Top News:
Justin Baragona / The Daily Beast:
Tucker Carlson used the J&J vaccine pause to suggest the US government knows that COVID-19 vaccines don't work but is purposely “not telling you that” — “Well, you'd hate to think that especially if you've gotten two shots but what's the other potential explanation?
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Reuters:
Fox says Lachlan Murdoch will return to LA from Australia in early September to reopen Fox HQ “and will go back to working and living in the US” — SYDNEY (Reuters) - Fox Corp chief executive Lachlan Murdoch will return to the United States from a months-long Australian sojourn …
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The Hill, @benyt, @benyt, @brianstelter and @alexweprin
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Plex raises $50M+ Series C from existing investor Intercap, bringing its total raised to $60M, and says it has more than 25M registered users globally — Streaming media service Plex, looking to grow its free, ad-supported video business, announced that it raised more than $50 million …
Discussion:
The Streamable, Fast Company, TechCrunch, Light Reading, Engadget, Protocol, Plex and FierceVideo, more at Techmeme »
New York Times:
Hundreds of executives and companies, including Netflix, ViacomCBS, Apple, and Amazon, sign a statement opposing “any discriminatory legislation” around voting — Amazon, Google, G.M. and Starbucks were among those joining the biggest show of solidarity by businesses over legislation in numerous states.
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Andrew Hutchinson / Social Media Today:
Report: in pitch decks submitted to US advertisers about new ad formats, TikTok says it has 732M MAUs globally, 100M+ in the US, 59% of its users are under 24 — TikTok is planning to launch a range of new eCommerce focused ad offerings as it seeks to maximize its revenue potential …
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Insider, @tanyadua, Music Business Worldwide, @dwhate, @tanyadua, @pip_net, @joshsternberg, @mattnavarra, @prodbywalkz, @tanyadua and musically.com
Freddy Mayhew / Press Gazette:
Facebook rolls out a local news section for UK users of Facebook News, after launching a similar section in the US last year — Facebook has rolled out a local news section for UK users of Facebook News. — The social network said in a blog post that the new feature will help …
Discussion:
The Drum, Facebook Journalism Project and One Man & His Blog
New York Times:
Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss, who joined with Stewart Bainum in the top Tribune bid, has ties to a group pushing progressive political policies and Democrats — The Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss helped build a sophisticated behind-the-scenes operation that attacked Republicans and promoted Democratic causes.
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Rick Porter / Hollywood Reporter:
Univision and Mexico's Televisa unveil a $4.8B deal to merge, partly financed by a $1B Series C led by SoftBank's Latin American Fund — The two companies announce a plan to combine media, production and content assets. — Two of the biggest Spanish-language media companies in the world are planning to merge.
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Michael J. de la Merced / New York Times:
Source: Susan Zirinsky, the first woman to lead CBS News, to announce that she is stepping down from the presidency of the division, as soon as this week — Here's what you need to know: — Coinbase will debut on Wall Street today. Here's what you need to know.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Instagram says it is running a global test to let users turn off Like counts on their own or others' posts; Facebook says it will also run a similar test — Instagram today will begin a new test around hiding Like counts on users' posts, following its experiments in this area which first began in 2019.
Discussion:
Fast Company, The Wrap and Engadget, more at Techmeme »
Karlene Lukovitz / MediaPost:
Ampere Analysis: there were nearly 340M subscriptions to streaming services in the US in Q1, with the average consumer reporting subscribing to 4+ services — There are now nearly 340 million subscription contracts to OTT streaming services in the U.S., exceeding the country's 330-million population …
James Risen / The Intercept:
High-tech government leak investigations threaten modern investigative reporting, but reporters need to keep working with sources, being honest about risks — When I became a reporter, I was surprised to discover a trait that I had never before recognized in myself. — People liked to talk to me.
Discussion:
@bgrueskin, @theintercept, @stellamoris1, @facoalition, @froomkin, @skirchy, @sarcasmstardust and @kgosztola