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:
The Media Leader, Deadline, The Guardian, Variety, BusinessCloud, @frasernelson, @jonathan_hinder, @ascendedyield, @aaronbastani, The Wrap, New York Post, The Independent, Wall Street Journal, UPI, @ianfraser.bsky.social, The Times, @williamcb.bsky.social, Agence France-Presse, The Hollywood Reporter, Business Wire, Associated Press, New York Times, Reuters, 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:
Engadget, C21Media, Variety, Sports Media Watch, Media Play News, The Information, @lucas_shaw, @tim_bays, @joshuaogundu, @lucas_shaw, Front Office Sports, Sportico, Reuters, The Hollywood Reporter, Awful Announcing, Deadline, The Verge, TVNewsCheck, The Wrap, New York Times, Cord Cutters News, Benzinga and Sports Business Journal, 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, CNN, Axios, Forbes, Reuters, The Independent, @thefarce.org, Reclaim The Net, Benzinga, The Wrap, @matthewstoller, @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
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
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
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.
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 …
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, Washington Times, @matistanis, The Daily Beast, @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, Fox News, IJR and NewsMax.com, more at Techmeme »
Gene Maddaus / Variety:
WGA report finds 40.4% of TV writers in the 2023-24 season were BIPOC, up from 32% three years prior, even as the overall number of TV writers contracted — TV writing staffs have continued to get more diverse, even with far fewer jobs available, according to a study released Wednesday by the Writers Guild of America.
Discussion:
TVNewsCheck and Deadline
Jeremy Barr / Washington Post:
Many CBS News staffers say they view Wendy McMahon's abrupt resignation as an indicator that CBS will settle the $20B lawsuit filed by President Trump — Wendy McMahon, who resigned Monday, made clear internally that she did not want the network's parent company to settle President Trump's lawsuit.
Discussion:
TVNewsCheck and The Hill
