Top News:

Sources: Tucker Carlson met NSA leaker Edward Snowden in Moscow, and taped an interview with Tara Reade, who accused President Biden of sexual assault in 2020 — The Scoop — Tucker Carlson has kept a busy agenda in Moscow, meeting with two key American figures living in exile there.

Thomson Reuters reports Reuters News Q4 revenue rose 11% YoY to $220M, driven mainly by generative AI licensing, and adjusted EBITDA grew 56% YoY to $61M — Thomson Reuters Corp (TRI.TO) on Thursday reported higher than expected profit but sales of divisions impacted total revenue growth …
Discussion:
Thomson Reuters, The Wrap and Talking Biz News

News Corp CEO says it is in advanced talks with major AI companies to license its content and that Sam Altman understands “the social importance of journalism” — News Corp — the media giant that owns The Post and the Wall Street Journal — is in “advanced” …
Discussion:
@edmundlee@threads.net, @edmundlee@threads.net, @johnbuckley_, @katie_robertson, The Guardian and The Wrap

Sources: Sinclair is exploring strategic alternatives for the Tennis Channel, including bringing in an equity partner; Sinclair purchased it in 2016 for $350M — Sinclair Inc. is exploring bringing in an equity partner for the Tennis Channel as well as other strategic alternatives for the network …
Discussion:
Awful Announcing, @fos, The Streamable, Bloomberg, Bloomberg and @aericfisher

Sources: Kenya's media giants are weighing a legal fight with the government for awarding a contract to The Star, a newspaper with only 3% market share in 2022 — NAIROBI — Executives at two of Kenya's largest media houses are considering legal challenges to what they believe …
Discussion:
@semaforafrica and @gengetonedon

Dow Jones CEO Almar Latour says the company had 3.17M digital-only subscriptions in Q4 2023, up 60% on Q3 2019, and 80% of its revenue comes from subscriptions — Dow Jones, the parent company to the Wall Street Journal, Barron's, MarketWatch, Investor's Business Daily and Financial News …

An interview with Piers Morgan on ending his live broadcast show Piers Morgan Uncensored on News UK's TalkTV to focus on YouTube — The Scoop — The British broadcaster Piers Morgan is giving up his live, daily, hour-long evening news show for a YouTube-first, digitally native …
Discussion:
The Guardian, The Times, @nelsabbey, @joshgnosis, @mediaguido, @chaykak, @piersmorgan, @semaforben and @semaforben

Q&A with millenial EICs of five fashion outlets on how the job has changed since its heyday, relationships with advertisers, accountability to readers, and more — Town cars are over, transparency has replaced aspiration and diversity finally exists. Top editors talk about leading a style magazine in 2024.
Discussion:
@laurahazardowen and Florencia Cavallo on LinkedIn

Microsoft's Threat Analysis Center says Iran's cyber operations in Israel show how Iran could target the 2024 US elections, including AI-generated fake news — Tactics are more sophisticated and supported in greater numbers — Iran's anti-Israel cyber operations are providing a window …
Discussion:
Adweek, Florian Pennings on LinkedIn, The Guardian, Dave Sloan on LinkedIn and Microsoft On the Issues

Spotify paid out $9B to music rights holders in 2023, a “figure that has tripled over the past six years”, and more than $48B since its founding — Spotify paid the music industry some $9 billion in 2023, according to a statement from the streaming giant, which added that the …
Discussion:
Billboard, @spotifynews, The Ankler, Music Business Worldwide, Hypebot and Music Ally, more at Techmeme »

Bauer Media Group says its UK publishing CEO Chris Duncan is leaving, amid its plans to split print and digital businesses and merge international operations — Bauer is splitting its print and digital operations and moving away from a localised structure.
Discussion:
Bauer Media Group on LinkedIn, Bauer Media and Jan Rudolph on LinkedIn

CBS News Digital staffers form a union with WGA East; WGA East also represents workers at CBS News and won a first collective bargaining agreement at MSNBC — Amid a wave of layoffs sweeping across the media industry, writers and editors at CBS News Digital have formed a union with WGA East for the purpose of collective bargaining.
Discussion:
The Wrap, @cbsdigitalunion, Writers Guild of America …, @wgaeast and The Hollywood Reporter

Sources: NFL, NBA, and other sports leagues were kept in the dark about the sports streaming platform being launched by Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Fox — NFL, NBA digest details of new platform looming over their businesses — Sports leagues including the National Football League …
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