Top News:
CNN:
Don Lemon pleads not guilty to two federal charges stemming from his reporting at an anti-ICE protest in a Minnesota church — Don Lemon pleaded not guilty Friday to federal charges following his arrest last month in connection with a protest at a church in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Discussion:
Straight Arrow News, Mediaite, Deadline, Washington Post, The Hill, The Guardian, New York Daily News, New York Post, NBC News, The Gateway Pundit, KSTP-TV, twitchy.com, The National Pulse, Courthouse News Service, Associated Press, The Hollywood Reporter, Washington Times, Axios, Advocate, WWL-TV, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Barrett Media, Washington Examiner, @froomkin.bsky.social, @washingtonpost.com, The Daily Signal, @jackjenkins.me, TV Insider, The Daily Wire, MS NOW, Reuters, Bloomberg, NewsNation, The Post Millennial, Blaze Media, Just Jared and Joe.My.God.
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Disney sent a cease-and-desist letter to ByteDance, claiming it infringed on Disney's works to train its Seedance 2.0 video generation model without pay — The Walt Disney Company on Friday sent a cease-and-desist letter to ByteDance, alleging the Chinese tech giant has been infringing …
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Gene Maddaus / Variety:
The MPA urges ByteDance to curb its AI video model Seedance 2.0, after an AI-generated video of Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt fighting on a rooftop went viral
Discussion:
The Guardian, TVBEurope, The Wrap, Forbes, Entertainment Weekly, Screen Rant, Deseret News, Los Angeles Times, Blaze Media, @jonathanjarry.bsky.social, Business Insider, Dexerto, World of Reel, Breitbart, San Francisco Chronicle, Screen, Deadline, PiunikaWeb, Crooks and Liars, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap, The Verge, GamesRadar and The Indian Express, more at Techmeme »
Dan Kennedy / Media Nation:
While announcing its sports buildup, Banner EIC Audrey Cooper noted the civic value: “At a time when so much pulls communities apart, sports bring us together” — The gutting of The Washington Post may prove to be an opportunity for The Baltimore Banner.
Discussion:
The Verge, Poynter, The Conversation, @dankennedy.net, @jayrosen.bsky.social and @postguild
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Todd Spangler / Variety:
Memo: Paramount names former Trump administration attorney Rene Augustine as its senior vice president of global public policy, amid a takeover battle for WBD — Rene Augustine worked with Makan Delrahim, Paramount's top lawyer, at the Justice Department and most recently served in advisory roles to the Kennedy Center
Discussion:
TheDesk.net, Reuters, The Wrap, @bselena.bsky.social, Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter
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Brian Stelter / CNN:
Sources: Paramount CEO David Ellison met with Trump last week for two conversations; Trump has said he will stay out of Netflix-Paramount competition for WBD
Discussion:
@deggans, @davidclinchnews, @tarpeianrock.bsky.social, Variety, NewsMax.com, Wall Street Journal, Axios and Techdirt
George Winslow / TV Tech:
Cineverse says it is acquiring IndiCue, a profitable CTV ad tech company, for $22M plus up to $18M in earnout as Cineverse focuses on streaming infrastructure — As a result of the deal, Cineverse expects to get a majority of its revenue from technology and streaming infrastructure solutions by 2027
Discussion:
Cineverse, Deadline, NCS | NewscastStudio, TheDesk.net, Advanced Television and Media Play News
Scott Nover / Washington Post:
The Richmond Free Press, a 34-year-old Black-owned weekly, shuts down due to falling ad revenue as the Black press suffers from the dispersion of its readership — The Richmond Free Press cited declining advertising in announcing the end of its three-decade run in Virginia's capital city.
Discussion:
Richmond Free Press, LGBTQ Nation and @scottnover.bsky.social
New York Times:
A Q&A with NYT reporters on handling the Epstein files, including creating tools to make them searchable, prepping for the release, and dealing with redactions — Two dozen journalists. A pile of pages that would reach the top of the Empire State Building. And an effort to find the next revelation in a sprawling case.
Discussion:
@dylfreed, @dylfreed, @martyswant, @rimaanabtawi.bsky.social and @jswatz.bsky.social
Alexandra Steigrad / New York Post:
Source: New York Daily News is cutting six of 10 national desk staffers, one metro reporter, seven print production people, and two photo department staffers — The owner of the New York Daily News fired 16 people this week - a “Valentine's Day massacre” that leaves the paper with a skeleton staff …
Discussion:
NewsGuild of New York, The Wrap and @johnannese.bsky.social
Advanced Television:
Report: AI-generated music uploads account for <1% of total streams; AI adoption is strongest in functional and low-stakes settings such as background music — The music industry has long been defined by an extreme winner-takes-all dynamic. A small number of tracks, artists …
Discussion:
OC&C Strategy Consultants
Alice Brooker / Press Gazette:
An interview with Chloe Rushmere, head of content for magazine and newspaper subscription app Readly, on future plans as Readly integrates with France's Cafeyn — “All you can read” magazine and newspaper app Readly's merger with a French equivalent is set to enhance its mobile app and support the business to increase investment.
Discussion:
@pressgazette.co.uk
Edith Hancock / Wall Street Journal:
The EU approves UMG's $775M acquisition of Downtown Music, a deal UMG expects to complete in the coming weeks after announcing it in December 2024 — The companies offered to sell Downtown's Curve royalty in an effort to win Brussels's blessing — The European Union approved Universal …
Discussion:
Dow Jones Newswires, CMU, Digital Music News, Billboard, Reuters, The Hollywood Reporter, Music Business Worldwide and Bloomberg
Todd Spangler / Variety:
SAG-AFTRA signs an agreement with Netflix covering The Pete Davidson Show as a podcast, after talks about whether it should be treated as a TV show or a podcast — Netflix has described its recently released “The Pete Davidson Show” as a “video podcast” — and now SAG-AFTRA has signed …
Discussion:
Podnews, Barrett Media, The Wrap, Deadline, The Atlantic, @theatlantic.com, Vulture and Motley Fool
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