Top News:
Washington Post:
Sources: Trump personally pushed US Postmaster General Megan Brennan to double the rate the Postal Service charges Amazon and other companies — President Trump has personally pushed U.S. Postmaster General Megan Brennan to double the rate the Postal Service charges Amazon.com and other firms …
Discussion:
Mediaite, CNBC, @ddale8, The Verge, BloombergQuint and @jayrosen_nyu, more at Techmeme »
Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:
Sources: bidding for Meredith's Time magazine nears $200M, with Fortune and Money together drawing similar bids — Selloff activities and employee purges continued at Meredith this week. — Sources say Citigroup is lining up management presentations for next week for potential suitors interested …
Discussion:
New York Post and Mediawire
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Janelle Irwin / Tampa Bay Business Journal:
Meredith to lay off 621 people starting in July as it closes three former Time customer service operations centers in Florida — Meredith Corp. will lay off 621 people from two Tampa offices and one in Ocala beginning this July, according to a federal Worker and Adjustment and Retraining Act letter sent to the state.
Mathew Ingram / Columbia Journalism Review:
Accepting funding from Google and Facebook raises tough questions for media and researchers about influence, conflict of interest, and working with competitors — In March, Google announced with much fanfare the launch of the Google News Initiative, a $300 million program aimed at …
Discussion:
@mathewi, @mathbabedotorg, @eamonn, Nieman Lab, @jbenton, @datatheism, @sophienadeau, @jason_kint, @mathewi, @emilybell, @digiphile, @asherschechter, @soktaykilic, @farai, @asherschechter, @elvanathaci, @grove, @lauraelizdavis, @emilybell, @jon_allsop, @digiphile, @digiphile and @mollydeaguiar, Thanks:@adders
Jessi Hempel / Wired:
A look at the history of Facebook's Internet.org project, which it says has brought 100M online, from its 2013 debut to Free Basics — Five years ago Mark Zuckerberg debuted a bold, humanitarian vision of global internet. It didn't go as planned—forcing Facebook to reckon with the limits of its own ambition.
Discussion:
@jessiwrites, @sdkstl, @eringriffith and @karengeier
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Media outlets plan saturation coverage of the royal wedding: Snapchat is producing a four-part series with TLC, BBC and CNN will stream for free early Saturday — The British royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle — the first American princess in generations — is a global-zeitgeist event made-to-order for social media.
Discussion:
Broadcasting & Cable, Ad Age, MediaPost, CNNMoney, Recode, Fortune, The Ringer, @ranimolla, Folio and TVSpy
Oliver Darcy / CNNMoney:
Sources: Dianne Brandi, Fox News' EVP of legal and business affairs, continues to quietly work for the company, despite repeated claims she is on leave — From Fox hosts' lips to the president's ears — A top Fox News executive who has been named in harassment lawsuits over allegations …
Discussion:
Los Angeles Business Journal, @oliverdarcy, @perlberg and Newser
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Nicholas Diakopoulos / Columbia Journalism Review:
As deepfakes rise, journalists with forensic training could act as trusted validators and should codify transparent verification procedures for video and text — A few weeks ago BuzzFeed published a video of former President Barack Obama making some decidedly out-of-character quips.
Jonathan Randles / Wall Street Journal:
Judge says he will approve agreement between Thiel and Gawker Media, declines Gizmodo's request to prevent Thiel from funding future lawsuits against it — Agreement ends wrangling with the billionaire who funded the Hulk Hogan privacy lawsuit that sent Gawker into bankruptcy
Karl Bode / Techdirt:
Charter is using language from net neutrality repeal in dispute over unfulfilled promises with NY state to claim states have no authority over it in lawsuits — While people remain exclusively fixated on the telecom industry's attacks on net neutrality, the reality is companies like Comcast …
Cyrus Farivar / Ars Technica:
Alleged owners of Mugshots.com, a site that publishes mugshots and demands payment for removal, arrested on extortion, money laundering, identity theft charges — Mugshots.com is a “business permeated with fraud,” California AG says. — Two alleged owners of Mugshots.com …
Discussion:
The Guardian, California Attorney …, Boing Boing, Law & Crime, Engadget and Gizmodo, more at Techmeme »
Trey Williams / The Wrap:
CBS board of directors votes to issue dividend that would dilute Redstone family's interest from about 80% to 20% and postpones annual meeting — CBS Corporation's board of directors voted on Thursday to dilute controlling shareholder Shari Redstone's interest to 20 percent from roughly 80 percent.