Top News:


Tribune Publishing's deal to give Alden Global Capital 2 board seats is indefensible; Alden promised not to buy more shares or mount a proxy fight for 7 months — As a matter of corporate governance, the deal to give Alden Global two board seats is indefensible.


Rudy Giuliani is in Europe interviewing Ukrainians for an OANN documentary series, which is being promoted as a Republican alternative to impeachment hearings — President Trump's personal lawyer has been in Budapest and Kyiv this week to talk with former Ukrainian prosecutors …
Discussion:
@rudygiuliani, Breitbart, ABC News, @abc, @christopherjm, @aaronblake, @aaronblake, @aaronblake, @aaronblake, @aaronblake, @aaronblake, @aaronblake, @aaronblake, @aaronblake, BuzzFeed News, Raw Story, Talking Points Memo, Slate, @brooklynmarie, @billkristol, @mattgertz, @ewong, emptywheel, Fox News, The Daily Beast, Mediaite, Vanity Fair and The Week


An ex-Infowars employee discusses why he joined the outlet, its tendency to look for evidence to back up preconceived narratives, Alex Jones' erratic behavior — I dropped out of film school to edit video for the conspiracy theorist because I believed in his worldview. Then I saw what it did to people.


Searches for “Mike” on Bloomberg terminals initially displayed Michael Bloomberg's campaign site as first result; spokesman says results now display a bio page — Michael Bloomberg's flagship news and information terminal was promoting the billionaire media mogul's run …
Discussion:
@ttrippet, @annaknicolaou, The Hill, @dandefrancesco, @fgoria, @mlcalderone, @annaknicolaou, @raju, @meganmurp, @martinsfp, @mattgarrahan and @edmundlee


Digital journalists at respectable news outlets play a role in amplifying false videos and other social media junk; they should thoroughly report before posting — At 1:15pm Eastern on Wednesday, May 22, a Trump supporter named Shawn Brooks posted a video on Facebook called “Is Nancy Pelosi drunk?”
Discussion:
@maggiemfox, @cjr, @firstdraftnews, @kboo, @daciampaglia, @mikeh_pr, @beschizza, @ravisomaiya and @mathewi


Karen McDougal, the former Playboy model who said she had an affair with Trump, sues Fox News, saying Tucker Carlson falsely accused her of extortion last year — Ms. McDougal, a former Playboy model who sold her story to The National Enquirer, said Tucker Carlson made false claims about extortion that damaged her reputation.


Filmmakers, with backing from Brennan Center and Knight First Amendment Institute, sue over policy that subjects US visa applicants to social media screening — Free-speech advocates are challenging the Trump administration's policy of requiring foreigners to list their social media accounts …


Ogury, a mobile ad network featuring a consent management platform for publishers to manage consent, raises $50M led by Idinvest Partners, for a total of $92M — Mobile data company Ogury raised $50 million in Series C funding on Thursday with an eye on international expansion and consumer privacy-related R&D.
Discussion:
Digiday and EU-Startups


Jermaine Hall, who has held leadership posts at Vibe, BET, and more, launches a new culture publication, LEVEL, on Medium, the platform's seventh launch of 2019 — Jermaine Hall, who has held executive editorial posts at Vibe, XXL, BET and King, today announced a new culture …
Discussion:
@levelmag, @ev, @jermainehall, Level and @adriana_lacy


Imgur says it now has 300M MAU and launches Melee, an iOS app where users see a feed of memes and gameplay clips for the games to which they subscribe — 10 years after debut, 300 million monthly user Imgur is one of the last massively popular yet unpersonalized home pages on the internet.
Discussion:
PCMag Australia, App Store, VentureBeat and @joshconstine, more at Techmeme »


After conservatives decry exposure of some of John Solomon's phone records, a spokesman for Democrats says no records were subpoenaed for any journalist — The House Intel committee tells The Daily Beast that they did not subpoena the phone records for Devin Nunes or John Solomon.
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Washington Examiner, @katzonearth, @counterchekist, @jsolomonreports and emptywheel


CBS and Viacom finalized their merger after market close Wednesday, combining CBS with Paramount, alongside Viacom channels including MTV and Nickelodeon — CBS and Viacom are finally, really, back to together. Less than four months after announcing their intentions to rejoin as one company …
Discussion:
Variety, New York Times, MediaPost, Variety, Publishers Weekly, Broadcasting & Cable, Ad Age, @nytimesbusiness, @nickandmore, @manologvergara, CNN, TVNewser, Multichannel News, Adweek, Los Angeles Times and Forbes