Top News:
Gabriel Sherman / Vanity Fair:
Sources: Trump wants USPS to increase Amazon's shipping costs as advisers encourage the president to cancel Amazon's cloud computing contract with the Pentagon — With the West Wing finally calm, Trump is contemplating a multi-front campaign against Jeff Bezos.
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Sydney Ember / New York Times:
Washington Post's Martin Baron refutes Trump's claims that the Post acts as a lobbyist for Amazon as Trump conflates the two, which have different leadership — Amazon does not own The Washington Post. President Trump, however — impervious to certain facts and armed with a Twitter account …
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Olivia Nuzzi / New York Magazine:
David Smith, the executive chairman of Sinclair Broadcast Group, said print media has no credibility and no relevance — David Smith, the executive chairman of Sinclair Broadcast Group, said he dislikes and fundamentally distrusts the print media, which he believes “serves no real purpose.”
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Keach Hagey / Wall Street Journal:
Sumner Redstone will not have final say on potential CBS-Viacom merger as he has only one vote on National Amusements, the holding company owning voting stakes — The 94-year-old media mogul would be one vote among seven National Amusements board members — Sumner Redstone …
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David Faber / CNBC:
Sources: talks between Viacom and CBS have hit a snag, as they are divided over who would be second-in-command at the new company, Bob Bakish or Joe Ianniello — - CBS has not made a formal offer to buy Viacom after social issues raised a roadblock in the talks.
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Jessica Toonkel / Reuters:
Sources: CBS plans an all-stock offer for Viacom, below current market valuation; CEO Les Moonves to propose staying at helm at least 2 years — (Reuters) - CBS Corp (CBS.N) plans to make an all-stock offer for Viacom Inc (VIAB.O) that values the U.S. media company below its current market valuation …
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Jeremy Barr / Hollywood Reporter:
Fox News President Jack Abernethy releases statement in support of Laura Ingraham, says network will not be “censored by agenda-driven intimidation efforts” — The cable news outlet's co-president Jack Abernethy said the network won't be “censored by agenda-driven intimidation efforts.”
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Mark Sweney / The Guardian:
Disney has expressed an interest in acquiring Sky News, whether or not its acquisition of 21st Century Fox proceeds, as UK regulator scrutinizes Fox's bid — Move aims to allay media plurality fears over 21st Century Fox's takeover of British broadcaster
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Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:
21st Century Fox proposes to sell Sky News to Disney or establish it as a separate entity with a 15-year funding guarantee to seal the deal with UK regulators — The news came in an update published by Britain's Competition and Markets Authority, which has been looking at concerns about Sky News' independence from Fox.
Discussion:
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Monmouth University Polling Institute:
Poll: 75% of Americans believe major news outlets report “fake news”, 65% say “fake news” applies to editorial decisions, 83% think outsiders plant fake stories — Trump less trusted than CNN, MSNBC, and Fox as info source — West Long Branch, NJ - The news about …
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New York Times:
DOJ is investigating Live Nation for possible antitrust violations after complaints it pressured venues into using its subsidiary Ticketmaster or lose big shows — In 2010, when the Justice Department allowed the two most dominant companies in the live music business — Live Nation and Ticketmaster …
Nicholas Diakopoulos / Columbia Journalism Review:
The age of trends is over, as social signals like retweets and likes are too easily manipulated by bots, and journalists must learn to identify their influence — Bots are everywhere. A report by The New York Times recently outed about 3.5 million of them on Twitter.
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