Top News:
Bloomberg:
Sources: DOJ is conducting a criminal antitrust probe into whether Live Nation and AEG illegally colluded on concert refunds at the start of the COVID pandemic — The US Justice Department is conducting a criminal antitrust probe into how companies responded to mass concert cancellations …
Discussion:
Reuters, The Hollywood Reporter, @matthewstoller and @benbrodydc
Washington Post:
More than 500 Voice of America contractors are expected to lose their jobs by June 30; Kari Lake says 584 total employees were terminated across USAGM — More than 500 of the news service's contractors could be out of a job on June 30. — More than 500 Voice of America contractors …
Mike Scarcella / Reuters:
Filing: advertisers ask a US judge to dismiss X's lawsuit accusing them of boycotting the company, arguing X failed to show that they acted with any common plan — Major companies that curtailed advertising on Elon Musk's social media platform X over concerns about its ability …
Discussion:
Futurism and Business Insider
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Neal Mohan says the monetization rate of Shorts hit parity with core YouTube in the US and multiple other countries, and Shorts viewing grew 20% YoY in Q1 2025 — YouTube CEO Neal Mohan, the morning after the platform's big ad pitch and party in New York City, had a new milestone to share …
Discussion:
The Information, The Wrap, The Information and The Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »
RELATED:
Zach Vallese / CNBC:
YouTube launches a weekly top podcast shows chart, tracking podcasts in the US and updated every Wednesday; The Joe Rogan Experience currently tops the chart
YouTube launches a weekly top podcast shows chart, tracking podcasts in the US and updated every Wednesday; The Joe Rogan Experience currently tops the chart
Discussion:
YouTube, Tubefilter, The Verge, @ashleyrcarman, New York Times, @loudmouthjulia, @tchambers@indieweb.social and 9to5Google, more at Techmeme »
David Folkenflik / NPR:
Public broadcasting officials plan to go to DC today to convince lawmakers to keep their funding; Indiana cut all taxpayer funding for its 17 public stations — Public broadcasting officials from across the country plan to descend on Capitol Hill today in hopes of convincing lawmakers …
Discussion:
Inside Radio, @davidfolkenflik.bsky.social, Fox News and San Francisco Public Press
RELATED:
Maxwell Zeff / TechCrunch:
Filing: Anthropic apologizes after one of its expert witnesses cited a fake article hallucinated by Claude in the company's legal battle with music publishers — A lawyer representing Anthropic admitted to using an erroneous citation created by the company's Claude AI chatbot …
Discussion:
Reuters, @camwilson@mastodon.social, Bloomberg Law, The Register, Reason, United States District Court for the Northern District of California, @mzeff.bsky.social, @paleofuture.bsky.social, Chat GPT Is Eating the World, @SuffolkLITLab@esq.social, CMU, Music Ally and Decrypt, more at Techmeme »
Brent Lang / Variety:
MoviePass secures a $100M capital investment from Global Emerging Markets to accelerate the development of Mogul, a fantasy gaming service launched this month — MoviePass has secured a $100 million capital investment from Global Emerging Markets to accelerate the development of Mogul …
Discussion:
Harold Graham on LinkedIn
Andrew J. Campa / Los Angeles Times:
California newsrooms will receive $10M, instead of the expected $30M, in FY 2025-26 from the state through a News Transformation Fund due to budget issues — - California newsrooms expected to receive $30 million from the state as part of a Newsroom Transformation Fund.
Discussion:
Mercury News, SFGATE, Matt Pearce on LinkedIn, Bloomberg Government, Politico, @palewire, @dlanghorne.bsky.social and @palewi.re
Mark Stenberg / Adweek:
The WSJ has launched two new paid executive membership programs, which cater to highly senior executives and include access to summits, roundtables, and more — Its Leadership Institute aims to launch two new councils a year — The Wall Street Journal launched the newest addition …
Discussion:
Mark Stenberg on LinkedIn, @simonowens.bsky.social and Talking Biz News
Committee to Protect Journalists:
Gaza journalists describe intimidation and assault by Hamas; the Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate often doesn't publicize Hamas attacks for fear of reprisals — When Gazan journalist Tawfiq Abu Jarad received a phone call from a Hamas security agent warning him not to cover a protest …
Discussion:
Middle East Monitor and European Federation …
Sara Fischer / Axios:
The Atlantic is partnering with Apple to provide exclusive audio benefits for subscribers and to sell subscriptions directly on Apple Podcasts — The Atlantic is partnering with Apple to launch exclusive audio benefits for subscribers, executives told Axios.
Discussion:
Simon Owens's Media Newsletter and Podnews
Austin Fuller / Current:
NSF canceled a five-year, $1.2M grant for climate reporting to IndiJ Public Media in April and a PBS grant, though the majority of it was already spent — The National Science Foundation canceled a $1.2 million grant to IndiJ Public Media in April that supported Indigenous climate reporting.
Steven Lee Myers / New York Times:
Analysis: the US government canceled 1,400+ federal research grants worth $1B+, including many studying online misinformation, citing protection of 1A rights — Lisa K. Fazio, an associate professor at Vanderbilt University, whose federal grant to study how repetition of lies reinforced …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Threads now lets users add up to five links to their profile bios and rolls out analytics tools to track clicks on profile links and links shared in posts — Instagram Threads is taking on Linktree and other “link-in-bio” solutions by introducing a way for creators to use their Threads profile …
Zach Vallese / CNBC:
YouTube unveils Peak Points, a pilot Gemini feature for targeting ads after viewers are most engaged with a video, aiming for more impressions and a higher CTR — YouTube on Wednesday announced a new tool that will allow advertisers to use Google's Gemini AI model to target ads to viewers when they are most engaged with a video.
Discussion:
FOX 35 Orlando, TheStreet, 9to5Google, Shelly Palmer, Benzinga and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »
RELATED:
Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch:
YouTube previews new ad formats coming to the platform, including an enhanced shoppable connected TV offering that has an interactive product feed on the right
YouTube previews new ad formats coming to the platform, including an enhanced shoppable connected TV offering that has an interactive product feed on the right
Discussion:
PC Gamer, WORLD SCREEN, YouTube Official Blog, Radio & Television …, Variety, Adweek and TheStreet, more at Techmeme »
