BREAKING — Notices for the Disney+ price increase went out at noon ET today, confirming my scoop from last night. Details: www.vulture.com/article/disn...

How a Paramount–Warner Bros. Discovery Merger Could Give Trump Even More Power

Nexstar and Sinclair own nearly 300 local TV stations across the U.S. (partly because FCC's ownership regulations have been steadily eliminated over the last two decades) www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/b...

"If the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger is approved and Larry Ellison joins Andreessen Horowitz as part of the impending TikTok deal, then a movie studio, CBS, CNN, Fox, 185 Sinclair-owned TV stations and a major social media platform will have owners with strong ties to Trump."

A Paramount–Warner Bros. Discovery merger could give Trump even more influence over US media – shaping the news and culture Americans watch and stream. (@ppopiel.bsky.social @mediamorphis.bsky.social @theine.bsky.social @sydneyforde.bsky.social) theconversation.com/a-paramount-...

This just in from Sinclair: "Beginning Tuesday night Sinclair will be preempting 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' across our ABC affiliate stations and replacing it with news programming. Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show's potential return."

The suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s show is a hint of what could happen if the proposed media merger of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery is approved by the Trump administration. buff.ly/VUy5KOi

Fantastic to see Brendan Carr's idiotic norm violation completely rebuffed (by protesters, boycotters, the public - don't think I'm forgetting anyone)

Great to see this out in the wild, co-authored w/ @ppopiel.bsky.social @sydneyforde.bsky.social @theine.bsky.social, with excellent editorial support from @theconversation.com @democracyeditor.bsky.social who expertly & expeditiously shepherded it start to finish. theconversation.com/a-paramount-...

New piece out with my GMICP.org team: a warning about the potential Paramount-WBD deal accelerating Trump control over U.S. media. Like Hungary, but faster. theconversation.com/a-paramount-...

"It's not about currying favor," Gruenbaum said when asked whether tech executives are giving the government discounts to get President Donald Trump's approval. "It's about ... how do we all lock in arms and make this country the best country it could possibly be." www.reuters.com/world/us/met...

Murdoch joining in on the fun. www.cnn.com/2025/09/21/b...

“Despite previous public statements that Meta no longer uses NDAs in cases of sexual harassment – which Sarah has repeatedly alleged – she is being pushed to financial ruin as Meta seeks to silence and punish her for speaking out" www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

How can you be cynical about politics? "Going down this road, there will come a time when a Democrat wins again, wins the White House. They will silence us, they will use this power, and they will use it ruthlessly." www.cbsnews.com/news/ted-cru...

"More professors in the United States have been fired for controversial views in the past week than any other week in all of American history." www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...

"A spokesperson for Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday." www.nbcnews.com/business/bus...

Most Americans lack confidence that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is providing the public with trustworthy information on matters concerning public health. (@appc.upenn.edu) www.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org/public-confi...

A union that represents university professors published a guide tailored to help its members navigate social media during the “current climate.” The advice? Lock down your social media accounts, expect anything you post will be screenshotted. 🔗 www.404media.co/union-warns-...

The union representing the musicians from Jimmy Kimmel’s band releases a statement calling the FCC’s pressure on Disney “state censorship.”

Brendan Carr doing the twist he was born to do

But let's throw $364 billion at it.

This is a really useful tracker (that I'm just becoming aware of) - looks like most legal progress on birthright citizenship, public data, elections, and DEI, and least on tariffs, environment, and DOGE apnews.com/projects/tru...

UC-Berkeley gives Trump administration 160 names “related” to anti-semitism, mostly for voicing support for Palestinians. Judith Butler is among them, she calls this “McCarthyism” UC Berkeley gives Trump administration 160 names in antisemitism probe www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/arti...

Crime -> Evidence -> Assessment -> Verdict. 👍

And there it is, this would take the studios from 5 to 4, almost certainly kill one of the streamers (Paramount+ or HBO Max). And you have a White House that is forcing a conservative minder on Paramount/CBS already, this would add CNN to their stable. www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

The professor has been fired and senior administrators removed from their post. No mention of this in the New York Times, The Free Press, The Atlantic or other outlets who drove the campus speech moral panic.

Damning investigation by AP on Big Tech. We can talk about state platform capitalism, but in reality sovereignty less important than capability in domestic surveillance. apnews.com/article/chin...

Happy to report the AI adoption rate for large firms is going in the right direction — that is, down down down 📉 (according to US Census data)

It's possible that AI discourse (generally speaking) has lost its grip on reality. www.theverge.com/politics/773...

Meanwhile in Europe

He really is just the best. www.wsj.com/politics/tru...

The special section from our 50th anniversary issue, The Responsibility of Intellectuals in the Age of Fascism and Genocide, is now online. Robin D. G. Kelley revisits Noam Chomsky’s classic argument, with @dwaldstreicher.bsky.social, Jennifer Zacharia, and @martinoneill.bsky.social.

Enter the struggle. www.bostonreview.net/forum/the-re...

"FTC chair Andrew Ferguson last week accused Google of designing its Gmail spam filters to have a partisan effect ... claiming Gmail had “been caught this summer flagging Republican fundraising emails as ‘dangerous’ spam.” Isn't that how e-trash is supposed to work? www.pymnts.com/cpi-posts/ft...

"The judge found that Anthropic made “fair use” of the authors’ books in training Claude but that Anthropic’s copying and storage of the 7 million pirated books in a “central library” violated the authors’ copyrights" "Fair use" is gonna underwrite AI chatbots www.pymnts.com/legal/2025/a...

The adrenaline rush of evading trouble www.reuters.com/sustainabili...

“The government is not likely to succeed on appeal because any ruling in its favor from this court would have to defy binding, on-point, and repeatedly preserved supreme court precedent” www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

🖕

BREAKING: Judge dismisses lawsuit filed by fired UPenn law professor Amy Wax. Judge Timothy Savage (GHWBush) says Wax hasn't shown racial discrimination and her speech-related claims are not protected under federal law. Doc: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Over at The Verge I wrote about how the Trump administration destroyed U.S. wireless competition, using a disastrous (and now doomed) plan that involved Dish Network as cover:

“There is a vast force out there that’s looking to slow down AI deployment, prevent the American worker from benefiting from the U.S. leading in global innovation and job creation and erect a patchwork of regulation ... This is is going to be the counterforce.”" www.wsj.com/politics/sil...

@adobe.com @adobelive.bsky.social for the love of everything that is good in this world, please please stop it with the AI feature prompts every single time I open Acrobat. Please.