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.
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:
American Press Institute and @columjournreview.bsky.social
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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
Max Goldbart / Deadline:
In a letter, Tim Davie explains why the BBC failed to edit out the N-word in its BAFTA stream: it was said twice, but the team did not hear it the first time — The BBC Director General has for the first time set out in detail the corporation's version of events that led to the N-Word debacle …
Discussion:
The Wrap, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and GB News
Ben Dummett / Wall Street Journal:
Axel Springer agrees to buy the Telegraph for £575M, ending the proposed acquisition by the DMGT, and plans to “turbocharge” the Telegraph's presence in the US — The German publisher outbid an existing offer from the Daily Mail for the British newspaper
Discussion:
Press Gazette, Reuters, The Independent, The Irish Times, Associated Press, Telegraph, BBC, The National Pulse, Bloomberg, @jeffjarvis.bsky.social, GB News and Politico
Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
Some podcasters exclusive to Netflix see their YouTube channel growth slow; sources: Netflix limits how many clips podcasters can share on third-party platforms — Podcasters exclusive to Netflix are seeing their channel growth slow by as much as 50% compared to the year prior — Welcome back to Soundbite.
Discussion:
Podnews, NextBigWhat and TechSpot
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, Morningstar and Reuters
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:
Event Horizon, Yahoo Finance, Responsible Statecraft, The Guardian, @theverge.com, Semafor, New York Magazine and Al Jazeera
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:
The Guardian, @jsrailton, @jsrailton, @jsrailton, @jsrailton, @jsrailton and @TechCrunch@mstdn.social
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Netflix buys InterPositive, a 16-person company founded by Ben Affleck that builds an AI model based on a production's dailies to be used in postproduction — In a rare acquisition, Netflix has bought InterPositive, a start-up founded by Ben Affleck that makes AI-powered tools for filmmakers.
Discussion:
Advanced Television, Cele|bitchy, The Next Web, The Overspill, Phandroid, Forbes, Faizan Kareem on LinkedIn, Mercury News, Claire Xue on LinkedIn, Russell Palmer on LinkedIn, Gamereactor UK, The Hill, Inc.com, The Mac Observer, The Boston Globe, Gizmodo, Silicon Valley Business …, BANG Showbiz, Reality Tea, The A.V. Club, Los Angeles Times, Boston.com, Benzinga, Engadget, iPhone in Canada, The Verge, @hypercubexl.bsky.social, @nowarbutclasswar.bsky.social, Wall Street Journal, Screen, Blockonomi, @carnage4life.bsky.social, Deadline, 9to5Mac, Fast Company, TechCrunch, Reuters, About Netflix, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, The Wrap, Bloomberg, Media Play News and NextBigWhat, more at Techmeme »
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:
The Sun, LADbible, Mirror, @michaelsavage, @rogermosey, @Lazarou@mastodon.social, Ben Werdmuller, The Times, GB News, BBC and The i Paper
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