A lifeline for local news?
This week’s most important bit of news-about-the-news might have come out of Sacramento.
On Wednesday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the Community NEWS Act into law. The act will create refundable tax credits for local news sources in the state “based on the number of journalists they employ,” the LAT’s Hannah Fry and Dakota Smith wrote, calling it “an innovative yet controversial attempt to slow the decline of local journalism.”
Advocates like Steven Waldman, founder and president of Rebuild Local News, which sponsored the legislation, linked up with a broad coalition to get the bill passed and signed into law this fall.
“This is the largest state effort to revive community news in the country, probably ever,” Waldman told me. “We also hope it serves as a model for other states.”
And that does seem likely. Matt Pearce, a former LAT reporter who now works with Waldman, told me, “We’ve already heard from advocates in a couple of other states that are interested in pursuing similar policies in 2027.”
Pearce said “this is probably the most popular policy right now to drive public investment into local news without causing press freedom risks, with California, Illinois, New Mexico and New York enacting their own versions since 2024.”
Pearce wrote about the “California roadmap” on his Substack here. And Waldman explained how it works in this column for Poynter.
“The incentives are right: Hire more reporters, get a match from the state. Shrink your newsroom, get fewer benefits,” he wrote.
Newsom called it a “big deal” during the signing ceremony on Wednesday. And it’s tempting to note the contrast: While President Trump bashes the press and tries to ban media outlets, one of the Democrats with 2028 aspirations enacted a law that’s meant to help save local news.
But Waldman emphasized in his column that this policy is not “politically slanted.” Stations owned by Fox and Sinclair will benefit by employing local journalists.
“Public policy support should focus on one thing — whether they’re doing real local civic journalism, without judgment about ideology,” he wrote. “It is why we regularly compare this to the Postal Subsidy of 1792, which provided cheap postage rights for newspapers, whether they supported the Federalists or the Jeffersonians. Hamilton and Jefferson were okay with that. We should be too.”
The combined Paramount–Warner Bros. Discovery will be named Skydance. CEO David Ellison joined X and announced the name there this morning.
As some of you already know, Skydance is the name of the production company that Ellison founded twenty years ago. When he took control of Paramount last year, he renamed that company Paramount Skydance.
The name originally came from “David’s love of aviation,” the production company’s website says. “An accomplished pilot, he took inspiration from flying aerobatics known as ‘skydancing’ – giving his new company a name to evoke limitless possibilities.”
With this corporate renaming, “we never wanted a new corporate identity to diminish, alter or overshadow either one,” Ellison wrote on X. “Instead, we wanted a name that would give the combined company an identity of its own while allowing Paramount and Warner Bros. — and all our extraordinary brands — to remain in the spotlight.”
With the merger taking effect on Tuesday, Ellison will lead a town hall and meet with employees in Los Angeles and New York next week, I’m told. He is also preparing to announce Skydance’s leadership team, and some of the decisions are leaking already.
Warner Bros. film bosses Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy “will not be joining the merged company,” Puck’s Matt Belloni scooped overnight. “Instead, Ellison is elevating Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg, who currently run Paramount, to oversee both studios and those promised 30 releases a year,” and “a top executive will either be hired from the outside or promoted from within to run Warners as Ellison wants it run.”
At CNN, CEO Mark Thompson is in talks to remain in charge of the news organization, the WSJ’s Joe Flint scooped yesterday. Flint reported that “Ellison has asked” Thompson to stay at the helm. “Independence is key for Thompson and he is seeking assurances that he will have wide-ranging autonomy for editorial operations, people close to him said.”
One big unknown: How and when CNN and CBS News will work together. CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss “isn’t expected to have a role involving CNN at close of the deal,” Flint reported.
Other outlets soon matched the story, including the NYT, which also reported that “Weiss retains the support of the Ellison family, and her role could eventually change.” The NYT’s headline is “New CNN Owner Has a Plan: Don’t Rock the Boat.”
This morning Thompson said on CNN’s morning editorial call that he didn’t want to add to the speculation, except to say that “I’m very committed to CNN and would like nothing better to lead it into this new chapter in this new company if the circumstances are right.”
CNN’s Alli Rosenbloom writes in from the Bloomberg Screentime event in Hollywood: The Paramount–WBD merger was the hot topic during several panels with leading film and TV execs. The most-anticipated panelist yesterday was HBO’s Casey Bloys, who sounded optimistic about his conversations with Ellison but stopped short of confirming what future job title he may hold. “I’ll say that the merger is not closed,” he said, carefully. Bloys did say he believes that Ellison will maintain what’s been done at HBO and that he is “very excited, very respectful of what the HBO team has done.”
LA mayoral candidate Nithya Raman, who previously opposed the merger, said she wasn’t interested in “re-litigating” the deal now. Instead, she spoke directly to Ellison: “If I get to be mayor, I want to work with you and ensure and fight as hard as I possibly can to make sure that every single one of those shoots are happening here in Los Angeles, and I will do everything in my power to make sure that happens.”
Speaking of Bloomberg Screentime, key Paramount backer Gerry Cardinale had some newsworthy things to say last night.
