Mediagazer: Gannett Slams Tribune Publishing Chairman Michael Ferro; Oaktree Pushes for Merger Talks (Cynthia Littleton/Variety)

8:05 PM ET, May 6, 2016

Top News:

Insiders talk about the decline of Sumner Redstone and how the competence trial could impact the future of CBS and Viacom — The Disturbing Decline of Sumner Redstone (Part 1 of 3) — With a trial about to begin, lurid and alarming details of the billionaire's condition and the scheming around him continue to emerge.

Discussion: Variety, Re/code, Broadcasting & Cable, Forbes, Fortune, Fortune, Variety, The Wrap, @raineytime, @peterelkind and @peterelkind

New York Times:

Deposition of Sumner M. Redstone — A transcript of videotaped testimony of Mr. Redstone, taken Thursday at his Los Angeles mansion. The document includes some vulgar language.

Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:

In videotaped deposition, Sumner Redstone denigrates former housemate and says he wants his daughter, Shari Redstone, to be his health-care agent — Videotaped Deposition of Sumner Redstone Airs in Competency Case — With help of interpreter, media mogul says he wants former companion who brought suit out of his life

Discussion: New York Times, Deadline, Guardian, CNNMoney, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap, @petersterne, @emilysteel, @mathewi, Hollywood Reporter, Los Angeles Times, @srabil, @keachhagey, @dylanbyers, Fortune and Hollywood Reporter

Emily Steel / New York Times:
Competency trial begins Friday for Sumner Redstone, with implications for his media empire of Viacom, CBS, and more

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, @fortunemagazine, @felixgillette, @jeffmacke, @editorialiste, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, WMUR, Hollywood Reporter, Los Angeles Times and New York Times

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Apple Music's new student membership option discounts the service by 50% — Amid news that Apple Music is getting a makeover come this summer, Apple today launched a new plan to boost subscribers to its streaming music service and competitor to Spotify, SoundCloud, Tidal and others.

Stephanie Grimes:

Las Vegas Review Journal fires Features Editor Stephanie Grimes, who had live tweeted an early staff meeting after Adelson sale — Why I'm out at the Las Vegas Review-Journal … In the five months since the Las Vegas Review-Journal was sold to the family of Sheldon Adelson for an obscene amount of money …

Discussion: Politico, FishbowlNY, @petersterne, Talking New Media, @ckrewson, @brucebartlett, Editor & Publisher, @jayrosen_nyu, @stephgrimes, @mlcalderone and @stephgrimes

Deepa Seetharaman / Wall Street Journal:

LinkedIn Buys Run Hop, Seeks to Make Feeds More Engaging — Run Hop co-founders find new roles with LinkedIn — LinkedIn Corp. snapped up Run Hop Inc., a small startup specializing in online content distribution, to accelerate its efforts to make users' feeds more engaging.

Discussion: VatorNews, Media Wire Daily, Computer Business Review, Stock Transcript, FishbowlNY and BuzzFeed

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Warner's Q1 music streaming sales up $72M, making it the biggest source of revenue, more than 50% from outside US; downloads down $17M, physical copies down $6M — Streaming music has become Warner Music's biggest business — Another milestone in the music industry's shift to streaming …

Discussion: Warner Music Group, Forbes, Billboard, Consumerist, AppleInsider, VatorNews, Engadget, AllAccess.com, Talking New Media, Digital Trends, RAIN News, Financial Times, CNET, Wall Street Journal, 9to5Mac, Music Ally and TechRadar.com

Cynthia Littleton / Variety:

FCC officially approves Charter's acquisition of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, with conditions FCC chairman outlined last month — FCC Approves Charter Acquisition of Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks … The FCC has formally approved the acquisition of Time Warner Cable …

Discussion: The Wrap, Radio & Television …, Broadcasting & Cable, Bloomberg, FCC, Gizmodo, Fortune, Public Knowledge and The Hill

Daily Sabah:

Turkey sentences Cumhuriyet journalists Can Dündar and Erdem Gül to more than five years in prison on charges of revealing state secrets — Istanbul court sentences Cumhuriyet Daily's Dündar, Gül to 5 years in prison over ‘revealing state secrets’

Discussion: @dailysabah, Associated Press, BBC and Hurriyet Daily News

Reuters:
Assailant tries to shoot prominent Turkish journalist outside court

Cynthia Littleton / Variety:

Gannett Slams Tribune Publishing Chairman Michael Ferro; Oaktree Pushes for Merger Talks … Gannett Co. has taken aim at Tribune Publishing chairman Michael Ferro in its latest salvo in the acquisition fight that began last month. Meanwhile, Tribune Publishing shareholder Oaktree Capital …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, WWD, Deadline, Chicago Reader, Poynter, Talking New Media, Poynter and Editor & Publisher

Mike Masnick / Techdirt:

Homeland Security Investigations considering sending a subpoena to Techdirt, seeking to identify a commenter on asset forfeiture post — Homeland Security Wants To Subpoena Us Over A Clearly Hyperbolic Techdirt Comment — Earlier this week, one of our writers, Tim Cushing …

Discussion: Boing Boing, @turkewitz, @mmasnick and WebProNews

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

Sources: James Holzer, hired to improve FOIA request handling by the Obama administration, steps down after nine months — Sources: Obama transparency official stepping down — An official tasked with improving the operation of the Freedom of Information Act across the Obama Administration …

Discussion: @iowahawkblog, @laurenleharper, @nsanate and The Daily Caller

Pocket Blog:

Pocket adds Like and Repost functions to the Recommendations feed in its iOS and Android apps — There's a lot to ♥ in your new Recommended feed! — A few months ago, we introduced the ability to follow your friends and incredible curators on Pocket to see what they're recommending.

Discussion: MacRumors, Android Police, The Verge, iMore and Lifehacker