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8:05 PM ET, August 19, 2025

Mediagazer

 Top News: 
Reuters:
Nexstar agrees to acquire Tegna for $3.54B in a deal valued at $6.2B including debt, expected to close by H2 2026; Nexstar plans to pay $22 per share  —  Nexstar Media has agreed to buy smaller rival Tegna for $3.54 billion, creating a local-TV powerhouse that seeks to compete better …
James B. Stewart / New York Times:
Interviews with Shari Redstone and others detail her decision to sell her family's empire, Paramount's settlement with President Trump, her reputation, and more  —  The media mogul spoke at length for the first time about selling her family's empire, Paramount's settlement with President Trump …
Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
The Knight Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and others unveil the Public Media Bridge Fund, providing $26.5M+ to help CPB radio and TV stations avoid closure  —  Maribel Pérez Wadsworth, the president and chief executive of the Knight Foundation.Moriah Ratner for The New York Times
Mandy Dalugdug / Music Business Worldwide:
TikTok launches Music On Stage 2025, a global contest for artists from 23 regions on TikTok Live; it will promote winners on its distribution platform SoundOn  —  TikTok has launched a new global music competition targeting emerging artists and music creators on TikTok LIVE.
Discussion: Music Ally, TikTok and Music Week
Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:
Google will pay $30M to settle a class action lawsuit alleging it violated kids' privacy on YouTube by collecting data without parental consent for targeted ads  —  Google (GOOGL.O) will pay $30 million to settle a lawsuit claiming it violated the privacy of children using YouTube by collecting …
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
GB News plans to launch a DC bureau with live programming starting in September, including “The Late Show Live from DC”, and aims to hire a US political editor  —  GB News says it marks “huge moment” with US expansion.  —  Update 19 August: GB News has announced its presenter Ben Leo …
Discussion: GB News and @josiah.writes.news
Rick Porter / The Hollywood Reporter:
Matt and Ross Duffer officially sign a four-year exclusive deal with Paramount for theatrical films, TV, and streaming projects, starting in April 2026  —  The ‘Stranger Things’ creators will create movie, TV and streaming projects for the studio, with a focus on tentpole films.
Hilke Schellmann / Columbia Journalism Review:
Testing AI tools for journalism work: LLMs worked well for short summaries but poorly for long ones, and scientific research tools lacked depth and consistency  —  Some tools were sufficient for summarizing meetings.  For research, the results were a disaster.
David Satin / The Streamable:
Sling TV launches Sling Select, a $19.99/month plan offering 10+ channels including Fox News, FX, FS1, and, in some markets, ABC, NBC, and Fox as add-ons  —  The plan comes with 10+ channels, and includes ABC, Fox, and NBC in some markets.  —  Sling TV really wants its customers to have as much choice as possible.
Steve Holland / Reuters:
The White House launches an official TikTok account, with the aim of communicating President Trump's policies  —  The White House launched an official TikTok account on Tuesday, taking advantage of its more than 150 million U.S. users to spread the messages of President Donald Trump.
 
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 More News: 
Sara Merican / Deadline:
Chinese media conglomerate COL launches a global content distribution division, offering over 1,000 microdramas in both English and Chinese
Discussion: Variety
Sara Fischer / Axios:
The Spectator, which launched a US print edition in 2019, plans to double its print output in the US to 24 issues annually as part of a relaunch this fall
 Earlier Picks: 
Alice Brooker / Press Gazette:
City Matters, a free monthly newspaper serving the City of London since 2016, enters voluntary liquidation, citing rising print costs and declining ad revenue
Discussion: @josiah.writes.news
CNN:
The Q&A with Trump and Zelensky on Monday showed how the White House has remade the press pool to evade tough questions and set up Trump's talking points
Reuters:
ESPN and Spike Lee say ESPN will no longer air Spike Lee's docuseries about former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, citing “creative differences”
Katelyn Chedraoui / CNET:
Google says users created 100M videos using its AI filmmaking tool Flow since its May launch; Flow leverages Veo 3 and focuses on maintaining visual consistency
 

 
From Techmeme:

Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:
Sources: Meta is considering deep budget cuts to its metaverse efforts in 2026, potentially as high as 30% and most likely including layoffs as early as January

Kif Leswing / CNBC:
Apple says general counsel Kate Adams and policy chief Lisa Jackson will retire, and Jennifer Newstead, Meta's former chief legal officer, will replace Adams

Will Oremus / Washington Post:
Two studies suggest AI chatbots can shift political views more effectively than TV campaign ads, especially by presenting many claims, regardless of accuracy
 
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