Mediagazer: Following Clooney's criticism, Bari Weiss invites him to “visit The CBS Broadcast Center” where she is “spending the holidays” to “relaunch the Evening News” (Pat Saperstein/Variety)

12:05 PM ET, December 31, 2025

Top News:

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:

Sources: WBD plans to reject Paramount's revised takeover bid at a board meeting next week, viewing the $30-a-share cash bid as still inferior to Netflix's bid — Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. plans to once again reject a takeover bid from Paramount Skydance Corp. after the rival media company amended …

Brent Lang / Variety:

George Clooney criticizes CBS and ABC for settling lawsuits with President Trump and says Bari Weiss “is dismantling CBS News as we speak” — When George Clooney was preparing to make his Broadway debut appearing as CBS news correspondent Edward R. Murrow in “Good Night …

Pat Saperstein / Variety:

Following Clooney's criticism, Bari Weiss invites him to “visit The CBS Broadcast Center” where she is “spending the holidays” to “relaunch the Evening News” — After George Clooney said he felt that newly-named editor-in-chief Bari Weiss was …

Charles Ornstein / ProPublica:

ProPublica reporters on three recent stories were ignored by federal or state workers when seeking comment, and then were accused of stalking or intimidation — This summer, my colleagues were reporting out a story about the Department of Education's “final mission,” its effort …

Discussion: @robertscotthorton.bsky.social, Charles Ornstein on LinkedIn, @megomatz.bsky.social, @jswatz.bsky.social, @jlussenhop.bsky.social, @charlesornstein.bsky.social, @charlesornstein.bsky.social, @bgrueskin.bsky.social, @annaleighclark.bsky.social, @casuallylucid.bsky.social and Sky Dancing

Michael Schneider / Variety:

Nielsen: CBS was 2025's most-watched network in primetime despite a 12% YoY drop in average viewers, followed by NBC, ABC, and Fox, up 10% due to the Super Bowl — Complete Broadcast, Cable and Pay TV Ratings Primetime Ranker for 2025 in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49 — What a difference a Super Bowl makes.

Discussion: @nemalki.bsky.social, @xpangler, @variety, TV Series Finale and The Daily Signal

New York Post:
Leaked letter: a group of “prominent journalists” at CBS News are preparing a petition urging David Ellison to uphold editorial independence at the network

Discussion: Mother Jones, RedState, Fox News, The Independent, Mediaite, @alexsteigrad, twitchy.com and The Hill

Bloomberg:

Nielsen streaming data: none of 2025's 10 most-watched shows were new, Tubi and Roku are almost twice the size of HBO Max and Peacock, and more — When it comes to entertainment, we live in an era of asymmetrical information. Technology companies are sitting on more data than they know how to use …

Discussion: @remixtures@tldr.nettime.org, @lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw, TV Insider, Motley Fool, Tubefilter, Barrett Media, 9to5Mac, The Streamable and Reality Tea

Deadline:
Streaming metrics underwent a rethink in 2025, as Netflix and Disney pivoted away from subscriber numbers to revenue per user, engagement, and other metrics

Discussion: Liz Spaulding on LinkedIn, Business Insider, Page Six, Observer and Decider

Zac Ntim / Deadline:

Angel Studios says Angel Guild, its program through which members are given a say on which projects the studio produces, has two million paid subscribers — The Angel Guild is the studio's grassroots membership program. Members pay a monthly fee and serve as virtual co-producers on every project …

Discussion: Cord Cutters News, Arthur Van Wagenen on LinkedIn and Ryan Svendsen on LinkedIn

Will Sommer / The Bulwark:

The Trump administration helps Tenet Media's Lauren Chen return to the US; she lost her visa after a 2024 indictment alleging illicit funding from Russia's RT — Tenet Media's Lauren Chen is back—even though the illegal-influence and money-laundering investigation remains open.

Josh Funk / Associated Press:

Lee Enterprises stabilizes its finances as investors buy $50M in new stock, led by $35M invested by David Hoffmann, who will become chair of the company — Lee Enterprises announced a compromise Tuesday with billionaire investor David Hoffmann, who offered to take over the nation's third …

Discussion: @scottnover, The Missourian, The Wrap, Hoffmann Family of Companies and St. Louis Business Journal

Rob Davies / The Guardian:

BPI: the UK music industry had its 11th straight year of growth in 2025; album sales rose 4.9% YoY to 210.3M, aided by the Oasis reunion and Taylor Swift vinyls — BPI figures show music lovers listened to equivalent of 210.3m albums by UK artists in 2025 in 11th consecutive year of growth

Discussion: NME, Billboard, Digital Music News and The Sun

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:

A profile of NPR CEO Katherine Maher, who has taken an unyielding approach to NPR's biggest battles, causing rifts with the right and her public media allies — Katherine Maher knew that running NPR was going to be difficult. But since taking over as chief executive last year, she has confronted one crisis after another.

