Tara Conlan
@taraconlan.bsky.social
Journalist writing about media for the Guardian & others since all this was just Gracie Fields. taraconlan.com
Pinned
Tara Conlan
@taraconlan.bsky.social
· Nov 15
A starter pack for media and telly types of the content and media brands & platforms you know and might (or might not) love. Will add as more are verified. Excludes bots and bridges go.bsky.app/5uvdFgh
Geek sidebars: Serendipitously/unfortunately (depending who you are) both Netflix & Warner Bros have Xmas events next week.
Will this affect the long-running name game over streamer HBO Max, which launched as HBO Max then became Max & now back as HBO Max & launching in Europe. NetMax anyone?
Will this affect the long-running name game over streamer HBO Max, which launched as HBO Max then became Max & now back as HBO Max & launching in Europe. NetMax anyone?
Netflix & Warner Bros. Disco announce they’ve “entered into a definitive agreement under which Netflix will acquire Warner Bros., including its film and television studios, HBO Max and HBO” & say it’ll offer “more choice & greater value” for viewers & more opportunities “for the creative community”
December 5, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Geek sidebars: Serendipitously/unfortunately (depending who you are) both Netflix & Warner Bros have Xmas events next week.
Will this affect the long-running name game over streamer HBO Max, which launched as HBO Max then became Max & now back as HBO Max & launching in Europe. NetMax anyone?
Will this affect the long-running name game over streamer HBO Max, which launched as HBO Max then became Max & now back as HBO Max & launching in Europe. NetMax anyone?
Netflix & Warner Bros. Disco announce they’ve “entered into a definitive agreement under which Netflix will acquire Warner Bros., including its film and television studios, HBO Max and HBO” & say it’ll offer “more choice & greater value” for viewers & more opportunities “for the creative community”
December 5, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Netflix & Warner Bros. Disco announce they’ve “entered into a definitive agreement under which Netflix will acquire Warner Bros., including its film and television studios, HBO Max and HBO” & say it’ll offer “more choice & greater value” for viewers & more opportunities “for the creative community”
Every successful media co eventually wants scale so no surprise here but this’ll cause headaches for those putting finishing touches to BBC green paper & those having to name this potential giant & its assets: Netflix Disco Max? Netflix WBD? Netmax? Or just Netflix?
www.reuters.com/business/med...
www.reuters.com/business/med...
Netflix in exclusive talks for Warner Bros Discovery studio, streaming assets, source says
Netflix is in exclusive talks to buy Warner Bros Discovery's film and television studios along with its streaming assets, in a deal valued at $28 per share that could reshape the media landscape, a so...
www.reuters.com
December 5, 2025 at 7:10 AM
Every successful media co eventually wants scale so no surprise here but this’ll cause headaches for those putting finishing touches to BBC green paper & those having to name this potential giant & its assets: Netflix Disco Max? Netflix WBD? Netmax? Or just Netflix?
www.reuters.com/business/med...
www.reuters.com/business/med...
Reposted by Tara Conlan
🔴 BREAKING: Our fake Chinese AI investor bought access to 10+ Labour MPs and minister
Brand new investigation by Democracy for Sale and Led By Donkeys.
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/breaking-o...
Brand new investigation by Democracy for Sale and Led By Donkeys.
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/breaking-o...
BREAKING: Our fake Chinese AI investor bought access into heart of Labour government
Ex-Tory MP facilitated meetings with 10+ Labour MPs and met ministers in “cash-for-access operation”
democracyforsale.substack.com
December 3, 2025 at 9:48 PM
🔴 BREAKING: Our fake Chinese AI investor bought access to 10+ Labour MPs and minister
Brand new investigation by Democracy for Sale and Led By Donkeys.
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/breaking-o...
Brand new investigation by Democracy for Sale and Led By Donkeys.
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/breaking-o...
Looking quite Poldark out there this morning
December 3, 2025 at 8:09 AM
Looking quite Poldark out there this morning
Traitors alert! BBC confirms fourth season of The Traitors returns New Year’s Day at 8pm on BBC1 and iPlayer.
Episode 2 - 8pm on Friday 2nd Jan
Episode 3 - 7.45pm on Saturday 3rd Jan
Episode 2 - 8pm on Friday 2nd Jan
Episode 3 - 7.45pm on Saturday 3rd Jan
December 2, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Traitors alert! BBC confirms fourth season of The Traitors returns New Year’s Day at 8pm on BBC1 and iPlayer.
