Top News:
Cynthia Littleton / Variety:
Sinclair Broadcast Group acquires Tribune Media in a deal valued at $3.9B, paying $43.50 a share, a 25% premium over its average share price in Feb — Sinclair Broadcast Group has set a $3.9 billion merger agreement with Tribune Media, a deal that will bring more than 200 TV stations under …
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CNNMoney, New York Times, @cnbcnow, TVSpy, CNNMoney, The Wrap, Broadcasting & Cable, Radio & Television …, Reuters, TVNewsCheck, Financial Times, Hollywood Reporter, @davidfolkenflik, @davidfolkenflik, @davidfolkenflik, Pro Wrestling Dot Net, @brianstelter, @brianstelter, Engadget, Deadline, C21Media, @yashar, @m_delamerced and TVWeek.com
Paul Colgan / Business Insider Australia:
TPG Capital bids for Fairfax Media's metro papers, including Sydney Morning Herald, digital unit that publishes BI, HuffPost in Australia, and real-estate unit — Fairfax Media is considering a fresh proposal from US private equity giant TPG Capital to buy the Domain real estate business …
Discussion:
Financial Review, @jeffjarvis, National Business Review, Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian
Gerry Smith / Bloomberg:
Comcast and Charter, the two largest cable operators in the US, announce wireless partnership, will work together to compete with AT&T and Verizon — Cable giants will collaborate to negotiate better contracts — Companies to work only with each other on new wireless deals
Sam Gustin / Motherboard:
John Oliver urges internet users to defend net neutrality again, leading to the FCC's comments submission site temporarily crashing, as it did in 2014 — HBO comedian John Oliver is a strong supporter of net neutrality, the principle that all internet content should be treated equally.
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YouTube, Business Insider, Softpedia News, The Hill, Fortune and Boing Boing, more at Techmeme », Thanks:@otisjgustin
BBC:
Ahead of June 8 UK general election, Facebook publishes ads in UK papers, including The Times, The Guardian, Daily Telegraph, to raise awareness about fake news — Facebook has broadened its campaign to raise awareness about fake news, by publishing adverts in the UK press.
Discussion:
New York Times, Adweek, TechCrunch, BBC, The Guardian, Recode, The Drum, Fortune and Peter O'Kelly's Reality Check, more at Techmeme »
Jim Rutenberg / New York Times:
Advertisers should stop rushing to Facebook and Google, and combat fake news by supporting the real news ecosystem, by giving newspapers their business again — PHILADELPHIA — Hey, America's Advertisers: You got some good news last week, didn't you? — Facebook, where you are increasingly placing …
Discussion:
@perlberg
BuzzFeed:
After Le Pen's party banned BuzzFeed, Politico, Charlie Hebdo, more from election-night event, Le Monde, Bloomberg, and others pulled their reporters out too — The banning happened shortly after BuzzFeed News published investigations exposing racist and antisemitic statements made by Front National candidates.
USA Today:
Gannett asks FBI to probe wave of phony Facebook accounts that like USA Today and affiliates; firm has taken steps including blocking new Bangladeshi followers — SAN FRANCISCO - The parent company of USA TODAY said it had asked the FBI to investigate a wave of fake Facebook accounts so large …
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Ad Age, @iambhutia, The Verge, News18, Newsmax, CBS News, @politicalshort, bdnews24.com, @denniskneale, @methusheilah, The Hill and Axios
Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
Prosecuting Julian Assange under the Espionage Act, for publishing leaked information, would create a massive threat to press freedom in the US — Lady Gaga — all in black and wearing a witch's hat — is interviewing Julian Assange in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he's been holed up for years.
Discussion:
@kombuchababy, @reaganbattalion, @jimrutenberg, @wikileaks, @sulliview and @infinnnerty
Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:
News Corp names Marc Frons chief technology officer, after he took the role on an interim basis last October — News Corp, the parent of The Wall Street Journal, Barron's and MarketWatch.com., announced Monday that Marc Frons has been appointed chief technology officer.
Max Willens / Digiday:
Financial news network Cheddar, exploring additional revenue streams, creates a series of online courses for Strayer University — To expand its branded-content business, Cheddar is going to school. The millennial-focused financial news network created a set of virtual courses …
Shan Wang / Nieman Lab:
Profile of The Pudding, a site publishing painstakingly crafted data visualization essays, financed via founders' work for clients like YouTube and Google — “Our goal is for The Pudding to be a weekly journal. We specifically seek out stories that aren't news related, because we don't want to compete in that space."
Discussion:
@niemanreports and @ylichterman