Discussion: @anildash.com, @jcollins.bsky.social, @notjessewalker, The Boston Globe, New York Post, @benmullin, @RunRichRun@mastodon.social, @billscher.bsky.social, @dicktofel.bsky.social, @gshans.bsky.social, @dankennedy.net and Los Angeles Times

Summer Ballentine / The Detroit News:

The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press ended their joint operating agreement, which began in 1989; The News plans to launch a Sunday print edition January 18 — A nearly four-decade-long business partnership between The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press ended Sunday …

Discussion: Detroit Free Press, Kelley Root on LinkedIn, @azagata.bsky.social, @michaelmeckler@mastodonapp.uk, @sdkstl.bsky.social, Crain's Detroit Business, The Detroit News, Deadline Detroit, The Detroit News and The Autopian

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More News:

Jonathan Randles / Bloomberg:
America's Test Kitchen agrees to purchase recipe site Food52 for $6.5M; Food52 said a sudden cash sweep by its lender, Avidbank, forced it into Chapter 11

Discussion: New York Post, @michaelbishop.me and America's Test Kitchen

Jordy Fee-Platt / The Athletic:
Kalshi and Polymarket have partnered with social media accounts purporting to be breaking news reporters, some of which have repeatedly posted false information

Discussion: Event Horizon, Front Office Sports, @cooperlund.online, Event Horizon, New York Post, Decrypt and The Intercept, more at Techmeme »

Jeremy Barr / @jeremymbarr:
A judge denies Fox's motion to dismiss a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the parents of Oleksandra Kuvshynova, killed while working for Fox in Ukraine in 2022

The Hollywood Reporter:
Among media stocks in 2025, WBD surged 172%, Fox jumped 47.3%, Paramount Skydance rose 29%, Netflix was up just 5.7%, and Disney was up 2.25%; Comcast fell ~20%

Discussion: MediaPost, Al Jazeera and CnEVPost

Tess Patton / The Wrap:
Job cuts across TV, film, broadcast, news, and streaming in the first 11 months of 2025 grew 18% YoY to 17K+; news suffered 2,254 job cuts, down about 50% YoY

Discussion: Bloomberg, Always Be Watching, Inside Radio and New York Post

Max Tani / Semafor:
Ezra Klein, Ben Shapiro, Steve Bannon, Vanity Fair's Mark Guiducci, Puck's Matt Belloni, Verge's Nilay Patel, and others on what media leaders got wrong in 2025

Discussion: How To Do Things With Memes, Washington Examiner, @ryanhatesthis.bsky.social, @bulwarkonline, @ettingermentum, @admcrlsn, @nick_field90, @maxwelltani, @readdanwrite, @semaforben, @scottnover and Fox News

Earlier Picks:

Variety:
North America's box office in 2025 will fall far short of the $9B most analysts expected, flat from 2024 and well below the pre-pandemic norm of $10B to $11B

Discussion: The Wrap, Bloomberg, @brentalang, @stevenraymorris.bsky.social, Instapundit and Twin Cities

Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg / Wall Street Journal:
In 2025, several books saw audiobook sales outperform hardcovers, even as digital audiobook growth slowed to 1% through October after 2024's ~24% jump to $1.1B

Discussion: Simon Owens's Media Newsletter, Amy Rubinate on LinkedIn, Scott Dickey on LinkedIn, Semafor and @dannygroner.bsky.social

Axios:
Nick Shirley, a MAGA-friendly YouTuber, goes viral with video reports about alleged fraud in Minnesota, provoking approving responses from the FBI and JD Vance

Discussion: The Wrap, Mediaite, @nickshirleyy, The Intercept, twitchy.com, NewsMax.com, The Independent, New York Times, The Hill, Alternet.org, Deseret News, RedState, Raw Story, The US Sun, Tell Me How This Ends, NewsNation, Peter J. Forcelli on LinkedIn, Newsweek, KARE-TV, The Daily Caller, 77 WABC, Townhall, @jessicatarlov, KRCR-TV, Fortune, @jonathanweisman, @deenafaywinter, @jonathanweisman, @jonathanweisman, El País, Barrett Media, @brendankeefe, @richardhanania, @hasanthehun, @cathyyoung63, @shipwreckedcrew, @mollyjongfast, @chrisvanderveen, @daveweigel, @guru_merc, @caolanreports, @chrisvanderveen, @speakerjohnson, Breitbart, CNN, @jdvance, @danprimack, @danprimack, @jason_paladino, @cgasparino, @donaldjtrumpjr, @jgebbia, @redsteeze, @tommysantos14, @theomniliberal, @billackman, @jodambusta, @timurkuran, @brian_armstrong, @waitbutwhy, The Last Refuge, The Post Millennial, NBC News, Twin Cities, Washington Examiner, The Daily Wire, The Western Journal, @alt-dol.altgov.info, @daveweigel.bsky.social, @daveweigel.bsky.social, Blaze Media, Ace of Spades HQ, Matzav.com, New York Post, The Gateway Pundit, Know Your Meme, New York Sun, CBS News, @jrobin.bsky.social, Reuters, Fox News, IJR and The Guardian

Eoin Higgins / The Flashpoint:
Journalist Eoin Higgins says Matt Taibbi is suing him for defamation over Owned, his book about tech billionaires and the left, and “I stand by my work”

Discussion: @postleftwatch, @mehdirhasan, @nickyfrank30, @leighbeadon, @zaidjilani, @zaidjilani, @jaredlholt, @vanguard_pod, @dylangyauchl, @notouchthrow, @eoinhiggins_, @agoldmund, @eoinhiggins_, @nathanjrobinson, @mtaibbi and @hongpong.bsky.social

Aisha Down / The Guardian:
A Kapwing study of the 15,000 top YouTube channels finds 278 of them have only posted AI-generated “slop” videos, amassing 63B+ views and 221M+ subscribers

From Techmeme:

Wall Street Journal:
How Manus distanced itself from its Chinese roots to court US investors; a source says Meta's $2.5B deal includes a $500M retention pool for Manus' employees

Wall Street Journal:
OpenAI financial data: its stock-based pay averaged ~$1.5M per employee in 2025, ~7x Google pre-IPO and ~34x the average pay of other pre-IPO peers, per Equilar

Emily Nicolle / Bloomberg:
Trump Media, owner of Truth Social, plans to distribute a new token to shareholders with partner Crypto.com, expected to operate on the Cronos blockchain

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