Mediagazer: Starting on February 19, Meta will store Facebook Live broadcasts for 30 days instead of storing them indefinitely and will remove videos older than 30 days (Aisha Malik/TechCrunch)

4:45 AM ET, February 19, 2025

Top News:

Sources: the Trump administration fired multiple staffers who handle FOIA requests, limiting reporters' access to security clearance records for Musk and DOGE — The Trump administration has quietly fired multiple members of the “privacy team” and other officials from the office that oversees …

Evan Drellich / New York Times:

SportsNet New York will launch a paid streaming service to watch the Mets' games without paying for a TV bundle; 22 MLB teams can be watched without a TV bundle — SportsNet New York, the Mets' local television partner, will launch a subscription streaming service on Tuesday …

Discussion: New York Post, @evandrellich, @williamnyy23, @tvgrimreaper, Cord Cutters News, The Streamable, The TV Answer Man!, Awful Announcing, TVNewsCheck, @robpegoraro.com and r/baseball

Sara Fischer / Axios:

The Knight Foundation will invest $25M in the American Journalism Project, to expand AJP's work supporting local newsrooms from 50 to 60 over three years — - Over the past few years, more philanthropists have stepped up to fill that void, investing in community-based nonprofit newsrooms …

Discussion: Patty Pina Slutsky on LinkedIn, @sarafischer and @theajp.bsky.social

Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:

Starting on February 19, Meta will store Facebook Live broadcasts for 30 days instead of storing them indefinitely and will remove videos older than 30 days — Facebook announced on Tuesday that live videos will now only be stored on the social network for 30 days, after which they will be deleted.

Discussion: Meta, @chronotope.aramzs.xyz, The Verge, @markeortega, @arictoler and @mediaevan, more at Techmeme »

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:

RELX, formerly known as Reed Elsevier, says AI and face-to-face events helped grow 2024 revenue by 7% YoY to £9.4B and adjusted operating profit by 10% to £3.2B — Artificial intelligence and face-to-face events helped the UK's largest media company RELX deliver record financial results in 2014.

Discussion: Investing.com, Yahoo Finance, The Times, Substack, Reuters, Law360 and RELX

Ben Mullin / @benmullin:

Memo: Politico announces a reorganization, naming six key leaders reporting to Global EIC John Harris, with two also reporting to CEO Goli Sheikholeslami — babe wake up the new Politico leadership structure just dropped [image]

Discussion: @bsdtectr.bsky.social and @dylanbyers

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:

Letter: Hearst CEO Steve Swartz told staff Hearst brought in a record $13B in revenue in 2024, and a tough ad market and cord-cutting is impacting A+E Networks — Steve Swartz says that Hearst had $13 billion in revenue in 2024 thanks to political advertising, but adds that a tough ad market …

Discussion: The Desk, @matthewkeys.net, TVNewsCheck, @matthewkeys.net and The Wrap

Alissa Quart / Columbia Journalism Review:

The US needs a working-class media covering wage stagnation, medical debt, housing from renters' perspectives, people living paycheck to paycheck, and more — Catering to rich audiences is not serving us. — In the seven years Kaia Sand edited Street Roots, a publication that serves unhoused people …

Discussion: @columjournreview.bsky.social, Talking Biz News, @joe.germuska.com, @civicDetroitDan@a2mi.social and r/Journalism

Rick Porter / The Hollywood Reporter:

HBO restores next-day YouTube posts for Last Week Tonight clips after imposing a few days delay in February 2024; sources say Max viewership saw little increase — HBO reverses a decision to keep John Oliver's show off of the platform for several days.

Discussion: Simon Owens's Media Newsletter, @antevansmma, @tvgrimreaper, GoldDerby, The Wrap, The Wrap, TVNewsCheck, @latenightercom, Deadline, LateNighter, TVLine, @rickporter.bsky.social and ME

Kavitha Iyer / Article 14:

At least three nonprofit Indian investigative outlets, including The File, have been hamstrung since H2 2024 by tax authorities revoking their nonprofit status — Mumbai: It had clocked an impressive 9.6 million views for its 1,500-plus videos, but in December 2024, Kannada news website The File's YouTube channel went silent.

