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Media
Coverage of the publishers, platforms, and people shaping the media business in the AI era.
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One Publisher Blamed AI for 220 Layoffs. Another Bet Its Future on Cooking Videos.
Reach cut 220 newsroom jobs and blamed Google’s AI summaries and an “expansionist BBC” — while the New York Times told investors it now…
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Wired Bet Against the Chatbot, Axios Cut to the Bone — and Media’s Safe Middle on AI Became the Riskiest Place to Stand
Wired shipped a global app with no AI chatbot and Axios turned its software arm profitable only after cutting it from 120 people to…
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Google Put a Dollar Figure on AI Answers — and Proved Blocking Every Bot Was the Wrong Fight
Google has quietly started paying publishers when their work shapes an AI answer — an unauditable check that concedes the value is real while…
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When the Ad Business Consolidated, the Pitch Was the First Thing to Go
PepsiCo and Coca-Cola were sorted between two holding companies in a single week with barely a pitch between them — while a Semafor investigation…
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TIME Decided the Bots Are an Audience — While Everyone Else Still Treats Them as a Threat
TIME, a month into selling ads to the AI agents most publishers are trying to block, argues an impression served to a bot may…
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The Publishers Making Real Money Have Stopped Selling the Article
Immediate built 1.2 million paid subscribers by refusing to paywall its journalism and selling utility instead — while USA Today’s union demands answers about…
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Playboy’s Comeback Proves the Magazine Was Never the Business
Playboy’s president says the quiet part out loud — “the content is not the product” — as cable networks sell meditation apps and a…
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ESPN’s Ballmer Misfire Proves a Network Can’t Cover a League It Pays Billions to Broadcast
ESPN cast doubt on the Pulitzer-winning reporting that produced the NBA’s harshest-ever penalty, reviving the question of whether a network that airs 80 of…
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The Information Is Booking Record Growth While Washington Fights to Keep Publishers From Getting Paid
The Information is hiring into the downturn its rivals are cutting through, proving authority still compounds — while six members of Congress try to…
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Foxtel Disappears, Nine Slips Away, and Fox Cuts Its Anchor — Owning the Audience Is the Only Defense Left
Fox News cuts Maria Bartiromo loose after twelve years while a storied Australian pay-TV brand vanishes overnight into its new owner — proof that…
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