Top News:

A former NPR editor says Uri Berliner's critique was inaccurate and ignored inconvenient facts, but the outlet has long been an overcautious, centrist mess — Yes, the broadcaster is a mess. But “wokeness” isn't the issue. — NPR, the great bastion of old-school audio journalism, is a mess.
Discussion:
Fox News, Beyond Search, @jessbravin, @tusk81@mastodon.social, @jayrosen_nyc@threads.net, Twila Dang on LinkedIn, @ashtonpittman.ms@threads.net, Neil Lewis, Jr on LinkedIn, @jackjenkins@threads.net, @stevemullis, @profstevensmith, Brendan Sweeney on LinkedIn, @merulloboaz, Doug McLennan on LinkedIn, @tylrfishr@social …, @glyph@mastodon.social, Jessica Hansen I Voice Work on LinkedIn, @digiphile@mastodon.social, @biblioracle, @JMarkOckerbloom …, @acdha@thepit.social, Elaine Heinzman on LinkedIn, @jamesfallows, Mark McDonald on LinkedIn, @dave@social.masto.land, MediaPost and New York Times
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NPR suspended Uri Berliner for five days without pay, starting on April 12, after he wrote an essay accusing NPR of losing the public's trust — NPR has formally punished Uri Berliner, the senior editor who publicly argued a week ago that the network had “lost America's trust” …
Discussion:
Associated Press, Fox News, New York Times, @elaheizadi, @ezraklein@threads.net, @shannonpareil@threads.net, The Desk, @fritschner, @karaswisher@threads.net, @elaheizadi, @brianstelter@threads.net, @lewispants, @nprinskeep, @jeffjarvis@threads.net, @jbouie@threads.net, @lewispants, @lewispants, @esthercindc, @esthercindc, Newser, Los Angeles Times, Inside Radio, @bgrueskin, @emptywheel, @justinbaragona, @fritschner, @moorehn, @rubensteinadam, @aghamilton29, @keithpille.bsky.social, @jayrosen.bsky.social, @dankennedy_nu@threads.net, @katzish.bsky.social, Current, Houman Harouni on LinkedIn, @gretared@sfba.social, @jayrosen.bsky.social, The Guardian, Differ We Must, @ernie@writing.exchange, Deadline, Mediaite, The Daily Beast, New York Post, Tom Renk on LinkedIn, The Hill, CNN, The Wrap and Media Nation

The News/Media Alliance asks the DOJ, the FTC, and California's AG for a probe into whether Google broke any laws when removing some links to CA news sites — An organization that represents more than 2,000 news publishers sent letters on Tuesday to federal agencies, urging them to launch …
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Dozens of Alden-owned newspapers ran editorials over the weekend arguing that Google's threat to cut off news in California “is a bully tactic” — Meta has threatened the same. — The editorials ran in many of Alden's California-based outlets, including the San Jose Mercury News …
Discussion:
San Francisco Chronicle, @sarafischer and Media Nation

The US assures the UK that Julian Assange could seek US First Amendment protections and wouldn't face the death penalty or be persecuted for his nationality — American officials sought to reassure the U.K. about Julian Assange's treatment should the former WikiLeaks founder, who has been indicted by the U.S., be sent there.
Discussion:
Mediaite, Fox News, The Independent, Bloomberg, Sky News, The Guardian and Reuters

IAB and PwC report on US digital ad sales in 2023: total revenue grew 7.3% YoY to $225B, digital video grew 10.6% to $52.1B, and digital audio grew 18.9% to $7B — Nothing lasts forever. Ad revenue growth decelerated for the second year in a row after heady post-COVID ad revenue gains.
Discussion:
IAB, Radio Ink, Inside Radio, Tv Technology, RAIN News, MarTech, Interactive Advertising Bureau, Adweek and MediaPost, more at Techmeme »

UK court documents: actor Hugh Grant settled a lawsuit against The Sun publisher News Group Newspapers over claims of using private investigators to phone tap — British actor Hugh Grant has settled a lawsuit against the publisher of The Sun tabloid newspaper over claims journalists used …
Discussion:
The Guardian and Deadline

A profile of Uday Shankar, a former journalist who worked with the Murdoch family and is set to lead Viacom18, which is poised to dominate India's media market — - Uday Shankar will be vice chair of sports, entertainment giant — The $8.5 billion deal unites Disney's business with Reliance

An interview with CNN CEO Mark Thompson on having “plenty of things” to fix, how shifting to digital is an “existential question”, subscriptions, and more — Veteran media executive wants 24-hour cable news network to embark on digital overhaul
Discussion:
@danielthomasldn, @astronomer_mark, @ft and @danielthomasldn

PEN America: 4,349 books were removed from US schools across 23 states from July 2023 to December 2023, up from 3,362 books in the entire previous academic year — More books were removed during the first half of this academic year than in the entire previous one.
Discussion:
The Hill, Publishers Weekly and PEN America

Smartmatic and OANN say they have settled a defamation suit filed by the voting tech company, filed in 2021 — CNN — — Voting technology company Smartmatic and the far-right network One America News said Tuesday they have reached a confidential settlement over a defamation lawsuit stemming …

Internal email: Participant Media, which backed films like Green Book and Spotlight, is shutting down; sources: almost all of its 100 employees will be let go — Participant, the 20-year-old film and television production company whose mission was to inspire social justice and humanitarian action, is shutting down.