Mediagazer: TikTok is preparing to shut down Creator Marketplace, which connects brands with creators, and replacing it with TikTok One, which includes AI tools, on April 1 (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)

5:50 PM ET, February 27, 2025

Top News:

Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:

Jeff Bezos' opinion section changes contradict his October 2024 edict that WaPo won't endorse a presidential candidate because it can't be seen as taking a side — Months after insisting he would never allow his personal interests to influence the Post's content, one of the world's richest …

Gene Weingarten / The Gene Pool:

Source: The Washington Post's media critic Erik Wemple wrote about the changes at its opinion section, but the piece was killed — Hello. — Welcome to a special edition of — Yesterday, at a hastily called meeting of the Opinions section of The Washington Post …

Discussion: @jongorey@threads.net, @jpodhoretz, @jonathanchait, @froomkin.bsky.social, Deseret News and The Daily Caller

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Memo: WaPo CEO Will Lewis says opinion section changes are “not about siding with any political party” but about “being crystal clear about what we stand for”

Discussion: Cameron Barr on LinkedIn, The Guardian, NPR, Status, Resolute Square, Mediaite, RedState, CNN, Deseret News, @danlamothe, Washington Examiner, Reason, The Message Box, American Crisis, @sarafischer, Poynter, @briannawu, Townhall, @ktmboyle, American Greatness, Washington Post, @nprinskeep, @danlamothe, @benmullin, @naturalism.bsky.social, Issues & Insights, @drewharwell.com, @brianstelter, @brianstelter, @farhip, @sherman4949, @jackmirkinson, @hadas_gold, @maxwelltani, @kylebrussell, @mikeisaac, Mark Lemley on LinkedIn, Futurism, @earleyedition.bsky.social, Deadline, @makgrossi.bsky.social, Politico, @knightlat.bsky.social, @athul.acharya.cc, The Washington Free Beacon, @sachadylan.bsky.social, @davidrlurie.bsky.social, Jerry Davis on LinkedIn, The Daily Wire, @limeylizzie.bsky.social, The Daily Signal, @strangernalps.bsky.social, @jerdem.bsky.social, New Jersey Online, @mikemadden.bsky.social, @kyra_davis@mstdn.social, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Times, @notaaroncraig.bsky.social, Colin Woodard on LinkedIn, Twitchy, @briankrebs@infosec.exchange, @kevinleecaster.bsky.social, The Wrap, Newsbusters, @benmullin.bsky.social, Associated Press, Howard Pulchin on LinkedIn, @picardonhealth.bsky.social, @TCatInReality@mastodon.social, @thiagokrause.bsky.social, Financial Times, Sara Langhinrichs Gifford on LinkedIn, @Naureckas@mastodon.world, @silviomarcacci.bsky.social, The Hollywood Reporter, @jeffbezos and New York Magazine

Corbin Bolies / The Daily Beast:
Marty Baron condemns changes to WaPo's opinion section, says he is “disgusted” as Bezos is “betraying” WaPo's “longstanding principles” for commercial interests

Sharon Knolle / The Wrap:

Source: over 40 newsroom employees at the Los Angeles Times have taken buyout offers from owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, including roughly 17 reporters — “We should put out a missing flyer in search of the man who bought our paper and made promises about its future,” one employee tells TheWrap

Discussion: @mediaevan.bsky.social, @joelrubin, @benmullin and @benmullin.bsky.social

Sewell Chan / Columbia Journalism Review:

The last remaining member of the Los Angeles Times editorial board, Carla Hall, says she is taking a buyout, ending her 32-year tenure at the paper — After owner Patrick Soon-Shiong spiked the paper's Kamala Harris endorsement, a staff exodus resulted. — Carla Hall, the last remaining member …

Discussion: @abbeyr28.bsky.social, @geholland, @brittny_mejia, @mikebonin, @mattkrasnowski.bsky.social, @nicosan1.bsky.social and @hannahcwiley.bsky.social

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

WBD reports Q4 revenue down 2% YoY to $10B, ad revenue down 11% to $1.8B, and losses up 24% YoY to $494M, including $1.9B in charges and restructuring expenses — Like its rivals., Warner is navigating a difficult era for the media sector, one in which linear TV audiences, much easier to monetize …

Discussion: Deadline, Deadline, The Streamable, @jacktweets44, @mauronl3, @tvgrimreaper, Barron's Online, Sportico, @mauronl3, Yahoo Finance and @gameoverthirty

Harshita Mary Varghese / Reuters:
WBD projects at least 150M subscribers by the end of 2026, as Max is set to launch in Germany and Italy in Q1 2026; Netflix ended 2024 with 302M subscribers

Discussion: Broadband TV News, Quartz, CNBC, Reuters, Streaming Better and Yahoo Finance

Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:
WBD reports Q4 adjusted EBITDA for DTC, including streaming and pay-TV, of $409M, up from a $55M loss in Q4 2023, and 116.9M subscribers, up from 110.5M in Q3

Discussion: Advanced Television, TVNewsCheck, RetailWire, Warner Bros. Discovery, Adweek, Media Play News, @bristei, The Streamable, Streaming Better, The Information, The Wrap and Cord Cutters News

Mark K. Miller / TVNewsCheck:

Nexstar Q4: revenue up 14.1% YoY to $1.49B, ad revenue up 29.6% to $758M driven by election year political advertising, net income of $229M; NXST jumps 11.1% — That resulted in net Income of $229 million, adjusted EBITDA of $628 million, net cash provided by operating activities of $411 million …

Discussion: The Desk, Yahoo Finance, RADIO ONLINE and Nexstar Media Group, Inc.

Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Nexstar anticipates The CW to become profitable in 2026, largely due to a push into live sports, which account for about 40% of its total programming time

Discussion: @robnashville and @tvgrimreaper

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

TikTok is preparing to shut down Creator Marketplace, which connects brands with creators, and replacing it with TikTok One, which includes AI tools, on April 1 — TikTok is preparing to sunset its creator marketplace in favor of a new, more expanded experience, the company has informed businesses and creators via email.

Discussion: The Information, TikTok For Business and Passionfruit

Alexandra Bruell / Wall Street Journal:

Google Search's new rules for product-review sites upend publishers' business models; Similarweb says Forbes Advisor's traffic fell 83% YoY in January 2025 — New rules for recommendation sites such as Forbes Vetted and CNN Underscored threaten their business models, hurt freelancers

Discussion: Glenn Gabe on LinkedIn and Jeff Li on LinkedIn

Jake Kanter / Deadline:

BBC Chief Content Office Charlotte Moore is leaving to become Left Bank Pictures CEO and Sony Pictures TV's creative director of international production — Newswire … PMC — Deadline is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2025 Deadline Hollywood, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Discussion: The Guardian, BBC, C21Media, TVNewsCheck, The Sun, @chrischibnall.bsky.social, @scottygb, Deadline, Screen, The Irish Sun, @journalismseen, Daily Express, @iowbobseely, Telegraph, WORLD SCREEN, Variety and GB News

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Memo: Warner Bros. Discovery renames its DEI group to simply “Inclusion” as part of changes to comply with “the evolving legal landscape” in the US and globally — Going forward, WBD's “overarching work in this space will now be referred to as Inclusion,” according to a memo sent to staffers Thursday.

Discussion: Adweek, TVNewsCheck, The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter, @benmullin and Deadline

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Internal memo: Paramount is making changes to its DEI policies to conform to efforts by the Trump administration to eliminate diversity programs

Discussion: Richard King on LinkedIn, Variety, Townhall, CNBC, PinkNews, @aaronmyers, Adweek, New York Post, Cartoon Brew, @benmullin, @doriandavis, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, RetailWire, Yahoo Finance, TechCrunch, Fortune and Observer

Dylan Butts / CNBC:

Meta apologizes and says it had fixed an “error” that resulted in some Instagram users seeing violent and graphic content in their Reels recommendations — Meta apologized on Thursday and said it had fixed an “error” that resulted in some Instagram users reporting a flood …

John Koblin / New York Times:

Sony Pictures Entertainment says it is soliciting bids from media and tech companies for the streaming rights to new episodes of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune — Sony Pictures Entertainment is soliciting bids for the streaming rights to the two popular game shows.

Discussion: The Streamable, New York Post, @caseym.org, TVNewsCheck, TV Insider, NewscastStudio and r/Jeopardy

BBC:

The BBC apologizes and admits “serious flaws” in the making of a documentary on children in Gaza, after criticism that the narrator was a Hamas official's son — The BBC has apologised and admitted “serious flaws” in the making of a documentary about children's lives in Gaza.

Discussion: The Independent, The Sun, Canary, Declassified Media Ltd, BBC, @baldybane.bsky.social, Deadline, Variety, GB News, The Wrap, The European Conservative, Algemeiner.com and Exposing the role …

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Pete Distad, previously named as the CEO of now-shuttered Venu Sports streaming service, will serve as CEO of Fox's recently announced DTC streaming service — Pete Distad has a new gig after the shutdown of sports-streaming joint venture Venu Sports.

Discussion: The Desk, C21Media, TV Tech, Cord Cutters News, CNBC, Media Play News, Adweek, Reuters, Deadline, The Wrap, Barrett Media, @tvgrimreaper, The Hollywood Reporter, 9to5Mac and WORLD SCREEN

Ben Johansen / Politico:

Reversing decades of precedent, the WHCA announces it will no longer coordinate shared coverage of President Trump amid an escalating dispute over press access — The move breaks from decades of cooperation between the White House and the journalists who cover the president.

