Top News:
Minho Kim / New York Times:
A Trump administration letter to Congress outlines a plan to restructure VOA that would shrink the agency to 18 employees, down from roughly 1,400 in March — A proposed restructuring would leave only 18 employees at the federally funded news agency, which was founded in 1942 to combat Nazi propaganda.
Lila Shapiro / Vulture:
Hollywood insiders report widespread off-the-books AI experimentation in studios, often hidden to avoid backlash, despite union contracts limiting AI use — “We can say, ‘Do it in anime, make it PG-13.’ Three hours later, I'll have the movie." — One recent evening on the Eastside of Los Angeles …
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New York Times:
Shari Redstone says she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and underwent surgery in May — Ms. Redstone, who is trying to close the sale of her family's Paramount media empire to Skydance, was diagnosed with thyroid cancer this spring. — Shari Redstone, the chair and controlling shareholder …
Discussion:
Mediaite, Deadline, @carlquintanilla.bsky.social, Los Angeles Times, Reuters, The Wrap, CNN, @kimmasters.bsky.social, Variety, CBS News, Bloomberg and The Hollywood Reporter
Pamela McClintock / The Hollywood Reporter:
Delays, reshoots, and inflation have driven up the budgets of this year's summer blockbusters, with Superman costing $400M+ when including marketing spends — Between delays, reshoots and rising costs, this year's summer blockbusters are racking up astronomically high price tags when factoring in marketing costs.
Discussion:
World of Reel, Forbes, @jaybeans.bsky.social, @wajali.bsky.social, Gamereactor UK and SlashFilm
Todd Spangler / Variety:
On Wednesday, a judge rejected Disney's request for a temporary restraining order that sought to prevent former Disney exec Justin Connolly from joining YouTube — Disney says it will ‘continue to pursue our legal remedies’ … Last month, after Connolly left Disney to join YouTube …
Reuters:
OpenAI appeals a court order in The New York Times case requiring it to keep ChatGPT outputs indefinitely, saying it conflicts with its user privacy commitments — OpenAI is appealing an order in a copyright case brought by the New York Times that requires it to preserve ChatGPT output data indefinitely …
Discussion:
Reclaim The Net, Engadget, Windows Report, Cryptopolitan, Fox Business, Decrypt, Reuters, @stevesi, Bloomberg Law, @sama, @sama, Neowin, OpenAI, WinBuzzer, Simon Willison's Weblog, Mashable, Bloomberg, Ars Technica and Hacker News, more at Techmeme »
Caroline Haskins / Wired:
Palantir removed three journalists from a security conference after one of them asked about its work with ICE and threatened to call police on a Wired reporter — Palantir threatened to call police on a WIRED reporter and kicked out other journalists from a recent conference following reports …
Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
United Airlines partners with Spotify to provide passengers with free access to 450+ hours of curated playlists, audiobooks, and podcasts across 130K screens — Access over 450 hours of curated content for free on seat-back screens. … United Airlines is expanding its in-flight entertainment catalog …
Discussion:
Spotify, PCMag, @dannygroner.bsky.social, Spotify, Insider Monkey, Inc, Travel And Tour World, Daily Voice and Music Ally
Trishla Ostwal / Adweek:
Advertisers are shifting millions in ad budgets, particularly in CTV, from The Trade Desk's DSP to Amazon's, driven by lower fees, inventory access, and more — Buyers cite Amazon's pricing, inventory access and flexibility as key advantages — Advertisers are shifting millions of dollars in ad budgets …
Discussion:
Benzinga and Insider Monkey
Scott Roxborough / The Hollywood Reporter:
Canal+ signs a distribution deal to carry Netflix content in 24 Francophone sub-Saharan countries; Netflix is estimated to have <5M subscribers in Africa — The French pay-TV player inked a first-of-its-kind deal with the streaming giant to bring Netflix content to 24 French-speaking countries across Sub-Saharan Africa.
Discussion:
Deadline, Advanced Television and Broadband TV News
Feras Kilani / BBC:
A BBC journalist describes being detained and held at gunpoint with five other journalists and a cameraman by the Israel Defense Forces in Syria on May 9 — On the morning of 9 May, I was part of a BBC Arabic team which left the Syrian capital, Damascus, for the southern province of Deraa.
Discussion:
Mediaite, Deadline, @jamesstout.bsky.social, ABC, National Union of Journalists …, The Wrap, Al Jazeera, BusinessLIVE and NewsMax.com
Karishma Mehrotra / Washington Post:
Major Indian newsrooms aired misinformation during the conflict with Pakistan in May, saying Pakistani cities had been destroyed and airing unrelated visuals — Journalists from some of India's largest news networks spoke to The Post about why falsehoods filled the airwaves during a crucial and dangerous moment.
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