Top News:

Trump ethics waiver allows Steve Bannon to interact with Breitbart despite prior ties to the news outlet — Exemptions aid Conway, Bannon and four ex-lobbyists. — President Donald Trump's executive order on ethics has been waived at least 11 times since the administration came into office in January …
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White House waiver that lets Bannon communicate with Breitbart News may skirt ethics rules; “there is no such thing as a retroactive waiver,” ethics chief says — The Trump administration may have skirted federal ethics rules by retroactively granting a blanket exemption …
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Vanity Fair, Business Insider, @ericliptonnyt, @levinecarrie, Raw Story, @sunfoundation, @nytpolitics, The Daily Caller, AP News, The Week, The Wrap and Sunlight Foundation

Google says it will preinstall an ad filter in Chrome starting early 2018 aimed at ads deemed “annoying” by the Coalition for Better Ads — Google's Chrome browser will soon come with preinstalled technology that will block the most annoying ads currently marring the web experience, the company confirmed on Thursday.
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Google, Adweek, Variety, Chromium Blog and Engadget, more at Techmeme »
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Sources: Google will give publishers at least 6 months to prepare for a Chrome-based ad filter coming next year, offering a self-service tool for analyzing ads — Internet giant describes tool as a ‘filter’ for ads that are bothersome to web users — Google has told publishers it will give …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Axios, Recode, The Verge, Business Insider and @mathewi

Despite some subscriber surges, a Pew analysis shows that total weekday circulation for US daily papers fell 8% in 2016, the 28th consecutive year of declines — Following last year's presidential election, some major U.S. newspapers reported a sharp jump in digital subscriptions, giving a boost to their overall circulation totals.
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Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, Washington Post, @pewjournalism, Poynter and LJ INFOdocket

The Intercept is launching a three-tiered paid membership program with perks like invites to events, access to behind-the-scenes reports, and tote bags — “We'd be happy to see a healthy portion of our budget paid for by the membership program.” — Just because a newsroom is backed …
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@niemanlab, @jbenton and @adamcommentism

High Times has been acquired by Los Angeles-based investment firm Oreva Capital in a deal valued at $70M — The 43-year-old cannabis magazine High Times has been acquired by Oreva Capital in a deal valued at $70 million. The Los Angeles-based investment firm, founded by Adam Levin …
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San Francisco Chronicle, TechCrunch, Folio, Denver Westword, Talking New Media, @romenesko, Business Insider and Mashable

Pinboard has acquired bookmarking service Delicious, will put the service into read-only mode June 15 — Pinboard has acquired Delicious. Here's what you need to know: If you're a Pinboard user, nothing will change. Sad! If you're a Delicious user, you will have to find another place to save your bookmarks.
Discussion:
@pinboard, Observer, @morisy, @adrianchen, @waxpancake and @lmorchard, more at Techmeme »

Pro-Trump writer Cassandra Fairbanks sues Fusion senior reporter Emma Roller, alleging defamation for tweet claiming Fairbanks made a “white power hand gesture” — A pro-Trump journalist and political activist sued a Fusion reporter in federal court in Washington, D.C. Thursday …

The Ida B. Wells Society is receiving a $150K grant from the Knight Foundation to expand its training programs aimed at supporting journalists of color — The Ida B. Wells Society is receiving a $150,000 grant from the Knight Foundation to expand its training programs aimed at supporting journalists …
Discussion:
Adweek, @felixsalmon, @niemanlab, @nhannahjones and Editor & Publisher

The Last Word host, Lawrence O'Donnell, announces new contract with MSNBC that will cover the “next couple of years” — “The Last Word” host has been negotiating a new contract with the cable news network amid reports of behind-the-scenes tensions
Laura Hazard Owen / Nieman Lab:
The AP Stylebook now includes new guidelines on data: requesting it, scraping it, reporting on it, and publishing it — It's fitting that, in a year when the Panama Papers investigation won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting (the entire leaked data set for that investigation …
Discussion:
@smfrogers, @mickcote and @edwardegrosfox4