Mediagazer: Source: The Washington Post's media critic Erik Wemple wrote about the changes at its opinion section, but the piece was killed (Gene Weingarten/The Gene Pool)

11:05 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: @joshgerstein, @jpodhoretz, @froomkin.bsky.social, @jongorey@threads.net, @muwxguy.bsky.social, @jonathanchait, 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, NPR, Status, New York Post, Deseret News, @sarafischer, @briannawu, CNN, Resolute Square, Reason, RedState, Washington Examiner, Mediaite, Cele|bitchy, The Guardian, American Greatness, @danlamothe, The Message Box, @ktmboyle, Poynter, Townhall, American Crisis, @nprinskeep, @danlamothe, @benmullin, @naturalism.bsky.social, Issues & Insights, @brianstelter, @brianstelter, @farhip, @sherman4949, @jackmirkinson, @hadas_gold, @maxwelltani, @kylebrussell, Washington Post, @mikeisaac, @drewharwell.com, Mark Lemley on LinkedIn, Futurism, @earleyedition.bsky.social, @makgrossi.bsky.social, Politico, @knightlat.bsky.social, @athul.acharya.cc, The Washington Free Beacon, @sachadylan.bsky.social, The Daily Wire, @davidrlurie.bsky.social, Jerry Davis on LinkedIn, @limeylizzie.bsky.social, The Daily Signal, Wall Street Journal, @strangernalps.bsky.social, @jerdem.bsky.social, New Jersey Online, @mikemadden.bsky.social, @kyra_davis@mstdn.social, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Times, @notaaroncraig.bsky.social, Twitchy, Deadline, Colin Woodard on LinkedIn, @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, @jeffbezos, New York Magazine, @silviomarcacci.bsky.social and The Hollywood Reporter

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: @joelrubin, @benmullin, @mediaevan.bsky.social 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: @geholland, @brittny_mejia, @mikebonin, @abbeyr28.bsky.social, @nicosan1.bsky.social, @hannahcwiley.bsky.social and @mattkrasnowski.bsky.social

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: TikTok For Business, The Information and Passionfruit, more at Techmeme »

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

S.V. Date / HuffPost:

The US political press has not dealt with autocrats working this hard to seize power; trading soft coverage for access could fail media audiences and democracy — WASHINGTON — We are not ready for this. — The Washington, D.C., press corps, used to playing small ball for small exclusives …

Discussion: @joeperticone, @fritschner, @dwass, @andrewfeinberg, @svdate, @brianstelter, @lizskalka, @arifleischer, Daily Kos, Raw Story and Politico

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

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 — The judge's order against The Clarksdale Press Register in Clarksdale, Miss., had alarmed press advocates, who said it was a violation of the First Amendment.

Discussion: FIRE, MediaPost, @thefireorg, @kennysmith.bsky.social, The Clarion-Ledger, Newser, TVNewsCheck, @rcfp, WATN and Reason

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

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, Reuters, Streaming Better, CNBC 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, @bristei, TVNewsCheck, RetailWire, Streaming Better, Media Play News, Adweek, The Streamable, The Information, The Wrap, Warner Bros. Discovery and Cord Cutters News

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

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, @scottygb, @journalismseen, @iowbobseely, The Sun, Deadline, Telegraph, WORLD SCREEN, Daily Express, Screen, The Irish Sun, @chrischibnall.bsky.social, Variety and GB News

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

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, The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter, @benmullin, TVNewsCheck, Deadline and New York Times

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