Mediagazer: Tribune Publishing Q1: net income of $6.1M on revenue of $173.6M; ad revenue fell 26.4% YoY, compensation expenses fell 35.8% YoY, and cash balance was $250.7M (Keith J. Kelly/New York Post)

10:35 PM ET, May 6, 2021

Top News:

Esther Crawford / Twitter:

Twitter introduces Tip Jar, allowing everyone using Twitter in English to send tips, and a limited group, including journalists and experts, to accept tips — We $ee you - sharing your PayPal link after your Tweet goes viral, adding your $Cashtag to your profile so people can support your work …

Victoria Lewis / WPTV:

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has barred local media from attending the signing of a voting restriction bill; the event is a “Fox News exclusive” — Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed Florida's elections reform bill into law. DeSantis signed SB90, which includes restrictions on voting …

Discussion: @stevebousquet, Miami Herald, Washington Post, CNN, Palm Beach Post, @jonathanchait, @maggienyt, @ariberman, @timothypmurphy, @servethe901, Slate, @wptv, @kevinmkruse, @annaforflorida, @jamessurowiecki, Mother Jones, Vanity Fair, ABC News, VICE, Insider and Mediaite

Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal:

Sources: the Athletic is no longer in merger talks with Axios, sees the NYT as the leading merger contender, and had ~$80M in revenue in 2020 with 600 staff — Publisher's talks with Axios are no longer active; New York Times Co. seen as leading contender for tie-up

Discussion: Insider, OutKick, @jessicalessin, @damospin, @nbashaw, @bmorrissey, @mathewi, Awful Announcing, @donlday, @seangriffey, @niubi, @mathewi, @rafat, @dcseifert, @subjectburst, @keitholbermann, @alexweprin, @jasonschwartz and The Hill

Washington Post:

While Alden pledged $375M in cash for Tribune, one clause would let Alden finance the cash with debt or equity financing, possibly raising Tribune's debt burden — Experts say Alden Global Capital's offer to invest in the Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun and other newspapers isn't what it seems

Discussion: @lenfestinst, @sarahellison, @baekdal, @saragregory, @jenwsheehan, @whet, @amyargetsinger, @mattlaslo, @hopnotes, @mcallguild, @ppvsrb, @cerconejeff, @elaheizadi and @os_guild

Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:

Tribune Publishing Q1: net income of $6.1M on revenue of $173.6M; ad revenue fell 26.4% YoY, compensation expenses fell 35.8% YoY, and cash balance was $250.7M — Tribune Publishing posted a first-quarter profit but canceled its earnings call, citing the imminent completion of a deal to take the newspaper giant private.

Discussion: Tribune Publishing Company, @saragregory, @jimfriedlich, @jimfriedlich, @jimfriedlich, @jimfriedlich and @lalpert1

Makena Kelly / The Verge:

NY AG's office says fake comments, including 8.5M funded by largest US ISPs, accounted for ~18M of the 22M+ net neutrality comments received by the FCC in 2017 — The New York attorney general's office released a new report detailing the effort — The New York attorney general's office issued …

Sara Fischer / Axios:

A record 44% of the NYT's 301K new digital subscribers in Q1 were to non-news products like cooking, games, and audio — The New York Times on Wednesday said it added 301,000 new digital-only subscribers last quarter, its slowest quarter for digital subscriber growth in over a year.

Discussion: @caitlinpacific, @jayrosen_nyu, @alexthomp, American Press Institute, @kerrymflynn, @rmantri, @carlquintanilla, @nytmedia, @anthony and @kbandersen

Melissa Guerrero / New York Times:
NYT hires its first editorial director of Games, Everdeen Mason, responsible for growing the audience and ensuring puzzles reflect and cultivate diverse voices

Discussion: @adrienneshih, @nytimeswordplay and @jennaescribe

Issie Lapowsky / Protocol:

Q&A: Facebook Oversight Board director Thomas Hughes on upholding Trump's ban, why the Board isn't a PR stunt, Facebook refusing to answer its questions, more — Following months of speculation, Facebook's Oversight Board issued a quasi-decision Wednesday in the case of former President Donald Trump's account.

Discussion: New York Times, Daily Herald, @nicoleperlroth, @therecount, @issielapowsky, @ennisnyt and New Yorker, more at Techmeme »

Oversight Board:
Facebook Oversight Board upholds Trump's suspension, but asks Facebook to review the decision within six months to determine a penalty consistent with its rules

Discussion: Common Dreams, @oversightboard, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Lawfare, Big Technology, Digiday, @issielapowsky, @nick_clegg, What's the Big Idea?, The Atlantic, 9to5Mac, Insider, @karaswisher, Reuters, Mediaite, The Banter, Financial Times, Fast Company, @cnbc, Vox, Fight for the Future, The Message Box, @hawleymo, Quartz, New York Times, @latimes, The Week, NPR, @thelastword, @mrctv, CNBC, @johnlegere, @usatoday, Today's Edition Newsletter, Free Press, @cnbc, @jaketapper, @karaswisher, @caseynewton, @repadamschiff, @can, The Wrap, @mikeisaac, @slpng_giants, @jayrosen_nyu, @base10, @arusbridger, @jeffbercovici, @digiphile, @jimsciutto, @garettsloane, @brandyzadrozny, @dylanbyers, @stevedeaceshow, @kurtwagner8, @jonathanvswan, @jonathanvswan, @goangelo, @kurtwagner8, @naacp, @tonyromm, @jeffjarvis, @jeffbercovici, @kurtwagner8, @mtracey, @chrislu44, @samuelstolton, @owenthomas, @blakereid, @adamserwer, @jeffjarvis, @jeffjarvis, @dylanbyers, @chriswelch, @donie, @meridithmcgraw, @mikeisaac, @frankpallone, @oliverdarcy, @robertmooreitv, @jess, @jason_pontin, @mikeisaac, @mikeisaac, @ceciliakang, @bplewis, @jason_pontin, @cwarzel, @alexhern, @shiraovide, @broderick, @sarafischer, @yashar, @jamesrbuk, @zaleskiluke, @silvermanjacob, @joannastern, @lawrencehurley, @keithedwards, @eschulze and @tomwarren, more at Techmeme »

