Top News:
Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Ben Sherwood and Joanna Coles take minority stakes in The Daily Beast; Sherwood will be CEO and publisher, and Coles will be chief creative and content officer — The former Disney executive Ben Sherwood and Joanna Coles, the former Hearst content chief, are being given a minority stake in the digital tabloid.
Discussion:
Politico, @digitalshields, @dylanbyers, @davidphinney, Mediaite, The Information, The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter, @chaykak, Variety, New York Post, @benmullin, Axios and Puck
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Laurence Peter / BBC:
Russia's Ministry of Justice labels BBC Russian correspondent Ilya Barabanov and science reporter Asya Kazantseva as “foreign agents”; both now live abroad — The Russian justice ministry has labelled two prominent journalists - BBC Russian correspondent Ilya Barabanov …
Discussion:
The Guardian
Sahil Patel / The Information:
Sources: Disney plans old-style TV channels within Disney+, with a continuous, scheduled stream of shows that are focused on certain genres like Star Wars — In television, what's old is new again. After more than a decade of growth in streaming services that make viewers click on shows they want to watch …
Ariel Zilber / New York Post:
CNN axes King Charles, its weekly one-hour primetime show launched in fall 2023 by Chris Licht with hosts Gayle King and Charles Barkley, due to low ratings — The CNN weekly prime time talk show co-hosted by basketball loudmouth Charles Barkley and CBS morning star Gayle King has ended a six-month run that failed to produce ratings.
Max Tani / Semafor:
The Intercept is losing ~$300K/month and could run out of cash by May 2025, according to data from March; its CEO says the projection was a worst case scenario — The Scoop — The Intercept, the left-wing U.S. newsroom that's been a thorn in Joe Biden's side and a hub for pro-Palestinian coverage …
Discussion:
Semafor, The Overspill, @jameeljaffer, New York Post, @eoinhiggins_, @brianchallenge1, The Daily Caller, @skooks, @sarahleah1, @ericmgarcia, @pressgazette, @mbolotnikova, @joffemd, @jason_pontin, @noahpinion, @noahpinion, @clarajeffery, @maxwelltani, @semafor, @micahflee@infosec.exchange and @georgebaily@mastodon.social, more at Techmeme »
Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:
PressPad, which arranged housing for interns in London by asking established journalists to offer up their spare rooms, starting in 2018, is shutting down — “While there is even more need for this intervention than when we began the project, the initiative needs more resources than the current team can provide.”
Discussion:
@presspaduk
Charlotte Klein / Vanity Fair:
A look at the negotiations to provide media access to Trump's trial; the state court system hired ex-journalist Al Baker to prepare for the historic trial — For months, reporters, lawyers, and court officials have been negotiating media access to the camera-free proceedings.
Discussion:
@benkochman, Deadline, @maggienyt, @charlottetklein, TMZ.com, @mlcalderone, @bubblebathgirl, @edcauchi and Reuters Institute
Nicole Sperling / New York Times:
As Netflix's new film chief Dan Lin takes charge, the company aims to shift its film strategy to focus on audience appeal and cost efficiency — Dan Lin, the streaming service's new film chief, wants to produce a more varied slate of movies to better appeal to the array of interests among subscribers.
Ben Smith / Semafor:
Q&A with Jina Moore on resigning as volunteer EIC of Guernica after staff revolted over an essay by Israeli writer Joanna Chen, Guernica's politics, and more — Jina Moore Ngarambe is a veteran reporter who was East Africa bureau chief for The New York Times, among other assignments.
Discussion:
@davidfolkenflik
Ricardo Brito / Reuters:
Letter: X's lawyers tell Brazil's Supreme Court that the social media platform will comply with every ruling issued by the court or Brazil's top electoral court — Lawyers representing Elon Musk's X told Brazil's Supreme Court that the social media platform will comply with every ruling issued …
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
Major South African outlet The Daily Maverick takes down its site for a day to alert readers to ad revenue, grant funding, and philanthropic support “drying up” — A major South African news website has taken “drastic” action to raise awareness of the “crisis in journalism” by shutting down for 24 hours.
Discussion:
WAN-IFRA, @carrynann, @cebelihlem, @newzroom405, @paulivw and LatAm Journalism Review
Bloomberg:
Taylor Swift's music returning to TikTok highlights her power over UMG and its CEO Lucian Grainge, who must now hope other music groups join his TikTok fight — Shari Redstone believes she's found the right buyer for Paramount. Her fellow shareholders aren't convinced.
Discussion:
@lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw, Screen Rant, @lucas_shaw, Music Ally and Lefsetz Letter