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, Talking Points Memo, @brooklynmarie, @billkristol, @mattgertz, @ewong, Raw Story, 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.
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, Mediaite, VICE, @parismartineau, @penamerica, The A.V. Club, @kmcdonovgh, @davidjoachim, @anneapplebaum, @oliverdarcy, @cwarzel, @ehananoki, @oliverdarcy, @jonronson, Boing Boing and Raw Story
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, @daciampaglia, @cjr, @firstdraftnews, @kboo, @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, @jermainehall, @ev, Level and @adriana_lacy
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:
Washington Examiner, Wall Street Journal, @katzonearth, @counterchekist, @jsolomonreports and emptywheel
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:
VentureBeat, PCMag Australia, App Store and @joshconstine, more at Techmeme »
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:
MediaPost, New York Times, Publishers Weekly, Variety, Variety, Broadcasting & Cable, Ad Age, @nytimesbusiness, @nickandmore, @manologvergara, CNN, TVNewser, Los Angeles Times, Multichannel News, Adweek and Forbes
Emily Bell / Columbia Journalism Review:
As tech companies embrace fact-checking to prove they are active in trying to stop misinfo, fact-checking orgs' association with traditional media is weakening — Has our investment in debunking worked? — Personally I think the idea that fake news on Facebook, of which it's a very small amount …
Discussion:
American Press Institute, @emilybell, @joegermuska, @cjr, @emilybell, @emilybell, @daviduberti and @emilybell
RELATED:
Will Oremus / OneZero:
A study by Avaaz may have overstated the problem of false stories on Facebook, but it also revealed cracks, loopholes, and limitations in Facebook's systems
Discussion:
@bcmerchant, @ranimolla, @nandoodles, @willoremus, @willoremus, @willoremus, @willoremus, @willoremus, @jake_hanrahan, @willoremus, @dorotheabaur, @willoremus, @ilparone, @drresmith, @profgalloway, @moonalice and @emilybell
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