Top News:
Mikeie Honda Reiland / Nashville Banner:
A reporter for Nashville Noticias, Estefany Rodríguez, has been detained and is being sent to an ICE center in Louisiana; she had reported on ICE previously — A reporter who faced death threats in her home country could now be sent back by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Alexandra Bruell / Wall Street Journal:
How AI is helping expand coverage; the Philadelphia Inquirer launched four AI-assisted newsletters in 2025, which have been a “massive subscription driver” — The Philadelphia Inquirer and other regional outlets turn to AI to automate elements of reporting and expand coverage
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Liz Skalka / Columbia Journalism Review:
Patch's AI-generated newsletters, which carry local and national ads and rely on aggregation and event calendars, have ~1M subscribers across 14K US communities — Patch built a newsletter system to be not hard-nosed journalism but a community-building tool.
Discussion:
@columjournreview.bsky.social
Sophie Culpepper / Nieman Lab:
A look at local news outlets including The 51st, City Cast, and The Baltimore Banner expanding in Washington, D.C. to help fill a void created by WaPo layoffs — The 51st, City Cast, and The Baltimore Banner are among the outlets to announce expansions of Washington, D.C. metro area coverage since the Post layoffs.
Discussion:
@jayrosen.bsky.social and @niemanlab.org
Dylan Smith / Digital Music News:
UMG reports Q4 revenue up 4.8% YoY to €3.61B and paid listening up 2.4% YoY to €1.26B; UMG says it is not moving ahead with a US listing at this time — Universal Music Group (UMG) has posted modest Q4 2025 revenue growth due largely to a continued paid-streaming slowdown.
Discussion:
Billboard, Music Ally, RTÉ, UMG, Music Business Worldwide, The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters and Morningstar
Journalism Funding Partners:
Journalism Funding Partners announces that Google chose the group as a third-party administrator for California's public-private partnership to fund newsrooms — FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — Sacramento, CA — Journalism Funding Partners (JFP) announced today that Google has selected …
Discussion:
Editor and Publisher and Rusty Coats on LinkedIn
Nilay Patel / The Verge:
Podcast transcript with Nilay Patel and Liz Lopatto, on why prediction market players want to be seen not as gambling but as news, incentivizing insider trading — Today on Decoder, let's talk about prediction markets, which continue to insert themselves into the news cycle and the news itself …
Discussion:
Yahoo Finance, The Guardian, Responsible Statecraft, @theverge.com, Semafor, New York Magazine and Al Jazeera
Corbin Bolies / The Wrap:
In an interview, David Ellison says CNN would retain editorial independence if the WBD deal closes: “it's maintained at CBS and it will be maintained at CNN” — “We want to be in the truth business and we want to be in the trust business,” Ellison says on CNBC
Discussion:
CNN, Variety, CNBC, @angrydonkeynews.bsky.social, Mediaweek, Washington Examiner, @freedom.press, Awful Announcing, @jonathanjarry.bsky.social, @brianstelter.bsky.social, Media Play News, Deadline, The A.V. Club, The Hollywood Reporter, Mediaite, Los Angeles Times, TVNewsCheck, The Hill and r/Journalism
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / TechCrunch:
Italian authorities confirm that Francesco Cancellato, director of news site Fanpage, had his phone hacked in December 2024 using spyware made by Paragon — Italian authorities confirmed that a journalist who was alerted by WhatsApp last year of a suspected spyware attack on his phone was indeed hacked.
Discussion:
@jsrailton, @jsrailton, @jsrailton, @jsrailton, @jsrailton and @TechCrunch@mstdn.social
Zack Zwiezen / Kotaku:
The White House's official X account posted a video mixing footage from Call of Duty with real military strikes against Iranian targets — It is the latest example of Donald Trump's White House using video games in their propaganda … This is the latest example of President Donald Trump …
Discussion:
HuffPost, Techdirt, Financial Times, @brianstelter, @brianstelter, PC Gamer, Courthouse News Service, Aftermath, @drewharwell, @drewharwell, @drewharwell, @drewharwell, @captaincons, Raw Story, Mashable, The Independent, Rock, Paper, Shotgun, Mediaite, Metro.co.uk, TMZ.com, CNN, Polygon.com, @ethangach.bsky.social, @kotaku.com, @erinmcunningham.bsky.social, The Verge, The Daily Beast and The A.V. Club
Ray Schultz / MediaPost:
An interview with Ben Levisohn, recently named editor-in-chief of Barron's, on his routine, the magazine's digital strategy, and more — Ben Levisohn was recently named editor in chief of Barron's, the slot once held by legends like founder Clarence Walker Barron and writer Alan Abelson.
Discussion:
Talking Biz News
Michael Savage / The Guardian:
In response to its charter review, the BBC says “irreversible” trends threaten its survival, citing a “mismatch” between TV license rules and viewing habits — In opening response to charter review, corporation points to ‘mismatch’ between TV licence rules and viewing habits
Discussion:
Mirror, @michaelsavage, @rogermosey, @Lazarou@mastodon.social, Ben Werdmuller, The Times, GB News, The Sun, BBC and The i Paper
RELATED:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
X overhauls its Creator Subscriptions with new features including exclusive threads, a refreshed subscriptions paywall, and a shareable subscriptions card — Elon Musk-owned X announced on Thursday that it's revamping the social network's Creator Subscriptions offering with a number of new features …
Discussion:
Engadget and Mashable, more at Techmeme »
