Mediagazer

4:40 PM ET, January 15, 2026

Top News:

Many journalists say the FBI raid on a WaPo reporter's home is a jarring new step to limit media's ability to gather information the government wants to hide — Many saw the FBI search of a Washington Post reporter's home as a jarring new step aimed at limiting their ability to gather information.

Ted Johnson / Deadline:

The Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press files a US court application to access the sealed warrant justifying the raid on Hannah Natanson's home — The Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press filed an application with the U.S. District Court in Alexandria.

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Post, @rufus-hickok.bsky.social, @davidfolkenflik, New York Magazine, @benmullin, @peninternational.bsky.social, @deanbaker13.bsky.social, The Hill, CNN, MS NOW, The Wrap, Newser, ABC17NEWS and Axios

Emma Roth / The Verge:

The Wikimedia Foundation says Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, Perplexity, and Mistral joined Wikimedia Enterprise to get “tuned” API access; Google is already a member — The companies have joined Google as the latest members of the Wikimedia Enterprise program.

Discussion: Ars Technica, Wikimedia Enterprise, Futurism, From Afar, The Decoder, Engadget, Sherwood News, TechCrunch, @carnage4life@mas.to, Reuters and Constellation Research, more at Techmeme »

Emma Roth / The Verge:
Wikimedia celebrates Wikipedia's 25th anniversary, marking its growth from 100 pages to 65M+ articles with nearly 15B monthly views, and releases a docuseries

Lauren Thomas / Wall Street Journal:

A judge denies Paramount's request to force WBD to disclose more info about its Netflix deal; Paramount says it plans to extend its tender offer beyond Jan. 21 — Paramount lawsuit tried to force a rapid release of information, but the court ruled there was no urgency to the request

Discussion: Bloomberg, Los Angeles Times, Washington Examiner, Forbes, Deadline, Semafor, Bloomberg, Media Play News, The Motley Fool, Newsmax and Bounding Into Comics

Francisco Rodrigues / CoinDesk:

Bitmine, the largest corporate holder of ether, invests $200M in MrBeast's Beast Industries, which reaches 450M+ subscribers across its YouTube channels — The investment gives Bitmine a stake in a brand with strong Gen Z and millennial appeal, reaching over 450 million subscribers across its YouTube channels.

Washington Post:12 minutes ago

The Pentagon says Stars and Stripes will move “away from woke distractions” and cease publishing AP “reprints”; its EIC says he'll work to save its independence — Plans for more Defense Department control surface after job applicants were asked about their commitment to President Donald Trump's policies.

Discussion: Associated Press, Stars & Stripes, Washington Times, @rjohnston4, @wyattderpy, @53856ted, @friendspancakes, The Daily Wire, @seanparnellasw, Politico and Raw Story

Ben Sherry / Inc:

Symbolic.ai, founded by ex-eBay CEO Devin Wenig and Ars Technica cofounder Jon Stokes, partners with News Corp to offer AI tools to WSJ, Barron's, and others — Exclusive: An AI-based journalism platform aims to do it all. Can it deliver the accuracy and productivity it promises?

Discussion: Talking Biz News, Business Insider and Symbolic.ai

The New York Times Company:

Former WaPo opinion editor David Shipley joins the NYT as editor at large; he left WaPo in February 2025, when Jeff Bezos made opinion section changes — David, a brilliant journalist, will focus on producing and editing high-impact, ambitious editorial packages. — Colleagues,

Discussion: The Wrap and New Republic

Maria Sherman / Associated Press:25 minutes ago

Luminate's 2025 report: the global music industry hit 5.1T streams, up 9.6% YoY; on-demand US streams hit 1.4T, up 4.6% YoY; Christian/gospel music grew 18.5% — The global music industry hit 5.1 trillion streams in 2025. It's a new single-year record, up 9.6% from 2024, which held the previous record.

Discussion: NME, Music Ally, Inside Radio, Consequence, Variety and Billboard

Molly Schuetz / Bloomberg:

Spotify plans to raise its Premium subscription by $1 to $12.99/month in the US, its first US price hike since July 2024, and increase it in Estonia and Latvia — Spotify Technology SA is raising the price of its premium subscription service by 8% in an effort to achieve sustained profitability.

Rohith Nair / Reuters:

FIFA makes Stats Perform its first official data and betting streaming rights distributor to licensed sportsbooks for the 2026 World Cup and other events — FIFA has selected sports AI firm Stats Perform as their first official betting data and betting streaming rights distributor …

Discussion: Inside FIFA, Sports Video Group and talkSPORT

Sofia Saric / Miami Herald:

McClatchy sues Google, claiming Google illegally monopolizes the online ad market and deprives McClatchy of ad revenue, echoing Penske Media's earlier lawsuit — McClatchy Media Company filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against Google, alleging the tech company is undercutting its business …

Discussion: Docket updates …, Digital Music News and Search Engine Roundtable

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Thomas Buckley / Bloomberg:
Netflix obtains global rights to Sony films after the films' theater runs, expanding the deal that gave Netflix rights for the US, Germany, and parts of Asia

