Mediagazer: A look at the Ditch Weekly, a newspaper run by 20 teenagers and covering Montauk, New York, with a goal to distribute 2,000 copies a week through Labor Day (Callie Holtermann/New York Times)

7:50 AM ET, May 27, 2025

Top News:

Sources: Trump Media and Technology Group aims to raise $2B in fresh equity and another $1B via a convertible bond to buy crypto, including bitcoin — US president's administration and family have become staunch advocates for digital assets — Antoine Gara, Oliver Barnes and George Steer in New York, Arash Massoudi in London

Semafor:

Inside the “anti-woke” media's identity crisis after Trump's win, amid concerns The Free Press and others are becoming platforms for “moderate Trump sycophants” — The libertarian journalist Michael Moynihan felt the shift on election night 2024, after it had become clear that Donald Trump would win.

Discussion: Poynter, Mark Little on LinkedIn, @wodekszemberg, @graft_master, @cathyyoung63, @jmarcemanuel, @clairlemon, @kshahrooz, @lawrencehurley.bsky.social, @kyleworton, @brianstelter.bsky.social, @cdarwin@c.im, @joelanderson.bsky.social, @esqueer.net and @jamellebouie.net

Ben Fritz / Wall Street Journal:

Comscore: US and Canada box office sales totaled $326.7M for a record Memorial Day weekend, led by Disney's Lilo & Stitch remake, which grossed $183M — Strong holiday weekend contributes to major comeback for this year's domestic box office — It was a blockbuster Memorial Day weekend for Hollywood, led by a little blue alien.

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:

Sources: Disney+ will exclusively stream every season of CoComelon starting in 2027, paying tens of millions of dollars annually to take it away from Netflix — One of Netflix's most-watched titles will move to Disney+ in 2027 — Walt Disney Co. has secured the exclusive streaming rights …

Max Tani / Semafor:

Bloomberg renamed its DEI team as the HR Inclusion team; editor John Micklethwait says its efforts will no longer specifically focus on underrepresented groups — THE SCOOP — Bloomberg editor John Micklethwait has told his newsroom the company is changing its inclusion efforts …

Callie Holtermann / New York Times:

A look at the Ditch Weekly, a newspaper run by 20 teenagers and covering Montauk, New York, with a goal to distribute 2,000 copies a week through Labor Day — From left, Teddy Rattray, Harry Karoussos and Billy Stern of The Ditch Weekly. Billy started the newspaper with Teddy and his cousin Ellis …

Discussion: @acpresshuba, @michaelmcgough3, Melissa Chowning on LinkedIn, @edmundlee.bsky.social, @michaelkruse.bsky.social and @caitlynkim

Bloomberg:

Filing: Tencent is buying a ~10% stake in SM Entertainment for ~$180M from BTS agency Hybe, as China is expected to lift its unofficial ban on K-pop concerts — Tencent Holdings Ltd. is snapping up a nearly 10% stake in SM Entertainment Co. Ltd valued at about $180 million …

Discussion: Reuters, Moneycontrol, allkpop, @poppykpoppie, @atouchbase, @hyunjunhq, Soompi, CHOSUNBIZ, Korea Joongang Daily and Yonhap News Agency

Financial Times:

JioHotstar grew its subscriber base from 50M in March 2025 to 280M+ in May, driven by IPL cricket streams, nearing Netflix's global subscriber count of 300M — Subscriptions soar as JioStar consolidates rights for world's richest league in sport-mad nation — Krishn Kaushik and Chris Kay in Mumbai

Discussion: MediaBrief, Financial Express, @johnreedwrites, @refsrc, @normal_2610, Benzinga and Semafor

Alexios Mantzarlis / Indicator:

The top contributor to X's Community Notes is Web3 Antivirus, a startup that uses an automated process to flag crypto scam posts and has posted 52,000 times — I thought someone was gaming X's crowdsourced moderation; instead, they appear to be helping clean up the platform's mess for free.

Discussion: @craigsilverman, more at Techmeme »

Max Tani / Semafor:

Sources: some WaPo staffers say Opinion Editor Jonathan Capehart's new book pits colleagues against each other and appears to run afoul of editorial guidelines — The Scoop — A new book by a Washington Post opinion editor is spilling a years-old fight back out into the open …

Discussion: RedState, @semaforben, @dankennedy.net and @cehoskinson

Emma Goldberg / New York Times:

A profile of Sam Freedman, who taught book writing at Columbia Journalism School for 35 years, leading to 113 book contracts and 95 books out of ~675 students — For three decades at Columbia Journalism School, Sam Freedman has encouraged students to try long-form narratives.

Discussion: @jillgeisler, @basuashis, @williams_paige, @carlosnyt, @michaelkruse, @meridak, @farnazfassihi, @jacobkushner, @ghoward1950.bsky.social, Sonji Jacobs on LinkedIn, @mattseybold.bsky.social and Eboo Patel on LinkedIn

Ray Schultz / MediaPost:

The Washington Post Tech Guild plans to pursue its first collective bargaining agreement with the company following a vote of 171-38 to establish the union — The Washington Post Tech Guild will pursue its first collective bargaining agreement with the company following a vote of 171-38 …

Discussion: The NewsGuild, @aflcio, @gaufre, @benmullin, Canadian Press, @postguild, @nytguildtech, @jillgeisler, Washington Post Tech …, @newsguild, @cwaunion, @wapotechguild and @sea1943.bsky.social

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