Top News:
New York Times:
Sources: Shari Redstone was irked that Skydance's revised Paramount terms reduced National Amusements' value from $2B to $1.7B, affecting her family's holdings — There were several hitches in the last week as Skydance, Paramount and its parent company, National Amusements, reached the final stages of negotiations.
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, CNN, The Hollywood Reporter, @richlightshed, @benmullin, @lucas_shaw, Bloomberg, Deadline, Fast Company, Next TV, The Guardian, Media Play News, The Wrap and The Hill
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Jessica Toonkel / Wall Street Journal:
National Amusements ends talks with Skydance; sources: Shari Redstone will likely seek a sale of just National Amusements, without including Paramount directly — Redstone likely to pursue sale of National Amusements, the family company that controls Paramount, with other potential bidders
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
In an email to staff, Skydance CEO David Ellison acknowledges Paramount merger talks have ended, and says that Skydance is “stronger” because of the talks
Discussion:
Observer, The Streamable, Deadline, The Wrap, Broadband TV News, Financial Times, The Desk, Variety, Advanced Television, CBS News, Reuters, New York Post, The Information, IndieWire and The Verge
Rolling Stone:
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito suggests partisan funding of ProPublica is to blame for its coverage of the court, in a secret recording at a recent dinner — In a new, secret recording, the Supreme Court justice suggests partisan funding is to blame for coverage of justices' undisclosed luxury gifts
Discussion:
Poynter, New Republic, @killick@dmv.community, CNN, @digiphile@threads.net, Missouri Independent, The Daily Beast, @7im, @rollingstone, @eisingerj, @rollingstone, @markjacob16, @normornstein, @rollingstone, @eisingerj, @lawindsor, @justinelliott, @anatosaurus, @allysammarco@threads.net, @adamparkhomenko@threads.net, @ernie.tedium.co, @jstatepost@mstdn.social, @slackermom.bsky.social, @macloo.bsky.social, @JasonPerseus@mas.to, Boing Boing, Fox News, NewsNation and New York Times
Laura Wagner / Washington Post:
The Baltimore Sun's union says the paper's new ownership has “tossed aside” ethical standards, reusing a below-standard Sinclair Broadcast Group story and more — “Ethical standards,” the Sun's union says, “have been tossed aside under new ownership.”
Discussion:
Popular Information, Washington-Baltimore …, @washingtonpost, @strannik_reb45, @jamieson, @jamieson, @tvnuggetfinder, @healthcarerenew, FTVLive and CNN
Alyssa Boyle / AdExchanger:
Roku launches Roku Exchange to let programmatic ad buyers access the same data as direct buyers, get more metadata about channels, and more — Roku wants ad buyers to know it's no walled garden. — On Wednesday, Roku announced what it's calling the Roku Exchange.
Discussion:
The Desk, StreamTV Insider, Adweek and Advanced Television
Sophie Culpepper / Nieman Lab:
The Institute for Nonprofit News survey of 346 member outlets for 2023: 71% of outlets are digital-first, about 33% reported declines in web traffic, and more — While the sector is still growing, that growth is slowing, by some metrics. And audience data for 2023 shows that across all outlets surveyed …
Discussion:
Institute for Nonprofit News, @risj_oxford and @localnewsini
Pew Research Center:
A survey of 10,287 US adults on Facebook, Instagram, X, and TikTok: most see news content, but fewer say news is why they are on the platforms, except for X — X remains more of a news destination than other sites, but the vast majority of users on all four are seeing news-related content
Discussion:
Press Gazette, Engadget and Bloomberg, more at Techmeme »
Mike Isaac / New York Times:
Apple News+, LinkedIn, Morning Brew, The Washington Post, and others are increasingly turning to games and puzzles to retain subscribers and attract customers — What's a five-letter word for an activity that media and technology companies are increasingly relying on to gain subscribers and keep them coming back?
Discussion:
Marc Lacey on LinkedIn and @katie_robertson
Seb Starcevic / Politico:
A Dutch court convicts and sentences six men in connection with the murder of celebrity crime reporter Peter R. De Vries on an Amsterdam street in July 2021 — A Dutch court on Wednesday convicted and sentenced six men in connection with the murder of a well-known crime reporter and television presenter.
Discussion:
Associated Press, Deutsche Welle, RTÉ, CBS News and Agence France-Presse
Bron Maher / Press Gazette:
The UK Central Arbitration Committee approves an NUJ request to become the recognized union for PA Media's journalists, after PA resisted recognizing the union — The Central Arbitration Committee has approved an NUJ application to become the recognised union for journalists at , PA Media.
Discussion:
HoldtheFrontPage, @pressgazette and National Union of Journalists …
Ben Schoon / 9to5Google:
YouTube plans to roll out its Thumbnail Test & Compare tool to all creators “in the coming weeks”, letting them test video thumbnails “evenly” across audiences — YouTube is preparing to roll out a new thumbnail testing feature to creators, which means you'll …
Discussion:
Google Help Center, TechCrunch and The Verge, more at Techmeme »
Cuneyt Dil / Axios:
Sources: WaPo CEO Will Lewis is floating Local+, a new offering for readers who want to pay extra for premium local content, including paid newsletters — - In pre-Bezos times, the Post made the world of Washington front and center, dedicating A1 columns to city hall and zoning disputes in the suburbs.
Discussion:
@cuneytdil and @jayrosen_nyu
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