Top News:
Axios:
Email: the White House orders the GSA to terminate “every single media contract” expensed by the agency and all contracts for Politico, BBC, E&E, and Bloomberg — - The discovery, made through a U.S. government spending database that has long been publicly available …
Discussion:
Columbia Journalism Review, @wexler, The Daily Wire, Blaze Media, @bariweiss, Instapundit, TVNewsCheck, @willoremus.com, New York Times, @marcacaputo, @armanddoma, New York Post, @liz_wheeler, @mkhammer, @mcuban, Fortune, @firstadopter, @asymmetricinfo, @brianstelter, @nytimespr, @mjnblack, @doge, The Dispatch, CBS News, RedState, @apbioonly, @kagrox.bsky.social, @barbarasobel.bsky.social, @hallijayne.bsky.social, @lawrencehurley.bsky.social, Mediaite, The Post Millennial, @nkLottery@shakedown.social and The Gateway Pundit, more at Techmeme »
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Politico:
Politico's EIC and CEO say the company has never received any government funding, and agencies that subscribe to Politico Pro do so through standard processes — POLITICO has been the subject of debate on X this week. Some of it has been misinformed, and some of it has been flat-out false.
Discussion:
Rolling Stone, Reuters, Fox News, New York Times, Townhall, The Daily Wire, @ewerickson, @bresreports, @politico, @brianstelter, @stevenoverly, @jimgeraghty, @natsfert, @adamwren, @zachary, @zachschermele, @joanwalsh, PolitiFact, Associated Press, Twitchy, @w7voa.journa.host.ap.brid.gy, Beth Diaz on LinkedIn, CNN, HotAir, @timbays.bsky.social, @suellentrop.bsky.social, The Post Millennial, The Hill, MeidasTouch News, Fox News and Axios
Isabella Kwai / New York Times:
Trump amplifies a conspiracy theory that “billions” in USAID and other agencies' funds were stolen to pay Politico and others for positive coverage of Democrats
Discussion:
HuffPost, New Republic, Poynter, @isabelsantos.bsky.social, @elonmusk, @jason, @rikkiratliff, @mtaibbi, @rubinreport, @armanddoma, @ryangrim, @nancyscola, @elonmusk, @mehdirhasan, @krassenstein, @billackman, @lhfang, @cabot_phillips, @billybinion, @jeremymbarr, @ike_saul, @peterschiff, @armanddoma, CNN, Townhall, Raw Story, RedState, @brianstelter, @realDonaldTrump …, Breitbart, DNyuz, Daily Kos, @sanleekelly.bsky.social, Hollywood Life, The Wrap, The Guardian, @cheetah.bsky.social, @parkermolloy.com, OpenTheBooks, The Independent, @stuartathompson.bsky.social, @stuartathompson.bsky.social, Althouse, @willsommer.bsky.social and Newser
Martyn Ziegler / The Times:
Sources: Netflix is expected to bid for the US broadcast rights to Formula 1 starting from the 2026 season; ESPN currently holds the rights under a $90M deal — Streaming platform looking to capitalise on success of Drive to Survive series in America with their first attempt to secure season-long mainstream sports rights
Jason Schreier / Bloomberg:
WBD took $300M in gaming writedowns in 2024; current and former staff blame a lack of a strong, cohesive vision during former games chief David Haddad's tenure — Last year, Warner Bros. Discovery took $300 million in losses on gaming. The near future is rife with additional challenges.
Ben Beaumont-Thomas / The Guardian:
Netflix will not release a nine-hour documentary about Prince after the company and the artist's estate came to a “mutual agreement” — Nine-hour film will not be seen, after ‘mutual agreement’ between estate and Netflix, with estate announcing plans for its own film
Editor and Publisher:
The CPB awards a $1M grant to Harvest Public Media, a journalism collaboration led by Kansas City's KCUR to cover agricultural and rural issues — Journalism collaboration led by KCUR covers agricultural and rural issues — The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) …
Discussion:
@mediaevan.bsky.social, @mediaevan, RADIO ONLINE, Radio Ink, Inside Radio and Current
Lara O'Reilly / Business Insider:
X partners with adtech company Magnite to boost programmatic ad sales; Magnite joins Google and PubMatic as official third-party sellers of X's ad inventory — - Elon Musk's X is working with the adtech company Magnite to boost programmatic ad sales. — Magnite is a large supply-side platform …
Hearst:
Hearst is rolling out AURA, its first-party ad targeting tool, to the UK, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain, after a US launch eight months ago — The announcement was made by Hearst Magazines President Debi Chirichella and Global Chief Revenue Officer Lisa Ryan Howard.
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Amazon reports Q4 ad revenue up 18% YoY to $17.29B, vs. $17.4B est., and subscription services revenue up 10% YoY to $11.51B — Overall earnings for the period smashed Wall Street expectations. — However, the Q4 ad revenue figure fell short of analyst expectations of $17.4 billion, per StreetAccount.
Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:
Memo: ahead of its Skydance merger, Paramount Global pauses some major events in 2025, including MTV EMAs, to “reimagine and optimize” the events slate — “We look to reimagine and optimize our events slate going forward,” reads a staff memo obtained by THR.
Matthew Kassel / Jewish Insider:
Sources: CNN's contract to expand in Qatar includes Qatar compensating CNN several million dollars a year; CNN: editorial content is “entirely independent” — The financial arrangement raises concerns about the network's ability to report freely on the Gulf state and the region
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
News Corp says The Sun's global online audience fell from 143M monthly unique users in Dec. 2023 to 70M in Dec. 2024; NY Post fell 27% YoY to 90M in Dec. 2024 — News Corp estimates that The Sun's global online audience more than halved in a year to the end of 2024.
Discussion:
@adavid@aus.social and Reuters
RELATED:
Sean Burch / The Wrap:
Meta hires Henry Rodgers, chief national correspondent at The Daily Caller, to help the company shape its public policy; Rodgers has covered Trump closely — Mark Zuckerberg has hired Henry Rodgers to help the company shape its “public policy” — Meta has hired Henry Rodgers …
Discussion:
@henryrodgersdc, TVNewsCheck, BGR, @mikeisaac and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »
David Folkenflik / NPR:
A look at Trump's assault on CBS, and more broadly, how he and allies seek to pressure the media to punish it and to inhibit its ability to check the president — The television news magazine 60 Minutes — the most storied and profitable show in the history of CBS News …
RELATED:
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Trump calls on CBS to “terminate” 60 Minutes, and says “CBS should lose its license”, amid his $10B lawsuit against CBS over the Kamala Harris interview
Discussion:
CNN, Mediaite, Status, @aidnmclaughlin, @mherskovitz, Megyn Kelly, Washington Examiner, @realDonaldTrump …, Reason, Barrett Media, New York Post, @mergerson.bsky.social, The Daily Beast, Blaze Media, Daily Mail, @robowentv.bsky.social, The Wrap, New Republic, @willharrisinva.bsky.social, Fox News, Townhall, Axios, The Daily Wire, freebeacon.com, New York Times and Twitchy
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