Mediagazer: Mediahuis Ireland, which owns the Belfast Telegraph, Irish Independent, and others, says it has 100K+ digital subscribers after launching paywalls in 2020 (Charlotte Tobitt/Press Gazette)

7:00 AM ET, June 15, 2025

Top News:

Ben Johansen / Politico:

Sources: USAGM told employees of VOA's Persian-language service who were placed on administrative leave to return to their roles amid the Iran-Israel conflict — President Donald Trump ordered the service to shut down in March. — Employees of Voice of America's Persian-language service …

Matthew Keys / The Desk:

Arabic news channel Alhurra has replaced its programming with an image accusing the USAGM of illegally withholding Congress-approved funding for its parent MBN — The Arabic-language news channel Alhurra is using its air waves to draw attention to the U.S. Agency for Global Media's (USAGM) …

Discussion: @kaedotcom.bsky.social and @newsguy.bsky.social

Liam Scott / Freedom of the Press Foundation:

An interview with US Press Freedom Tracker Senior Reporter Stephanie Sugars on documenting nearly 62,000 anti-press social posts by Trump over the past 10 years — 61,989. — That's how many social media posts by President Donald Trump over the past decade that journalist Stephanie Sugars has single-handedly reviewed.

Discussion: @pressfreedomtracker.us, @pressfreedomtracker.us, @pressfreedomtracker.us, @pressfreedomtracker.us, @pressfreedomtracker.us, @pressfreedomtracker.us, @pressfreedomtracker.us, @pressfreedomtracker.us, @pressfreedomtracker.us, @pressfreedomtracker.us, @pressfreedomtracker.us, U.S. Press Freedom Tracker and So What

Michael Savage / The Guardian:

Hamish McKenzie says WaPo approached Substack about hosting its writers, and there has been a “change in mindset” of traditional media about the platform — Newspaper could join legacy media brands in embracing newsletter platform — The Washington Post has held talks …

Discussion: @daisandconfused, @chriscillizza and @maryhilt.bsky.social

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

Mediahuis Ireland, which owns the Belfast Telegraph, Irish Independent, and others, says it has 100K+ digital subscribers after launching paywalls in 2020 — Mediahuis Ireland has crossed the 100,000 digital subscriber mark, just over five years after first launching its paywalls.

Discussion: BelfastTelegraph.co.uk

Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:

Byron Allen settles with McDonald's over his $10B 2021 lawsuit accusing the fast food chain of racial stereotyping in its ads budget; terms were not disclosed — McDonald's (MCD.N) has settled a $10 billion lawsuit by the media entrepreneur Byron Allen accusing the fast-food chain of …

Discussion: Deadline, The A.V. Club, @fly_sistah, Restaurant Business, TVNewsCheck, Variety, The Wrap, The Desk and MarketWatch

CNBC:

The WNBA and E.W. Scripps renew their media rights deal, ensuring Friday night WNBA matchups will continue on Ion, along with a new weekly studio show — The WNBA and E.W. Scripps announced on Friday a new, multi-year media rights agreement to carry Friday night WNBA matchups on Ion.

Discussion: @matthewkeyslive, Brian Lawlor on LinkedIn, Sports Media Watch, Front Office Sports, Cord Cutters News, Sportico, New York Times, Awful Announcing, The Desk, Adam Symson on LinkedIn, Sports Business Journal, The E.W. Scripps Company, Barrett Media, TV Tech, Radio & Television … and Multicast News

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:

Take-Two, NBA, and National Basketball Players Association expand their partnership to launch NBA Take-Two Media, producing original content, live events, more — The video game publisher of the NBA 2K franchise will partner with the league on original content and competitive gaming via its new banner …

Discussion: Charlie Hyun on LinkedIn, The Wrap, TVNewsCheck, Jonathan Rosen on LinkedIn, Sports Business Journal, NBA.com and Variety

Graham Kates / CBS News:

A US appeals court denies Trump's request for a rehearing in writer E. Jean Carroll's case, in which he was found liable in 2023 for sexual abuse and defamation — President Trump on Friday lost his latest effort to get a retrial in the case in which a jury found him liable for sexual abuse …

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Vox Media Union says it has reached a tentative three-year agreement with Vox Media, averting a strike — The Vox Media Union covers editorial staff at Vox.com, The Verge, Eater, SB Nation, Pop Sugar, Thrillist, Vox Media Podcast Network and The Dodo. — An overwhelming 90% of the members …

Discussion: The Wrap, @voxmediaunion.bsky.social, @benmullin, Deadline, @joshgondelman.bsky.social, @wgaeast.bsky.social and The A.V. Club

Jeremy Fuster / The Wrap:

SAG-AFTRA's Interactive Media Agreement with game companies requires performers' informed consent for all planned AI use on their voice, likeness, and movements — Full text of the tentative agreement will be released June 18 for a ratification vote period that ends July 9

Discussion: Game Developer, GamesIndustry.biz, PC Games Insider, Bleeding Cool News, VentureBeat, Blue's News and SAG-AFTRA

Emma Roth / The Verge:

Betting platform Kalshi aired a fully AI-generated 30-second ad during the NBA Finals, reportedly made in 2-3 days with 300-400 generations using Google's Veo 3 — It apparently took just days to make using Google's new text-to-video generator, Veo 3.

Discussion: Mashable, MarkTechPost, @levie, @pjaccetturo, @jeffdean, @pjaccetturo, @pjaccetturo, @pjaccetturo, @kalshi, Ben Colman on LinkedIn, Gizmodo, Business Insider, Shelly Palmer, The Rundown AI, PetaPixel and Dror Poleg

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 7:00 AM ET, June 15, 2025.

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Who's Hiring in Media?

