Top News:
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
Redbird Capital Partners buys the Telegraph at a £500M valuation, ending nearly two years of ownership limbo; IMI will take a minority investment — US-based private investment firm Redbird Capital Partners has bought the Telegraph ending nearly two years in ownership limbo for the newsbrand.
Discussion:
Deadline, The Guardian, Variety, The Media Leader, Sky News, BusinessCloud, @frasernelson, @jonathan_hinder, @ascendedyield, @aaronbastani, The Independent, Al Jazeera, New York Post, @ianfraser.bsky.social, The Times, Wall Street Journal, @williamcb.bsky.social, Agence France-Presse, The Hollywood Reporter, Business Wire, New York Times, The Wrap, Reuters, UPI, Telegraph, @jim.londoncentric.media, City A.M., RTÉ and Fortune
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Filing: Disney sues YouTube, claiming breach of contract after YouTube hired longtime Disney executive Justin Connolly as its global head of media and sports — Disney responds with a complaint in California court claiming breach of contract — YouTube hired long-time Walt Disney Co …
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, Variety, C21Media, Media Play News, The Information, Sports Media Watch, @lucas_shaw, @tim_bays, @joshuaogundu, @lucas_shaw, Front Office Sports, Sportico, Reuters, The Hollywood Reporter, Awful Announcing, Deadline, The Verge, The Wrap, New York Times, Cord Cutters News, Benzinga and Sports Business Journal, more at Techmeme »
BBC:
BBC World Service is launching a Polish-language news website, BBC News Polska, the first new language offer produced with the help of AI translation — BBC News Polska will deliver independent and impartial news in text and video for Polish-speaking audiences
Sara Ashley O'Brien / Wall Street Journal:
A profile of Gen Z influencer Alix Earle, who has 7.5M TikTok followers and has moved beyond sponsorship deals by getting equity in some brands she promotes — How a University of Miami student became Gen Z's savviest pitchwoman … Alix Earle is in Los Angeles ready to “activate.”
Discussion:
@jtes, @simonowens.bsky.social, Simon Owens's Media Newsletter, People, Us Weekly, The Hollywood Gossip and E! Online
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
A UK court approves Media Concierge's acquisition of National World, owner of The Scotsman, Yorkshire Post, and others, effective May 27 — The new boss of National World has told staff they will be given the space to carry on “business as usual” after its takeover by Media Concierge next week.
Discussion:
Media Concierge, BusinessCloud, HoldtheFrontPage and thenational.scot
Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:
Lookout Local has launched its second location in Eugene, OR, with $175K in booked advertising and more than 900 paid members, and more than 11 staff — One month in, the new local newsroom has more than 900 paid members. — Eugene, Oregon — Lookout Eugene-Springfield was getting a fresh coat of paint.
Discussion:
@sarahscire.com and @dankennedy.net
Daniel Engber / The Atlantic:
PBS cut 90 seconds from a documentary on Art Spiegelman in which he criticized Trump; the edit was made a few days after the “Anti-American Airwaves” hearing — A worrying pattern has taken hold in public television. — American Masters, an award-winning documentary series …
Wendy Lee / Los Angeles Times:
A look at AI on Screen, a Google initiative funding short films to counter AI's negative image in partnership with production company Range Media Partners — - Google is funding short films about AI that portray the technology in a less nightmarish light than in many Hollywood science fiction depictions.
Liam Scott / Poynter:
Some VOA employees discuss the bare-bones return to work: out of 1,300 staff, only 30 remain, and the outlet is only publishing in four languages, instead of 49 — The bare-bones return has been marked by low morale, confusion and uncertainty, VOA sources say
Discussion:
NPR, The Independent and @liamjscott
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Melania Trump releases an audiobook of her memoir with her “official AI voice” created by ElevenLabs, available exclusively on the ElevenReader app — First Lady Melania Trump released her recently published memoir “Melania” as an audiobook that will be available in multiple languages …
Discussion:
@melaniatrump, @matistanis, The Daily Beast, Washington Times, @sifill.bsky.social, @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social, Daily Kos, Daily Mail, San Francisco Chronicle, New Jersey Online, Gizmodo, New York Post, The Daily Caller, The Hill, People, ABC News, IJR, Fox News and NewsMax.com, more at Techmeme »
Sara Guaglione / Digiday:
Similarweb: ChatGPT sent 243.8M visits to 250 news and media websites in April, up 98% from January; 83% of OpenAI's referral traffic went to news sites — This article was provided as an exclusive preview for Digiday+ members, who were able to access it early.
Discussion:
@juwanthecurator.bsky.social
New York Times:
Sources: the US FTC is investigating whether Media Matters illegally colluded with advertisers; Elon Musk sued the advocacy group in 2023 — Elon Musk previously sued the advocacy group over critical research on his social media platform X over claims it drove away advertisers.
Discussion:
Washington Post, MSNBC, CNN, Axios, Forbes, The Independent, @thefarce.org, Reclaim The Net, Benzinga, Reuters, @matthewstoller, The Wrap, @joelpollak, @josephpolitano, @teddyschleifer.bsky.social, The Gateway Pundit, The Hill, Breitbart, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Daily Caller, The Daily Wire, New Republic, The Post Millennial, Mediaite, Deadline, Fox News, @mcnamarawdet.bsky.social, @kenvogel.bsky.social and TVNewsCheck