“Cardinale bristled at the idea that the close relationship the Ellison family… has with President Donald Trump is what tipped the scale in winning approval from federal regulators for the megamerger,” Bloomberg’s Christopher Palmeri wrote.
“This coziness with Trump thing is, you know, it’s way overstated,” Cardinale said. “Anybody in corporate America should have a relationship with that administration, and that’s not because it’s Trump, right? Trump is pro-business. He’s very interested in the technology community.”
Via CNN’s Alejandra Jaramillo: Trump said yesterday that he does not believe he has used his executive power “at all” when a reporter asked about him using his authority to target critics, including news organizations. “I don’t think I’ve used it at all,” Trump said, on the same day the White House blocked CNN from traveling on the president’s trip to Texas and Oklahoma.
CNN’s Tierney Sneed writes: A federal judge will hear arguments next Thursday on the preliminary injunction request by CNN, MS NOW and Politico. Next Thursday is the final day that Judge Tim Kelly’s previous, two-week temporary restraining order in the case will be in effect. Kelly has signaled that he intends to rule quickly.
The Trump administration must reply to the motion for a preliminary injunction by midnight today. The media groups may respond by Monday at midnight.
Rupert Murdoch was back at the White House this week, dining with the president in the residence on Tuesday, Breaker’s Lachlan Cartwright reports, citing a source. Murdoch’s top editors were there too.
The purpose of the get-together “was to reset the relationship between the administration and The Wall Street Journal,” Cartwright writes. So maybe it’s not a coincidence that the WSJ editorial board published this flattering piece last night: “Trump Has the Right Instincts on AI.”
Meanwhile, the judge in Trump’s lawsuit against the WSJ has yet to rule on it — but legal experts expect it to be dismissed again…
After Trump put his name on the Kennedy Center, “gifts to the arts institution plunged 42% and donation pledges dropped more than 100% from January to April compared to the three months prior,” CNN’s Sunlen Serfaty, Yahya Abou-Ghazala and Betsy Klein report.
How did it drop more than 100%? “A tax expert told CNN that a decline of that size is possible if earlier pledges were withdrawn.” Read on…
Will Sommer got his hands on the script for The Daily Wire’s next film project: “A pro-ICE action film in Montana that dramatizes the raids and protests around last winter’s Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis — including the fatal shooting of protester Renée Good,” he reports for The Bulwark.
“Filming hasn’t gone totally quietly in Livingston, Montana, the small town where ‘Pawn Shop’ is being shot,” Sommer writes. “Locals got their hands on the script, too, and started honking their car horns and attempting other small-scale disruptions to the shoot…”
Fox already tapped Larry Kudlow to temporarily fill Maria Bartiromo’s Sunday slot on Fox News. But a three-hour weekday morning void remained at Fox Business. Enter “Big Money in the Morning,” which the network announced yesterday as replacing “Mornings With Maria” starting October 12. Dagen McDowell, Brian Brenberg and Taylor Riggs, joined by Barron’s writer Josh Schafer, will take over the 6–9 a.m. ET slot.
>> Disney “is planning a restructuring of its television operation that’s expected to result in hundreds of layoffs and the consolidation of divisions. Among the goals: “To structure the business in a way that makes sense for streaming customers, rather than around brands created decades ago for linear TV.” (WSJ)
>> NBCUniversal “is cutting a few hundred streaming tech staffers,” with most of the cuts affecting Sky. (Business Insider)
>> Warner Bros. TV “fired off a cease and desist to Fox News Media and Lionsgate over promotions for the upcoming Fox Nation series ‘The Vow,’” which stars “Bachelor” alum Chris Harrison. (THR)
The Columbia Journalism School “will pause admissions for its Master of Arts program” as the school performs a “critical evaluation” of the program’s curriculum, NiemanLab’s Sarah Scire reports. The school will continue to offer its MSc program and “current M.A. students are not affected by the pause,” Scire notes.
Dean Jelani Cobb also announced the school will offer its first-ever online MSc in Journalism, which Scire explains “will be part-time with students earning a degree over two years.”
Chris Hansen has finally seen Lance Oppenheim’s “Primetime,” and he offered this review: “A complete work of fiction.”
“We don’t look for people; they find us,” he told Variety’s William Earl. “The whole premise of the movie is false. It’s a fake narrative. It didn’t happen.”
Hansen said his former “To Catch a Predator” co-workers are “all upset” because “they’re unfairly portrayed, especially the producer, who NBC will not allow to talk about this.” Here’s the full interview…
Amazon MGM Studios’ “Verity,” starring Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson, is looking at a possible $50-55 million global start, Deadline’s Anthony D’Alessandro reports.
The outlook for Warner Bros’ “Digger” is not as good, however: “Warners believes the movie can get to $12 million to $15 million at 3,300 theaters,” while “others believe it’d lucky to break $10 million at the domestic box office.”
This edition of Reliable Sources was edited by Andrew Kirell and produced with Liam Reilly. Email us your feedback and tips here. Look out for a special edition this weekend…