Mediagazer: Les Moonves and ViacomCBS settle dispute over his payout; a contractor will pay a sum to Moonves, which he'll donate to charity, and $120M reverts to ViacomCBS (Meg James/Los Angeles Times)

8:10 PM ET, May 16, 2021

Top News:

Israeli airstrike destroys a high-rise in Gaza City that housed offices of AP and Al-Jazeera, after the military warned people to evacuate the building — GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel slammed the Gaza Strip with airstrikes, in a dramatic escalation that included bombing the home …

Discussion: Associated Press, Associated Press, The Definitive Source, Committee to Protect …, Al Jazeera, @idf, New York Times, @linahalsaafin, @ajenglish, @tomgara, @eylonalevy, @presssec, Mediaite, The Guardian, New York Times, @w7voa, @jpacedc, @wesleylowery, Washington Post, NPR, The Daily Beast, Associated Press, The Starting Block, Variety, CNN, Vanity Fair, @rafaelshimunov, @jimlaporta, @snowden, @jimlaporta, @brianstelter, @abihabib, @cbsnews, @tomgara, Tugboat for Twitter, @mattmcbradley, @annaknelson_rsf, New York Post, The Indian Express, @karenattiah, @imtiaztyab, @brandondarby, @isobelroe, @imtiaztyab, @ap, APOLLO NETWORK Newsletter, @ap, @eylonalevy, The Chief Brief, @mirza9, @kredo0, @jpacedc, @ztsamudzi, @mirza9, @ggreenwald, @seldeeb, @lsarsour, @adamjohnsonnyc, @mitchellreports, @johnmdonnelly, @snowden, @gchikermane, @alastairmca30, @redsteeze, @margbrennan, @dloesch, @jongambrellap, @jerrydunleavy, @ranaayyub, @mrglenn, @sdkstl, KRON4, @misstessowen, @alexcrawfordsky, @phillipsian, @dillonreedrose, @jasonrantz, @golan_yarden, @piersmorgan, @raniakhalek, @ostrov_a, @nytimes, @kenroth, @harryslaststand, @ajenglish, @rssliam, @wesleylowery, @ap, @berniceking, @richardgrenell, @bendepear, @johncardillo, @ajenglish, @ajenglish, @naveedajamali, @ase, @iamumer1, A. Khaled's Blog, Newser, National Press Club, Slate, The Hill, The Week, The Independent, Reuters, Daily Sabah, Agence France-Presse, The Straits Times, Wall Street Journal, Insider and The Wrap

David M. Halbfinger / New York Times:

IDF spokesman is suspected of misleading the international press on a ground invasion in Gaza to dupe Hamas, which was mistakenly reported by NYT and others — A spokesman led the international media to believe that Israeli forces had entered Gaza. They hadn't. But the army wanted Hamas to think they had.

Discussion: Jerusalem Post, Politico, @davidgura, @hotlinejosh, @e_h_carpenter, @sebusher, @kenklippenstein, @marietjeschaake, @jvplive, @adammilstein, @hotweatherisbad, @sasapetricic, @zaidjilani, @leahmcelrath, Melanie Phillips, @alistaircoleman, @amyspiro, @geraldngom, @doranimated, @wolfe321, @huwlemmey, @mazdaki, @octavianasr, @qifanabki, @sameralatrush, @sameralatrush, @sameralatrush, @janinedigi, @naveedajamali, @pseudocia, @eliothiggins, @digiphile, @lukeisamazing, @mazdaki, @jonathancohn, @lisang, Newser, @markberman, The NewsGuild - CWA, @scottdetrow, @evanlaksmana, @aaschapiro, @hichamyezza, @multied, @sameralatrush, @janearraf, @eylonalevy, @danaelkurd, @saimamohsin, @bbcjonsopel, @maxblumenthal, @danaafana, @yousefmunayyer, @theblahdalia, @mariambarghouti, @nytimes, @halbfinger, @davidgura, @dellcam, @therealestspoon, @wesleylowery, @chrstphr_woody, @froomkin and Insider

Committee to Protect Journalists:
IDF destroyed two buildings in Gaza City housing 12+ media outlets; IDF says the buildings were targeted as sites of Hamas' intelligence and military offices

