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, TVNewsCheck, @matthewkeyslive, Salon, @bettycrackerfl.bsky.social, The Guardian, @mford.bsky.social, @newsjennifer.bsky.social, @jbflint, @bristei, Raw Story, @kennysmith.bsky.social, RedState, @5-2blue.bsky.social, CBS News, @dannygroner.bsky.social, The Free Press, @chadloder.bsky.social, CBS News on YouTube, CBS News, 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
Kanis Leung / Associated Press:
Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai is found guilty of colluding with foreign forces to endanger national security and conspiring to publish seditious articles — Jimmy Lai, the former Hong Kong media mogul and outspoken critic of Beijing, was convicted in a landmark national security trial …
Discussion:
BBC, Hong Kong Free Press HKFP, The Guardian, Semafor, Le Monde, The Daily Caller, Reuters, Columbia Journalism Review, The Daily Register, Metro.co.uk, Kyodo News, New York Times, Associated Press, The US Sun, Financial Times, @liamjscott, Al Jazeera, Bloomberg, UPI, NPR, Australian Financial Review, Reporters Without Borders, Sky News, CNBC, @joshrogin, @lorak.bsky.social, @klustout@threads.com, Wall Street Journal, @tomgrundy, The Japan Times, Modern Diplomacy, Reuters, @frances_hui, France 24, NewsMax.com, Washington Post, The Independent, CBC News, Nikkei Asia, @cpjasia, Mirror, Globe and Mail and @hkdc_us
Rose Henderson / Bloomberg:
Memo: Greg Peters and Ted Sarandos lay out Netflix's WBD case, moving to quell concerns about job losses and the end of theater releases, after Paramount's bid — The two chief executive officers of Netflix Inc. laid out the company's case for acquiring Warner Bros Discovery Inc. …
Discussion:
The Wrap, Variety, Business Insider, Reuters and @mgsiegler, more at Techmeme »
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Scott Fitzgerald / Wall Street Journal:
Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on antitrust, argues consumers stand to benefit from Netflix's acquisition of WBD — Consumers stand to benefit from Netflix's acquisition of Warner. — In a crossover event fit for Hollywood, Netflix is acquiring Warner Bros …
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:
Implicator.ai, Washington Post, The American Spectator, @BrideOfLinux@mastodon …, @haroldfeld.bsky.social, @rpardee@hachyderm.io, @jmiers230.bsky.social, @maxkennerly.bsky.social, @techdirt.com, naked capitalism, MS NOW, Above the Law, American Banker, Ars Technica, StateScoop, The White House, The Information and PCMag, more at Techmeme »
Chris Morris / Variety:
Acclaimed actor and director Rob Reiner, 78, and his wife Michele Singer were found dead in their home; LAPD is investigating the deaths as a homicide — Rob Reiner, who segued from starring in “All in the Family” to directing movies including “This Is Spinal Tap,” “A Few Good Men” and …
Discussion:
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Sara Fischer / Axios:
WSJ launches Free Expression, a newsletter-focused opinion brand that will be available via its own channels and Substack, initially offering free content — The Wall Street Journal on Monday launched “Free Expression,” a newsletter-focused opinion brand that will be available via its own channels and Substack.
Discussion:
Talking Biz News, Wall Street Journal and @sarafischer
Freddy Mayhew / Press Gazette:
PA Media, the UK's largest press agency, says it has adopted a “video-first” strategy to meet increased demand for live and vertical social media content — PA has adopted a “video-first” approach to its content offering in response to increased demand for live and vertical video content …
Reuters:
Internal documents: Meta earned $18B+ in annual ad sales from China in 2024, making up 10%+ of its global revenue, with $3B+ linked to fraudulent ads like scams — A Reuters investigation reveals the owner of Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp decided to accept high levels of fraudulent advertisements from China.
Discussion:
New York Post, 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 …
Discussion:
Engadget, Writer Beware, 9to5Mac, The Verge, @carnage4life.bsky.social, @hypervisible.blacksky.app and Reactor
Elias Leight / Wall Street Journal:
Christmas music is more popular than ever, with listeners embracing it earlier in the year; by December 10, 20 of Spotify's top 25 tracks were Christmas-themed — One music manager described a holiday hit as a ‘little ATM machine’ — The group Pentatonix are known for their a capella renditions of Christmas classics.
Discussion:
Barrett Media and Raw Story
Anna Heim / TechCrunch:
Berlin-based Mirelo, whose AI models can interpret video content to add matching sound effects, raised a $41M seed led by Index and a16z, after a $3M pre-seed — AI lets anyone create videos, but many AI video creation tools lack support for audio. Mirelo is building AI that adds soundtracks to match the video's action.
Discussion:
Mirelo AI, Florian Wenzel on LinkedIn, Tech Funding News and Index Ventures, more at Techmeme »

