Media Roundup: WAPO cuts bureaus, Regulators target X, Spotify taps Netflix, and Apple boosts safety

Media

Washington Post cuts puts bureaus on the block

David Bauder at The Australian Financial Review reports that The Washington Post has slashed roughly a third of its newsroom, wiping out Sports, Books, and several foreign bureaus in one hit.

Executive editor Matt Murray told staff the paper can no longer be “everything to everyone” as technology and audience habits keep shifting.

Publishing

Rebel festival pulls big names back into the Writers’ Week saga

A cheeky pop-up event called Constellations: Not Writers’ Week is stepping into the void left by Adelaide Writers’ Week, pulling the whole saga straight back into the spotlight.

As The Sydney Morning Herald's Kerrie O'Brien reports, Randa Abdel-Fattah and former director Louise Adler will be at the centre of the event.

AI

Global regulators close in on X after French raid

The Guardian's Josh Taylor writes that pressure is mounting on X after French police raided its offices this week, with Australia’s eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant calling it a global tipping point.

The investigation zeroes in on some dark territory, from child abuse material to sexualised deepfakes, after X’s chatbot Grok was used to generate explicit images at scale.

Companies

Why Spotify is teaming up with Netflix

Bill Simmons says the new video push is all about meeting audiences where they already are, rather than hoping they return to Spotify. In 2026, he reckons, that kind of optimism is a fantasy.

As The Hollywood Reporter's Caitlin Huston details, that logic is behind The Ringer sending select shows to Netflix from January, using the streamer as a giant shop window for podcast content.

Tech

Apple tightens child safety controls as political heat builds

The Australian's Jared Lynch and Mark Furler report that Apple has upgraded parental controls across iPhone, iPad and Watch as governments push harder on keeping kids safe online.

The changes include blocking FaceTime when explicit content appears and blurring risky images in Messages before children see them.

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