Discussion: Al Jazeera, @anealla, @emilygorcenski, @briannawu, @winter, The Daily Beast, The Hill and @mtracey

Financial Times:

Sources: AT&T board is meeting on Sunday to approve a deal to combine WarnerMedia with rival Discovery, creating a media giant with an enterprise value of $150B — Structure of deal remains unclear, but AT&T is expected to control most of combined entity

Discussion: Variety, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Vox, Bloomberg, CNBC, CNN, Bloomberg, Insider, @lucas_shaw, nexttv.com, Gizmodo, @annaknicolaou, The Hill, @jimwaterson, @bobdigi69, @karlbode, @lucas_shaw, @bendreyfuss, @roybelly, Mediaite, @teddyschleifer, @jaysonrodriguez, @stephanie_link, The Wrap, @joecarlsonshow, @ashkan, @rasmussen_poll, @bluthcapital, @pkafka, @selectjournal, @brianmcc, @hblodget, @sherman4949, @alexweprin, @kimmasters, @pkafka, @blowryontv, Variety, @brianstelter, The Streamable, @richlightshed, @annaknicolaou, @brianstelter, @loudmouthjulia, @kerrymflynn, @jfk_america, @vivian, @pkafka, @arcadegirl64, @dmccabe, @rubecube12, @oliverdarcy, @jeffjarvis, @kimmasters, @edmundlee, @cgasparino, TVNewser, @mgsiegler, @richlightshed, @lpolgreen, Hollywood Reporter, The Verge, @sherman4949, @taralach, @billkuchman, @brianstelter, @mediumbuying, Insider, @donie, Engadget, @karlbode, @wblau, Adweek, @optionshawk, Reuters and @loudmouthjulia

Josef Adalian / Vulture:

How Netflix uses both personalization and objective rankings in its lists of popular shows, and how it continues to test rankings to encourage more viewing — This story is the second in a two-part series about the inner workings of Netflix's homepage. Read the first story here.

Discussion: @tvmojoe, @vulture, @tvmojoe and @blackamazon

Jack Crosbie / Discourse Blog:

In internal meeting, CEO Meredith Levien defended NYT's refusal to voluntarily recognize The NYT Tech Guild, saying its members are tech people, not journalists — In a meeting with staffers, Meredith Levien had several reasons for why she's fighting her paper's newest organizing effort.

Matt Pearce / Los Angeles Times:

A look at the Ambies, Podcast Academy's annual podcast awards whose nominees across 23 categories were chosen by 100+ members, ahead of its inaugural show — Podcasts: Where can you listen to them? Anywhere podcasts are available! — But how do you know the best podcasts to try?

Discussion: @mattdpearce, @stephenwilson, @laura_nelson, @neddonovan, @davewiner, @teddwoods, @mattdpearce and @latimes

The Intercept:

The Intercept stands by its reporting on Gab and “Riot Squad”, after it was accused of doxxing conservative journalists, says its reporters have been harassed — Over the past several days, wild and unfounded accusations have been hurled at The Intercept.

Paul Volpe / Politico:

Why WaPo likely looked outside its own ranks to hire a female EIC, including a shrinking newsroom before Bezos' takeover, plus structural and cultural issues — When the Washington Post on Tuesday named Sally Buzbee of the Associated Press as its next executive editor—the first woman to have the role …

The Daily Beast:

Unlike many in the media, MSNBC's Mehdi Hasan and Ayman Mohyeldin are granting airtime to Palestinians instead of heavily relying on Israeli government accounts — NEW VIEW — Much of the American television news coverage of the ongoing violence in Israel and the Gaza Strip has followed a familiar …

Discussion: Financial Times

Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:

Jason Kilar says he expects no long-term negative effects of releasing 2021 movies on HBO Max; sources: Warner Bros. paid $200M+ to appease talent — WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar fired the streaming service's top brass, blew up the movie business and angered Hollywood royalty. He says it's a recipe for success.

