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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Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:
Richard Simmons sues National Enquirer, Radar Online, and American Media, Inc. for libel and invasion of privacy over “cruel and malicious” sex-change stories — In a libel complaint, the fitness star says the publication knew its source wasn't credible and that he has …
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National Enquirer, Daily Mail, Variety, The Wrap, The Guardian, New York Times, @thrmattbelloni, @tatianasiegel27, @eriqgardner and @eriqgardner
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
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Sam Gustin / Motherboard:
John Oliver urges internet users to defend net neutrality again — HBO comedian John Oliver is a strong supporter of net neutrality, the principle that all internet content should be treated equally. He made that clear in 2014 when he urged viewers to flood the Federal Communications Commission's website …
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YouTube, Fast Company, The Mac Observer, The Next Web, ZDNet, The Week, The Hill, Hit & Run, ValueWalk, SlashGear, Washington Post, CNET, Above the Law, Techdirt, DSLreports, VentureBeat, Vanity Fair, Softpedia News, Engadget, Mashable, Business Insider, @avinash, IndieWire, TechCrunch, Los Angeles Times, Fortune, The Verge, @waywardwinifred, Recode and Boing Boing, more at Techmeme », Thanks:@otisjgustin
Rachel Donadio / New York Times:
The Macron hack had little effect on the French election likely due to bereft coverage and an absence of a robust right-wing broadcast media — PARIS — French readers awoke on Monday to headlines about its young president-elect, Emmanuel Macron, and his decisive defeat of the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen.
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@jonfavs, Refinery29, Observer, The Wrap, The Daily Caller, Al Jazeera English, Fortune, CNET and Mediaite
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Pandora announces $150M investment from private equity firm KKR as it posts $132M Q1 loss, resignation of two board members, new independent board committee — Pandora Media Inc. received $150 million from KKR & Co. and will step up its efforts to explore strategic options, including a possible sale of the internet radio company.
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Business Wire, TechCrunch, Radio & Television …, Axios, Seeking Alpha, StreetInsider.com and Seeking Alpha, more at Techmeme »
Katie Rogers / New York Times:
Profile of Judy Woodruff, who has been covering Washington since 1977 and is now anchoring PBS NewsHour, with viewership up 20% YoY — WASHINGTON — It had already been a long day, but Judy Woodruff wasn't in the mood to slow down. — Ms. Woodruff, the anchor of “PBS NewsHour,” …
Shadia Nasralla / Reuters:
Austrian court rules Facebook must remove postings deemed as hate speech across the platform and not just in Austria, strengthening an earlier ruling — Facebook must remove postings deemed as hate speech, an Austrian court has ruled, in a legal victory for campaigners who want to force …
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Engadget and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »
Shan Wang / Nieman Lab:
Post-election in France, the Google-and-Facebook-backed fact-checking project, CrossCheck, is reviewing its work before deciding what's next — The experiment might be replicated in other countries, but “it'd be showing a lot of hubris to say ‘everybody should now do CrossCheck’ without doing …
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Forbes and @charliebeckett
The Guardian:
Sources: Kelvin MacKenzie is leaving The Sun newspaper and is currently negotiating his exit, after penning a column containing racial slurs — Former editor, who has written weekly column since 2015, is understood to be negotiating exit terms — Former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie …
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Financial Times, @sunapology, iNews, @groomb and @mattgarrahan
Laura Hazard Owen / Nieman Lab:
The Christian Science Monitor launches Monitor Daily, an emailed daily news digest that will cost $11/month, with the goal of reaching 10K subscribers in a year — “The Daily is really in the service of this mission of making people more thoughtful, less neurotic, more calm, and seeing the world through the lens of progress."
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@busta_, @wfederman, @laurahazardowen, @shanbow, @lauraelizdavis and @henrygass
Kristen Hare / Poynter:
The Minneapolis Star Tribune has digitized every article since 1867, charging $7.99 for 30-day access and $29.95 for a six-month subscription — On Friday, Jan. 5, 1979, Prince made page 1D of the Minneapolis Star. — The piece about the 19-year-old singer's return to Minneapolis was below the fold, under a piece about Disney.