Top News:
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Major brands were replaced by direct-response advertisers during commercial breaks of CBS News' December 13 town hall with Erika Kirk, moderated by Bari Weiss — During a Saturday-night town hall led by Bari Weiss, the recently named editor in chief of CBS News, most of Madison Avenue sought an off-ramp.
Discussion:
Status, CBS News, @matthewkeyslive, Salon, @dannygroner.bsky.social, CBS News on YouTube, CBS News, @kennysmith.bsky.social, Raw Story, RedState, @bettycrackerfl.bsky.social, @jbflint, @5-2blue.bsky.social, @chadloder.bsky.social, @bristei, The Guardian, @newsjennifer.bsky.social, The Free Press, The Gateway Pundit, @joshtpm.bsky.social, @bgrueskin.bsky.social, @joshuaerlich.bsky.social, The Hill, New York Post, @brandonfriedman.bsky.social, @swin24.bsky.social, Althouse, Deseret News, The Wrap and NewsMax.com
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
How media coverage of Trump's AI EO overstated federal authority over states and overlooked how the order's interstate commerce argument could backfire — The mainstream media just failed a basic civics test so badly that you'd think their brains have been pickled by the kinds of folks who spend all their time on X (oh, wait...).
Discussion:
@haroldfeld.bsky.social, @jmiers230.bsky.social, @maxkennerly.bsky.social, @rpardee@hachyderm.io, @BrideOfLinux@mastodon …, @techdirt.com, The White House, naked capitalism, AIwire, MS NOW, Above the Law, American Banker, Ars Technica, The Information, PCMag, Axios, Music Technology Policy, CNET, The Wrap, The Boston Globe, Deadline, FedScoop, The Verge, Wall Street Journal and New York Times, more at Techmeme »
Will McCurdy / PCMag:
Amazon rolls out Ask This Book to the Kindle iOS app, letting readers ask questions about plot or characters; authors can't opt out — Whether you're reading dense, challenging 19th-century classics or the latest thriller, sometimes even the best readers lose track of what's actually going on …
Lauren Hirsch / New York Times:
Sources: WBD chose Netflix partly fearing limited recourse if Paramount's bid failed, since Larry Ellison has not provided a personal guarantee — Larry Ellison is backstopping Paramount's bid for Warner Brothers, but Warner Brothers is concerned that the billionaire has not provided a personal guarantee to pay.
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, CBC News, Motley Fool, Livemint, The Times, Front Office Sports, Fortune, Mobile World Live, Financial Times, Axios and Al Jazeera
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Rohan Goswami / Semafor:
In a letter to the Trump administration, the GOP Senatorial Committee Chair Sen. Tim Scott said the Netflix-WBD deal raises “significant antitrust problems” — The Scoop — A key Republican senator Friday joined the mounting opposition in Washington to Netflix's takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery.
Discussion:
U.S. Senator Tim Scott …, Chris Heatherly on LinkedIn, Gizmodo and The Wrap
Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
A look at financial advice YouTuber Caleb Hammer, who has over 2M subscribers and 60K to 70K subscribers paying $9.99/month for exclusive content — Caleb Hammer, the host of Financial Audit, a top podcast on YouTube, is one of the online upstarts filling the void left by the decline of combative daytime TV
Sarah Holder / Bloomberg:
A look at Netflix House in Philadelphia, a new 100K sq. ft. location for in-person experiences, which resembles a Disneyland attraction and a Dave & Buster's — The entertainment company's new “Netflix House” experience is bringing the brand's shows into former department stores.
Discussion:
Esquire, Visit Philadelphia, The Hollywood Reporter, Sarah Holder on LinkedIn, Dallas Innovates and Axios
Pamela McClintock / The Hollywood Reporter:
Disney's Zootopia 2 surpasses $1B at the global box office, the fastest PG-rated film to do so after just 17 days in release — Disney's year-end holiday tentpole achieved the feat faster than any Holllwood animated film in history, as well as any PG-rated film.
Discussion:
Entertainment Weekly, Deadline, Just Jared, @disneyanimation, @discussingfilm, @drewdisneydude, The A.V. Club, Vulture, LAmag, Reuters, People, The Walt Disney Company, Forbes, Screen, Deadline, The Movie Blog, Deadline, CNBC, The Wrap, Variety and Comic Book
Gene Maddaus / Variety:
Google has removed dozens of AI videos from YouTube that depicted Disney characters, after Disney sent a cease-and-desist letter flagging the links — Disney flagged the YouTube links to the videos in its letter, and demanded that Google remove them immediately.
Trip Gabriel / New York Times:
R. Bruce Dold, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist at the Chicago Tribune, where he became editor-in-chief and publisher, is dead at 70 — As head of the editorial page, he encouraged The Tribune's support of Barack Obama, resulting in the paper's first endorsement of a Democrat running for the White House.
Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Arkansas PBS severs ties with the PBS network, the first state public TV system to do so since Congress cut CPB funds, citing the annual $2M+ membership cost — The loss of federal funding forced a difficult decision, the executive director of Arkansas TV said: Cut PBS, or go off the air entirely.
Sam Roberts / New York Times:
Arthur L. Carter, who started a Connecticut newspaper in 1981, bought and sold The Nation, and founded the New York Observer in 1987, has died at 93 — After making a fortune on Wall Street, he bought The Nation magazine and founded The New York Observer, which one writer called a “maypole of Manhattan gossip and intrigue.”
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