Mediagazer

5:45 PM ET, November 18, 2025

Top News:

In a meeting with Mohammed bin Salman, Trump says “a lot of people didn't like” Jamal Khashoggi, adding, “things happen, but [MBS] knew nothing about it” — The de facto Saudi ruler was branded an outcast after the 2018 killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

Discussion: HuffPost, The Daily Beast, KGTV-TV, The Hill, The Guardian, Le Monde, Telegraph, UPI, Breitbart, @viacristiano.bsky.social, New Republic, New York Daily News, One America News Network, JURISTnews, @joshrogin, @acyn, @davelevitan.bsky.social, Responsible Statecraft, Chicago Tribune, Washington Times, Sky News, Associated Press, @dandrezner.bsky.social, RTÉ, NBC News, NPR, @scottnover, @therecount, NewsMax.com, @atrupar, @kaitlancollins, @senmarkey, @senseidai.bsky.social, @washingtonpost.com, @suerussellwrites.bsky.social, Straight Arrow News, @drjudystone.bsky.social, @briankrebs@infosec.exchange, @robertscotthorton.bsky.social, @heathenqueen.blacksky.app, MS NOW, @karenattiah.bsky.social, Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg, New York Times, @kairyssdal.bsky.social, @torrleonard.bsky.social, @lunaluvgood2020.bsky.social, @tiffmc1013.bsky.social, @ericschmeltzer.com, @willoremus.com, CBS News, Semafor, Alternet.org, Reuters, Fox News and The Japan Times

Ted Johnson / Deadline:

During an Air Force One gaggle, President Trump said “Quiet, quiet, piggy” to a female Bloomberg reporter when she asked him about the Jeffrey Epstein emails — That came on Friday, when one female reporter attempted to ask the president about the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Ted Johnson / Deadline:

Trump calls for ABC to lose its broadcast license and says Brendan Carr “should look at that” after an ABC reporter asked questions about Khashoggi and Epstein — Donald Trump called for ABC to lose its broadcast license after he grew irate at correspondent Mary Bruce …

Max Tani / @maxwelltani:
WHCA reporters raise concerns about Saudi's Al Arabiya being the sole foreign outlet at Trump's MBS meeting and no mention of Khashoggi in background info

Jake Kanter / Deadline:

Sources and an internal memo: the BBC puts 80+ employees at risk of redundancy across the product teams that build its online services, including iPlayer — The British broadcaster is planning to make delivery managers redundant in its “production group” as it embraces a model that managers said mirrors processes in Silicon Valley.

Discussion: TVNewsCheck, Cord Cutters News and @katiefenn.bsky.social

Jem Bartholomew / Columbia Journalism Review:

How right-wing forces struck a coordinated blow to the BBC using a single incautious Panorama edit, after years of attacks by UK conservatives on the BBC — How right-wing forces struck a coordinated blow to the BBC. — On Friday, reporters aboard Air Force One asked President Donald Trump about his intention to sue the BBC.

Discussion: International Business Times, @flyingrodent.bsky.social, @emilybell.bsky.social and @jayrosen.bsky.social

Ryan Lizza / Telos News:

Ryan Lizza discusses his relationship with Olivia Nuzzi, reveals her affair with politician Mark Sanford, and details her earlier ties to Keith Olbermann — Olivia had just returned from a reporting trip—at least that's what she told me it was—and her Herschel backpack …

Discussion: The Handbasket, Mediaite, Fox News, Vanity Fair, New Statesman, Hell Gate, @mattherdman, @rbmd1982, TV Insider, Daily Mail, @magi_jay, @seamas.bsky.social, @olbermann.bsky.social, The Spectator World, @brandyljensen, @cameroncorduroy, RADAR, @magills_, @roxanegay.bsky.social, @adamjohnsonchi, @j_fassler, @lukeisamazing, New York Post, @stephengutowski, @alexyablon, @jimgeraghty, @birdyword, @ryanlizza, @ryanlcooper.com, The Daily Beast, @bettathanchedda, @keitholbermann, @mattherdman, @roxanegay.bsky.social, @cerzej, National Enquirer, @willsommer, @thestefansmith, HuffPost, @eoinhiggins_, @maxwelltani, @ninastarner, Blocked and Reported, @jessesingal, @nick_field90, Drezner's World, @magills_, @joshtpm.bsky.social, @jbillinson, @monkey_reg, @petermeijer, @bruce_arthur, @admcrlsn, @olbermann.bsky.social, @narrenhut, @vanityfair, @laurakbarr, The Independent, @chriscillizza, People, @volts.wtf, Lawyers, Guns & Money, New York Post, @mtsw.bsky.social, @dankennedy.net, @timothypmurphy.bsky.social, @mugrimm.bsky.social, @donmoyn.bsky.social, @edsbs.bsky.social, Mediaite, Oh No They Didn't! and r/Journalism

Variety:

Sources: Paramount Skydance formed a consortium with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth funds to bid $71B for WBD; Paramount denies the claim — UPDATED: Paramount Skydance has denied a Variety report that the company was forming an investment consortium with the sovereign wealth funds …

Discussion: New York Post, TVNewsCheck, Reuters, Yahoo Finance, The Circuit, World of Reel, @carlquintanilla.bsky.social, @danielmcfee.bsky.social, Bloomberg and Bloomberg Law

New York Times:
Sources: Netflix, Comcast, and Paramount are preparing bids to buy all or part of WBD; any deal would require President Trump's and US regulators' approval

Discussion: Al Jazeera, Axios, Variety, Broadband TV News, Advanced Television, TVNewsCheck and New York Post

Jessica Davies / Digiday:

Forbes launched an AI-powered dynamic paywall on November 14 to help drive subscriptions; print and digital subscriptions make up 9% of its commercial revenue — Forbes has launched an AI-powered dynamic paywall as it looks to make subscriptions a larger slice of its revenue pie.

