Top News:
Samantha Waldenberg / CNN:
ABC News plans to air an interview with President Biden “in its entirety as a primetime special”, at 8pm ET on July 5; a transcript will also be available — The ABC News interview with President Joe Biden will now air “in its entirety as a primetime special” …
Discussion:
Variety, Mediaite, Deadline, The Daily Beast, Associated Press, New York Post, ABC News, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Newser, @brianstelter, Axios, @brianstelter, The A.V. Club, Fox News, Politico, dgepress.com, TVLine and Reuters
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Hadas Gold / CNN:
White House reporters say Biden's mental fitness could have been better covered pre-debate, particularly after the release of Robert Hur's report in February — President Joe Biden's White House repeatedly and aggressively shot down reports on the president's age and any possible limitations …
Stef W. Kight / Axios:
Analysis: Biden has held fewer press conferences and media interviews than any of the last seven US presidents at this point in their terms — - Biden's media engagement is especially contrasted with former President Trump, who despite demonizing the press, was often willing to talk.
BBC:
Investigation: a fake news network tied to an ex-Florida sheriff, now in Moscow, appears to be targeting US and UK voters; some Congress members shared posts — A network of Russia-based websites masquerading as local American newspapers is pumping out fake stories as part of an AI-powered operation …
The Guardian:
The Murdoch-owned Sun in the UK abruptly switches political allegiance, endorsing the Labour Party ahead of the July 4 election — After years of critical coverage, tabloid backs Labour for first election since 2005, saying: ‘It is time for a change’ — The Sun newspaper has made an abrupt volte-face …
Discussion:
The Sun, @leohickman, @johnbuckley_, @janemartinson, @thesun, @gmhales, @garethharding, Financial Times, Boing Boing and New Yorker
Lucas Manfredi / The Wrap:
Paramount shares rose ~7% after news that Skydance and National Amusements had reached a tentative deal; source: the deal could be done as soon as this weekend — A deal between the two parties could potentially be completed by as early as the weekend, an individual familiar with the matter tells TheWrap
Discussion:
Seeking Alpha, Reuters, The Information and Los Angeles Times
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Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Skydance reached a preliminary deal to pay $1.75B for National Amusements and agreed to a 45-day period where other Paramount bidders can make offers
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Los Angeles Times, @xpangler, CNBC, Reuters, TechRadar, Sports Media Watch, The Guardian, Cord Cutters News, Broadband TV News, The Streamable, Variety, Radio & Television …, The Hollywood Reporter, @rfaughnder, @sherman4949, @richlightshed, @richlightshed, @sherman4949, The Desk, Variety, Advanced Television, Jessica Toonkel on LinkedIn, Media Play News, New York Post, Awful Announcing, The Information, Financial Times, New York Times, The Wrap, Deadline, @paulconstant.com and Forbes
Bloomberg:
Sources: Paramount Global is in exclusive talks to sell BET for $1.6B-$1.7B to buyers that include BET CEO Scott Mills and Chinh Chu, who runs CC Capital
Discussion:
@reigncoates, Vibe, Stereogum, Fortune, @mattbelloni, Fast Company, IndieWire, New York Post, The Wrap, The Desk, Variety, The Streamable, Axios, Cord Cutters News and The Hollywood Reporter
Casey Newton / Platformer:
Q&A with Adam Mosseri on Threads' first year, not leaning into political content, driving engagement, focusing on real time content, fediverse, and more — Programming note: With this post, we now go on a short summer break. See you back here July 15. — A year ago this week, Meta introduced Threads to the world.
Discussion:
Engadget, TechCrunch, Music Ally, Bloomberg, Media Voices, The Information, TechRadar, @rolle@mementomori.social, One Man & His Blog, @mosseri@threads.net, @kurtwag8@threads.net, @drewharwell@threads.net, @willoremus@threads.net, @crumbler@threads.net, @J_aa_p@mastodon.social, @tchambers@indieweb.social, @ricmac@mastodon.social, Fast Company and Bloomberg
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Alex Heath / The Verge:
Mark Zuckerberg says Threads has 175M+ MAUs, up from 150M in April, ahead of its one-year anniversary on July 5; source: Meta may turn on ads in Threads in 2025
Discussion:
@zuck@threads.net, The Overspill, BGR, 9to5Mac, @walthickey, @maxwelltani, @willoremus, MediaPost, PhoneArena, Garbage Day, Reuters, MobileSyrup, Neowin, Android Headlines, @alexheath@threads.net, @mattnavarra@threads.net, @technicallymims@threads.net, @benedictevans@threads.net, @documentingmeta@threads.net, @carnage4life@threads.net, Axios, @kevinrothrock@infosec …, The Information, Washington Post and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »
Samantha Murphy Kelly / CNN:
ElevenLabs will use AI-generated voices of dead actors like Judy Garland and Burt Reynolds in its Reader app, thanks to deals with the actors' estates — Actress Judy Garland never recorded her voice to read an audiobook of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, but you'll soon be able to hear …
Discussion:
Engadget, Digital Trends, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, ElevenLabs Blog, The A.V. Club, VentureBeat and Variety, more at Techmeme »
Alex Williams / New York Times:
Rob Stone, a founder of influential music magazine The Fader, which focuses on hip-hop and alternative rock, died on June 24 at age 55 — A founder of the influential music magazine The Fader, he also bridged the worlds of hip-hop and the Fortune 500 with his innovative marketing agency.
Rand Fishkin / SparkToro:
Datos: 58.5% of Google searches in the US and 59.7% in the EU result in no clicks; for 1,000 searches, 360 clicks go to the open web in the US and 374 in the EU — Over the past decade, I've done several reports with multiple clickstream panels analyzing Google search behavior at scale.
Discussion:
@gfiorelli1, @brodieseo, @randfish and @pedrodias
NBC News:
A profile of Mississippi Today's Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Anna Wolfe, who could go to jail for not revealing her sources in Gov. Phil Bryant's lawsuit — “The rabbit's got the gun now,” said a lawyer for former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, who is trying to force reporter Anna Wolfe to reveal her sources.
The Narwhal:
Leaked recording: a TC Energy executive claims its communications team “packaged” a February 2024 WSJ editorial blasting Biden's natural gas policy — A TC Energy exec claimed credit for an article signed by the Journal's editorial board, saying 'Our communications team packaged …
Discussion:
@emmamci, @trilliumflowers, @fatimabsyed and @trilliumflowers
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