Nicole Sperling / New York Times:

A profile of London-based Mubi, a niche movie streaming service with 400 employees boosted by hit film The Substance, turning it into a real Hollywood player — Early on in “The Substance,” the body horror film starring Demi Moore that has been nominated for five Academy Awards …

Discussion: Elle and The Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »

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More News:

Michael Levenson / New York Times:
A Mississippi judge lifts an order requiring a newspaper to remove an editorial, after Clarksdale city officials voted to abandon their libel lawsuit

Discussion: MediaPost, FIRE, TVNewsCheck, @thefireorg, The Clarion-Ledger, @rcfp, WATN and Reason

Brian Steinberg / Variety:
CBS News names Tom Cibrowski, a TV news veteran who has managed Good Morning America and the San Francisco station KGO, as president and executive editor

Discussion: Adweek, New York Post, Los Angeles Times, @brianstelter, @ajkatztv, The Wrap, TVNewsCheck, @brianstelter, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, Barrett Media and Radio & Television …

Todd Spangler / Variety:
ESPN plans to launch SC+, a new SportsCenter show, on March 3 exclusively on Disney+ for US subscribers, designed for a casual, entertainment-focused audience

Discussion: The Desk, ESPN Press Room U.S., Awful Announcing, NewscastStudio, Deadline, The Verge, @espnpr, The Hollywood Reporter, @disneyplus, Cord Cutters News, Barrett Media, The Streamable, TVNewsCheck and The Wrap

Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:
EchoStar reports Q4 net pay-TV subscriber down ~253,000, compared to a loss of 314,000 in Q4 2023, and ends 2024 with 7.78M pay-TV subscribers

Discussion: StreamTV Insider, TVNewsCheck, Streaming Better, The Streamable, Cord Cutters News, EchoStar Corporation and @tvgrimreaper

Benoit Berthelot / Bloomberg:
WPP's shares drop 15%+ after the company forecasted adjusted sales for 2025 to remain flat or shrink in 2025, missing analysts' estimates

Discussion: Adweek, The Drum, The Independent, Fortune, Telegraph, The Standard, CampaignUK, More About Advertising, Financial Times, Reuters and Yahoo Finance

Reuters:
A Vietnam court sentences former journalist Truong Huy San to 30 months in prison over Facebook posts; San wrote “The Winning Side” about post-war Vietnam

Discussion: Committee to Protect …, Al Jazeera, Agence France-Presse and Bloomberg

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
Sky COO Nick Herm criticizes Amazon for failing to tackle sports broadcast piracy, costing “hundreds of millions”, and to stop illegal Fire Stick TV devices

Discussion: Broadband TV News, Advanced Television and New York Times

Earlier Picks:

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Netflix says its customers watched 94B+ hours in H2 2024, up 5% YoY; Squid Game, despite premiering on December 26, dominated the period with nearly 87M views

Discussion: The Wrap, Advanced Television, The Streamable, Cord Cutters News, Radio Times, The Hollywood Reporter and Media Play News

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
UK right-wing political news outlet Guido Fawkes settles a defamation case by Ecotricity founder Dale Vince; founder Paul Staines says costs would be “ruinous”

Discussion: @dalevince and The Guardian

Advanced Television:
Gracenote: sports programming on top five streamers globally, Prime Video, Apple TV+, Disney+, Paramount+, and Netflix, grew by 72%+ in the recent quarter

Discussion: The Media Leader and NewscastStudio

Kirk Carapezza / GBH:
Student newspapers that increasingly rely on financial support from the institutions they cover face struggles for editorial independence, as ad sales drop

Discussion: Kristine Maloney on LinkedIn, Kirk Carapezza on LinkedIn, Jessica Sparks on LinkedIn, Caitlin Reardon on LinkedIn and @dankennedy.net

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Notus, the nonprofit outlet created by the Allbritton Journalism Institute, launches the Washington Bureau Initiative to provide DC coverage to local newsrooms

Thomas Buckley / Bloomberg:
A look at budget pressures on WBD's movie studio unit: sources say WBD CEO David Zaslav has been pushing for more financial accountability and consistency

Discussion: Screen Rant, The InSneider and SlashFilm

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Sources: MrBeast is looking to raise a couple hundred million dollars at a ~$5B valuation; MrBeast has said he “lost tens of millions of dollars on Beast Games”

Discussion: The Guardian, The Information, Entrepreneur, Tubefilter, @joshsternberg.com, The Ankler, Jason Illian on LinkedIn, @ericbalchunas, Hindustan Times and Mirror US

Paul Vieira / Wall Street Journal:
Canada's broadcast regulator says that Google will be charged a fee to recover regulatory costs related to Canada's online news law, starting April 1

Discussion: @paulvieira, Reuters and Benzinga

From Techmeme:

Meta:
Meta launches Llama 4 Maverick with 400B parameters and Scout with 109B parameters and a 10M context window, and previews Behemoth with 2T total parameters

Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft unveils a demo of Quake II generated using its Muse AI model, with limited playability in a browser, as part of the company's Copilot for Gaming push

Xinmei Shen / South China Morning Post:
DeepSeek and Tsinghua University researchers detail an approach combining reasoning methods to let LLMs deliver better and faster results to general queries

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