Discussion: Bloomberg, The A.V. Club, @drewfitzgerald, @brooksbarnesnyt, @wsj and @jbflint

Julia Alexander / IGN:

Nickelodeon is a primary reason people are signing up for and watching streaming service Paramount+, says ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish — Nickelodeon is key to Paramount+'s success — Between 2010 and 2020, Nickelodeon lost more than 60% of its audience. — Snapped up by Netflix, YouTube …

Discussion: @ign and @danimichaeli1

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:

Amazon launches miniTV, an ad-supported free video streaming service that is available within the Amazon shopping app in India — Amazon has long maintained that its video streaming service, Prime Video, helps drive more sales on the shopping app. Now the e-commerce giant is testing …

Discussion: @yourstoryco, Hindustan Times, BGR India, @8ap, IN Day One Blog, The Economic Times, @amazonin, The Indian Express, India Today, Livemint, Engadget, NDTV Gadgets 360, @sub8u and The Verge, more at Techmeme »

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Senior Data Journalist, NY — WSJ

Manager - Publishing Editorial, Manila — Reuters

Oil Reporter, Singapore — Bloomberg

Newsperson - State Govt. & Politics, CA — AP

Business Reporter, SC — Post & Courier

State Government Reporter, WA — Seattle Times

Climate Crisis Columnist — Prospect UK

Multimedia Journalist, CA — Paramount

Community Engagement Mgr., DC — Freedom Forum

Senior California Politics Reporter, CA — SFGATE

Staff Writer - Business, NY — WIRED

Team Editor - Opinion, ON — Toronto Star

Assistant Correspondent, DC — Kyodo News

Climate & Weather Reporter, MN — Star Tribune

Senior Tech Editor, Remote US — The Verge

Lead Business Reporter, TN — Daily Memphian

Managing Editor, WA — Everett Herald

Private Credit Reporter, NY — Debtwire

City Correspondent, London — Financial News

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More News:

Issie Lapowsky / Protocol:
A new Biden executive order revokes a Trump-era EO that targeted protections for social media platforms and asked the FCC to conduct a review of Section 230

Discussion: The Indian Express, The White House, Engadget, @brendancarrfcc, @evan_greer, @johnhendel, @aclu, @cendemtech, @jameeljaffer, @issielapowsky, @davidgreene, @davidgreene and The Verge

Meg James / Los Angeles Times:
Les Moonves and ViacomCBS settle dispute over his payout; a contractor will pay a sum to Moonves, which he'll donate to charity, and $120M reverts to ViacomCBS

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, New York Times, CNBC, @megjameslat and ViacomCBS Inc.

Reggie Ugwu / New York Times:
A look at Spotify-exclusive “music and talk” podcasts, which let hosts avoid music licensing fees and fair-use legal fights via free access to Spotify catalog

Discussion: @nytimesmusic, @donthatebehated, @producertd, @danamo, @blackamazon, @dada_drummer, @justintinsley, @danamo, @feliciapride, @loganmmurdock, @lpolgreen, @ringer, @tonyamosley, @nicktheandersen and @harvilla, more at Techmeme »

Earlier Picks:

RFE / Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty:
RFE/RL's bank accounts in Russia have been frozen; Russia's media monitor has imposed fines on the news outlet for failing to label itself as a foreign agent

Discussion: @soychicka

Jeremy Fuster / The Wrap:
Southern Theatres follows Alamo Drafthouse and AMC, launching a service to let subscribers rent films after their theatrical run and before they're on streaming

Discussion: @usunitedjustice

Ben Munson / FierceVideo:
TiVo buys MobiTV's assets for $18.5M, including its live and on-demand video delivery offerings to launch app-based streaming TV services

Discussion: @davezatz

From Techmeme:

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Thoughts on Apple TV's history and future; sources: a larger-than-usual number of features scheduled for iOS 19 have been postponed to iOS 19.4 in spring 2026

Bloomberg:
Sources: Cantor Fitzgerald plans a $2B program to lend dollars to clients who put up Bitcoin as collateral and is talking with Tether about support

David Pan / Bloomberg:
A profile of Chris Maurice, CEO of US-based stablecoin startup Yellow Card, which operates in 20 African countries and has traded $3B+ worth of crypto in 2024

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