Top News:
Jennifer Maas / Variety:
Skydance TV President Matt Thunell will run a merged division with Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios, reviving Paramount TV Studios which was shut down in 2024 — Skydance Television president Matt Thunell is set to add oversight of Paramount's TV studios to his duties amid the pending closure …
Discussion:
Deadline, C21Media, The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline and LateNighter
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Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
David Ellison names Paramount Global's senior leadership team, appointing himself as CEO, Jeff Shell as president, and RedBird Capital's Andy Gordon as COO — George Cheeks, Cindy Holland, Josh Greenstein, Dana Goldberg will all get new roles, joining Jeff Shell and Ellison in the C-suite.
Discussion:
Reuters, Variety, Deadline, The Wrap, Variety, Deadline, Sports Business Journal, New York Post, Adweek, Los Angeles Times, WORLD SCREEN and MediaPost
Joe Otterson / Variety:
Internal memo: Paramount Streaming President and CEO Tom Ryan is stepping down; Ryan became CEO in October 2020 after co-founding Pluto TV
Discussion:
Mediaweek, TheDesk.net, The Information, Cord Cutters News, Media Play News, TVNewsCheck, The Wrap, Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter
Sara Fischer / Axios:
The New York Post plans to launch a daily Los Angeles-based newspaper called The California Post in early 2026, with News Corp veteran Nick Papps as EIC — - Los Angeles is home to the second-largest concentration of Post readers, per News Corp. — The vast majority (90%) …
Discussion:
New York Post, CNN, New York Times, Variety, TheDesk.net, TODAY.com, Politico, @jimmyfailla, @matthewkeyslive, @tim_bays, @bristei, The Gateway Pundit, @noahmallin, @blowryontv, Mumbrella, @adriana_lacy, @timj_b, @spiccarella, @cmarinucci, @jg_cstt, @adamprobolsky, American Thinker, @jonchesto, @_bizbaz, Reuters, @edmundlee, Newser, Australian Financial Review, @henryporters, @kellblog, @kentmoyer, @jessicalessin, @benfritz, @maxwelltani, @richontech, @sarafischer, NBC News, Associated Press, The Boston Globe, The A.V. Club, UPI, David Thalberg on LinkedIn, The Hollywood Reporter, Washington Post, The Post Millennial, The Guardian, Mediaite, @tranniehathaway.bsky.social, MediaPost, Wall Street Journal, Stacy Ezra Wormser on LinkedIn, The Daily Caller, Joe.My.God., @doughenwood.bsky.social, @robinsonmeyer.bsky.social, The Wrap, @tvmojoe.bsky.social, @honeymummy.co, Deadline, Fox News and Althouse
Scott Nover / Washington Post:
Filing: VOA Director Michael Abramowitz has been fired after refusing what he called an “illegal” reassignment to run a broadcasting station in North Carolina — Kari Lake tried to dispatch Michael Abramowitz to North Carolina. When he refused, she fired him.
Discussion:
TVNewsCheck, Poynter, The Wrap, @marionawfal, @w7voa, @scottnover, @kyledcheney and TheDesk.net
Belle Lin / Wall Street Journal:
ElevenLabs launches Eleven Music, letting individuals and businesses use its AI model to generate music cleared for commercial use via English-language prompts — New model allows customers to create music with AI that is cleared for commercial use. But AI-generated music still faces legal battles and stiff opposition from artists.
Discussion:
WinBuzzer
Josh Axelrod / Nieman Lab:
How some news organizations are using AI models powered by retrieval-augmented generation to surface the most newsworthy elements from very large datasets — “If we sit on the sideline and observe, I think the risk is too high that we are gonna be left behind.”
Jay Peters / The Verge:
IGN lays off staff, including eight members of the IGN Creators Guild, representing 12% of the bargaining unit, as parent company Ziff Davis cuts costs — The ‘perplexing’ cuts laid off eight employees at IGN. … Ziff Davis-owned IGN Entertainment has laid off staff, including eight members of the IGN Creators Guild.
John Herrman / New York Magazine:
SEO is being supplanted by generative-engine optimization, or GEO, which focuses on AI chatbots and does not benefit from longstanding SEO tricks — Search-engine optimization now feels dated. Generative-engine optimization is all about trying to trick AI chatbots.
Ben Strauss / Washington Post:
A profile of Katie Feeney, an influencer and a rising star in sports media with 8M TikTok followers, as ESPN hires her to appear across its social channels — Chasing content from the Rose Bowl to the red carpet with a 22-year-old influencer and rising media star. — LOS ANGELES — Katie Feeney's hand was shaking.
Discussion:
@benjstrauss, The US Sun, New York Post and Awful Announcing
Jon Blistein / Rolling Stone:
A Parkland shooting victim's parents created an AI version of their son to speak about gun safety, starting with an interview with journalist Jim Acosta — AI-generated Joaquin Oliver, which was created by his parents, discussed gun control measures and movies in a new interview
Discussion:
@acosta, @robbysoave, @redsteeze, @jarvis_best, The Post Millennial, Straight Arrow News, Decrypt, Townhall, Salon, @jarvis_best, Jim Acosta on YouTube, @redsteeze, Moneycontrol, Instapundit, twitchy.com, The Daily Caller, @acosta, Mediaite, Blaze Media, RedState, Fox News and The Gateway Pundit, more at Techmeme »
Alice Brooker / Press Gazette:
Shareholder letter: Reddit cites Profound's analysis showing it is the most cited domain across AI models, ahead of Wikipedia, YouTube, Forbes, and others — The online forum is aiming to be a go-to search engine for questions and answers — Reddit has revealed it is the number …
Discussion:
WinBuzzer and Reddit Investor Relations, more at Techmeme »
Rebecca Falconer / Axios:
Court filing: Trump and Rupert Murdoch agree to postpone Murdoch's deposition in the Epstein letter libel suit until after a ruling on the WSJ's dismissal case — President Trump and Rupert Murdoch reached a deal Monday to postpone the media mogul's deposition in a libel lawsuit related …
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HuffPost, @joshgerstein, NewsMax.com, Joe.My.God., Forbes, Telegraph, Sydney Morning Herald and Southern District of Florida
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