Top News:
John Scott-Railton / The Citizen Lab:
Inside Endless Mayfly, an Iran-aligned network of websites and online personas used to spread false information targeting Saudi Arabia, the US, and Israel — Endless Mayfly1 is an Iran-aligned network of inauthentic websites and online personas used to spread false and divisive information …
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, @gabriellelim and The Atlantic
Sarah Whitten / CNBC:
Lionsgate shares soar ~15% after report that CBS interim CEO made an offer of around $5B to acquire Starz; Lionsgate said to have rejected offer — KEY POINTS — Rumors that CBS had made an informal offer to buy Starz from the media company sent the stock soaring.
Discussion:
The Information, Hollywood Reporter, @sherman4949, New York Post, NickALive!, Variety, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Reuters and Cord Cutters News
RELATED:
Reuters:
Sources: Lionsgate offered to sell Starz to CBS for $5.5B after CBS made an informal $5B bid for the network — (Reuters) - Lions Gates Entertainment offered to sell cable channel Starz to CBS Corp for $5.5 billion after rebuffing a lower offer, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Discussion:
@matthewkeyslive
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
Techdirt settles suit by Shiva Ayyadurai, who claimed to invent email; no money exchanges hands; Techdirt to link to an Ayyadurai statement on related articles — It's possible that some of you saw the news earlier this week that the legal dispute, in which Shiva Ayyadurai sued us for defamation …
Discussion:
@sfmnemonic, PR Newswire, @normative, @scot_blog, @adamsteinbaugh, @scottgreenfield, NBC News and Boing Boing, more at Techmeme »
David Von Drehle / Washington Post:
The battle for readers' attention translates to pandering to biases and flattening information, so trivial and significant stories get equal standing — Could it be a civic duty to tune out the news? Journalist Oliver Burkeman floats this provocative idea in a recent essay published in the Guardian newspaper.
Discussion:
@maggiemfox and @michaelkruse
Selina Wang / Bloomberg:
A look at Twitter in Japan, its second-largest market, raking in $136M in Q1 revenue, where the service has mass appeal and many users have multiple accounts — Rising ad dollars from Japan has bolstered the company's total revenue — When Yu Sasamoto joined Twitter Inc. as head of Japan in 2014 …
Discussion:
@hamburger, @luca, @freialobo and @selinawangtv, more at Techmeme »
Brooks Barnes / New York Times:
Vice has more than 60 TV series in development worldwide, including unscripted series and some based on Vice articles — LOS ANGELES — Danny Gabai was used to being ignored. For years, he ran what may have been Vice Media's most uncool business — the production of feature films, made to be shown in theaters.
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Spotify to start testing Car Thing, a voice-controlled smart assistant device that connects to your car and phone over bluetooth, with some Premium users in US — To learn how people consume audio in their car — Spotify will begin publicly testing its first hardware today …
Discussion:
Spotify, BGR, The Week, Android Police, RAIN News, Android Headlines, Variety, Engadget, Fast Company, Music Ally, Thurrott, TechCrunch, Mashable and Music Business Worldwide, more at Techmeme »
Nicolas Kristen / Global Editors Network:
Q&A with Google News creator Krishna Bharat on the impact of AI on journalism, the future of assisted interviews, and AI's contribution to democratic processes — In recent years, the threats posed by AI to democracies through hacking, manipulation, and disinformation campaigns have garnered public attention.
Janko Roettgers / Variety:
Google says it will shut down Jump, its cloud-based VR video stitching service, on June 28, due to a usage decline as new video formats and VR cameras came out — Google will shut down Jump, its cloud-based video stitching service, this summer. The company emailed creators Friday afternoon …
Discussion:
Engadget, more at Techmeme »
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
As streaming services look for content, the price to option magazine articles has soared; journalists and media organizations sometimes clash over revenue split — As a peripatetic writer for national magazines, David Kushner has traveled to some far-flung destinations.
Discussion:
@gerryfsmith, Thanks:@steverubel
Patience Haggin / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Google agreed to refund advertisers that paid for ads displayed in an ad fraud scheme discovered in 2017, following lawsuit over back-payments — Google has agreed to refund advertisers for ads purchased through its ad marketplaces that ran on websites with fraudulent traffic …
Discussion:
@dinasrinivasan, @asharma, @craigsilverman and Marketing Land