Top News:
Todd Spangler / Variety:
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr says there was no “pressure from the outside” on the agency leading to an early review of ABC's TV broadcast licenses — Brendan Carr, the Trump-appointed chairman of the FCC, claimed there was no White House pressure on him to make the unprecedented …
Discussion:
The Hill, The Wrap, Forbes, NewsMax.com, Deadline, Reuters, @karlbode.com, @atrupar, The Fine Print*, Bloomberg, Slate and MS NOW
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Brian Stelter / CNN:
Trump says ABC “better” fire Jimmy Kimmel soon, after Kimmel said “Donald and Melania lately have seemed closer than ever” on Wednesday; Disney hasn't commented — People in entertainment Donald Trump Federal agencies TV shows — President Donald Trump says ABC had …
Discussion:
LateNighter, Breitbart, Star Magazine, @cathyyoung63, @brianstelter, Rolling Stone, The Hollywood Reporter, @lucyriles, Reuters, Reality Tea, The Hollywood Gossip, @ggreenwald, @stephen_richer, @mehdirhasan, @whitehouse, New Republic, Zeteo, CBS News, Crypto Briefing, Euronews and Deadline
Dade Hayes / Deadline:
The NAB's CEO says the FCC's “nearly unprecedented request” for Disney to reapply for TV licenses is contrary to established principles and creates uncertainty
Discussion:
Ars Technica, The Guardian, LateNighter, The Wrap, Bloomberg, Variety, Washington Examiner, Newsweek, The Hollywood Reporter, Radio Ink, Raw Story, DNYUZ, National Politics, @davidshepardson, @brianstelter, @kylegriffin1, Variety, The Atlantic, @jeremymbarr, @senmarkey, @outfrontcnn, MS NOW, Variety, The Independent, Media Matters for America, @aclu.org, USA Today, TheDesk.net, TV Tech, Reuters, Rolling Stone, Radio World, @johnlcorbett@threads.com, New York Post, Free Press Action Fund Feed, CNN, Media Matters for America and r/politics
Reporters Without Borders:
RSF Press Freedom Index hits a 25-year low: over 50% of the world's countries fall into the “difficult” or “very serious” categories; Norway holds the top spot — For the first time in the history of the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) World Press Freedom Index …
Discussion:
Reporters Without Borders, Media Nation, The Guardian, Journalism.co.uk, LatAm Journalism Review, Rawan Damen on LinkedIn, Mediaite, @margaretmorgan.bsky.social, @crof.bsky.social, Al Jazeera, @localnotail.bsky.social, @volberg.bsky.social, @dw_innovation@mastodon.social, The Kyiv Independent, Balkan Insight, France 24, DutchNews.nl and CBS News
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Roku reports Q1 revenue up 22% YoY to $1.25B, ad revenue up 27% to $613M, subscription revenue up 30%, raises 2026 profit guidance; ROKU jumps 8%+ after hours — Roku beat Wall Street earnings forecasts for the first quarter of 2026 and raised its full-year profit guidance as the company continues …
Discussion:
The Wrap, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, Cord Cutters News and Search Engine Roundtable
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Amazon executives, including MGM Studios head Mike Hopkins, have discussed rebooting The Apprentice for Prime Video, with Donald Trump Jr. as the host — Studio executives have held internal discussions about making new episodes of reality TV show — First it bought the “Melania” documentary.
Discussion:
The Wrap, The Hill, The Hollywood Reporter, Forbes, The Boston Globe, The Ankler, Marin Independent Journal, New York Magazine, Deadline, New York Post, Rolling Stone, New York Daily News, HuffPost, Convulsions, Decider, Reality Tea, Daily Star, TVLine, @harrymccracken@mastodon …, Straight Arrow News, Raw Story, The Daily Wire, Us Weekly, Just Jared, FemaleFirst, BizPac Review, The Independent, Charleston Daily Mail, Variety, Mediaite, Washington Examiner and @joshsternberg.com
Riddhi Setty / Columbia Journalism Review:
A look at fights by journalists at McClatchy, ProPublica, EdSource, and the NYT to shape their newsrooms' policies around the use of AI — Journalists across the United States are fighting for contracts that address AI use: “We don't want it to be done in our name, literally.”
Discussion:
Riddhi Setty on LinkedIn and @columjournreview.bsky.social
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
Digital Content Next files an amicus brief in support of Amazon's Perplexity lawsuit, saying AI agents' unregulated access to content threatens news outlets — Case centres on use of AI agents that access content while cloaked as human users. — Major digital news publishers in the US …
Discussion:
News/Media Alliance
Emily Shugerman / The San Francisco Standard:
Semafor announces a two-day conference, Silicon Valley & the World, in November in the Bay Area, with an advisory board including Jensen Huang and Satya Nadella — Davos by the Bay? — That's what the leaders of Semafor, the digital media and events company, seem to have in mind …
Alyssa Ray / The Wrap:
A Texas court stays the turnover of Infowars to the official who agreed to license it to The Onion; Sandy Hook families will seek emergency relief from courts — “[This] just warms my heart and still gives me faith in America and our legal system,” the Infowars founder adds
Ethan Millman / The Hollywood Reporter:
UMG artists will receive a share of the proceeds from UMG's Spotify stock sale, regardless of debts; WMG paid out $126M to artists from its 2018 stock sale — Years ago, as part of her negotiation process to sign with UMG, Swift demanded that the company pay out artists …
Krystal Scanlon / Digiday:
Meta introduces Meta Ads AI connectors in open beta, letting advertisers use their preferred third-party AI tools to create, manage, and analyze campaigns — In a break from its walled garden approach, Meta is opening its ad ecosystem to third-party AI tools.
Discussion:
PYMNTS.com, CNBC, AdExchanger, Marketing Interactive, PerformanceMarketingWorld and BMI, more at Techmeme »
Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:
Analysis: in 2025, total UK ad spend grew 6.4% YoY to £46.7B; of that, £31B went to Google, Meta, and Amazon, and £1.6B went to magazines and news, down 5.1% — Three US tech giants accounted for two thirds of every pound spent on advertising in the UK last year.
Discussion:
Fortune
Jonathan Vanian / CNBC:
Meta reports Q1 family DAP up 4% YoY but down 20M QoQ to 3.56B, vs. 3.62B est., due to internet disruptions in Iran and a WhatsApp access restriction in Russia — Meta shares fell about 7% in extended trading on Wednesday after the company reported lower-than-expected capital expenditures, or capex, and missed on user growth.
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