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
The Oversight Board's decision on Trump's Facebook ban failed to send a clear message that a powerful public official can't use Facebook to endanger the public

Olivia Messer / Study Hall:

The trauma of covering the pandemic has battered journalists, and the industry is losing a generation of reporters and editors to despair and moral injury — When I told my editors at The Daily Beast that I needed to quit my job as the newsroom's lead COVID reporter, I couldn't even say the word “quit.”

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Roku beats estimates, with a Q1 net income of $76.3M on revenue of $574.2M, up 79% YoY; new active accounts grew 2.4M, reaching 53.6M, up 35% YoY; stock up ~7% — Roku gained 2.4 million new active accounts for the first quarter of 2021, showing that the pandemic-driven streaming momentum …

Discussion: Roku, Ad Age, The Wrap and FierceVideo, more at Techmeme »

Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:

ViacomCBS Q1: 36M streaming subscribers, up 6M since Q4; streaming revenue grew 65% YoY to $816M; net earnings up 79% YoY to $899M, affiliate revenue of $2.08B — The entertainment giant, led by CEO Bob Bakish, reported higher first-quarter advertising revenue as its latest financials exceeded Wall Street expectations.

Discussion: Variety, The Streamable, Hollywood Reporter, @alexweprin, @brenbrenchie, Collider, @thr, @loudmouthjulia, Variety, The Streamable, Light Reading, TV Technology, The Wrap and Deadline

Protocol:

Netflix is surveying users about their interest in features such as podcasts and user-generated playlists of shows and music, for a project called N-Plus — In a survey, Netflix is asking users how they would feel about a “future online space” called N-Plus. — Custom TV show playlists?

Discussion: Engadget, more at Techmeme »

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Climate Crisis Columnist — Prospect UK

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More News:

Joe Pompeo / Vanity Fair:
NY Post sources say Laura Italiano's resignation after an inaccurate story on Kamala Harris is a symptom of pressure for clicky content that stokes culture wars

Discussion: @danpfeiffer and @joepompeo

Emily Bary / MarketWatch:
IAC beats Q1 estimates with revenue of $876M, up 28% YoY, with Vimeo posting $89.4M in revenue, up 57% YoY; shareholders set to vote on Vimeo spinoff May 14

Discussion: IAC

Anna North / Vox:
20 current and former staffers discuss their experience working for National Geographic since its 2018 recognition of past racist coverage and pledge to improve

Discussion: @duquannsweeney, @emmacarew, @tlpix, @annanorthtweets, @ridahb, @bryanformhals, @leahfeiger, @johnedwinmason, @katduncanphoto, @sonipaul, @cococorycollins, @alexanderrusso, @kainazamaria and @kiell

Sophie Huet / AFP Correspondent:
Restrictions in place due to COVID have led to the proliferation of press pools, which only allow for limited perspectives, and of events closed to the press

Earlier Picks:

Jemima Kelly / Financial Times:
Substack adds Sections so writers can set up and manage multiple newsletters or podcasts within one main publication, facilitating the creation of newsrooms

Discussion: The Verge, @siruihua, blog.substack.com, @jemimajoanna and Sub Pub, more at Techmeme »

Benedict Evans:
The novels and anti-vax books on Amazon's “Children Vaccination & Immunization” bestseller list point to poor indexing and content moderation issues

Discussion: @benedictevans, @benedictevans and @jackshafer

Joan E. Solsman / CNET:
In a pitch to advertisers, Twitter unveils a slate of new video programming, working with partners including Refinery29, MLB, NBCUniversal News, NHL, and WNBA

Discussion: The Hollywood Reporter, ScreenRant and @alexgiess

Christopher Palmeri / Bloomberg:
Fox Corporation beats analyst estimates with Q3 revenue of $3.22B, down about 6.5% YoY; ad sales for the unit including Fox News fell almost 7% to $283M

Discussion: @bristei, @bristei, @claytravis, @newsynick, @bristei, @bristei, @bristei, @bristei, @bristei and @maynereport

From Techmeme:

Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority:
Source: Google has canceled the development of a second-generation Pixel Tablet, planned for release in 2025, due to concerns that it wouldn't sell very well

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is testing a more conversational version of Siri, dubbed “LLM Siri”, with plans to release it in spring 2026 as part of iOS 19 and macOS 16

The Information:
Sources: OpenAI considered making a browser, discussed deals to power AI features on Samsung devices and search on sites and apps from Condé Nast and others

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