Mediagazer: Instagram updates direct messages with translation in 99 languages, scheduling and pinning tools, music-sharing features, and more, on iOS and Android first (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)

11:30 AM ET, February 19, 2025

Top News:

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Sources: the Pentagon's chief spokesperson invites conservative radio hosts Clay Travis and Buck Sexton to broadcast their show from the Pentagon — - The Defense Department informed NPR, the New York Times, NBC News and Politico that they had to move out of their workspaces at the Correspondents' Corridor in the Pentagon last month.

Discussion: @mediaevan.bsky.social, Poynter, @realtuckfrumper.bsky.social and @sarafischer

CNN:

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 …

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, @matthewkeys.net and The Wrap

Anupriya Datta / Euractiv:

Euractiv's parent company Mediahuis sues X over scam ads designed to look like news articles and that allegedly infringe copyright and create reputational risk — Mediahuis Ireland stated that it was “forced to initiate proceedings” against X. — Languages: Spanish 2025

Discussion: @chris.euractiv.com, @noaasm.bsky.social and RTÉ

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Instagram updates direct messages with translation in 99 languages, scheduling and pinning tools, music-sharing features, and more, on iOS and Android first — Instagram is upgrading its direct messages, also known as DMs, with a handful of new features that make its messaging system …

Belle Lin / Wall Street Journal:

Crunchbase launches AI tools to predict where startups are heading, including funding, acquisitions, and IPOs, based on its 17 years of startup data — The data company is using AI to forecast startup funding, acquisitions and public offerings—but its biggest challenge may be predicting its own future

Discussion: @dannygroner.bsky.social, more at Techmeme »

Erik Larson / Bloomberg:

TMTG and Rumble sue a Brazilian Supreme Court Justice in Florida for allegedly illegally suppressing the US social media activity of conservative Brazilians — - Suit, joined by Rumble, accusing the judge of stifling speech — Brazilian judge has long attacked ‘fake news,’ disinformation

Discussion: New York Times, CNBC, Reuters, Politico, NBC News, Forbes and Wall Street Journal, more at Techmeme »

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

ABC: 55% of the combined 2024 digital magazine circulation in the UK came from “all you can read” services like Apple News+, Kindle Unlimited, and Readly — More than half of digital magazine circulation came via “all you can read” services in 2024, according to the latest ABC figures.

Discussion: The Media Leader

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: Associated Press, TVNewsCheck, American Press Institute, @sarafischer, Patty Pina Slutsky on LinkedIn and @theajp.bsky.social

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: @dylanbyers and @bsdtectr.bsky.social

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:

An interview with Sky News Chair David Rhodes, a US cable news veteran who says the channel has never turned a profit in 36 years, as he works to overhaul Sky — Pivoting to premium, big-name content demands an organisational overhaul for the 24/7 broadcaster

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, @article14live, @article14live, @betwasharma and @article-14.com

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 11:30 AM ET, February 19, 2025.

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Who's Hiring in Media?

Bureau Reporter - Vietnam, HCMC — Bloomberg

Curation Editor (Contract), NY — Apple News

Business Editor, CA — TheWrap

Executive Ed. - Tech & Electronics, AZ — AspenCore

Economy & Industry Reporter, TX — Texas Tribune

Deputy Editor - Health Care, VA — Politico

Political Enterprise Editor, DC — Guardian US

Housing & Real Estate Reporter, ME — BDN

Associate Reporter - Yahoo Finance — Yahoo

Senior Editor, Remote — Raw Story

Deputy Politics Editor, CA — Sacramento Bee

US Foreign Affairs Correspondent, DC — FT

See Also:

Mediagazer: site main

Mediagazer River: reverse chronological Mediagazer

Mediagazer Mobile: for phones

Mediagazer Leaderboard: Mediagazer's top sources

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More News:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Discussion: Metro.co.uk, Meta, Mirror, The Sun, @markeortega, @mediaevan, @arictoler, The Verge and @chronotope.aramzs.xyz

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

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

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

Earlier Picks:

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

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

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

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

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

From Techmeme:

Alex Riehl / BetaKit:
Waterloo, Ontario-based logistics software company Descartes Systems Group acquires 3Gtms, an Ohio-based transportation software vendor, for $115M in cash

Wency Chen / South China Morning Post:
Chinese chip equipment manufacturer SiCarrier debuted ~30 “domestically controllable” products at the Semicon China show, as China pushes for chip self-reliance

Ryan Gould / Bloomberg:
PE firm Clearlake agrees to acquire and take private Dun & Bradstreet, one of Wall Street's oldest data and analytics providers, for $7.7B including debt

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