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Washington Post:
Internal email: 60 Minutes correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi told staffers Bari Weiss pulled the CECOT segment after the Trump administration refused an interview — The segment on the deportation of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador's CECOT prison was postponed after the Trump administration refused to grant the network an interview.
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David Folkenflik / NPR:
Email: Sharyn Alfonsi says CBS' decision was “not an editorial decision, it is a political one” and “we have effectively” handed the government a “kill switch” — Just a day and a half before it was set to be broadcast, new CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss pulled …
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Julia Ornedo / The Daily Beast:
CBS postpones a 60 Minutes segment on El Salvador's CECOT prison, which houses people deported by the Trump administration, just hours before it was set to air — BE RIGHT BACK — The show announced a programming change just before its Sunday night timeslot.
Discussion:
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Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:
Sources: Bari Weiss asked 60 Minutes to add material to its CECOT piece, such as a Stephen Miller interview; Weiss says her job is to publish the “best” stories — Sharyn Alfonsi, a “60 Minutes” correspondent, criticized the network's decision to remove her reporting from Sunday's edition of the show.
Discussion:
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Brian Steinberg / Variety:
A spate of unforced errors by Bari Weiss has kept scrutiny high on CBS News, as Paramount tries to acquire WBD and can ill afford negative attention — Analysis: Hard-charging news chief keeps running into walls instead of breaking down silos, all as parent corporation tries to show its media-industry mettle.
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Sara Fischer / Axios:
Sources: Weiss thinks that the existing 60 Minutes framework did not provide sufficient checks and balances to ensure that the reporting met Weiss' standards — CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss told top “60 Minutes” producers Sunday afternoon, after holding a controversial news segment …
Discussion:
Deseret News, Mediaite, Washington Examiner, Townhall, TV Insider, @sarafischer and IJR
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
CBS staff call: Bari Weiss says the 60 Minutes story “was not ready”, “did not advance the ball”, and needed to “get the principals on the record and on camera”
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Sara Salinas / CNBC:
Paramount says Larry Ellison “agreed to provide an irrevocable personal guarantee of $40.4B” for its hostile WBD bid, but did not increase its $30 per share bid — Paramount Skydance on Monday guaranteed the backing of billionaire Larry Ellison in an amended offer for Warner Bros. Discovery …
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Connor Hart / Wall Street Journal:
SEC filing: Netflix says it secured up to $25B in bank financing to fund its proposed $72B acquisition of WBD, maturing three years after the deal closes — Details come from a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission — Netflix said it has secured up to $25 billion in bank financing …
Discussion:
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Ali Watkins / New York Times:
Channel 4 says Jimmy Kimmel will share a message on Christmas Day as part of its Alternative Christmas Message show, emphasizing the importance of free speech — Mr. Kimmel will speak out against fascism and about the importance of free speech in the holiday address, according to a Channel 4 spokesman.
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Mitchell Peters / Billboard:
Pirate activist group Anna's Archive says it scraped 86M music files and 256M rows of track metadata from Spotify, and releases them in ~300TB of torrent files — The scrape allegedly accessed 86 million audio files. Spotify is “actively investigating the incident.”
Discussion:
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Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
Source: Threads plans to add podcast previews to let snippets of shows play directly in user feeds; it is focusing on live events, seeking to attract podcasters — The social network is launching podcast previews in a bid to attract more creators to the app
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
A survey of 700 Hollywood insiders: 52% think Netflix will buy WBD, 80% say they use AI in their work, 30% predict Josh D'Amaro as Disney's next CEO, and more — We asked more than 700 industry experts to name the best streaming service, worst CEO and next big movie star.
