Top News:
David Bauder / Associated Press:
A federal judge orders Voice of America employees reinstated by March 23, putting hundreds of people who have been on administrative leave back to work — A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Trump administration to restore the government-run Voice of America's operations after it had effectively …
Discussion:
NPR, CNN, Politico, The Wrap, New York Times, @sonsofliberty.bsky.social, NBC News, @joshgerstein.bsky.social, Deadline, Washington Post, @mccarrennews, US District Court for the District of Columbia, @chrisgeidner.bsky.social, The Independent, Raw Story, Newsweek, @brianstelter and NOTUS
Sara Fischer / Axios:
NBC News partners with Joanna Stern to add tech coverage from her venture, New Things, across NBC platforms, and names her chief tech analyst — NBC News is teaming up with veteran tech journalist Joanna Stern to bring exclusive reporting and analysis from her new independent venture …
Katie Robertson / New York Times:
A profile of Wired's top editor, Katie Drummond, who created a politics team that landed major scoops and says Wired added 200K+ new paid subs in the past year — Katie Drummond is sick of being told what Wired magazine should not cover. — Ms. Drummond, Wired's top editor …
Discussion:
@juliannemcshane.bsky.social, Fred Vogelstein on LinkedIn, Jason Joyce on LinkedIn, @annmlipton.bsky.social, Katharine Bailey on LinkedIn, @couts.bsky.social, @katie_robertson, @gabrielsnyder.com, John Battelle on LinkedIn, @pgeddington.com, @kwharrison13, @scobleizer, @shaunmmaguire, @garrytan, @alexrkonrad, @terronk, @jason, @traestephens, @mualphaxi, @glichfield, @palmerluckey, @neil_chilson, @stevenlevy, @emilydreyfuss, @gilduran76, @antoniogm, @chr1sa, @traestephens, @keithgrossman, @chr1sa, @noahshachtman.bsky.social and @karrieurbanist.bsky.social
Financial Times:
Canadian billionaire Stephen Smith agrees to buy the entire 26.9% stake in The Economist Group held by Lynn Forester de Rothschild, sources say for ~£300M — Financial services entrepreneur acquires 27% stake in auction that drew interest from wealthy individuals and media groups
Discussion:
Mumbrella, The Guardian, Bloomberg, The Times, @ivanlevingston, Axios, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Telegraph, Talking Biz News and Globe and Mail
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
At SXSW, Jonah Peretti introduces BuzzFeed spinoff Branch Office, dedicated to exploring AI in consumer-facing apps, and debuts two apps, BF Island and Conjure — BuzzFeed, the U.S.-based media company known best for its quizzes, listicles, and, for a time, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism division …
Discussion:
MediaPost, Futurism, @techcrunch.com, @joshsternberg.com, CNET and NewsMax.com
The Independent:
Amid his lawsuit against the BBC, Trump accuses the broadcaster of using AI to tamper with his January 6 speech and criticizes its coverage of the war on Iran — Donald Trump also criticised the BBC's coverage of the US war on Iran as ‘so inaccurate’ and ‘unbelievable’ — Your support helps us to tell the story
Discussion:
GB News, Townhall, @atrupar, Deadline, Mediaite, Reality Tea, The Guardian, The Independent, Al Jazeera, The National Pulse, Politico, Financial Times, The Wrap, Variety, Reuters, Bloomberg and The A.V. Club
Danielle Broadway / Reuters:
Two episodes of an animated Stranger Things spinoff will screen on April 18 in 34 AMC theaters and two others before an April 23 Netflix release — Netflix is inviting fans back into the supernatural world of “Stranger Things” with limited theatrical screenings of its upcoming animated series …
Discussion:
Nerdist, Dark Horizons, Forbes, Gizmodo, UPI, Screen Rant, Animation Magazine, Dread Central, Paste, The Hollywood Reporter, Gold Derby, Collider, What's on Netflix, Polygon.com and Entertainment Weekly
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Chartbeat: over two years, search traffic fell by 60% for small publishers with 1K-10K daily page views, 47% for medium-sized publishers, and 22% for large ones — Smaller web publishers, with 1,000-10,000 daily page views, are experiencing the most precipitous traffic declines in the AI era …
Discussion:
Steven Waldman on LinkedIn, Search Engine Journal and The Rebooting, more at Techmeme »
Richard Sandomir / New York Times:
Richard Mauer, who covered suicide and alcoholism among rural Alaskans, the Exxon Valdez spill, political corruption in Alaska, and more, died on Feb. 23 at 76 — He routinely took on the powerful and was part of a Pulitzer-winning team at The Anchorage Daily News that investigated alcoholism and suicide among Native Alaskans.
Elizabeth Hewitt / Columbia Journalism Review:
A look at the meteorologists leaving broadcast news to become independent streamers; 19 meteorologists have joined the Digital Weather Network, founded in 2022 — In an era of extreme weather, indie weathermen are streaming coverage 24-7—and banding together.
Discussion:
@columjournreview.bsky.social
Rick Porter / The Hollywood Reporter:
Nielsen: the Oscars drew 17.86M viewers on ABC and Hulu, down about 9% from 2025; the show delivered a 3.92 rating among those 18-49, or about 5.34M viewers — ABC and Hulu's telecast was off by about 9 percent from the 2025 awards. — The TV audience for the 2026 Oscars declined some …
Discussion:
Reuters, Variety, TVLine, IndieWire, LateNighter, Adweek, The Wrap, New York Times, The Gateway Pundit, Los Angeles Times, TV Insider, Instapundit, Dark Horizons, Bloomberg and World of Reel
Corbin Bolies / The Wrap:
Internal memo: Axios lays off 11 newsroom staffers but says it is “continuing to hire and grow” as it focuses on “subject matter experts and local expansion” — Despite the cuts, publisher Nicholas Johnston says the site is “continuing to hire and grow”
Discussion:
@benmullin, @secretsbedard, @benmullin, @million_aire1 and Breitbart
