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Sources: ESPN and Stephen A. Smith agree to a five-year $100M contract that has Smith continuing on his daily First Take show and scaling back other commitments — Stephen A. Smith has agreed to a new contract with ESPN worth at least $100 million for five years, an agreement that will result …
Discussion:
Sportico, Variety, New York Post, Deadline, Fox News, @richarddeitsch.bsky.social, @kevbo9.bsky.social, Front Office Sports, @thechief.bsky.social, @jc1986.bsky.social, @peej.hahabean.maison, @richarddeitsch.bsky.social, Barrett Media, @cofitzgerald.bsky.social, @sheehannewsletter.bsky.social, The US Sun, @natathescribe.bsky.social, @andrewmarchand.bsky.social, @theathletic.bsky.social and Awful Announcing


Paramount files two motions in Trump's lawsuit against CBS News, one seeking dismissal on First Amendment grounds and the second saying Texas is the wrong venue — Paramount says President Trump's lawsuit over a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris is “an affront to the First Amendment”
Discussion:
The Hill, Deadline, Variety, Mediaite, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, Cord Cutters News, Axios, @bejust.bsky.social and Georgetown Law


Disney was never particularly interested in running FiveThirtyEight as a business; the data-driven approach to political coverage still has a bright future — Silver Bulletin will begin publishing some new features soon — including Trump approval ratings. But the media just lost an extremely valuable resource.


A journalist using the pseudonym Dissent Doe, who runs US-based DataBreaches.net, refuses a UK court order to remove two posts on a cyberattack at HCRG — A U.S.-based independent cybersecurity journalist has declined to comply with a U.K. court-ordered injunction that was sought following …
Discussion:
DataBreaches.Net


A look at the Trump administration's strategy to transform its traditional press shop into a rapid-response influencer operation via memes, TikTok, and podcasts — The Trump administration has transformed its traditional press shop into a rapid-response influencer operation, and “they're all offense, all the time.”
Discussion:
New York Magazine, The Hill, @mehdirhasan.bsky.social, @jeisinger.bsky.social, Melanie Sill on LinkedIn, @chikitty.bsky.social, @drewharwell.com, The Information, TVNewsCheck, Daily Mail, @astroboy58.bsky.social, The Gateway Pundit, @davidnakamura.bsky.social, @davidenrich.bsky.social, @drewharwell@threads.net, @janemayer.bsky.social and PR Daily


Vivendi says the net asset value of its investments was €4.83B as of December 31, 2024, following the French publishing group's spin off of three companies — Vivendi (VIV.PA) said on Thursday that the net asset value of its investments amounted to 4.83 billion euros ($5.23 billion) …


Memo: BBC News CEO Deborah Turness announces a new department that will use AI to give people more personalized content and focus on reaching under-25-year-olds — Boss says BBC News's reach is ‘defying gravity’ and it must use AI to ‘support and accelerate our growth’


Financial Times CEO John Ridding plans to step down on July 1 after 19 years, and will take an honorary FT chair title; the FT will now find a replacement — Financial Times CEO John Ridding is stepping down in June after leading the newspaper group for almost 20 years.


FEC filings: Brian Glenn, a new favored White House reporter, was Right Side Broadcasting Network's main voice when it was paid $92K by Trump political groups — Brian Glenn was the one who asked Zelenskyy why he wasn't wearing a suit. RSBN, the “news” outlet he helped build, has taken $192,000 from Trump.


Production managers, supervisors, and coordinators at Walt Disney Animation Studios ratify their first union contract, which raises minimum wage rates and more — Production managers, production supervisors and production coordinators at the ‘Wish’ studio negotiated for health and pension benefits as well as higher minimum wage rates.


A NewsGuard audit finds that 10 leading AI chatbots repeated false claims and propaganda from a pro-Kremlin network of 150 websites 33% of the time — An audit found that the 10 leading generative AI tools advanced Moscow's disinformation goals by repeating false claims from the pro-Kremlin Pravda network 33 percent of the time


Prosecutors say they won't pursue charges against Stanford student journalist Dilan Gohill, arrested while covering a pro-Palestinian protest nine months ago — Dilan Gohill was arrested while covering protests on campus last summer. — Prosecutors in California said Thursday …