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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.”
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. 
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.
