Top News:
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
RELATED:
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
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
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, The Wrap, TVNewsCheck, 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, Politico, @jessicalessin, @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, NBC News, Australian Financial Review, @benfritz, @henryporters, @kellblog, @kentmoyer, @maxwelltani, Associated Press, @richontech, @sarafischer, 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, Wall Street Journal, Stacy Ezra Wormser on LinkedIn, The Daily Caller, MediaPost, Joe.My.God., @doughenwood.bsky.social, @robinsonmeyer.bsky.social, The Wrap, @tvmojoe.bsky.social, @honeymummy.co, Deadline, Fox News and Althouse
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.
Bloomberg:
Amazon denies it is closing its Wondery podcast studio, but says it will break up its operations; a source says ~110 jobs will be cut due to the reorganization — As podcasting becomes video-oriented, Amazon is shuffling Wondery into Audible and a new “creator services” team while cutting approximately 110 staff members
Discussion:
New York Times, Deadline, Fortune, The A.V. Club, Silicon UK, CNBC, Music Ally, The Hans India, NBC News, RADIO ONLINE, Fast Company, Tubefilter, @lucas_shaw, Inside Radio, Los Angeles Times, @potomacripper.bsky.social, @davelee.me, Cord Cutters News, Gizmodo, Engadget, TechCrunch, TVNewsCheck, Variety, iPhone in Canada, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek, Sports Media Watch, Jody Avirgan on LinkedIn, Lucas Shaw on LinkedIn, 9to5Mac, Business Insider, The Wrap, Reuters, Thurrott, The Information, Lex Friedman on LinkedIn, @jerrodjaeger.bsky.social, @james@bne.social, @dannygroner.bsky.social, The Verge and GeekWire, more at Techmeme »
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.”
Discussion:
The Register, @tongli.bsky.social, @mikeananny.bsky.social and @niemanlab.org, more at Techmeme »
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, RedState, The Post Millennial, Straight Arrow News, Decrypt, Townhall, Salon, @jarvis_best, Jim Acosta on YouTube, @redsteeze, Moneycontrol, Instapundit, twitchy.com, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, @acosta, Fox News, Blaze Media and The Gateway Pundit, more at Techmeme »
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.
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.
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
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 …
Discussion:
Forbes, Joe.My.God., Sydney Morning Herald, Southern District of Florida and @joshgerstein
