Top News:
Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:
Sources: CBS News President Tom Cibrowski, EIC Bari Weiss, WHCA President Weijia Jiang, and AG Todd Blanche attended the Paramount dinner for the White House — The president spoke for nearly an hour at a Paramount-hosted event that raised questions about journalistic and regulatory conflicts of interest.
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Jeremy Barr / The Guardian:
President Trump attended a private dinner hosted by David Ellison in DC hours after the WBD shareholder vote; Rep. Jamie Raskin and others protested nearby
Todd Spangler / Variety:
WBD shareholders vote to approve Paramount Skydance's deal to acquire the company; in a non-binding vote, they reject compensation packages for David Zaslav
Discussion:
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Calista Wong / The Straits Times:
A Singapore man has been arrested and may face seven years in jail for allegedly leaking The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender after accessing a media server — SINGAPORE - A 26-year-old man who allegedly leaked the unreleased film The Legend Of Aang: The Last Airbender …
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Washington Post:
The DOD fires the Stars and Stripes ombudsman after calling the paper “woke”; the ombudsman says she believes she was fired for defending editorial independence — Stars and Stripes ombudsman Jacqueline Smith said the Defense Department dismissed her without giving a reason, according to an email reviewed by The Post.
Discussion:
Stars & Stripes, Society of Professional …, Mediaite, UPI, NewsMax.com, @starsandstripes.bsky.social, Straight Arrow News, @justinbaragona.bsky.social, Daily Kos, The Nation, The Hill, @timlambert-pa.bsky.social, Kevin Baron on LinkedIn, @altnps.bsky.social, @murderedbybluesky.bsky.social, Letters from an American, @sdkstl.bsky.social, @kimmasters.bsky.social, @freedom.press, @gdeweese.bsky.social, @bgrueskin.bsky.social, New York Times, @washingtonpost.com, @rickf@indieweb.social, Newser, Joe.My.God. and @scottnover.bsky.social
Brian Welk / IndieWire:
WGA members ratified a new four-year contract with the AMPTP, which will next negotiate with SAG-AFTRA and the DGA — The term of the latest minimum basic agreement (MBA) will run from May 2, 2026 to May 1, 2030. — Post — Google Preferred — Writers Guild of America members …
Discussion:
Status, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Wrap, Variety, Deadline and Inside Radio
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Filing: Paramount CEO David Ellison's 2025 compensation was $63.2M, CLO Makan Delrahim's package was $63.6M, and ex-president Jeff Shell's package was $60.7M — Paramount Skydance chairman and CEO David Ellison, who is in the midst of trying close a massive deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery …
Discussion:
Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter
Alexandra Bruell / Wall Street Journal:
Profile of comedian Tim Heidecker, who, as creative director, plans to turn Infowars into a “weird” comedy streaming network if a judge okays The Onion's offer — The Onion said Tim Heidecker will be the new creative director of Alex Jones's Infowars site if a court approves its licensing offer
Discussion:
WNYC Studios, Daily Kos, The A.V. Club, The Verge, Austin American-Statesman, Consequence, @mikeisaac and Media Matters for America
Aroon Deep / The Hindu:
Source: Meta has a system in India to “automatically restrict content, at scale” to meet local law, massively expanding the country's censorship powers — India is now part of a small group of countries where content takedown notices are complied with immediately …
@themidasproj:
The Wire by Acutus, which used AI to interview people and write articles attacking AI critics, seemed to be funded by OpenAI-backed super PAC Leading The Future — The reporters at this news site are AI bots. OpenAI's super PAC appears to be funding it.
Discussion:
@ashleyrgold, @_ueaj, @andymasley, @max_spero_, Model Republic, @neil_chilson, @leadingfutureai and @tylerjnstn, more at Techmeme »
Dominic Patten / Deadline:
Barack Obama plans to appear May 5 on one of the last episodes of Stephen Colbert's Late Show, for Obama's first interview from the Obama Presidential Center — The Late Show with Stephen Colbert won't quite be over on May 6, and Barack Obama's presidential library won't quite be open …
Discussion:
Fox News, Entertainment Weekly, TV Insider, The Wrap, TVNewsCheck, The Daily Beast, FemaleFirst and LateNighter
Marina Temkin / TechCrunch:
ComfyUI, which gives creators granular control over image, video, and audio outputs from diffusion models, raised $30M at a $500M valuation — ComfyUI, a startup that helps creators control image, video, and audio outputs from diffusion models with a node-based workflow …
Sean Keeley / Awful Announcing:
After Cleveland.com faced backlash for posting AI-generated videos to promote its podcasts, an editor said “we don't have resources to do it any other way” — On Wednesday, Cleveland.com wanted to highlight its Cleveland Cavaliers podcast, Wine & Gold Talk, as it discusses the team's NBA Playoffs run.
Discussion:
@howthingsworkoh, Poynter, @andrew_osu, @spencersays, Podnews, @clevelanddotcom, @lindseywasson, @genepark, @the_ruhoff, @scenesallard, @scenesallard and @corbinbolies
Bloomberg:
Sources: iHeartMedia is in preliminary talks about a possible merger with SiriusXM; the combined company would have more than $12B in sales; IHRT closes up ~35% — IHeartMedia Inc. is holding talks about a possible combination with Sirius XM Holdings Inc., according to people familiar with the discussions.
Discussion:
Reuters, Variety, The Wrap, Radio Ink, @asperasbompar.bsky.social, @ernie.tedium.co and Barrett Media
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