Mediagazer: CBS buys out Lionsgate's 50% ownership of the Pop TV cable channel, formerly the TV Guide Network, gaining full control (Cynthia Littleton/Variety)

Laura Hazard Owen / Nieman Lab:

Seven organizations are receiving $750K in funding for projects combining AI and news, including The Seattle Times — How will artificial intelligence change society? How should journalists cover it? And how can AI actually be helpful to newsrooms and reporters?

Discussion: AI Initiative, Poynter, @timhwang, @mantzarlis, @degarciaknight, @pilhofer, @jeffjarvis, TechCrunch and Muckrock News

Mike Farrell / Multichannel News:

Tribune Media's shareholders overwhelmingly approve its acquisition by Nexstar Media Group, a deal that will create the largest TV station group in the US — $6.4B purchase will create country's largest station group — Tribune Media said its shareholders overwhelmingly approved …

Discussion: Deadline and Broadcasting & Cable

The Information:

Sources: Vice Media is seeking to raise up to $200M, possibly through a mix of debt and equity, and aims for profitability in the next 12 months — Vice Media is looking to raise a new round of financing of up to $200 million, which the company hopes will give it enough cash to reach its goal …

Discussion: @cityofthetown, @felixsalmon, @jessicalessin, @dansinker, @amir and @gadyepstein

Cynthia Littleton / Variety:

CBS buys out Lionsgate's 50% ownership of the Pop TV cable channel, formerly the TV Guide Network, gaining full control — CBS has taken full ownership of the Pop TV cable channel after buying out the 50% stake held by Lionsgate. — CBS said it aims to better integrate Pop with the rest …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Hollywood Reporter, Broadcasting & Cable, Deadline, Adweek, The Wrap and MediaPost

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Twitter has launched its first ever podcast, “Character Count”, a series about its advertising business with interviews with companies like Dropbox — Twitter today is joining the podcasting arena. This morning, the social network is launching its first-ever podcast series …

Discussion: Adweek

Alfred Ng / CNET:

Alphabet's Jigsaw releases Tune, a Chrome extension that filters out “toxic” comments on Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Disqus using its Perspective AI — The comments sections of websites bring out the best and worst of the internet — engaging insights are often found right next to enraging insults.

Discussion: Engadget, more at Techmeme »

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Speaking on his show on Monday night, Tucker Carlson said he would “not bow to the mob”, but his program had just four ad breaks and few national advertisers — Tucker Carlson took to Fox News Channel's 8 p.m. slot knowing he had the full support of the cable-news network's regular viewers.

Discussion: Media Matters for America, Melville House Books, Contemptor, CNN, Women in the World, Washington Post, @brianstelter, The Daily Caller, @brianstelter, VICE News and Washington Post

Discussion: Washington Post, Mediaite, The Intercept, @jackshafer, @joehagansays, @ericboehlert, @ritapanahi and CNN

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Spotify Premium now offers a subscription to Hulu's ad-supported plan for free, in a deal available to new and existing users in the US until June 10 — Hulu and Spotify today announced an expansion of their partnership on discounted streaming bundles, which lowers the price of Hulu's ad-supported service to, well... nothing.

Discussion: Variety, CNET, @klingebeil, @dcseifert, @billboard, @backlon, /Film, @musicbefore, @danrayburn, @chriswelch, The A.V. Club, The Verge, Mashable, The Wrap, MediaPost, The Verge, Adweek, Fortune, Thurrott and MacRumors, more at Techmeme »

Luke Mullins / Washingtonian:

How lobbyists are using geofencing of ads on digital platforms and hiring TV pundits to send policy messages to the president and those who influence him — Paying shills who go on Fox News, planting super-targeted ads in the President's Twitter feed, and all the other eyebrow-raising ways lobbyists …

Discussion: @annalecta, Slate, @washingtonian, @jeffsmithmo, @digiphile, @crewcrew, @crewcrew, @sbg1, @jonathanchait, @lmullinsdc, @mollymckew, @asmith83 and @douglevin

The Daily Beast:

Court documents: Nicholas Sandmann, a student who was part of a viral confrontation with a Native American elder, sues CNN; he sued The Washington Post earlier — Nicholas Sandmann, a Kentucky high-school student who was at the center of a viral confrontation with a Native American elder in Washington …

Discussion: Mediaite

Joe Concha / The Hill:

Three Democratic lawmakers reintroduce the Journalist Protection Act, which would make it a federal crime to physically assault journalists — Three Democratic lawmakers reintroduced a Journalist Protection Act that intends to designate “certain attacks on those reporting the news” as a federal crime.

Discussion: SPJ News and East County Today

Bloomberg:

Venezuelan police have released journalist Luis Carlos Diaz after holding him overnight, accusing him of taking part in a plot to cause a nationwide blackout — - Luis Carlos Diaz was detained while cycling home Monday — Diaz to appear in court every eight days, can't leave country

Discussion: Committee to Protect …, @caracaschron, @rsf_en, WPLG-TV and @jilliancyork

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Lori Conkling, EVP of strategy and business development at NBCUniversal, is joining Google as global head of partnerships for YouTube TV and Google Fiber — - DirecTV Now Prices Going Up by $10 per Month for All Customers, AT&T Rolling Out Two New Reformatted Packages

Discussion: Multichannel News and The Wrap