Media News Daily: Top Stories for 10/26/2026

This page hosts daily news stories about the media, social media, and the journalism industry. Get the latest Hirings and Firings, Media Transactions, Controversies, Censorship Issues, and more.

Meta Delays Controversial Website-Scraping Terms After Publisher Pushback

Meta has postponed implementing updated commercial terms from October 30 to November 20 after news publishers, advertisers, and regulators objected, saying the language could grant broad permission to scrape content from websites linked to business accounts. Meta says publishers can use robots.txt files to signal crawler preferences and that the delay will provide more time to explain the changes. Legal experts and publishing groups remain skeptical, arguing that the terms themselves still lack explicit protections for copyrighted news content. Regulators in the European Union and United Kingdom are also examining the changes. (Read More) (Nieman Lab Rating)

El-Sayed Clashes With Bret Baier Over Muslim Brotherhood Questions

Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed clashed with Fox News anchor Bret Baier during an interview about allegations raised by Republican opponent Mike Rogers concerning the Muslim Brotherhood. El-Sayed denied belonging to or supporting the organization and accused Baier of amplifying questions about his loyalty and Muslim faith, telling him to “be a journalist.” Rogers has continued to argue that El-Sayed embraced aspects of the group’s ideology. The exchange comes shortly before Michigan voters choose between the two candidates in the November 3 election. (Read More) (The Hill Rating)

Former “60 Minutes” Executive Joins Newpress Startup

Former “60 Minutes” executive producer Bill Owens is joining media startup Newpress as executive producer following a $12 million funding round led by Laurene Powell Jobs’ Emerson Collective. The investment group also includes Checker Media CEO Jesse Angelo, former CNN Worldwide COO David Leavy, and Wheelhouse Entertainment CEO Brent Montgomery. Former Politico CEO Patrick Steel is joining the company’s board. Owens’ move gives the emerging media venture a veteran television news executive as it expands its operations. (Read More) (MediaPost Rating)