Top News:
April Rubin / Axios:
Journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort were arrested by federal agents on Thursday and today, respectively, for their coverage of a Minnesota church protest — Journalist Don Lemon was arrested by federal agents on Thursday night following backlash over his coverage of an anti-ICE protest …
Discussion:
Committee to Protect …, Free Press Action Fund Feed, Associated Press, Politico, The Hill, Mediaite, The Wrap, Washington Post, New York Times, CBS News, Business Insider, Freedom of the Press …, International Business Times, Facebook, HuffPost, Variety, Meidas+, The Verge, New York Post, FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul, USA Today, NPR, @jamellebouie.net, @jamellebouie.net, The Hollywood Reporter, Florida's Voice, New York Magazine, The Cut, @juliannemcshane, The Independent, KARE-TV, Bossip, @atrupar.com, @chucktodd, @agpambondi, TheGrio, NewsMax.com, URL Media, Daily Caller News Foundation, Boston.com, @crankyoldcrackpot.bsky.social, Bloomberg, @kathleenclark.bsky.social, Page Six, KHOU-TV, Advocate, The Guardian, Washington Examiner, Deadline, Reuters, Forbes, Just Jared, MS NOW, @theletterhack.bsky.social, Twin Cities, @acnewsitics, @jaketapper, @timodc, @zackwhittaker@mastodon.social, @mlcalderone, Raw Story, @irhottakes.bsky.social, @jemelehill, @joshuaerlich.bsky.social, @emma-briant.co.uk, @repjeffries, @emptywheel.bsky.social, Straight Arrow News, @rusty.todayintabs.com, @donlemonofficial.bsky.social, @jeremymbarr, @jaredhardd.bsky.social, @brianstelter, Hollywood Life, @pattymo.com, @timodc, @daveweigel.bsky.social, @adamserwer.bsky.social, People, Washington Blade, Fox News and New Republic
New York Times:
Sources: WaPo's layoffs may narrow its scope to topics of expertise and reader interest based on digital traffic, with politics and video becoming more central — The changes are expected to include significant layoffs in areas like sports and international coverage. — Fewer reporters are being sent to the Super Bowl.
Discussion:
NPR, PR Daily, @schadjoe, @sallyjenki, @perryvandell, @siobhan_ogrady, @nosacredcowfla.bsky.social, @mrfahrenheit.bsky.social, @oliverdarcy.bsky.social, Awful Announcing, Barrett Media, Lawyers, Guns & Money, So What, Awful Announcing, The Gateway Pundit, HoldtheFrontPage, Status and New York Magazine
RELATED:
Max Tani / Semafor:
To avert layoffs, WaPo's White House correspondents, not considered at risk, write a letter to Jeff Bezos highlighting collaborations among the paper's sections
Discussion:
New York Post, @maxwelltani, CNN, CNN, Poynter, @aaronwiener, @_hudsonc, @karyncaplan, @timmurtaugh, @tomfitton, @eugene_scott, @danpfeiffer, @ralph_grabowski, @jarvis_best, @escarry, @mlcalderone, @mediaevan, @mikesisak, @chucktodd, @siobhan_ogrady, @brianstelter, The Independent, @chicoharlan, @ewong, @kemettler, @bsoloway, Grabien and The Wrap
Gene Maddaus / Variety:
Ahead of contract talks between SAG-AFTRA and studios beginning February 9, negotiators consider ideas such as an AI “tax” on studios that use synthetic actors — Call it the Tilly tax. — In the future, studios that use synthetic actors in place of humans might have to pay a royalty into a union fund.
Discussion:
@xpangler, Oh No They Didn't! and Deadline
Michael Savage / The Guardian:
A BBC internal review found a “noticeable” gender mismatch among older presenters, with older women required to look younger or develop “idiosyncratic personas” — Older men seen as ‘gaining wisdom’ but women must keep looking younger or be ‘idiosyncratic’, review hears
RELATED:
New York Times:
Peter Chernin sells North Road to France's Mediawan; sources: the agreement, paid mostly in stock, values the independent film and TV studio at ~$900M — Peter Chernin, an industry veteran who founded North Road in 2022, said his deal with Mediawan met a need to get bigger in an era of consolidation.
Discussion:
Advanced Television, The Wrap, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline and Screen
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Bluesky releases its first transparency report: users rose 60% in 2025 to 41.2M, including AT Protocol accounts; moderation reports from users grew 54% to 9.97M — Bluesky released its first transparency report this week documenting the actions taken by its Trust & Safety team and the results …
David Folkenflik / NPR:
Current and ex-VOA staff say a recent VOA interview by Kari Lake, who is calling herself USAGM deputy CEO, tramples on the firewall between the two agencies — Kari Lake, who oversees the parent agency of the Voice of America, has hit legal and political roadblocks in her drive to dismantle the government-funded broadcaster.
Discussion:
@newsguyusa and @kaedotcom
Roushni Nair / Reuters:
Australia's Nine Entertainment plans to sell its broadcast radio business to the Laundy family for AU$56M and buy digital outdoor ad firm QMS Media for AU$850M — Australia's Nine Entertainment (NEC.AX) on Friday deepened its pivot toward digital media, agreeing to buy outdoor advertising group QMS Media …
Discussion:
Australian Financial Review, Australian Financial Review, ABC, The Guardian, Mumbrella, TV Blackbox, Mediaweek, 9News, Capital Brief, TV Central and Reuters
Anna Tingley / Variety:
Reporters from mainstream news organizations including NYT, WaPo, AP, and Vanity Fair were shut out of the premiere screening of Melania in Washington, DC — “Are you getting in?” — “No, are you?” — On Thursday afternoon, in the lobby of the Trump Kennedy Center …
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Indie film and anti-monopoly groups urge state attorneys general to block the Netflix-WBD deal and also object to any WBD acquisition by Paramount or Comcast — Documentary filmmakers, independent movie theaters and nonprofit groups are urging state attorneys general to block Netflix Inc.'s acquisition …
Discussion:
@lucas_shaw, American Economic Liberties Project, PYMNTS.com, The Wrap and Media Play News
Nieman Lab:
The Guardian, FT, NYT, USA Today Co., and others are blocking or limiting the Internet Archive's crawlers to prevent AI crawlers from using IA as a backdoor — Outlets like The Guardian and The New York Times are scrutinizing digital archives as potential backdoors for AI crawlers.
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Darren Aronofsky's Primordial Soup debuts its short-form Revolutionary War series, made via Google DeepMind with human voices and distributed by Time Studios — Filmmaker Darren Aronofsky used AI to travel back in time 250 years ago to the American Revolution.
Discussion:
Futurism, eWeek, Dexerto, TVBEurope, @allpogsgo2heavn, @jonlie95, @bikeman, @cinemad__, @bassfromthepast, NME, @tsos_, @ja_y007, @trailerjones.bsky.social, @drl.bsky.social, @ghostesq.bsky.social, @seanferrick.bsky.social, @verchan.bsky.social, @priscillapage.bsky.social, Gizmodo, @ohhhaeee.bsky.social, Kotaku, @galegalligan.bsky.social, @whetmoser.com, @kentremendous.bsky.social, The A.V. Club, @craigcalcaterra.bsky.social, @culturecrave.co, Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »
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