Discussion: The Wrap, IndieWire, Variety, Reuters, Engadget, Cord Cutters News, Cherwell, What's on Netflix, The Hollywood Reporter and About Netflix

Suzanne Smalley / The Record:
Google agrees to pay $8.25M to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging its AdMob SDK illegally collected data from children under age 13

Discussion: @kennysmith.bsky.social and MediaPost

The Atlantic:
Texas Tribune co-founder Evan Smith joins The Atlantic as a managing director overseeing events; he will remain senior adviser at Emerson Collective

Axios:
Ukrainian media company Holywater raised a $22M Series A led by Horizon Capital to grow its microdrama app My Drama and other products

Discussion: The Hollywood Reporter, Pulse 2.0, Canadian Press, AIN, Financial Post and Kerry Flynn on LinkedIn

Corbin Bolies / The Wrap:
Politico Global EIC John Harris tells staff he will move into a new role as chairman and begin a search for a new EIC, who will be named “at some point in 2026”

Discussion: @maxwelltani, @dylanbyers and @mlcalderone

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
BBC Radio 4 Today presenter Amol Rajan leaves after almost five years to start his own business in the creator economy

Discussion: The Standard, The Guardian, The Sun, Daily Star, Radio Times, Mirror and Deadline

Sara Fischer / Axios:
The Atlantic quietly launches Premium Plus, a $199 annual tier that lets subscribers share access with four others, its first new paywall tier since 2019

Discussion: VICE, Digiday and The Atlantic

Emma Roth / The Verge:
Netflix unveils its first two original video podcasts: The White House by Michael Irvin, launching January 19, and The Pete Davidson Show, launching January 30

Earlier Picks:

Olivia Solon / Bloomberg:
Yield Sec: the top 10 pirate sports streaming sites in the UK, largely funded by ads from unlicensed gambling operators, had 1.6B views in H1 2025, up 33% YoY

Discussion: The Guardian, more at Techmeme »

Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:
Q&A with Amazon's Prime Video Europe VP Andrew Bennett on a flurry of global partnership deals, including with free-to-air broadcasters, and other growth plans

Discussion: Andrew Bennett on LinkedIn and Elisabetta Carruba on LinkedIn

Pranob Mehrotra / Digital Trends:
For some live events, NBC Sports plans to use tech from Japan's Nippon Television Network that uses AI to track individual players and reframe them vertically

Discussion: Peacock Blog, TVNewsCheck and The Verge

Andrew Egger / The Bulwark:
Media Matters says it is ceasing posting on X due to changes in X's TOS, effective January 15, that force legal disputes to be litigated in a Texas court

Discussion: @goangelo, Gizmodo, @muellershewrote.com, @cheycab.bsky.social, @jimray@mastodon.social, @goangelo, @goangelo, The Wrap, @daphnek.bsky.social, @corruptario.bsky.social, @goangelo.bsky.social, @dearsarah.bsky.social, @luciecatnip.bsky.social, @gregpak.net, @eclecticbrotha1.bsky.social, @mmfa.bsky.social, @jamisonfoser.bsky.social and @adamkeiper.com

Tess Patton / The Wrap:
NowThis acquires Salary Transparent Street, a social-first short-form interview series that reveals salaries, and plans to add a finance video podcast and more

Discussion: Megan Calhoun on LinkedIn

Molly Schuetz / Bloomberg:
Paramount Skydance appoints board member Dennis Cinelli as chief financial officer; Cinelli replaces interim CFO Andrew Warren and will leave Paramount's board

Discussion: Media Play News, Wall Street Journal, Variety, Reuters, Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter

Ted Johnson / Deadline:
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr defends using a public interest standard for broadcasters at a House hearing; commissioner Anna Gomez calls the standard “undefined”

Discussion: TV Tech, Inside Radio, Radio Ink, NewsMax.com, Free Press Action Fund Feed, Punchbowl News, Politico, Washington Examiner, Mediaite, The Hill and Breitbart

Stevie Bonifield / The Verge:
YouTube now lets parents set time limits on their kids' YouTube Shorts feed, ranging from 15 minutes to two hours; an option for zero minutes is coming soon

Discussion: YouTube Official Blog, The Ankler, WebProNews, SammyGuru, MediaNama, Digital Trends, WeRSM, Moneycontrol, Business Standard, @kennysmith.bsky.social, MediaPost, Mashable, CNN, Thurrott, PCMag, Android Authority, Livemint, TechCrunch and Engadget

From Techmeme:

Maxwell Zeff / Wired:
A source close to Thinking Machines Lab alleges ex-CTO Barret Zoph, who is returning to OpenAI, had shared confidential company information with competitors

Tim Culpan / Culpium:
Sources: Apple now needs to fight for TSMC production capacity amid the AI boom; Nvidia was likely TSMC's top customer in at least one or two quarters in 2025

Kif Leswing / CNBC:
The US says Taiwanese companies will invest $250B+ in chip production in the US as part of a trade deal, with Taiwanese government guaranteeing $250B in credit

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