Top News:
Joe Cahill / Chicago Business:
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.
New York Times:
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
Josh Owens / New York Times:
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.
Financial Times:
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
Ravi Somaiya / Columbia Journalism Review:
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
Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs / New York Times:
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.
Washington Post:
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 …
Allison Schiff / AdExchanger:
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
Variety:
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
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
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 »
Sam Stein / The Daily Beast:
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
Tim Baysinger / The Wrap:
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