Top News:
Siladitya Ray / Forbes:
Late-night TV hosts Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert criticized FCC Chair Brendan Carr for the FCC's new guidance on “equal time” rules for political candidates — Topline — Late-night hosts Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert on Thursday night responded to the Federal …
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New York Times:
ByteDance strikes a deal with a group of non-Chinese investors to create a new TikTok US entity and avoid a federal ban, concluding a six-year legal saga — TikTok said on Thursday that its Chinese owner, ByteDance, had struck a deal with a group of non-Chinese investors to create a new U.S. TikTok …
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Sara Fischer / Axios:
Source: the TikTok US deal values it at just around $14B; TikTok's US entity makes roughly $14B annually in advertising revenues alone, per analyst estimates
Discussion:
CNN, Search Engine Land, TechCrunch, Music Business Worldwide, Bloomberg Law, Reuters, iClarified, DigiTimes, Fortune, Politico, Newsmax, The A.V. Club and Fox Business, more at Techmeme »
Financial Times:
TikTok's new majority US-owned JV includes investors Oracle, Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi's MGX, each holding 15%, and Dell Family Office; ByteDance retains 19.9%
TikTok's new majority US-owned JV includes investors Oracle, Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi's MGX, each holding 15%, and Dell Family Office; ByteDance retains 19.9%
Discussion:
DatacenterDynamics, Breitbart, Bloomberg, Nikkei Asia, Technical.ly, From Afar, Vogue, The American Bazaar, South China Morning Post, Jakarta Globe, Business Insider, BMI, Bizcommunity, The Nation Newspaper, Fortune, Livemint, RTHK, Times Now, CGTN, UPI, ANI News, The Register, Fox Business, SiliconANGLE, New York Times, Washington Examiner, Reuters, Barron's Online, ABC, Times of India, The Information, The Hollywood Reporter, @esqueer.net, The National and Investing.com, more at Techmeme »
Zach Montague / New York Times:
Unsealed court documents show the Trump administration revoked Tufts student Rumeysa Ozturk's visa based on her op-ed in the Tufts Daily student paper — Documents unsealed by a federal judge on Thursday include dossiers that investigators prepared on pro-Palestinian student activists before they were targeted for deportation.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Drezner's World, Freedom of the Press …, @pkafka, The Independent, @hannahgais.bsky.social, @reichlinmelnick, @hannahgais.bsky.social, FIRE, @jstreetdotorg.bsky.social, @splc.org, ABC News, Mediaite, Raw Story, @pebonilla, The Intercept, @prem_thakker, @adamsteinbaugh, @brizzyc.bsky.social, The Boston Globe and New Republic
Jason Gutierrez / New York Times:
A Philippine court sentenced journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio to 12 to 18 years in jail on charges that media advocates call fabricated; she is expected to appeal — Frenchie Mae Cumpio and her former roommate were convicted of financing terrorism and sentenced to up to 18 years in prison.
Robin Pogrebin / New York Times:
Anonymous Content, the production company whose lead investor is Emerson Collective, names Ford Foundation ex-president Darren Walker as president and CEO — Anonymous Content, a production company whose top investor is Laurene Powell Jobs's Emerson Collective, has named Darren Walker as president and chief executive.
Discussion:
Variety, The Wrap, Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter
George Winslow / TV Tech:
Media advocacy group Free Press analyzed 35 top corporate media and tech companies for their DEI goals and says 26 retreated from those goals in 2025 — In a detailed analysis of the 35 most dominant U.S. media companies, the Free Press report reveals a disturbing reversal on prior civil-rights commitments
Discussion:
MediaPost, @freepress.bsky.social, Free Press, @freepress.bsky.social and Free Press Action Fund Feed
Politico:
A grand jury charged a US government contractor with violating the Espionage Act; DOJ officials say the charges stem from leaks to WaPo reporter Hannah Natanson — The federal investigation of Perez-Lugones swept in Natanson last week when the FBI searched her Alexandria, Virginia …
Washington Post:
How Stars and Stripes is responding to the Pentagon's plans to make it not “woke”; the Pentagon hasn't communicated with the paper since posting its plans on X — The Pentagon criticized the military newspaper as “woke.” Now the outlet's leaders — and some members of Congress — are trying to assert its independence.
Discussion:
@washingtonpost.com, @scottnover and @sarafischer
Sara Guaglione / Digiday:
Forbes plans to launch prediction platform Forbes Predict in February; a widget next to articles will allow readers to make forecasts in exchange for tokens — Forbes has joined the fray of publishers adding prediction markets to their websites as part of a broader strategy to reduce reliance …
Julian Wyllie / Current:
Ohio's WBGU-TV becomes the fourth public TV station or network to end its PBS affiliation, citing 2025's rescission of federal funding — Bowling Green State University in Ohio, the licensee of WBGU-TV, announced Jan. 16 that the station will end its PBS affiliation June 30.
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Google says replacing some article headlines with AI-generated ones is now a feature in Discover, but they can be false or fail to highlight new, relevant info — It now says AI headlines are a ‘feature,’ not an experiment. … In early December, I brought you the news that Google …
Matthew Belloni / Puck:
Source: Amazon plans to spend $35M+ on marketing Brett Ratner's Melania Trump documentary, which it paid $40M for, huge sums for the medium — On top of the $40 million Amazon ponied up for Brett Ratner's docu-hagiography, the studio is spending another $35 million to open it in 27 countries …
Discussion:
Status, Reuters, @hunterwalk.com, Raw Story, @pkafka, Matthew Belloni on LinkedIn, RADAR, @daveweigel, Reality Tea, Mirror, The Daily Caller, IJR and Page Six
Mia Galuppo / The Hollywood Reporter:
AMC Networks' Sundance Now rebrands from offering scripted TV to airing indie film and festival titles, for $7.99/month, as this year's Sundance Festival begins — AMC Networks runs the shingle that previously had scripted TV offerings. — As the Sundance Film Festival gets started …
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