Top News:
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
After White House criticism, WHCA says comedian Amber Ruffin won't headline this year's annual dinner “to ensure the focus is not on the politics of division” — Ruffin had been a target of criticism from the White House, though the WHCA says it will focus the event on recognizing “journalistic excellence.”
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Matt Donnelly / Variety:
Sources describe rising tensions at Warner Bros. Pictures amid movie flops, with WBD CEO David Zaslav losing confidence in co-heads Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy — “Morning, guys,” said Michael De Luca in 2023, from the stage of the Colosseum at Caesars Palace Las Vegas. “We'll try to keep this job for more than two years.”
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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 …
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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 …
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Hamish McKenzie / @hamishmckenzie:
Hamish McKenzie says Substack is partnering with FIRE to support “writers residing lawfully” in the US targeted by the government for their writing — We are partnering with @TheFIREorg to stand up for free speech in the face of recent government actions against critics of U.S. foreign policy. We will work to protect writers who are targeted in this way. [image]
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Financial Times:
Marketing executives say big brands are allocating small amounts of their ad budget to X, seeking to avoid being perceived as boycotting Elon Musk's platform — Marketers want to avoid being seen as boycotting billionaire's social media platform — Big brands are allocating small amounts …
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%.
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 …
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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.
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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.
Kate Lamb / The Guardian:
Amid increasing intimidation of journalists in Indonesia, journalists working for Tempo, an outlet critical of the government, received dead animals as threats — Grisly gifts a worrying turn for press freedom in world's third-largest democracy — Warning: some readers may find an image in this story distressing
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