Assistant Standards Editor, NY — NYT

Asia Metals Correspondent, Singapore — Reuters

Economic Policy Reporter, DC — Punchbowl News

Senior Director - Editorial, NY — AP

Senior Editor, FL — Flamingo Magazine

Senior Sydney Correspondent — MLex

Investigative Reporter, OR — Street Roots

Reporter I, Remote — APMG

Reporter, CO — Vail Daily

Digital Content Editor, CT — NBC

Sr. Political Reporter, CA — Sacramento Bee

Editor, DC — The Argument

Data Reporter, TX — IRE

Local Editor, MD — Patch

Editor - Founder Brew, NY — Morning Brew

Senior Content Strategist, CA — LA Times

Audience Strategist, CO — Voice

Senior Editor, Remote US — ProPublica

Community Newspaper Editor, FL — Coastal Star

Managing Editor, NY — Sportico

IT Industry Reporter, MA — CIO Dive

Multimedia Reporter, TX — Victoria Advocate

Food Correspondent, OR — Lookout

Deputy Editor-in-Chief, NY — Semafor

Breaking News Editor, Toronto — Bloomberg

Breaking News Reporter, Remote — Daily Beast

Digital Editor, OH — Columbus Biz First

Senior Political Reporter, ME — BDN

Head of Multimedia, Sydney — The Guardian

Editorial & Opinion Page Editor, NV — LV Sun

Deputy Editor, HI — Honolulu Civil Beat

Principal Writer - Investigative & Trust — Bankrate

Culture & Travel Reporter, NY — Rolling Stone

Wealth & Philanthropy Reporter, TX — DMN

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More News:

Kaitlin Washburn / Chicago Sun Times:
The Chicago Tribune is offering buyouts to the newsroom's 75 union members; the newsroom last went through buyouts in 2021, when nearly 40 people left

Discussion: @mediaevan, @ctguild, Crain's Chicago Business and MediaPost

Peter White / Deadline:
The Outstanding Talk Series Emmy category will have only three nominations in 2025, down from five in 2023, due to getting just 13 submissions

Discussion: Screen Rant, Decider, The Wrap, LateNighter, GoldDerby and Variety

Blake Brittain / Reuters:
Google sues Brazilian airline LATAM in the US, seeking a declaration that Brazilian courts can't force Google to take down a YouTube video outside Brazil

Discussion: TipRanks Financial

Patrick Coffee / Wall Street Journal:
With Google, Meta, and Amazon developing AI tools for ad campaigns, agencies are under threat, but large brands may still rely on agencies for unique concepts

Discussion: Reuters, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Arthur Julio Nelson on LinkedIn, Axios, CNBC, Rob Bagot on LinkedIn, Joanna Castro on LinkedIn, Brad Hendrickson on LinkedIn, Fortune, BMI, Yahoo Finance and eMarketer

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Sources: Tucker Carlson and Neil Patel have bought out investors in their media company, Tucker Carlson Network; the two had raised $15M for TCN in 2023

Discussion: Barrett Media

Samantha Cole / 404 Media:
A spam marketing operation exploited some domains owned by NPR, Nvidia, Stanford, and the US CDC to host AI slop articles redirecting users to an SEO spam site

Discussion: @bartona104.bsky.social, @andybaio@xoxo.zone, @samleecole.bsky.social, @sesmith.lol and TechRadar

Earlier Picks:

Luke Bouma / Cord Cutters News:
WBD plans to shut down its linear multiplex channels HBO Family, ThrillerMax, MovieMax, and OuterMax on August 15, 2025; HBO Family launched in December 1996

Discussion: The Wrap, The A.V. Club, Deadline, Variety, Bleeding Cool News and Multicast News

Ted Johnson / Deadline:
The US House votes 214-212 to rescind $1.1B in federal funding for public broadcasting for the next two fiscal years; the bill now heads to the Senate

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
CNN is expanding its podcast business by rebranding CNN Audio to CNN Podcasts and plans to introduce new talent and formats, including more video podcasts

Discussion: Fernando Hurtado on LinkedIn, Adweek, Steve Lickteig on LinkedIn, Barrett Media, @dannygroner.bsky.social and TVNewsCheck

New York Times:
Sources: FTC is discussing a consent decree on the Omnicom-Interpublic merger, prohibiting the combined company from boycotting platforms over political content

Discussion: Bloomberg, @nathansnewman.bsky.social, MediaPost, @danprimack, @matthewstoller, BMI, Jessica J. on LinkedIn, New York Post, @daphnek.bsky.social, Reuters, @daphnek.bsky.social, @daphnek.bsky.social, @ryanbeckwith.bsky.social, @mattdpearce.com and Inc.com

Caitlin Huston / The Hollywood Reporter:
Harvey Weinstein's rape charge ends in a mistrial but he was found guilty of one count of a criminal sexual act and innocent of another in the NY retrial

Charles Pulliam-Moore / The Verge:
Tubi announces plans to distribute 20+ films funded on Kickstarter, starting in the fall, and to invest in Kickstarter's FilmStream Collective Fund

Discussion: POCIT, Simon Owens's Media Newsletter, TVNewsCheck, Deadline, @simondowens@threads.com, Everette Taylor on Instagram, Streaming Better, Variety and Cord Cutters News

From Techmeme:

Ashley Gold / Axios:
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signs the RAISE Act into law; the AI safety bill's text was modified earlier to more closely resemble California's SB 53

Beatrice Nolan / Fortune:
Cursor-developer Anysphere acquires code review startup Graphite and says Graphite will continue operating as an independent product

Andrej Karpathy / karpathy:
2025 LLM Year in Review: shift toward RLVR, Claude Code emerged as the first convincing example of an LLM agent, Nano Banana was paradigm shifting, and more

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