a Muddy Waters report released on Thursday that alleged that AppLovin was misappropriating data and violating some of its platform partners' terms of service …

Discussion: Yahoo Finance, AppLovin and Benzinga, more at Techmeme »

Carmen Reinicke / Bloomberg:
AppLovin's stock closes down 20%+ after short seller Muddy Waters released a report, the third such short report against the company in about a month

Discussion: Adweek, Benzinga, Yahoo Finance, Barron's Online, CNBC, Muddy Waters Research and Investor's Business Daily

Jake Kanter / Deadline:

A look at AI-generated fake movie trailers on YouTube; WBD, Paramount, and Sony have earned ad revenue from some videos instead of defending their copyright — Cut to Nicholas Hoult's Lex Luthor watching on and Milly Alcock's Supergirl levitating into view. “They are not from here,” Luthor intones in an ominous voiceover.

Reuters:

Court documents: India criticizes Elon Musk's X for wrongly labeling an official website, used to notify tech firms of harmful content, as a “censorship portal” — India has criticised Elon Musk's X for wrongly labelling as a “censorship portal” an official website …

more at Techmeme »

Matt Stevens / New York Times:

A report on California's creative economy finds entertainment jobs in 2024 were 25% below 2022; LA County's 2024 shooting days fell 42% compared to 2022 — Many entertainment industry workers have been jobless for months, leading state officials to consider increasing subsidies to keep film and television production in California.

Discussion: Hollywood Life, Variety and Deadline

Etan Vlessing / The Hollywood Reporter:

Penske Media and Tasty Media plan a Spanish-language edition of The Hollywood Reporter with original content, following editions in Italy, India, and Japan — The partnership sees the iconic entertainment brand expand its reach with Spanish-speaking readers in Latin America and Spain.

Naman Ramachandran / Variety:

FICCI-EY: India's media and entertainment sector revenue hit $29.4B in 2024, with digital media accounting for 32%, surpassing TV for the first time — India's media and entertainment sector hit INR2.5 trillion ($29.4 billion) in 2024, according to the annual Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI)-EY report.

Discussion: Music Ally, The Economic Times, Press Trust of India, EY, MIT OpenCourseWare, Deadline and Bloomberg, more at Techmeme »

John Nichols / The Nation:

Robert McChesney, a co-founder of media advocacy nonprofit Free Press and a globally respected media scholar and author, died from cancer at 72 — The academic and activist inspired generations of people to challenge corporate power and support a media reform movement that lives on. — Bluesky

Discussion: Nieman Lab, Vanity Fair, @davidsirota.com, @jesspgh.bsky.social, @jenmercieca.bsky.social, @joeycoleman.ca, @victorpickard.bsky.social, @timkarr.bsky.social, Free Press, @froomkin.bsky.social, TVNewsCheck, @ajbauer.bsky.social, @christopherterry.bsky.social, @dankennedy.net, @mediamorphis.bsky.social, @nicholsuprising.bsky.social, @joshuabenton.com and @notaaroncraig.bsky.social

Jesse Whittock / Deadline:

JioStar, the joint venture that merged Viacom18 and Star India, says its streaming service JioHotstar has passed 100M subscribers — JioHotstar, the Indian streamer, has passed 100 million subscribers. — The service launched in February following the merger of Reliance Industries' Viacom18 …

Discussion: Variety and WORLD SCREEN

Brady Knox / Washington Examiner:

Kari Lake withdraws the cancellation of RFE/RL's funding and argues RFE/RL's lawsuit is “moot” after a court granted the outlet a temporary restraining order — U.S. Agency for Global Media senior adviser Kari Lake withdrew the Trump administration's cancellation …

Discussion: Radio Free Europe/Radio …, Euractiv, The Wrap, The Kyiv Independent, The Hill, The Diplomat, Reuters, New Republic, The Independent, Raw Story, @kyledcheney.bsky.social and @chrisgeidner.bsky.social

Danielle Kaye / New York Times:
VOA Director Michael Abramowitz sues Kari Lake, Victor Morales, and USAGM, alleging dismantling VOA violates federal law and separation of powers

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Washington Post, The Contrarian, JURIST, Politico and Raw Story

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Bureau Reporter - Vietnam, HCMC — Bloomberg

Curation Editor (Contract), NY — Apple News

Business Editor, CA — TheWrap

Executive Ed. - Tech & Electronics, AZ — AspenCore

Economy & Industry Reporter, TX — Texas Tribune

Deputy Editor - Health Care, VA — Politico

Political Enterprise Editor, DC — Guardian US

Housing & Real Estate Reporter, ME — BDN

Associate Reporter - Yahoo Finance — Yahoo

Senior Editor, Remote — Raw Story

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More News:

Brian Welk / IndieWire:
Memo: Amazon MGM Studios head Jen Salke is stepping down to start a new production entity; the former NBC Entertainment president joined Amazon in 2018

Discussion: Variety, Engadget, The Verge, Business Insider, Reuters, World of Reel, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Information, Cord Cutters News, The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline

Julia Ornedo / The Daily Beast:
Richard Carlson, a former Voice of America director, former CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and father of Tucker Carlson, has died at 84

Discussion: @tuckercarlson, @rdotinga, @xelahart.bsky.social, @jilltwiss.bsky.social, The Wrap, Los Angeles Times, The Gateway Pundit and RADAR

Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Ex-Endeavor exec Patrick Whitesell's new company takes a stake in Peyton Manning's Omaha Productions; sources say it's a 10% stake sale, valuing Omaha at $750M+

Discussion: Awful Announcing, The Hollywood Reporter, C21Media, Puck, Barrett Media, Variety, Front Office Sports, Axios, The Wrap, Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter

Deadline:
After over 40 years, the Sundance Film Festival will leave Park City, Utah, for Boulder, Colorado, in 2027; Boulder offered $34M in tax incentives over 10 years

Financial Times:
Since the 2024 US election, Fox News has gained 125 new blue-chip advertisers, including Amazon and UBS, and its 8pm-11pm viewership in 2025 is up 50% YoY to 3M

Discussion: Barrett Media, HotAir, Mediaite, The Desk and @pressgazette.co.uk

Earlier Picks:

Mike Isaac / New York Times:
Meta adds a Friends tab on Facebook that will show content just from users' friends, with no recommended posts, as it brings back “OG” Facebook experiences

Jeremy Barr / Washington Post:
The widow of Pierre Zakrzewski, the Fox News cameraman who was killed while working in Ukraine in 2022, filed a £9M suit against Fox in the UK earlier in March

Discussion: HuffPost, Adweek, Deseret News and @washingtonpost.com

Michael Savage / The Guardian:
BBC correspondent Mark Lowen was arrested in Turkey on Wednesday and deported from the country today after reporting on anti-government protests

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
Sources: the BBC drops plans to sell ads on some of its podcasts when streamed on third-party platforms like Spotify in the UK, following industry backlash

Discussion: Advanced Television and @pressgazette.co.uk

From Techmeme:

CNBC:
OpenAI closes a $40B round, the most raised by a private tech company, at a $300B post-money valuation; SoftBank led with $30B; source: ~$18B is for Stargate

Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
Google rolls out a new Gmail encryption model for enterprises in beta that doesn't require senders or recipients to use custom software or exchange certificates

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: in recent weeks, Meta executives including Mark Zuckerberg have pressed US trade officials to oppose an impending EU fine and cease-and-desist order

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