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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. The three-year licensing agreement, which does not include any talent likenesses or voices, will make it possible for users to turn a few words into fully generated images. Fans will be able to watch curated selections of Sora-generated videos on Disney+, and OpenAI and Disney will collaborate to utilize OpenAI’s models to develop new experiences for Disney + subscribers As part of the agreement, Disney will make a $1 billion equity investment in OpenAI and receive warrants to purchase additional equity. “Through this collaboration with OpenAI we will thoughtfully and responsibly extend the reach of our storytelling through generative AI, while respecting and protecting creators and their works,” said The Walt Disney Company CEO Robert Iger.
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| Tony Dokoupil |
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. Weiss had reportedly been looking for an outsider who would shake things up, and among the names that she had been said to be considering were Fox’s Bret Baier and CNN’s Anderson Cooper. Her The Free Press site came to Dokoupil’s defense last year after he encountered resistance from some at CBS over an interview with author Ta-Nehisi Coates. Dokoupil had brought up potential anti-Israel bias in the discussion of Coates’s book on Israel and the Palestinians. In a statement, Weiss said that Dokoupil is the kind of person who can win back trust in the media saying “he believes in old-school journalistic values: asking the hard questions, following the facts wherever they lead and holding power to account.”
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| Caren Bohan |
USA Today editor-in-chief Caren Bohan has left the paper. Bohan, who was previously the paper’s executive editor for politics, became interim EIC in July 2024 when Terence Samuel exited. Bohan was permanently named the editor in chief that September. USA Today EVP Monica Richardson said Bohan had been named editor-in-chief after having “excelled” in the interim role. Michael McCarter, who oversees opinion teams across USA Today’s network (and served as interim EIC before Samuel), will lead the publication on an interim basis while the publication runs a national search for a permanent leader. Richardson said the new role will have the title “vice president of news.”
Trump Media and Technology Group Corp. has replaced CEO and former California Congressman Devin Nunes with Kevin McGurn, a seasoned media sales executive.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is being bought by the Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism, a nonprofit that is the parent organization of the Baltimore Banner... The British Broadcasting Corporation is axing approximately 2,000 jobs, about 10 percent of its work force... Snap, the company behind Snapchat, is also succumbing to layoff fever, announcing plans to lay off 16 percent of its employees, about 1,000 people.
CBS News Radio will go off the air on May 22, part of the axe-swinging managerial plan put into play by CBS editor-in-chief Bari Weiss... The Economist, which was first published in 1843, is changing hands. Canadian billionaire Stephen Smith has agreed to acquire a 26.9 percent stake in the publication from Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, her family and family foundation... Nexstar Media Group says it has closed its acquisition of TEGNA, the broadcast, digital media and marketing services company that was formed in 2015, when the Gannett Company split into two publicly traded companies.
USA TODAY brings on Jamie Stockwell as VP of news, effective March 30. Stockwell was most recently deputy managing editor of news for the Washington Post... YouTube expands its likeness detection capabilities to a pilot group of government officials, journalists and political candidates... The AP Fund for Journalism adds 50 news organizations to its local news program, bringing the total number of participating newsrooms to 100. 
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.
