Check out Mini-Mediagazer for simple mobiles or Mediagazer Mobile for modern smartphones.
4:25 PM ET, March 12, 2026

Mediagazer

 Top News: 
Brooks Barnes / New York Times:
Universal says it is shifting to five weekends of exclusive theatrical runs, up from three, and will move to a minimum of seven weekends in January 2027  —  Theaters will get a minimum of five weekends of exclusive play and then, starting next year, seven.  A pandemic-era policy was guaranteeing only three.
Kayla Cobb / The Wrap:
Disney+ is rolling out Verts, its new short-form video feed, to US users on its mobile app, featuring clips from movies and TV shows on Disney+  —  Users will be able to swipe through a stream of scenes from movies and shows on Disney+  —  Disney's experiment with vertical video begins this week.
Arushi Jacob / Variety:
UCLA's Hollywood Diversity Report finds that films with casts that are 41%-50% BIPOC achieved the highest median global and domestic box office receipts in 2025  —  Increasingly diverse audiences across the United States also prefer diverse content in theatrical film releases …
Michael Savage / The Guardian:
Sources: Matt Brittin, who formerly led Google in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa for a decade, is close to being named director general of the BBC  —  Appointment of Matt Brittin as director general would be latest sign of big tech's power in media world
Discussion: Telegraph
Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
Substack launches the Substack Recording Studio, letting creators prerecord videos with up to two guests, share screens, and auto-generate clips and thumbnails  —  Publishing platform Substack is continuing to invest in video content as it launches the Substack Recording Studio …
Discussion: On Substack
Kendra Barnett / Adweek:
NewsGuard launches an AI content farm detection tool in partnership with Pangram Labs, which says it's seeing 300 to 500 of these sites emerge each month  —  Plus, a plug-in with The Trade Desk may help advertisers avoid showing up next to AI-generated news content
Steve McClellan / MediaPost:
Publicis acquires content intelligence firm AdgeAi, to identify the most effective creative elements of ad campaigns and to improve content strategy and ROI  —  While agencies and marketers have gone to great lengths to optimize media expenditures, Publicis Groupe is doubling …
Cameron Baker / Bloomberg Law:
The Teamsters union formally asks the DOJ's antitrust division to block Paramount's acquisition of WBD, saying the merger threatens nearly 15,000 union jobs  —  The International Brotherhood of Teamsters urged the Department of Justice to block the proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery …
Discussion: Morningstar
Nicole Meir / The Associated Press:
The AP Fund for Journalism doubles the size of its local news program to 100 members, who can now share some of their content via the AP's distribution network  —  AP Fund for Journalism (APFJ) today announced 50 additional news organizations are joining its landmark local news program …
 
 Archived Page Info: 
This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 4:25 PM ET, March 12, 2026.

View the current page or another snapshot:


 
 See Also: 
Mediagazer: site main
Mediagazer River: reverse chronological Mediagazer
Mediagazer Mobile: for phones
Mediagazer Leaderboard: Mediagazer's top sources
 
 Subscribe: 
Mediagazer RSS feed
Mediagazer on X
Mediagazer on Mastodon
 
 
 More News: 
Astrid Suárez / Associated Press:
Inter American Press Association: press freedom in the Americas suffered a “dramatic deterioration” in 2025; the US has “restrictions” on freedom of speech
 Earlier Picks: 
David Gilbert / Wired:
Q&A: Louis Theroux, director of Netflix documentary Inside the Manosphere, on interviewing those on the extreme edges of the media as they film you, and more
Laura Cress / BBC:
The UK ICO and Ofcom asked social media platforms to implement “highly effective age checks” to bar under-13 accounts, similar to tools required for adult sites
Alexandra S. Levine / Bloomberg:
Google's AI Futures Fund invests $1M into Animaj, an AI animation studio focused on making high-quality videos for children on YouTube
Discussion: Pulse 2.0, Gizmodo and Dexerto
 

 
From Techmeme:

Katherine Bindley / Wall Street Journal:
How some high-income families use AI-powered private schools and tutors, such as Alpha School, to teach their children life skills and tailor their curriculum

Nilesh Christopher / Los Angeles Times:
How ByteDance is making Hollywood inroads with its Seedance video generator, thanks to low pricing, striking realism, and features like timeline-based prompting

Jason Hiner / The Deep View:
Q&A with Doug Brooks, senior product manager of Apple silicon, about Mac minis becoming preferred AI agent machines, future of on-device AI, and more
 
Sister Sites:

Techmeme
 Top news and commentary for technology's leaders, from all around the web
memeorandum
 What US political commentators are discussing online right now
WeSmirch
 The top celebrity news from all around the web on a single page