max tani

Exclusive: How Trump is trying to remake American culture — starting with his favorite buddy-cop franchise The president is offering some creative input on potential upcoming projects.

New in tonight's @semafor.com media newsletter: Trump is using his new connections at Paramount for an important cause: Lobbying Larry Ellison to revive the Rush Hour franchise www.semafor.com/article/11/2...

Per a note to staff, Business Insider is joining Microsoft’s publisher content marketplace program. BI CEO Barbara Peng says the program will “compensate publishers when our trusted journalism is used in its Al-generated results.”

Some internal tension on the White House Correspondents Association email listserv today. Some journalists are complaining that background info circulated to the group by a reporter working for Saudi state-owned Al Arabiya did not mention the murder of Jamal Khashoggi...

Exclusive: The old MSNBC relaunches into a new media world The network, now called MS NOW, is in the midst of its biggest gamble since it launched in 1996.

www.semafor.com/article/11/1...

My piece for @semafor.com on the launch of MS Now. The strategy, so far:
- New pods
- YouTube explainers, “simulcasting" on YT
- Live MS Now events across the country
- Paid subscription products
- An expanded role for Pablo Torre
- Collaboration, potential deal w/Crooked Media

Exclusive: Vox to partner with Patreon for new paywalled shows Vox said it hopes to supplement its shows with live newsroom conversations and community features such as chats.

From last night's @semafor.com media newsletter: @vox.com is joining Patreon www.semafor.com/article/11/1...

Yahoo Finance is launching a prediction markets hub with Polymarket to “help investors better follow prediction markets and the forces shaping them.”

NY AG Tish James is expected to speak at union protest later today outside Conde Nast HQ. Union members are protesting the firing of four staffers last week.

Axios CEO Jim Vandehei emailed staff today saying the company has "beaten our ambitious revenue goal for the year"

New York Post editor-in-chief Keith Poole emailed “New York Pravda” staff thanking them for their coverage of “Supreme Leader Chairman Zohran,” joking that they would be rationed an extra potato for their election night coverage.

(He also noted the Red Apple cover sold out).

Union statement and Conde statement

Jake Lahut, a Wired reporter who from the Nancy Mace airport story last week, was among those fired.

During the incident, CN's HR chief asked staff not to congregate outside his office. Lahut asked "what's your definition of congregating?" and was let go later on Wednesday.

Condé Nast abruptly fires 4 staffers after HR confrontation The firings were an unsubtle message to its employee union that the publisher was taking a harder line in its dealings with employees.

www.semafor.com/article/11/0...

In response, Conde has filed a charge with the NLRB against the NewsGuild of New York over the union's "repeated and egregious disregard of our collective bargaining agreement."

New: Conde Nast fired four employees who were among a group that confronted the company's head of human resources on Wednesday over the decision to fold Teen Vogue into Vogue/recent cuts. Employees who were fired included journalists from the New Yorker, Wired, and Bon Appétit.

During a meeting today with media reporters to discuss MSNBC's rebrand, Joe Scarborough said he's trying to arrange a "peacemaking lunch" between himself, Zohran, Al Sharpton, and Jonathan Greenblatt from the ADL...

Döpfner also said media companies should be like music labels for journalists, treating journalists like artists to be supported and grown individually.

He also alluded to Substack, saying he considers creator platforms to be competitors to Axel’s media brands.

During a town hall with staff today, Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner was pressed about the company’s use of AI.

“Does it replace jobs here and there? No doubt about it,” he said.

He noted that he hopes embracing AI will grow the company and allow journalists to focus on reporting.

Inbox: Biden foreign policy/nat sec advisors Jon Finer and Jake Sullivan are launching a podcast with Vox Media…

NYMag blew up its story about ICE's increased presence at 26 Federal Plaza, and pasted it on a wall a few blocks away on Broadway

How a London newspaper botched a New York political story Welcome to New York.

New: Turns out the Times of London reporter who wrote the since-retracted Bill de Blasio story accidentally emailed the wrong Bill de Blasio, I'm told

www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

Layoffs are hitting CBS News today. On CBS' morning editorial call, Bari Weiss said it was a "enormously difficult day" for the network.

From last night’s @semafor.com media newsletter: With the support of owner Jeff Bezos, WaPo publisher Will Lewis tried to hire The Free Press's Olivia Reinvold for the Post's new opinion section…

Where we’re at: Prominent Media analyst Rich Greenfield argues that to get regulatory approval from the Trump admin in a WBD acquisition, Comcast should bring in TPUSA’s Erika Kirk to serve as the editor-in-chief of a combined CNN/NBC News

CBS Evening News co-host John Dickerson says he's leaving the network at the end of the year

pretty much what wapo/lat discovered last year. giving a win to trump is meaningfully damaging to business when enough of the current paying audience leans left.

one of those east coast media bias stories. if new jersey shut down 95 after the military wanted to fire artillery over the highway despite safety concerns from the governor and then some of it accidentally blew up, i think it'd be a bigger story.

The cover art for this week's episode of Mixed Signals from Semafor Media, Presented by Think with Google, shows Gov. JB Pritzker standing on a map of Illinois.

🟡 This week on Mixed Signals, @semaforben.bsky.social and @maxtani.bsky.social bring on @govpritzker.illinois.gov to talk about Chicago, ICE, and how he’s navigating a messaging battle against the Trump White House in the new media landscape.

Listen here: link.chtbl.com/JFyoOZmb

Notably, NBC News' diversity teams/verticals are definitely among those facing steep cuts today, I'm told...

Joint statement from the networks declining to agree with the Pentagon's new press policy. Fox News, Pete Hegseth's former employer, is a signatory.