Discussion: Sherry Phillips on LinkedIn, Emily Jackson on LinkedIn, Lauren Soni on LinkedIn and Poynter

Alice Brooker / Press Gazette:

The Financial Times launches its free newsletter FT Alphaville on Substack to reach younger readers, joining Reach, the Daily Mail, and other publishers — The publisher joins titles including Daily Mail in joining newsletter platform. — The Financial Times has launched free newsletter FT Alphaville …

Discussion: Financial Times

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Mastodon founder and CEO Eugen Rochko steps down from the decentralized social network as part of its transition to a nonprofit structure governed by a board — Mastodon's creator, Eugen Rochko, is stepping down as CEO of the open source, decentralized social network and X rival …

Discussion: Engadget, Mastodon Blog, Mastodon Blog, PCMag, @josemurilo@mato.social, @lucyannd.bsky.social, @anildash.com, @rationaldoge@hachyderm.io, @janggolan@mastodon.social, Implicator.ai, Dataconomy, @bastianallgeier …, @WeirdWriter@caneandable …, @Gargron@mastodon.social, @Mastodon@mastodon.social and zylstra.org, more at Techmeme »

Tess Patton / The Wrap:

A look at Inception Point AI, whose podcast network makes 3,000 AI-made podcasts per week and has 400K subs; an episode needs only 20 listeners to turn a profit — On track for 150,000 episodes by the end of 2025, Inception Point AI's Quiet Please podcast network values quantity over quality

Discussion: LateNighter, @devonheinen.bsky.social and Podnews

Riddhi Setty / Columbia Journalism Review:

The three-year strike at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ends after a Third Circuit court panel ruled the paper had acted in bad faith; the paper plans to appeal — Journalists at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette are ready to return to work. — After three years on strike, twenty-six employees …

Discussion: Riddhi Setty on LinkedIn, The NewsGuild and MediaPost

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More News:

Bloomberg Law:
A US judge rules that Meta's Instagram and WhatsApp acquisitions don't violate antitrust law as the FTC failed to prove the deals let Meta monopolize the market

Alice Brooker / Press Gazette:
Two freelance journalists say the UK's Daily Express stole their articles, rewriting one seemingly using AI, and offered £100 only once they reached out

Discussion: @pressgazette.co.uk

Al Tompkins / Poynter:
Memo: after Sinclair bought an 8% stake, Scripps says it's exploring stations sales with “many” broadcasters but talks with Sinclair didn't lead to an agreement

Discussion: TVNewsCheck, The Streamable, CNBC, Sportico, Deadline, Associated Press and Wall Street Journal

Ted Johnson / Deadline:
A federal appeals court upholds a lower court's 2023 dismissal of Trump's defamation suit against CNN for calling his 2020 stolen election claims the “Big Lie”

Discussion: CNN, UPI, Election Law Blog, The Hill, Politico, Raw Story, MS NOW, NewsMax.com, New Republic and Alternet.org

Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Agentio, which uses AI to help brands automate and scale campaigns with YouTube creators, raised a $40M Series B led by Forerunner at a $340M valuation

Discussion: AdExchanger, Tubefilter, Axios, Agentio, Christopher Walsh on LinkedIn, Pulse 2.0, Alex Pattis on LinkedIn, Adweek, FinSMEs and VC News Daily

Earlier Picks:

Patrick Brzeski / The Hollywood Reporter:
Disney+ and CJ ENM's Tving partner to offer bundles that combine access to Disney+, Tving, and South Korean streamer Wavve at discounted rates in South Korea

Discussion: The Korea Times, TVREV, Deadline and Variety

Martin Arnold / Financial Times:
The UK CMA opens probes into StubHub, Viagogo, and others over allegedly deceptive online pricing practices; the UK plans to ban above face value ticket resales

Discussion: CNBC, Reuters, Digital Music News, Benzinga, Gamereactor UK, RTÉ, The Standard, Mirror, CMU, Music Business Worldwide, GOV.UK, BBC, GOV.UK, The Guardian, The Independent, Metro.co.uk, The Sun, Sky News, Motley Fool and Billboard

Megumi Fujikawa / Wall Street Journal:
A Japanese minister pledges to improve working conditions for creators, blaming low wages and grueling working conditions on “passion exploitation” of creators

David Folkenflik / NPR:
CPB agrees to fulfill a $36M, multi-year contract with NPR, resolving litigation filed by NPR accusing CPB of illegally yielding to Trump's demands

From Techmeme:

Emma Roth / The Verge:
Google launches Gemini 3, its “most intelligent” and “factually accurate” model yet, better at coding and reasoning, and trading “flattery for genuine insight”

Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft launches Agent 365, a framework that lets businesses deploy and manage AI agents like human employees, with dashboards showing telemetry and alerts

Microsoft:
Anthropic commits to buy $30B in Azure capacity in a deal with Microsoft and Nvidia, which commit to investing up to $5B and $10B, respectively, in Anthropic

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