Top News:
The Guardian:
Leaked files: WaPo publisher Will Lewis supported Boris Johnson as a secret political adviser when he was UK PM in 2022; Lewis was AP's vice-chair at the time — Extensive meetings in 2022 between Lewis, then vice-chair of AP, and Johnson were not disclosed in transparency records
Financial Times:
Sources: Rupert Murdoch forced the $3.3B succession deal through sheer will, placing enormous pressure on his adult children during negotiations over months — How the media mogul put chosen son Lachlan in charge of his empire — and cut out his ‘departing members’
Discussion:
@jeffjarvis.bsky.social, NPR, Sydney Morning Herald, @arashmassoudi, The Guardian, WBUR, Sky News, The i Paper, Sherwood News, UPI, Australian Financial Review, The A.V. Club, israelhayom.com, Semafor, ABC, Times of India, Reuters, Al Jazeera, Le Monde, New York Times, Newser, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and Mediaite
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
A US Treasury Department document says “digital content creators”, including podcasters, social media influencers, and streamers, are eligible for tax-free tips — A U.S. Treasury Department document includes podcasters, social media influencers and streamers among occupations eligible for tax-free tips.
Discussion:
Bloomberg
Lynn Doan / Bloomberg:
Bending Spoons agrees to acquire video platform Vimeo in an all-cash deal valued at ~$1.38B, set to close in Q4; Vimeo will be delisted from exchanges — Bending Spoons, one of Europe's largest mobile app developers, has agreed to buy the video platform Vimeo in an all-cash deal valued at about $1.38 billion.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, TVBEurope, Vimeo.com, Inc. and Reuters, more at Techmeme »
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Reddit, Yahoo, Medium, Quora, People, O'Reilly, wikiHow, Ziff Davis, and others adopt the Really Simple Licensing (RSL) Standard to set terms for AI scraping — Reddit, Yahoo, Quora, and wikiHow are just some of the major brands on board with the RSL Standard.
Discussion:
rslstandard.org, TechCrunch, PCMag, ZDNET, The Medium Blog and Ars Technica, more at Techmeme »
Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
Reddit removes visible subscriber counts from subreddit pages, replacing it with seven-day active visitors or contributions, to better reflect user activity — Users will now see seven-day metrics that track active visitors and contributions instead.
Discussion:
Social Media Today, more at Techmeme »
Dell Cameron / Wired:
Q&A with EFF Executive Director Cindy Cohn, who will leave the role later this year after leading the nonprofit since 2015, on privacy, encryption, AI, and more — After 25 years at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Cindy Cohn is stepping down as executive director.
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
Free London business paper City AM says it returned to print profitability, with gross profit margin of 50% last quarter and EBIT up 52% from January to August — Free London business newspaper City AM has claimed a healthy return to print profitability over the last year.
Rick Edmonds / Poynter:
Ten years in, Stat has 520 group licenses, 7.5M monthly paid views, and a staff of around 100; summer subscriptions rose 45% YoY, thanks to a Trump bump — STAT proves a sharp concept and patient money can beat the odds in a brutal news economy — STAT, a health care, medicine and biotech news site …
Winston Cho / The Hollywood Reporter:
WBD sues Sling TV over its short-term offerings that let viewers access its bundle for as little as a day; Disney filed an identical suit in August — The filing comes after Disney sued Dish over the offering of day passes, which allow viewers to bypass monthly subscriptions.
Marc Schneider / Billboard:
RIAA: US recorded music revenue hit $5.6B across all formats in H1 2025, up 1% YoY; streaming generated $4.68B, and paid subscriptions grew 5.7% YoY to $3.2B — Streaming drives 84% of music revenue in the U.S. market. — The Recording Industry Association of America announced Tuesday …
Discussion:
RIAA, Inside Radio, Music Business Worldwide, Digital Music News, The Hollywood Reporter and Music Ally
Terrence O'Brien / The Verge:
Spotify plans to roll out lossless audio at 24-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC to Premium users over the next two months in 50 markets, without needing a pricier subscription — Subscribers will be able to enjoy 24-bit / 44.1 kHz FLAC as part of their Premium plan. … It's been a long time coming but Spotify is finally getting lossless audio.
Discussion:
TheDesk.net, Billboard, TechCrunch, Variety, TechRadar, Thurrott, Engadget, ZDNET, How-To Geek, GB News, 9to5Google, Digital Music News, Digital Trends, T3, Android Police, Mashable, iPhone in Canada, BGR, Android Authority, Trusted Reviews, @tomwarren, @tomwarren.co.uk, MacRumors, Music Business Worldwide, The Hollywood Reporter, Music Ally, Notebookcheck and Spotify, more at Techmeme »
Jake Kanter / Deadline:
Ofcom announces that Geoff Cooper, the chair of electrical retailer AO, has been appointed as the chair of Channel 4 board, ending months of leadership limbo — Geoff Cooper, the chair of British electrical retailer AO, will head the board of Channel 4, ending months of leadership limbo at the network.
Discussion:
Advanced Television, Telegraph, Financial Times, Sky News and Broadband TV News
