This Week’s Highlights:
Getty Images, whose photographers cover most red carpets and owns a significant portion of the world’s historical photo archives, plans to go private through Chapter 11 with up to $533 million from Charles Koch’s investment firm; its iStock stock-image business is losing demand to AI tools, while its news-photo division is forecast to grow from $369 million to $400 million by 2029 (The Hollywood Reporter).
Netflix has used AI on roughly 300 titles (The Hollywood Reporter) and this week laid off about 1,000 employees while profitable (Variety). Staff at HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and Hachette tell Wired their executives are directing them to use ChatGPT and Claude for publicity copy and cover art (Wired).
The Public Media Bridge Fund has raised about $87 million and stabilized 186 public radio stations, and is starting a $38 million drive to make those stations sustainable without federal money (AP). After Pensacola State College dropped PBS on July 1, residents formed Emerald Coast PBS, which goes on the air November 1 and needs $1 million in its first year (NorthEscambia.com).
Hadestown, filmed at London’s Lyric Theatre, opened in North American cinemas to $10.2 million, a record opening weekend for a live-theatre film (ArtsHub).
The Kennedy Center, mostly closed while a court weighs the closure, named Rick Canny, a talent manager and consultant there since April 2025, its artistic director (The Washington Post).
All this week’s stories below, organized by topic.
Doug