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President-elect Donald Trump has launched the latest offensive in his continuing war on the media by filing suit against pollster J. Ann Selzer, her polling firm, The Des Moines Register and Gannett, the Register’s parent company. The suit claims that coverage of Selzer’s poll, which showed a three-percentage-point lead for Kamala Harris just a few days before the election, was intended to boost the Democratic effort. It was therefore alleged to be a violation of the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act, which prohibits deception when advertising or selling merchandise. The poll was based on telephone interviews with 808 likely Iowa voters. In the election, Trump won Iowa by a 13-point margin. The Register released the poll’s full data and details, as well as “a technical explanation” from Selzer. “We stand by our reporting on the matter and believe this lawsuit is without merit,” said Lark-Marie Anton, a spokesperson for Gannett.
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Forbes is going experiential in a big way. The media platform, which has been in the magazine business since 1917, is launching a private members’ club in Madrid’s financial district, targeting what a press release calls “an elite community of entrepreneurs, leaders and innovators.” The club is part of a drive to diversify the company’s revenue stream. According to Sherry Phillips, who was recently promoted from chief revenue officer to CEO of the company, the Madrid club—a partnership with SpainMedia, publisher of Forbes España— is its way of testing the waters before setting out on a wider rollout of similar clubs internationally. The seven-story Madrid club will leverage the Forbes brand through such amenities as a rooftop bar, a wine cellar and a restaurant headlined by Adolfo Santos, a Michelin-starred chef. “Forbes House represents the next step in our mission to convene high-impact communities and connect our global audiences with the tools and access they need to achieve success,” said Forbes president, licensing and branded ventures Peter Hung.
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“Sesame Street” will have to make plans to move any upcoming episodes out of its current cable and streaming neighborhood after Warner Bros. Discovery decides not to renew its distribution agreement with Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit producer of the show. Sesame Workshop has partnered with HBO, part of Warner Bros. Discovery, since 2015. Under that agreement, HBO had exclusive rights for the show’s episodes for nine months, after which they were broadcast for free on PBS. In 2019, the show was moved to Max, HBO's streaming service. Despite the end of the contract, reeruns of the show will continue to run on Max until 2027. The future of the show remains uncertain. “Based on consumer usage and feedback, we’ve had to prioritize our focus on stories for adults and families,” a Max spokesman told the New York Times. “And so new episodes from ‘Sesame Street,’ at this time, are not as core to our strategy.”
Versant Media Group, the NBCUniversal cable TV spin-off, today reported its first financial results as 2025 revenues dipped 5.3 percent to $6.7B and standalone EBITDA dropped 9.1 percent to $2.2B.
Trump Media & Technology Group is discussing a spin-off of the Truth Social platform following the expected closing of its $6B merger deal with TAE Technologies... Condé Nast sells off Them, the digital LGBTQ-focused platform it launched in 2017, to Equalpride, publisher of Out, The Advocate, Out Traveler, Health PLUS Wellness and Pride.com... CBS News has parted ways with longevity influencer Peter Attia, one of the 19 contributors that editor-in-chief Bari Weiss brought on as part of her plan to present a wider variety of voices on the platform. 
Symbolic.ai forms a partnership with News Corp to begin using the company’s AI-native publisher platform in the newsrooms of News Corp publications to augment research, writing and publishing... Mediaite launches a newsletter that promises to give readers a summary of—media newsletters... The Fund for American Studies launches the Journalism Excellence Fellowship, a program that will provide promising young journalists the opportunity to work alongside top writers, reporters, and media professionals.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which has roots going back to 1786, is going out of business, the paper’s owners, Block Communications, announced on Jan. 7... GQ editor Will Welch is stepping down to take on a new Paris-based role with the musician Pharrell, who is also men’s creative director at Louis Vuitton... Semafor says it has raised $30 million on a $330 million valuation, following its first profitable year. 
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.
