Top News:
CNN:
Don Lemon pleads not guilty to two federal charges stemming from his reporting at an anti-ICE protest in a Minnesota church — Don Lemon pleaded not guilty Friday to federal charges following his arrest last month in connection with a protest at a church in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Discussion:
Deadline, Straight Arrow News, Democracy Forward, Washington Post, New York Times, NBC News, HotAir, Fox News, Courthouse News Service, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, TMZ.com, The Gateway Pundit, Barrett Media, The Hill, Mediaite, Washington Examiner, New York Daily News, Sahan Journal, @froomkin.bsky.social, @washingtonpost.com, Axios, KSTP-TV, twitchy.com, The Hollywood Reporter, @jackjenkins.me, TV Insider, Washington Times, Advocate, The Guardian, The Daily Wire, New York Post, MS NOW, The National Pulse, NewsNation, WWL-TV, Twin Cities, Bloomberg, Blaze Media, Just Jared, Reuters, FOX 10 Phoenix and Joe.My.God.
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Disney sent a cease-and-desist letter to ByteDance, claiming it infringed on Disney's works to train its Seedance 2.0 video generation model without pay — The Walt Disney Company on Friday sent a cease-and-desist letter to ByteDance, alleging the Chinese tech giant has been infringing …
Discussion:
The Wrap, @carnage4life@mas.to and Deadline, more at Techmeme »
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Gene Maddaus / Variety:
The MPA urges ByteDance to curb its AI video model Seedance 2.0, after an AI-generated video of Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt fighting on a rooftop went viral
Discussion:
The Guardian, TVBEurope, The Wrap, Blaze Media, Screen Rant, @jonathanjarry.bsky.social, Business Insider, Los Angeles Times, Breitbart, San Francisco Chronicle, Entertainment Weekly, Dexerto, Deseret News, Page Six, World of Reel, Deadline, The Gateway Pundit, South China Morning Post, Screen, PiunikaWeb, Crooks and Liars, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap and GamesRadar
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Memo: Paramount names former Trump administration attorney Rene Augustine as its senior vice president of global public policy, amid a takeover battle for WBD — Rene Augustine worked with Makan Delrahim, Paramount's top lawyer, at the Justice Department and most recently served in advisory roles to the Kennedy Center
Discussion:
Deadline, The Wrap, Reuters, TheDesk.net and @bselena.bsky.social
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Brian Stelter / CNN:
Sources: Paramount CEO David Ellison met with Trump last week for two conversations; Trump has said he will stay out of Netflix-Paramount competition for WBD
Discussion:
Simply Wall St, @deggans, @davidclinchnews, @tarpeianrock.bsky.social, Variety, NewsMax.com, Wall Street Journal, Axios and Techdirt
Dan Kennedy / Media Nation:
While announcing its sports buildup, Banner EIC Audrey Cooper noted the civic value: “At a time when so much pulls communities apart, sports bring us together” — The gutting of The Washington Post may prove to be an opportunity for The Baltimore Banner.
Discussion:
The Verge, @postguild, The Conversation, @dankennedy.net, Nieman Lab, @jayrosen.bsky.social and Poynter
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Alexandra Steigrad / New York Post:
Source: New York Daily News is cutting six of 10 national desk staffers, one metro reporter, seven print production people, and two photo department staffers — The owner of the New York Daily News fired 16 people this week - a “Valentine's Day massacre” that leaves the paper with a skeleton staff …
George Winslow / TV Tech:
Cineverse says it is acquiring IndiCue, a profitable CTV ad tech company, for $22M plus up to $18M in earnout as Cineverse focuses on streaming infrastructure — As a result of the deal, Cineverse expects to get a majority of its revenue from technology and streaming infrastructure solutions by 2027
Discussion:
Cineverse, TheDesk.net, NCS | NewscastStudio, Advanced Television, Deadline and Media Play News
Jessica Toonkel / Wall Street Journal:
Memo: LA Olympics Chair Casey Wasserman is putting his talent agency up for sale after his ties to Epstein surfaced and high-profile talent departed the firm — Wasserman has said he ‘never had a personal or business relationship with Jeffrey Epstein’ and told staff he felt that he had ‘become a distraction’ to the firm's work
Discussion:
Variety, Reuters, Los Angeles Times, Page Six, Bloomberg, Rolling Stone, New York Times, @wsj and Daily Mail
Financial Times:
Sources: OpenAI is charging $60 per 1,000 impressions for ads in ChatGPT, a high price similar to Netflix's rate when it introduced ads — In May 2024, the big question for OpenAI was how it would make money with its revolutionary ChatGPT tool. At a talk at Harvard, chief executive Sam Altman …
New York Times:
A Q&A with NYT reporters on handling the Epstein files, including creating tools to make them searchable, prepping for the release, and dealing with redactions — Two dozen journalists. A pile of pages that would reach the top of the Empire State Building. And an effort to find the next revelation in a sprawling case.
Discussion:
@dylfreed, @jfallows.bsky.social, @dylfreed, @martyswant, @rimaanabtawi.bsky.social and @jswatz.bsky.social
Scott Nover / Washington Post:
The Richmond Free Press, a 34-year-old Black-owned weekly, shuts down due to falling ad revenue as the Black press suffers from the dispersion of its readership — The Richmond Free Press cited declining advertising in announcing the end of its three-decade run in Virginia's capital city.
Discussion:
LGBTQ Nation, @scottnover.bsky.social and Richmond Free Press
Advanced Television:
Report: AI-generated music uploads account for <1% of total streams; AI adoption is strongest in functional and low-stakes settings such as background music — The music industry has long been defined by an extreme winner-takes-all dynamic. A small number of tracks, artists …
Discussion:
OC&C Strategy Consultants
Alice Brooker / Press Gazette:
An interview with Chloe Rushmere, head of content for magazine and newspaper subscription app Readly, on future plans as Readly integrates with France's Cafeyn — “All you can read” magazine and newspaper app Readly's merger with a French equivalent is set to enhance its mobile app and support the business to increase investment.
Discussion:
@pressgazette.co.uk
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