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:
Wall Street Journal, The Hill, Deadline, @karlbode.com, @karlbode.com, Cord Cutters News, Reuters, Forbes, The Wrap, NewsMax.com, @atrupar, The Fine Print*, Bloomberg, Slate and MS NOW
RELATED:
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:
Reuters, PoliticusUSA, @brianstelter, Breitbart, @brianstelter, @lucyriles, The Hollywood Reporter, @brianstelter.bsky.social, Star Magazine, The Hollywood Gossip, @ggreenwald, @atrupar, @stephen_richer, NewsMax.com, @mehdirhasan, LateNighter, @whitehouse, Us Weekly, @cathyyoung63, Reality Tea, Rolling Stone, Bloomberg Law, New Republic, Zeteo, CBS News and Crypto Briefing
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, NBC News, Fox News, New York Post, Crypto Briefing, Bloomberg, The Guardian, LateNighter, Newsweek, Variety, The Wrap, @nek@hear-me.social, Raw Story, DNYUZ, The Hollywood Reporter, Washington Examiner, @davidshepardson, @brianstelter, National Politics, @kylegriffin1, @jeremymbarr, @senmarkey, @outfrontcnn, The Atlantic, Variety, 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, 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, Ars Technica, Daily Kos, LatAm Journalism Review, @crof.bsky.social, @localnotail.bsky.social, Rawan Damen on LinkedIn, @dw_innovation@mastodon.social, Mitali Mukherjee on LinkedIn, The Kyiv Independent, France 24, DutchNews.nl, Journalism.co.uk, The Guardian, @volberg.bsky.social, @margaretmorgan.bsky.social, Balkan Insight, Mediaite, CBS News and Al Jazeera
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
X says it has begun a “phased rollout” of its rebuilt ad platform, which it says will have more modern “retrieval and ranking systems” powered by AI — Elon Musk's X is still trying to woo back advertisers — this time with a rebuilt, AI-powered ads platform that started to rollout on Thursday.
Discussion:
@xbusiness, Adweek, MediaPost, Crypto Briefing, @elonmusk, BMW BLOG, International Business Times and Digiday, more at Techmeme »
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
Barrett Media:
In the first college partnership for Prime Video, the streamer and Duke University announce a deal to stream three men's basketball nonconference games a season — “Duke basketball games transcend the schedule, and the creation of this all-new offering gives fans more of what we all want.”
Discussion:
Associated Press, Sportico, The Athletic, Awful Announcing and Chicago Sun Times
Murray Stassen / Music Business Worldwide:
India's Times Music, backed by Primary Wave, acquires Punjabi music label Catrack Entertainment, following acquisitions of Symphony Recording Co. and ARC Musicq — Acquisitions and investment in India continue to intensify across the global music business.
Discussion:
Music Ally, Digital Music News, MediaNews4U, BMI and Times of India
Mike Leonard / Bloomberg Law:
Gavin Newsom's $787M defamation lawsuit against Fox News, accusing it of falsely claiming he lied about a phone call with Trump in 2025, moves forward in court — California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) won an initial round Thursday in his $787 million defamation case over Fox News coverage …
Discussion:
JDJournal Blog
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
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 …
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Netflix starts rolling out its new Clips vertical video feed as a separate tab in the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, India, and four other countries — The new ‘Clips’ tab shows, you guessed it, Netflix clips. … Netflix is starting to roll out a big revamp of its mobile app …
Discussion:
Moneycontrol, Neowin, BGR, The Mac Observer, iClarified, Android Police, Netflix Press Site, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap, Tom's Guide, Digital Trends, CNET, iPhone in Canada, 9to5Mac, Fast Company, Cult of Mac, TechCrunch, CGMagazine, MobileSyrup, Cord Cutters News, Phandroid, Advanced Television, Thurrott, TV Tech, Deadline, Media Play News, LightShed Partners and Realscreen, more at Techmeme »
Jonathan Vanian / CNBC:
Reddit reports Q1 revenue up 69% YoY to $663M, vs. $611M est., DAUq up 17% to 126.8M, vs. 125.9M est., and forecasts Q2 revenue above estimates — Reddit reported better-than-expected profit and revenue in its first-quarter earnings report on Thursday, and also issued an optimistic forecast.
Discussion:
Reuters, The Information, Bloomberg, Yahoo Finance and Business Wire, more at Techmeme »
Managing Ed. - AUS and NZ, Sydney — 
Sports Editor, MD — 
Newsletter Editor, London — 
Reporter - Trust in Science — 
Pharma Reporter, NY — 
Associate Editor, WI — 
Editor-in-Chief, WA — 
Breaking News Reporter, DC — 
Business Reporter, IA — 
Editor-Writer - Wellness, NY/GA/DC — 
Managing Editor - Arizona — 
Head of Content, NY — 
Sr. Writer & Press Mgr., Remote — 
Lifestyle Editor - M/F, Paris — 
Social Media Editor, NY — 
Managing Editor, OK — 
Head of Editorial - Euro Finance — 
Indigenous Affairs Reporter, CA — 
Correspondent - AI & Emerging Tech, NY — 
Editor-in-Chief, FL — 
Features & Enterprise Editor, NY — 
Executive Editor, Remote — 
WH Enterprise Reporter, DC — 
Defined Contributions Reporter, NY — 
North Coast Contributing Editor, CA — 
Money Editor - CNBC Make It, NJ — 
Executive Director, MN — 
Executive Editor, AZ — 
Bureau Chief - US, DC — 
Investigative Reporter, TX — 
Associate Legal News Editor, OH — 
Arts + Culture Deputy Editor, DE — 
Live Blog Editor, CA — 
Night & Weekend Newswriter, Remote — 
