Mediagazer: 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 (Washington Post)

3:30 PM ET, January 23, 2026

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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 …

Discussion: @realDonaldTrump …, Engadget, Bloomberg, TheDesk.net, Deseret News, TechCrunch, CNN, Wall Street Journal, Salon, Benzinga, The Week, Business Insider, Newsmax, Barchart.com, Poynter, Music Ally, Ars Technica, The Guardian, Thurrott, CNBC, BusinessCloud, PR Daily, @kateruane.bsky.social, Daniel Ahiakpor on LinkedIn, Media Play News, @kakape@mas.to, Silicon Republic, @jwildeboer@social …, The US Sun, The Star, Entrepreneur, Reuters, Livemint, Sherwood News, Moneycontrol, RNZ, The Straits Times, Korea Joongang Daily, BBC, Forbes Australia, Ukrainian National News, Times Now, Screen Rant, Fortune, Mobile World Live, UPI, Rest of World, ANI News, CBC News, Washington Examiner, The Pendragon Cycle, HotAir, Dow Jones Newswires, @davidakaye.bsky.social, The Hill, South China Morning Post, Search Engine Journal, Agence France-Presse, TRT World, @abbeyarletto.bsky.social, Cord Cutters News, Financial Times, Gizmodo, Chicago Tribune, The Wrap, @evacide@hachyderm.io, @normative.bsky.social, Washington Post, @solfleet.bsky.social, Just The News, @bft.wtf, The Verge, Business Insider, Politico, KARE-TV, WATN, NBC News, ABC News, The National, Slate, CBS News, LEX 18 News, @philplait.bsky.social, The Independent, @alanrozenshtein.com, Fox Business, Hypebot, Crypto Briefing and Semafor, more at Techmeme »

Jonathan Vanian / CNBC:

Adam Presser, previously TikTok's head of operations and trust and safety, will be the CEO of TikTok USDS Joint Venture; TikTok CEO Shou Chew will be a director — TikTok said Thursday that it formed a joint venture that will keep the video-sharing app operating in the United States.

Discussion: TikTok, Deadline, Retail TouchPoints, CNET, Wonkette, Blockonomi, What's Trending, Mashable, Marketing Dive, Arabian Business and @newsguy.bsky.social, 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%

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

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, FIRE, Mediaite, @splc.org, ABC News, @pkafka, The Boston Globe, The Independent, @hannahgais.bsky.social, @reichlinmelnick, @hannahgais.bsky.social, @brizzyc.bsky.social, @pebonilla, @prem_thakker, @adamsteinbaugh and New Republic

Financial Times:

Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters expects Netflix to win WBD, says Paramount's bid “doesn't pass the sniff test” and a “very small” number of WBD holders backed it — Co-chief Greg Peters says Netflix is winning Warner Bros shareholder support for a deal that would upend Hollywood

Ben Thompson / Stratechery: Q&A with Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters on Netflix's stock roller coaster, viewer engagement, ads, the WBD acquisition, regulation, competition, Hollywood, and more

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 …

Discussion: The Information, Android Authority, @thomaswilburn@toot.cafe, 9to5Google, @damon.kiesow.net, diginomica, Disrupt Africa and Space Lizard, more at Techmeme »

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 …

Discussion: @errant-signal.com, M. Olivia Gelade on LinkedIn, Nina Gould on LinkedIn and Talking Biz News

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 …

Discussion: The Wrap, Straight Arrow News, The Hill, emptywheel, The Pendragon Cycle and Washington Examiner

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: Raw Story, Reality Tea, @hunterwalk.com, @pkafka, Mirror, Matthew Belloni on LinkedIn, The Daily Caller, Breitbart, @daveweigel, IJR and Page Six

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: @scottnover and @sarafischer

Dan Primack / Axios:

Verizon offers $10.99 credits to Fios subscribers in Boston, Pittsburgh, and Providence, RI, to cover the loss of Fox and NBC affiliates amid a dispute with Cox — Verizon on Friday offered to refund millions of dollars to cable TV customers in the Boston and Pittsburgh markets who've …

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.

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 …

Discussion: Advanced Television, The Streamable, @thispersonstinks.bsky.social, Courtney Thomasma on LinkedIn, The Wrap, AMC Networks Inc. and IndieWire

Matthew Keys / TheDesk.net:
AMC Networks says Chief Financial Officer Patrick O'Connell will depart the company in March to “pursue an opportunity outside of the media industry”

Discussion: The Wrap, Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Filing: Disney CEO Bob Iger's pay package rose 11.5% in 2025 to $45.8M; the Disney board is expected to name his successor early this year — Bob Iger, in his second-to-last year leading Disney as CEO, saw his total compensation increase 11.5%, to a total of $45.8 million in 2025.