Top News:
Janko Roettgers / The Verge:
Redbox's owner, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, files for bankruptcy protection; Chicken Soup took on $325M in debt when it acquired Redbox in 2022 — Redbox's owner, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, filed for bankruptcy protection overnight.
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
B2B information and data provider Wilmington sells its UK healthcare business, which includes Health Service Journal, to PE firm Inspirit Franklin for £26M — HSJ has been owned by Wilmington since 2017. — Health Service Journal will move under private equity ownership following a sale by owner Wilmington.
Jeff Jarvis / BuzzMachine:
The two California bills to help fund local journalism would penalize Google and Meta for news' decline and benefit hedge funds that are destroying newspapers — There is still hope that California's perilous, protectionist legislation for news could be reformed, but not without effort.
Discussion:
@jeffjarvis and Los Angeles Times
Katie Kilkenny / The Hollywood Reporter:
Some Hollywood writers and actors are struggling to meet salary or work requirements to keep their union's health insurance plans, following the 2023 strikes — After the 2023 work stoppages and amid a larger industry contraction, creatives face difficulties meeting minimums to keep their union plans …
Silla Brush / Bloomberg:
BlackRock has agreed to buy Preqin, a UK-based provider of private markets data, for £2.55B in cash — The acquisition deepens BlackRock's ability to oversee risks and analyze data across fast-growing markets for private assets, and also expands its Aladdin technology systems …
Discussion:
Financial Times, Solondais and The Information, more at Techmeme »
Tim Marchman / Wired:
Quora-owned AI chatbot platform Poe is providing users with downloadable HTML files of paywalled articles from outlets including NYT, Forbes, and The Atlantic — WIRED was able to download stories from publishers like The New York Times and The Atlantic using Poe's Assistant bot.
Discussion:
MEDIANAMA, @carnage4life, @thekenyeung, @l0uryn, @timmarchman and @steve_e
James Risen / The Intercept:
A reporter who fought a seven-year legal battle to protect sources says Julian Assange's case sets a dangerous precedent that may severely hurt US press freedom — When Julian Assange abruptly found himself back in Australia and freedom this week after reaching a plea deal with the U.S. government …
Discussion:
@denniscearl, @denniscearl, The Guardian, New York Times, @theintercept and South China Morning Post
Elsa Keslassy / Variety:
Arnaud Lagardère returns as French publishing group Lagardère SA chair and CEO, after appealing an April 29 management ban by a court over embezzlement charges — Arnaud Lagardere, who had stepped down from his executive roles of chairman and CEO of the listed French media …
Discussion:
Le Monde.fr, The Bookseller and Deadline
Michael Schneider / Variety:
Nielsen: the Biden-Trump debate drew an average audience of 51.3M viewers across 17 networks in the US, down from 2020's first debate, with nearly 73.1M — Networks include CNN, which originated the debate, as well as ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, Scripps News, Telemundo, Univision, BET …
Discussion:
New York Post, Politico, The Free Press, New York Times, @dylanbyers, @brianstelter, Adweek, @antonej@threads.net, @parkerortolani@threads.net, Nielsen, MediaPost, CNN, Matthew Keys on LinkedIn, CBS News, The Desk, Los Angeles Times, Mediaite, Financial Times, Washington Post, Forbes, The Wrap, CNN, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter and Next TV
Lachlan Cartwright / The Hollywood Reporter:
Several current and former Daily Mail employees describe a leadership vacuum in its US newsroom, following the mysterious departure of online EIC Gerard Greaves — Its online editor is MIA (he was last seen frantically deleting emails), his self-appointed replacement is said to be equally erratic …
Discussion:
@brenbrenchie, @mediaguy19 and @mediaevan
Hanaa' Tameez / Nieman Lab:
Spain's El País launched a digital edition to cover the US in Spanish in May with 11 bilingual correspondents; as of April, the outlet had ~366K subscribers — “The best reader is the one who reads you a lot.” — For years and with various levels of success, U.S. news outlets …
Discussion:
@hanaatameez and American Press Institute
Reuters:
In a parliamentary hearing, Meta says it is considering blocking news content from Facebook in Australia if the government makes it pay licensing fees — Facebook owner Meta (META.O) is considering blocking news content from the platform in Australia if the government makes it pay licensing fees …
Discussion:
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