Episode 2 - 8pm on Friday 2nd Jan
Episode 3 - 7.45pm on Saturday 3rd Jan
Episode 2 - 8pm on Friday 2nd Jan
Episode 3 - 7.45pm on Saturday 3rd Jan
Some BBC good news: The Celebrity Traitors ended run with 15m viewers, making it biggest title of 2025 across the UK at 7 days so far this year &, BBC says, “biggest on-demand audience of any series across the market at 7 days since records began (incl. both BVOD and SVOD)”. Ep 6 got 15.2m…
December 1, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Some BBC good news: The Celebrity Traitors ended run with 15m viewers, making it biggest title of 2025 across the UK at 7 days so far this year &, BBC says, “biggest on-demand audience of any series across the market at 7 days since records began (incl. both BVOD and SVOD)”. Ep 6 got 15.2m…
Could the BBC’s message it’s playing during some programme credits be its most effective (and polite) marketing & charter renewal campaign yet?
Telling viewers, ‘Everything across the BBC is funded by you. Thank you’ also a timely reminder with Trump’s legal threat hanging over it
Telling viewers, ‘Everything across the BBC is funded by you. Thank you’ also a timely reminder with Trump’s legal threat hanging over it
November 29, 2025 at 9:09 AM
Could the BBC’s message it’s playing during some programme credits be its most effective (and polite) marketing & charter renewal campaign yet?
Telling viewers, ‘Everything across the BBC is funded by you. Thank you’ also a timely reminder with Trump’s legal threat hanging over it
Telling viewers, ‘Everything across the BBC is funded by you. Thank you’ also a timely reminder with Trump’s legal threat hanging over it
Reposted by Tara Conlan
Would love some in-depth numbers on what the majority of 20-30 somethings basically paying a 9% higher marginal tax rate has actually done to economic behaviour. Feels very under-discussed bsky.app/profile/igma...
Student loan repayment thresholds frozen for a further three years.
More debt burden falling on graduates.
And even more reason to cut university places by 20-30%.
More debt burden falling on graduates.
And even more reason to cut university places by 20-30%.
November 26, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Would love some in-depth numbers on what the majority of 20-30 somethings basically paying a 9% higher marginal tax rate has actually done to economic behaviour. Feels very under-discussed bsky.app/profile/igma...
Drown your post-Budget sorrows with a relaxing cocktail infused with…WHAT THE HELL?!
November 26, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Drown your post-Budget sorrows with a relaxing cocktail infused with…WHAT THE HELL?!
*Sub-editors start working on headlines involving the word ‘flockdown’ & twists on the phrase ‘no turkey for Tiny Tim this Christmas’*
BBC News - Farmers fearful as 'severe' spate of bird flu puts turkeys in lockdown
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Bird flu: Welsh poultry farmers fear for businesses as birds culled
Tens of thousands of turkeys and chickens have already been culled after an outbreak of the disease in Wales.
www.bbc.com
November 24, 2025 at 10:44 AM
*Sub-editors start working on headlines involving the word ‘flockdown’ & twists on the phrase ‘no turkey for Tiny Tim this Christmas’*
ChatGPT becoming more inventive when it doesn’t know the answer to something. Asked it for list of 5 examples for a story researching and it came back with 4 correct & 1 wrong answer but gave this reason for including the incorrect one: “Excluded from list here but worth noting as a contrast”
November 24, 2025 at 8:13 AM
ChatGPT becoming more inventive when it doesn’t know the answer to something. Asked it for list of 5 examples for a story researching and it came back with 4 correct & 1 wrong answer but gave this reason for including the incorrect one: “Excluded from list here but worth noting as a contrast”
Reposted by Tara Conlan
Finally markets only do this when they are very unhappy, writes the always readable @katie0martin.ft.com on.ft.com/4rg5pni
The warning signal from bitcoin’s fall
[FREE TO READ] Moves in the cryptocurrency are becoming an early alert that markets are unwell
on.ft.com
November 22, 2025 at 8:21 AM
Finally markets only do this when they are very unhappy, writes the always readable @katie0martin.ft.com on.ft.com/4rg5pni
Is this really the final season of Who Wants to Buy the Telegraph? or will this latest plot twist eventually lead to a Line of Duty-style seventh season? Over to you showrunner Nandy & the writers’ room at the CMA www.ft.com/content/cd8e...
Daily Mail owner strikes £500mn deal for Telegraph
Tie-up would create one of the most powerful right-leaning media groups in Britain
www.ft.com
November 22, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Is this really the final season of Who Wants to Buy the Telegraph? or will this latest plot twist eventually lead to a Line of Duty-style seventh season? Over to you showrunner Nandy & the writers’ room at the CMA www.ft.com/content/cd8e...
Most people fundamentally want to believe in the kindness of others (particularly in tough times) and journalism and storytelling can play a part in helping with this www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
A New Antidote for Youth Loneliness: Sharing Data About the Kindness of Others
It turns out that we routinely underestimate the friendliness of the people around us.
www.wsj.com
November 22, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Most people fundamentally want to believe in the kindness of others (particularly in tough times) and journalism and storytelling can play a part in helping with this www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
Reposted by Tara Conlan
We originally set up an alert to track our mentions @towcenter.bsky.social - but soon found that my name cropped up a great deal, (false ‘Dr’ added), talking about the things I talk about (tech + media) but none of the quotes were real. AI slop me has been pretty busy….
