Mediagazer: Reddit must continue growing its ad and content licensing revenue to justify its market valuation, which could fast-track the platform's “enshittification” (Farhad Manjoo/Slate)

10:00 AM ET, December 30, 2024

Top News:

Farhad Manjoo / Slate:

Reddit must continue growing its ad and content licensing revenue to justify its market valuation, which could fast-track the platform's “enshittification” — If you spent $1,000 on shares of Tesla at the start of 2024, you'd be sitting on nearly $1,700 now—a 70 percent gain …

Discussion: @youcaughtscott.com and Investor's Business Daily, more at Techmeme »

Lillian Rizzo / CNBC:

Industry executives say media companies expect ad spending to stabilize in 2025 and even grow for platforms with sports and live events — The advertising market has positive momentum going into 2025 — especially for media companies with sports rights and tentpole live programming.

Discussion: The Guardian and The Wrap

Max Tani / Semafor:

News media personalities including Andrew Ross Sorkin, David Remnick, Rachel Maddow, Mehdi Hasan, and Bari Weiss reflect on the things they got wrong in 2024 — The News — The news media is wrong all the time — though not exactly as its loudest critics claim.

Discussion: @startledn, @semaforben and @emily_sundberg

William Christou / The Guardian:

A look at Syria's state news agency Sana, which had led the Assad regime's propaganda effort for the past 13 years, with its journalists unable to report freely — For years reporters at Syria's state news agency had to toe the line. As life in Syria grew harder, so did the their work

The Guardian:

The commentary editor of Germany's Welt am Sonntag resigns after the Axel Springer group paper published a piece by Elon Musk in support of far-right AfD party — Billionaire Trump adviser said his ‘significant investments’ in the country justified his wading into German politics

Discussion: Axios, Associated Press, @bopanc, The Hollywood Reporter, ZeroHedge News, The Wrap, Rolling Stone, @bgrueskin.bsky.social, Mother Jones, Business Insider, Fortune, @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social, Financial Times, Civil Discourse …, Agence France-Presse, @catrollo.bsky.social, The Gateway Pundit, @charlieangus104.bsky.social, New York Times, @jwmason.bsky.social, @harrymccracken.com, @jilldlawrence.bsky.social, The Hill, Politico, Forbes, @shannonrwatts.bsky.social, @mousterpiece.bsky.social, @jessehawken.bsky.social, @joelhs.bsky.social, @mehdirhasan.bsky.social, @hardeepmatharu.bsky.social, @ErikJonker@mastodon.social, @adriandaub.bsky.social, @eduardosuarez.bsky.social, @ianfraser.bsky.social, @AkaSci@fosstodon.org, @jeffjarvis.bsky.social, @tobyvogel.bsky.social, @colborne.bsky.social, @GottaLaff@mastodon.social, Reuters and Bloomberg

Shalini Ramachandran / Wall Street Journal:

Cablevision founder Charles Dolan, a cable TV industry pioneer who launched HBO and AMC Networks and whose family controls Madison Square Garden, dies at 98 — Cablevision founder's holdings stretched from local TV systems to Madison Square Garden — Charles Dolan, a pioneer …

Reuters:

Iran confirms the arrest of Italian journalist Cecilia Sala; Italy declines to say whether the case might be linked to the arrest of an Iranian in Italy — Iran confirmed the arrest of Italian journalist Cecilia Sala for “violating the laws of the Islamic Republic”, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported on Monday.

CBS News:

Greg Gumbel, a CBS Sports anchor and commentator who covered the NFL and college basketball for more than 20 years, died at 78 of cancer — Greg Gumbel, the renowned CBS Sports anchor and commentator, has died at the age of 78. — His family confirmed the news in a statement on Friday, saying:

Discussion: Awful Announcing, The Baltimore Banner, Deadline, Defector, The Hollywood Reporter, @cbssportsgang, Awful Announcing, New York Post, Lawyers, Guns & Money, UPI, Hawaii Tribune-Herald, TV Insider, @marlownyc, Associated Press, AV Club, @IveyJanette@mastodon.social, @dougcohen10.bsky.social, The Hill, @robsnutz.bsky.social, The Desk, Breitbart, The US Sun, The Hollywood Gossip, New York Times, Daily Caller News Foundation, WSVN-TV, Raw Story, Variety, Us Weekly, WWL-TV, @ojphilly.bsky.social, TVNewsCheck, @paul@oldfriends.live, One America News Network, The Wrap, Mediaite, People, Rolling Stone, NBC Bay Area, TMZ.com, Barstool Sports, Sports Illustrated, New York Daily News, @deannafrytv.bsky.social, TVLine, USA Today, E! Online, New York Post, CNBC, WDTN-TV, The Gateway Pundit, IJR, Just Jared, Fox News, Twitchy, Extra and Suggest

Rachel Hall / The Guardian:

UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy urges YouTube, TikTok, and other streaming services to promote higher quality educational content to children — UK culture minister says government wants to ‘open a dialogue’, but will intervene if platforms do not comply — The UK culture secretary …

Greg Stohr / Bloomberg:

Filing: Trump asks SCOTUS to pause the law that could ban TikTok, saying the court should give him time to “pursue a political resolution” of the dispute — President-elect Donald Trump asked the US Supreme Court to pause a law that would ban the TikTok social media platform …

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Eight free-speech groups, including the EFF, and three members of Congress file briefs with SCOTUS in support of TikTok's appeal against the divest-or-ban law

Financial Times:

Meta expects AI-generated characters to “generate and share content” and “over time, exist on our platforms”, similarly to regular accounts — US tech group is rolling out a range of artificial intelligence tools to drive engagement

Discussion: @zenofdesign.com, @sama, @sama, @mikeisaac, @mikeisaac, @chadloder.bsky.social, @minimaxir.bsky.social, @mollytaft.com, @theopriestley.com, @lukaszolejnik.bsky.social, @mumbly-joe.bsky.social and Futurism

New York Times:

Sources: after Trump's election win, NPR is preparing for a variety of funding possibilities, including that government money will be clawed back immediately — Republicans in Congress have tried to defund public media for decades. With the help of Elon Musk, could they finally make good on their threat?

Discussion: The Guardian, Podnews, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, Benzinga, @mediaevan, @scottnover, @benmullin, @benmullin, Instapundit, @jillgeisler.bsky.social, TVNewsCheck, HotAir, @davidakaye.bsky.social, @peterrichardson.bsky.social, @erikalyoung.bsky.social, @mpbroache.bsky.social and @kateconger.com

Marshall Cohen / CNN:

Source: Smartmatic has asked a probate court to turn over sealed documents from the Murdoch succession battle that may bolster its defamation suit against Fox — Smartmatic, the voting technology company suing Fox News over its promotion of 2020 election lies, is trying to obtain evidence …