Top News:
Jessica Toonkel / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Paramount Skydance is preparing a majority cash bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, backed by the Ellison family; WBD jumps nearly 30% — The majority of the planned bid for Warner will be made up of cash — Paramount Skydance is preparing a majority cash bid for Warner Bros. Discovery …
Discussion:
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Lachlan Cartwright / Breaker:
Sources: Puck, co-founded by Jon Kelly in 2021, has agreed to acquire Graydon Carter's Air Mail; both outlets have mutual investors, including TPG — Another POLITICO Star Eyeing The Exits … In tonight's edition, Graydon Carter and Jon Kelly go way back to when Kelly was Carter's assistant at Vanity Fair.
Discussion:
Feed Me, Showbiz411 and @bristei
Jack Dunn / Variety:
Source: MSNBC fires political analyst Matthew Dowd over his on-air comments about Charlie Kirk; MSNBC President Rebecca Kutler and Dowd apologized for them — Political analyst Matthew Dowd has been fired from MSNBC after his comments about the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, according to a network source.
Discussion:
@realDonaldTrump …, @matthewjdowd.bsky.social, @msnbcpr, HuffPost, The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, @shethadamntruth.bsky.social, PRWeek, New York Times, New York Sun, Newsbusters, @HamonWry@mastodon.world, The Daily Caller, jarvis, solo ult the healer, USA Today, Adweek, @dceiver.bsky.social, MLive.com, @_maxgranger, Hollywood Life, TV Insider, @looking_finding, Gizmodo, @fatsam@mstdn.social, @rbpundit, @jimgeraghty, Associated Press, The Charlotte Observer, Townhall, @chriscillizza, Althouse, Jewish, The Federalist, @johnshirley2024.bsky.social, The Hollywood Gossip, Lawyers, Guns & Money, New Jersey Online, Blaze Media, RADAR, @heerjeet, @tlf5foot8.bsky.social, @geoff61.bsky.social, The Wrap, Sandra Rose, The US Sun, Us Weekly, National Enquirer, @trouble_man90, Entertainment Weekly, TMZ.com, Talking Points Memo, Newser, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, @authorguy.bsky.social, @reinbowcleric.bsky.social, @canteverdie, The Daily Signal, @covie_93, @2blessed2nv, Metro.co.uk, National Legal …, Time, @alliegata.bsky.social, Reason, @brianstelter, Washington Times, Los Angeles Times, The Tab, NewsMax.com, The Hill, al.com, The A.V. Club, Barrett Media, New York Post, Deadline, The Washington Free Beacon, Plain Dealer, The National Pulse, One America News Network, Washington Examiner, Suggest, New York Daily News, @atherton.bsky.social, Imprisoned for llama crimes, Newsweek, Mediaite, Tampa Free Press, Fox News, Variety, ZeroHedge News, The Gateway Pundit, Deseret News, RedState, Raw Story, HotAir, The Hollywood Reporter, Just Jared, The Post Millennial and Breitbart
Wall Street Journal:
MediaRadar: pharmaceutical industry spent $6.4B on US TV ads in 2024; drug companies may cut TV ad spend if new rules mandate the inclusion of all side effects — Pharmaceutical industry spending on TV ads topped $6 billion last year — The Trump administration is cracking …
David Folkenflik / NPR:
NPR names Thomas Evans as its new editor-in-chief, starting September 15; Evans joined NPR in 2024 and was previously CNN's London bureau chief — NPR is poised to name a new news chief at a moment of uncertainty for the network, when it must adjust to the end of federal funding for public media …
Bloomberg:
China says it opposes 90-day US visa limits for Chinese journalists, compared to 240 days for others, and does not “want to see a new round of ‘media warfare’” — China has pushed back against Washington's proposed new visa limits on Chinese journalists in the US …
Discussion:
European Federation … and KSTP-TV
RELATED:
Blake Brittain / Reuters:
Encyclopedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster sue Perplexity, alleging that it unlawfully scraped their websites and redirected their traffic to its AI summaries — Perplexity AI is the latest artificial intelligence company to be hit with a lawsuit by copyright holders …
Naman Ramachandran / Variety:
MPA: streaming will make up $5B of $15.8B projected to be invested in video content in the Asia Pacific region in 2025, passing traditional pay-TV, a first — Streaming platforms will overtake traditional pay-TV as the largest source of content investment in Asia-Pacific in 2025 …
Discussion:
Deadline and Advanced Television
Matthew Keys / TheDesk.net:
Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch says sign-ups for streaming service Fox One exceed expectations, and a boost is expected in October when it's paired with ESPN Unlimited — Fox Corporation's new streaming service Fox One is performing well in its first two weeks on the market, with sign-ups exceeding …
Discussion:
Front Office Sports, @xpangler, Variety and Media Play News
John Koblin / New York Times:
The differences between Severance and The Pitt in terms of budget, star power, time between seasons, and genre attest to changes in priorities for streamers — The Apple TV+ drama “Severance” and the HBO Max medical series “The Pitt” have only one thing in common: Both shows center on a workplace.
Discussion:
Gold Derby, AppleInsider, TVNewsCheck, The Hollywood Reporter, 9to5Mac, Reuters, Los Angeles Times and MacDailyNews
Hanaa' Tameez / Nieman Lab:
Analysis: journalism's DEI efforts in the US have declined, fueled in part by the Trump administration's quashing of diversity initiatives — Diversity-related newsroom jobs haven't totally disappeared — but they also haven't stuck. — In 2020, as George Floyd's killing …
John Paul Rathbone / Financial Times:
Turkish authorities seize Can Holdings, which owns one of the country's last independent broadcasters, as part of a probe into money laundering and tax evasion — Takeover of one of last remaining independent news groups in graft probe extends government control over national media
Discussion:
@robertscotthorton.bsky.social and Winnipeg Free Press
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Netflix and AMC extend their licensing deal, adding new AMC shows and some library titles to Netflix; some titles will be available in international markets — The deal includes new seasons of current shows like ‘The Walking Dead Daryl Dixon,’ and library content like ‘Orphan Black’
Discussion:
Screen Rant and Variety
