Top News:
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Paramount offers $15M to settle with President Trump, whose team wants $25M+, is seeking an apology from CBS News, and threatened another lawsuit — President's team threatened another lawsuit amid settlement talks — A month into negotiations between Paramount Global …
Ben Johansen / Politico:
Sources: all 800 full-time VOA staff are expected to receive reduction-in-force notices this week, after ~600 VOA contractors were dismissed earlier in May — The move would add to the grueling battle between the network and Trump administration. — All remaining staff at Voice of America …
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Memo: David Leavy, who became CNN's COO in 2023, is leaving; sources say the longtime key lieutenant of David Zaslav is returning to Warner Bros. Discovery — “David arrived at CNN in tumultuous times and did a brilliant job stabilizing the company at a difficult moment.
Discussion:
Insider Monkey, @dylanbyers, Puck, Status, @bristei, Deadline, @bristei.bsky.social, The Wrap, TVNewsCheck, Barrett Media and The Hollywood Reporter
Ben Mullin / @benmullin:
Memo: Business Insider is cutting staff by 21% to “endure extreme traffic drops outside of our control” and “exiting the majority of our Commerce business” — scoop: Business Insider is reducing staff by 21% as it reduces its reliance on “traffic-sensitive businesses.” Memo from CEO Barbara Peng: [image]
Discussion:
@stevekovach.bsky.social
Rick Edmonds / Poynter:
A look at the Salt Lake Tribune under CEO and top editor Lauren Gustus, who is spearheading a campaign to raise $1M in 2025 to end its paywall — The Tribune's success has made it a poster child for going nonprofit. Will its attempts to shake off its paywall find similar success?
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
WPP rebrands GroupM as WPP Media after reportedly laying off dozens of staffers in recent weeks — TV's annual “upfront” negotiations, when networks try to sell as many TV commercials as possible, is a tough, high-pressure moment. But here's some relief for NBCUniversal, Disney and Paramount …
Discussion:
TVNewsCheck, MediaBrief, BMI, Mediaweek, afaqs!, wpp.com, MediaNews4U, The Drum, MediaPost and campaignlive.co.uk
Wall Street Journal:
Making a short AI film with tools from Google, Runway, Elevenlabs, and Midjourney shows the tech has improved but takes tedious work to attain scene consistency — We tried to direct an AI film with Veo and Runway. The tools are magic. The process is madness. — Welcome to the premiere of “My Robot & Me.”
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
A look at YouTube's changes to become viewers' preferred TV service and to appeal more to advertisers, and at creators' push into sitcoms, like Alan's Universe — Creators are making longer shows to meet viewers where they are: increasingly, in front of their TVs.
Discussion:
TVNewsCheck, Lucas Shaw on LinkedIn, AJ Vargas on LinkedIn, @business, @lucas_shaw, MediaPost, Android Police, Social Media Today and TVREV
Ryan Browne / CNBC:
Getty Images CEO Craig Peters says Getty is spending “millions and millions” on its Stability AI lawsuit in the UK and the US, accusing it of copying 12M images — Peters told CNBC in an interview that both Stability AI — the U.K.-based startup best known for its text …
Discussion:
The Overspill, Ars Technica, Entrepreneur and @neilturkewitz.bsky.social
Anupriya Datta / Euractiv:
EU Tech Commissioner Henna Virkkunen says that far more online content is being removed in the EU under the T&Cs of US platforms than as a result of the DSA — “Often in the US, platforms have more strict rules with content,” Virkkunen said. — Based on facts, either observed …
Discussion:
@noaasm.bsky.social, more at Techmeme »
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
Immediate Media's BBC History Magazine launches a Substack and a weekly podcast, and says it has 745,000 paying online subscribers, but print remains important — Immediate Media's BBC History has proved again that it is not living in the past when it comes to current publishing strategies …
Discussion:
Press Gazette
Lachlan Cartwright / Breaker:
Email: a senior business reporter at The New York Post says an editor spiked a story about Terry Cole, Trump's pick to lead the DEA, slated to run on March 22 — MSNBC anchor in talks to leave; Post Trump story spiked; Telegraph owner's US Play — In partnership with
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, Barrett Media, @lachcartwright, Daily Kos, TV Insider, HuffPost, Talking Biz News and Mediaite