Discussion: @article14live, @samar11, @article-14.com, @article14live, @article14live and @betwasharma

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Google Play Books for iOS now lets users complete their e-book or audiobook purchase on the Google Play website, under Apple's “reader apps” exception — Google has gained permission to sell its e-books and audiobooks directly to customers through its iOS app, Google Play Books.

Discussion: The Keyword and 9to5Google, more at Techmeme »

Nika Schoonover / Courthouse News Service:

A US federal judge orders Carlos Watson and Ozy Media to pay $36M+ in restitution and nearly $60M in forfeiture for lying about finances; Watson plans to appeal — A federal judge ordered Watson and his company to pay over $36 million in restitution and nearly $60 million in forfeiture …

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Bureau Reporter - Vietnam, HCMC — Bloomberg

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Deputy Editor - Health Care, VA — Politico

Political Enterprise Editor, DC — Guardian US

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More News:

Rebecca Stewart / Adweek:
Publicis Groupe buys Brazil-based influencer and content agency BR Media for an undisclosed sum; BR Media claims it has access to a network of 500,000+ creators

Discussion: Ad Age, The Rio Times and MediaPost

Etan Vlessing / The Hollywood Reporter:
VFX company DNEG's AI unit Brahma acquires Metaphysic, a maker of AI tools for de-aging and more; Abu Dhabi's UASG and DNEG will invest another $25M into Brahma

Discussion: The Wrap, Business Standard, Livemint, DNEG, Deadline and Variety, more at Techmeme »

The Wrap:
TheWrap announces additions to its editorial team, including Tom Lowry in the newly created role of SVP of editorial strategy and Brian Lowry as media editor

Discussion: Sharon Waxman on LinkedIn, Talking Biz News and Talking Biz News

Shahana Yasmin / The Independent:
India's top court criticizes podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia over controversial comments on a YouTube show, and orders him to stop doing shows until further orders

Discussion: NDTV, Business Standard, Times of India, Hindustan Times, Livemint, The Tribune, Hindustan Times, India Today, NDTV, MEDIANAMA, BBC, Reuters and The Indian Express

Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:
Filing: Lee Enterprises confirms that a ransomware attack is behind ongoing disruptions impacting the group's operations for over two weeks

Discussion: The Register, The Record, TechCrunch, US Securities … and MediaPost

Naman Ramachandran / Variety:
MPA: South Koreans streamed 131B minutes of premium VOD in 2024, up 18% YoY, as sector revenue reached $2B; Netflix held 35% viewership share, as Tving hit 34%

Discussion: WORLD SCREEN

Earlier Picks:

Tommy Walker / Deutsche Welle:
Journalists raise concerns over press freedom in Cambodia after reports of a crackdown against local and foreign journalists reporting on sensitive issues

Discussion: @neiloughlin, @tommywalkerco and @nathanpsouthern

Jim Zarroli / New York Times:
As local cinemas close around the US, residents in some small towns are forming nonprofits to buy and operate them; 250+ cinemas across the US are nonprofits

Advanced Television:
Ampere Analysis forecasts streamers' spending on sports rights to reach $12.5B in 2025, accounting for a fifth of global sports rights spend, led by DAZN

Discussion: Axios, WORLD SCREEN, The Desk, Broadband TV News, The Streamable and Media Play News

Jim Acosta / The Jim Acosta Show:
Former CNN anchor Jim Acosta calls on news outlets to unite in opposition to the Trump administration's treatment of journalists and news organizations like AP

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
The UK's Advertising Standards Authority tells Reach to stop posting ad features on social media without clearly labeling them as ads

From Techmeme:

CNBC:
OpenAI closes a $40B funding round, the most ever raised by a private tech company, at a $300B post-money valuation; SoftBank led the round with $30B

Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
OpenAI's new GPT-4o-powered image generator is now available to all users; Sam Altman last week mentioned a limit of three images per day for free-tier users

Ian King / Bloomberg:
At the Intel Vision conference, CEO Lip-Bu Tan says Intel plans to spin off non-core assets, create new products including custom semiconductors, and more

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