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Hearst Magazines launches its holiday season by axing close to 200 staffers. Zach Lennon-Simon, co-chair of the company’s union, told New York magazine that a Nov. 21 round of cuts resulted in 192 people being laid off. A memo to staff from Hearst president Debi Chirichella said the cuts “will enable us to take care of our business for the long term. We’ll prioritize areas where we can deliver the highest impact and drive growth and continue to focus on producing the highest-quality storytelling, advertising solutions and digital experiences.” Last month, Hearst signed an agreement with ChatGPT under which Hearst content will be used to answer queries in ChatGPT. However, the agreement notes that those answers will “feature appropriate citations and direct links” to the original sources. Chirichella chimed in that the arrangement will “help us evolve the future of magazine content.” Writers Guild of America East director Sam Wheeler was, expectedly, highly critical of the developments. Terming the layoffs “needless, irresponsible and cruel” he pointed out that “readers go to Hearst because of the talent and craft of its editorial employees. These workers make Hearst what it is.”
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President-elect Trump is angling to keep the Protect Reporters from Exploitative State Spying Act (PRESS Act) from ever seeing the light of day. Trump has issued marching orders to Republicans in the Senate to prevent the act, which is meant to give reporters a greater ability to protect confidential sources, from reaching the Senate floor before the end of the current session of Congress. He issued those orders via a Truth Social post, which said “REPUBLICANS MUST KILL THIS BILL!” The demand comes even though the House passed the bill unanimously, and such Trump supporters as Jim Jordan and Tucker Carlson are in favor of it. Freedom of the Press Foundation co-founder and executive director Trevor Timm told the New York Times that “the PRESS Act protects conservative and independent journalists just as much as it does anyone in the mainstream press. Democratic administrations abused their powers to spy on journalists many times. The bipartisan PRESS Act will stop government overreach and protect the First Amendment once and for all.”
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| Peter Welch |
A newly introduced Senate bill aims make it easier for human creators to find out if their work was used to train artificial intelligence without their consent. Under the Transparency and Responsibility for Artificial Intelligence Networks (TRAIN) Act, copyright holders could subpoena training records of generative AI models as long as the holder can declare a “good faith belief” that their work was used to train the model. Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT), who introduced the bill, said the US needs to “set a higher standard for transparency” as AI increasingly becomes a part of Americans’ lives. In a news release, Welch said the TRAIN Act has been endorsed by such organizations as the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), the American Federation of Musicians, and the Recording Academy, in addition to major music labels including Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Music Group.
The Walt Disney Company and OpenAI reach an agreement that will make a set of more than 200 animated, masked and creature characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars available for use by Sora, OpenAI’s short-form generative AI video platform... CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss has moved Tony Dokoupil, a co-host at “CBS Mornings” since 2019, into the anchor’s chair for the “CBS Evening News,” following the departure of John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois... USA Today editor-in-chief Caren Bohan has left the paper.
Michael Kaminer, who was responsible for the Observer’s “Power List” for the past 13 years, has cut ties with the publication... The New York Times Company continues the march toward its goal of 15 million subscribers by the end of 2027... The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is providing more than $6 million in funding to eight organizations working to address the challenges local news and information environments face along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Conservative outlets Fox News, Newsmax and the Daily Caller are holding back from signing Pete Hegseth’s edict restricting press access in the Pentagon... CBS News sees the first executive departure of the Bari Weiss era as head of standards and practices Claudia Milne exits... Indiana University shuts down the print version of The Indiana Daily Student.
Rothschild family plans to unload 26.7 percent stake in The Economist... STAT, a digital media company that focuses the life sciences, brings back Damian Garde, who anchored its biotech newsletter and podcast from 2016 to 2024... High Times officially resumes print publication (following its 2024 shutdown) with the release of a limited-edition, collectible 50th anniversary issue. 
CBS News is set to hand over its reins to The Free Press co-founder Bari Weiss as Paramount acquires her site for $155M... C-SPAN comes on board as an official media partner of the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission, which is charged by Congress to lead the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence... A new Gallup survey says that the level of trust that US audiences have in the media has hit a new low.
