Top News:
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Post.News, the news-focused social platform launched in 2022 that offered micropayments to publishers, is shutting down after failing to grow “fast enough” — Post News, a Twitter alternative that emerged in the wake of Elon Musk's takeover, is shutting down.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, @crumbler@threads.net, @lessin, @bluesky, @josh@josh.tel, @polotek@social.polotek.net, @cardamomaddict@mstdn.ca, @stop@threads.net, @Hey_Beth@sfba.social, @SteveThompson@mastodon.social, @hellodavidryan@threads.net, Media Nation, @NevadaWolf@birds.town and @timothyjchambers@threads.net, more at Techmeme »
Michael Msika / Bloomberg:
PE firm Blackstone offers ~$1.5B to purchase Hipgnosis, about 7% higher than the bid made earlier this week by Concord to which Hipgnosis' board had agreed — - Competition heats up for Blondie, Kaiser Chiefs catalog owner — Hipgnosis already recommended Apollo-backed Concord's offer
Discussion:
Financial Times, Digital Music News, Variety, Music Business Worldwide, Billboard and Reuters
Ruth La Ferla / New York Times:
Graydon Carter opens a physical store called Air Mail Newsstand in NYC, as an extension of his digital newsletter Air Mail, selling books, magazines, and more — Shoe horns, lampshades and CBD-infused elixirs are among the goods Graydon Carter is selling at a new newsstand-style shop in New York.
Discussion:
@nbj914, Harrison Vail on LinkedIn and Showbiz411
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Filing: Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav's 2023 compensation package was worth $49.7M, up 26.5% from the year prior, with $23.1M in stock awards — David Zaslav, president and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, had a 2023 pay package worth $49.7 million, up 26.5% from the year prior …
Discussion:
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Wall Street Journal, Theo Francis on LinkedIn, @pezmico@mastodon.nz, @buccocapital, Joe Flint on LinkedIn, Dan Price on LinkedIn, @brucebartlett, @dylanbyers, @lucas_shaw, The Daily Beast, @youdoingtoomuch, The Information, Gizmodo, Bloomberg, Hollywood Reporter, The Desk, Next TV, Reuters, The Wrap, IndieWire, @2xaught7.bsky.social, Deadline and New York Times
Charlotte Klein / Vanity Fair:
The Trump campaign has denied press credentials for several reporters, often after tough questions or articles; in 2016, it denied them for entire news outlets — Reporters from The Washington Post, Axios, and Vanity Fair have recently been rejected, though blanket bans, à la 2016, don't appear to be happening.
Discussion:
@civex, @curtishouck and @mlcalderone
Clara Aberneithie / Press Gazette:
A look at The Cool Down, a climate-focused news outlet that makes $5M in programmatic advertising per year and aims to increase it to $12M per year in 2025 — The Cool Down is the fastest-growing top 50 news website in the US. — A US news website taking a positive approach to coverage …
Discussion:
Reuters Institute
Andrew Beaujon / Washingtonian:
Interviews with over a dozen current and former WAMU staffers and contractors show management's contradictory, unclear messaging about its closure of DCist — The star-crossed marriage of Washington's NPR member station and a feisty digital news publication came to an abrupt end in February.
Todd Spangler / Variety:
A consultant sues Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, alleging he is owed “several million dollars” for work he did for the company's $370M Redbox deal — A media consultant sued Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, alleging he is owed “at least several million dollars” …
Lola Fadulu / New York Times:
Nicholas Welker, leader of a white supremacist group who admitted to posting a death threat against a Brooklyn journalist, is sentenced to 44 months in prison — Nicholas Welker admitted posting the death threat, which was meant to to silence coverage of the extremist group he led, prosecutors said.
Discussion:
@egavactip, @pressfreedom, New York Daily News, Brooklyn Eagle and US Department of Justice
Charlie Smart / New York Times:
A look at the media diets of jurors and alternates in Trump's trial, based on a questionnaire; 13 of 18 get news from The NYT, 5 from Google, and 2 from TikTok — Prosecutors and defense lawyers tried to divine the political leanings of prospective jurors in the former president's Manhattan criminal trial …
Discussion:
@tomgara, @jbenton, @awzurcher, NPR, New Yorker, @jackhealynyt, The Hill, The Daily Beast, Metro.co.uk and Slate
Sharon Knolle / The Wrap:
Sesame Workshop writers reach a tentative deal with management, narrowly avoiding a strike; the 35 WGA members will vote to ratify the deal in the coming days — Once ratified, the writers will win protections against artificial intelligence and improvements to new media residuals
Discussion:
Variety, Deadline, @wgaeast, The A.V. Club, NPR, Writers Guild of America …, Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone and The Hollywood Reporter
Nathan Grayson / Aftermath:
The New York Times' thriving games business prompts others to try to replicate its success, such as with Hearst's acquisition of Puzzmo, but games coverage lags — “The ad market is terrible. There's very real news fatigue. There's tons of alternative sources for news that aren't even news agencies."
Discussion:
@vahn16, @vahn16, @slhamlet, @jason_koebler, @vahn16, @vahn16, @chaykak, @jasonkoebler@mastodon.social, Digiday and The Daily Beast