Top News:
Natalie Korach / Status:
Sources: WaPo is laying off up to 300 employees, including over 100 staffers in the sports, metro, and foreign teams; the sports desk may be shuttered entirely — In the spring of 2016, two years after Jeff Bezos acquired The Washington Post, the billionaire joined then-executive editor Marty Baron for an interview.
Discussion:
Status, @dylanbyers, Defector, Mediaite, The Guardian, @dcsportsbog, @seamushughes, Puck, @ignatiuspost, @jackshafer, @helaineolen, AdExchanger, HotAir, @dylanbyers, The Wrap, Sports Media Watch, Fox News, Deadline, Semafor, @nataliekorach.bsky.social, @dankennedy.net, @giantwhispers.bsky.social, @passantino.bsky.social, @abigailhiggins.bsky.social, @nrarmour.bsky.social, Instapundit, Raw Story and @erikwemple
RELATED:
New York Times:
Sources: WaPo is reversing course on its plans not to send any sports staffers to cover the Winter Olympics in Italy and now expects to send four journalists — The newspaper will send a small team of reporters to cover the Olympics after it informed sports journalists on Friday that the paper would not send a group.
Discussion:
New York Times, @maxwelltani, @benmullin, @cbrennansports, @maxwelltani, @bruce_arthur, @pranshuverma_, @joonlee, Awful Announcing, @tom_schad, @busbyj2.bsky.social, Bloomberg, @jacobrubashkin, @richarddeitsch, @brendandarr, @stephstradley, @sturgissports, @bypatforde, @sportingtrib, @mpjones1, @theaoster, @kevinmdraper, @mccartneywp, @benmullin, @kallesorbo, @seungminkim, @waywardwinifred, @devonheinen.bsky.social, @benmullin.bsky.social, Sports Business Journal, @daviddarmofal.bsky.social, @robpegoraro.com, @bryancurtis.bsky.social, @bgrueskin.bsky.social, @bgrueskin.bsky.social, New York Post and The Wrap
Max Tani / Semafor:
An interview with Minnesota Star Tribune editor Kathleen Hennessey about becoming the central hub of local information amid a surge of immigration operations — The biggest news organization in Minnesota is trying to serve as the sober counterweight to hysterical social media posts …
RELATED:
New York Times:
How pro-Trump influencers and others on social media used misdirection and fabricated content to muddle the evidence of US agents killing a man in Minneapolis
How pro-Trump influencers and others on social media used misdirection and fabricated content to muddle the evidence of US agents killing a man in Minneapolis
Discussion:
Media Matters for America, Columbia Journalism Review, The Atlantic, Associated Press, CNN, @denisedwheeler.bsky.social, @edmundlee, @brianstelter, NextDraft, @emilyschwing.bsky.social, @meganders.bsky.social, Patrick Hughes on LinkedIn, @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social, Mediaite, Al Jazeera and Twin Cities
Ben Fritz / Wall Street Journal:
Disney's Zootopia 2 grossed $624.6M in China through January 25, nearly as much as every other Hollywood movie released in the country in 2025 combined — The animated sequel outgrossed ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ to become Disney's top film release of 2025 — Walt Disney Animation Studios …
Discussion:
Gizmodo, Comic Book, Variety, The Wrap, /Film and Media Play News
Elizabeth H. Hughes / The Philadelphia Inquirer:
The Philadelphia Inquirer had an operating profit of several million in 2025, with its first YoY revenue growth since 2004; 70% of revenue is from readers — The news that the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette will soon cease publishing has, justifiably, sounded alarms across the media landscape.
Emma Roth / The Verge:
UpScrolled, a platform for sharing photos, videos, and text that claims political impartiality, says user growth has surged since TikTok's US takeover — UpScrolled is a platform for sharing photos, videos, and text, and it aims to remain ‘impartial’ to political agendas.
Discussion:
Engadget, Wired, @realupscrolled, CNBC, NPR, @majorlinux@toot …, MacRumors, Tech in Asia, @teroterotero, Decrypt, @cthulhu_answers, Gizmodo, BBC, Times Now, Forbes, TechCrunch, WeRSM, @paulbiggar, Social Media Today, @guychristensen_, @realupscrolled, ZDNET, Washington Post, Ars Technica, 5Pillars, @ecmclaughlin.bsky.social, Just Jared, @taylorlorenz.bsky.social, primetimer.com and The Economic Times, more at Techmeme »
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Sources: Bari Weiss plans to announce new CBS contributors, including existing Free Press writers like conservative historian Niall Ferguson, at an all-hands — CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss will announce a slate of new contributors for the network on Tuesday during an all-hands meeting with staff, sources told Axios.
Discussion:
@sarafischer, @mcdaragh.bsky.social, The Wrap and Mediaite
Washington Post:
US court filings detail Anthropic's Project Panama, an effort to “destructively scan” up to 2M books with a hydraulic “cutting machine” led by an ex-Google exec — In early 2024, executives at artificial intelligence start-up Anthropic ramped up an ambitious project they sought to keep quiet.
Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:
A look at Plucky Wire, a website for local newsrooms to find and share stories with each other for republication; it is now being used by over 200 publishers — Plucky Wire was incubated in an unlikely place for a journalism technology: the tiny Granite State News Collaborative.
Discussion:
@torenceli, @tongli.bsky.social and @sarahscire.com
Jake Kanter / Deadline:
Source: BBC News is closing BBC Trending, an investigative journalism team launched in 2013 to focus on social media, impacting four jobs, part of broader cuts — Deadline hears that the British national broadcaster is closing four jobs as part of the cost-cutting decision …
Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Despite a $500M federal funding cut, the US public media remains largely intact, as donations are estimated to have grown by ~$300M YoY, with new donors up 84% — Things looked bleak last summer for KCAW, a tiny public radio station serving the remote community of Sitka, Alaska (population 8,393).
Etan Vlessing / The Hollywood Reporter:
An interview with Substack CEO Chris Best about the new TV app, how videos and livestreams complement editorial content, plans for audio posts, and more — On the heels of Instagram rolling out a Reels app for connected TV, newsletter creators can now offer videos and livestreams to subscribers via Apple TV and Google TV.
Discussion:
MediaNama, @hamishmckenzie and @hamishmckenzie
