Top News:
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Paramount says CEO David Ellison will not be able to attend Senator Cory Booker's “spotlight hearing” about Paramount's WBD deal due to a death in the family — Sen. Cory Booker, Democrat of New Jersey, is holding a “spotlight hearing” Wednesday in Washington …
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Ted Johnson / Deadline:
US Senator Cory Booker is holding a hearing Wednesday on the Paramount-WBD merger; so far, Paramount's David Ellison has not accepted an invitation to appear — Booker also has invited Paramount CEO David Ellison to testify, following up on previous letters asking him to appear.
Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
How UK tabloids, which once held a powerful grip on the national discourse, are struggling in an era of social media feeds, AI, and influencer-driven content — Social media feeds, AI summaries and influencer-driven content are luring readers away — For decades, Britain's red-top tabloids …
Discussion:
@jeffjarvis, @cszabla, @davidburton1971 and @oliverbweber
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Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
The Sun reports revenue fell 8% to £273.1M in the year to June 29, 2025, citing Google changes; one-off charges rose to £36.7M on Prince Harry legal action — Prince Harry legal action prompted major hit to profits. — Revenue at the publisher of The Sun fell 8% last year blamed …
Discussion:
@davidgerard.co.uk and Telegraph
Max Tani / Semafor:
Mediaite suspends Colby Hall, the writer of One Sheet, which aggregates newsletters about media and adds commentary, pending a probe into recent errors — The News — A series of mishaps at the media newsletter One Sheet, including misattributed information and made-up quotes …
Discussion:
@tim_bays, @benmullin, Status, @alexweprin, @lopatto.bsky.social, @donohoe.dev, @benmullin, @semafor.com and @justinbaragona.bsky.social
Patrick Wintour / The Guardian:
Kuwait arrested journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin on March 3; many Gulf states are using anti-terror laws to restrict coverage of infrastructure attacks — Ahmed Shihab-Eldin was arrested after reporting on friendly fire incident during US conflict with Iran — The detention of a prize-winning …
Discussion:
Committee to Protect …, Zeteo, The Independent, Columbia Journalism Review, @mikesacks.bsky.social, CNN, @rami.spaceaustralia.com, Victoria Baux on LinkedIn, Jodie Ginsberg on LinkedIn, @rimaanabtawi.bsky.social, TheDesk.net, @maitelsadany.bsky.social, @penamerica.bsky.social, Truthout, @sbalaghi.bsky.social, @jillian.bsky.social, @acarv.in, @ianfraser.bsky.social and Drop Site News
Laurie Sullivan / MediaPost:
Google plans to replace Dynamic Search Ads with AI Max for Search, an AI tool that uses advertiser context, landing pages, and keywords, for all advertisers — Google will replace Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) with AI Max for Search, an AI-powered solution, for all advertisers.
Discussion:
Adweek, Digiday, Search Engine Journal, The Keyword and Search Engine Land
Dell Cameron / Wired:
Internal emails show Brendan Carr's links to the Center for American Rights, which supplied arguments for the FCC's challenge to Jimmy Kimmel — Internal emails obtained by WIRED reveal how a conservative legal group with a direct line into FCC chairman Brendan Carr's office built the case against Jimmy Kimmel and his employees.
Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
The BBC plans to cut around 2,000 jobs, or ~10% of its 21,508-person workforce, as part of radical downsizing ahead of the arrival of new DG Matt Brittin — New director-general Matt Brittin to replace Tim Davie next month — As many as 2,000 jobs are set to be cut by the BBC across …
Discussion:
The Guardian, Telegraph, Deadline and @danielthomasldn
Rachel Scharf / Billboard:
A US judge issues a $322.2M judgment against pirate library Anna's Archive for scraping Spotify, a largely symbolic victory as the site is anonymously operated — At least for now, the court judgment is largely a symbolic victory, as no one has identified the anonymous internet users behind Anna's Archive.
Discussion:
Music Business Worldwide and TorrentFreak
Erik Hayden / The Hollywood Reporter:
ProdPro: movie and TV on-location production filming slowed across the US in Q1, except for New Jersey, based on count of projects and production spending — So far, California, New York and Georgia declined in filming counts while the Garden State saw gains.
Discussion:
ProdPro
Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch:
Spotify launches a feature to buy physical books in the US and UK, powered by Bookshop.org, and expands its Page Match tool to support 30 additional languages — In February, Spotify made an exciting (and a bit unusual) move when it entered the world of physical book sales.
Discussion:
Android Authority, Spotify, PCMag, Thurrott, @philthepill.online, The Verge and Telecompaper
