Mediagazer: 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 (Brian Steinberg/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

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

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

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

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

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, The Daily Caller, CNN, Women in the World, Washington Post, @brianstelter, @brianstelter, VICE News and Washington Post

Discussion: Mediaite, Washington Post, The Intercept, @jackshafer, @ericboehlert, @joehagansays, @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, The A.V. Club, @danrayburn, @chriswelch, The Verge, Mashable, The Verge, The Wrap, MediaPost, 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 …, WPLG-TV, @caracaschron, @rsf_en 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