We found AI produces fake ‘expert’ quotes for questionable websites - including our own director… @dmil.bsky.social @cj-robinson.bsky.social @emilybell.bsky.social
www.cjr.org/tow_center/w...
www.cjr.org/tow_center/w...
When the pink-slime researchers become the pink slime.
We love to hear when journalists engage with our research, so in October, we set up an LLM agent to sort through Google Alerts for Tow Center’s work and notify us when our research is cited in news. T...
www.cjr.org
November 20, 2025 at 11:58 PM
We originally set up an alert to track our mentions @towcenter.bsky.social - but soon found that my name cropped up a great deal, (false ‘Dr’ added), talking about the things I talk about (tech + media) but none of the quotes were real. AI slop me has been pretty busy….
‘The job of a lifetime’: Line of Duty to return for seventh season www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
‘The job of a lifetime’: Line of Duty to return for seventh season
The hit BBC crime drama is coming back to screens for the first time since its record-breaking 2021 finale
www.theguardian.com
November 18, 2025 at 8:54 PM
‘The job of a lifetime’: Line of Duty to return for seventh season www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
Expect a sudden application from a rep for The Muppets for White House press accreditation
November 18, 2025 at 7:34 AM
Expect a sudden application from a rep for The Muppets for White House press accreditation
BBC apologises to Donald Trump over editing of a Panorama that led to the resignation of its director general, Tim Davie, and the BBC News chief, Deborah Turness but disagrees there’s a basis for defamation claim www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...
BBC apologises to Donald Trump over edit of speech for Panorama
Corporation rejects demands for compensation after US president’s lawyers threatened to sue for $1bn
www.theguardian.com
November 13, 2025 at 9:07 PM
BBC apologises to Donald Trump over editing of a Panorama that led to the resignation of its director general, Tim Davie, and the BBC News chief, Deborah Turness but disagrees there’s a basis for defamation claim www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...
Reposted by Tara Conlan
It was a lump of Sainsbury’s cheddar.
Although I did go to a fashion show on the tube last week paid for by the EU to promote sales of French cheese with every costume “inspired by cheese” thank you for giving me the excuse to post this.
Although I did go to a fashion show on the tube last week paid for by the EU to promote sales of French cheese with every costume “inspired by cheese” thank you for giving me the excuse to post this.
November 13, 2025 at 10:43 AM
It was a lump of Sainsbury’s cheddar.
Although I did go to a fashion show on the tube last week paid for by the EU to promote sales of French cheese with every costume “inspired by cheese” thank you for giving me the excuse to post this.
Although I did go to a fashion show on the tube last week paid for by the EU to promote sales of French cheese with every costume “inspired by cheese” thank you for giving me the excuse to post this.
Reposted by Tara Conlan
This piece, as cited by @emilybell.bsky.social & @taraconlan.bsky.social, is the big picture of what’s going on. The playbook successfully deployed in the US is happening here.
https://www.reuters.com/investigations/trump-20-maga-aligned-influencers-media-emerge-new-mainstream-2025-11-08/
https://www.reuters.com/investigations/trump-20-maga-aligned-influencers-media-emerge-new-mainstream-2025-11-08/
November 10, 2025 at 12:30 PM
This piece, as cited by @emilybell.bsky.social & @taraconlan.bsky.social, is the big picture of what’s going on. The playbook successfully deployed in the US is happening here.
https://www.reuters.com/investigations/trump-20-maga-aligned-influencers-media-emerge-new-mainstream-2025-11-08/
https://www.reuters.com/investigations/trump-20-maga-aligned-influencers-media-emerge-new-mainstream-2025-11-08/
‘Influencers or propagandists?’ is a question we should all be asking. Truth is usually the casualty when you trade holding power to account for access
If you are astonished by what is happening at the BBC today, you might want to read this seemingly unrelated by highly relevant piece
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
In Trump 2.0, MAGA-aligned influencers and media emerge as the new mainstream
How right‑wing influencers and Trump officials work in lockstep — targeting perceived adversaries, amplifying false claims and reshaping US media.
www.reuters.com
November 10, 2025 at 7:56 AM
‘Influencers or propagandists?’ is a question we should all be asking. Truth is usually the casualty when you trade holding power to account for access
Reposted by Tara Conlan
This weekend the BBC should’ve been celebrating the success of Celebrity Traitors. Instead it’s in turmoil following a double banishment of two of its big dogs, with staff wondering who will help it remain faithful to its public service remit & stand up to those who’d like it killed off
November 9, 2025 at 10:55 PM
This weekend the BBC should’ve been celebrating the success of Celebrity Traitors. Instead it’s in turmoil following a double banishment of two of its big dogs, with staff wondering who will help it remain faithful to its public service remit & stand up to those who’d like it killed off