Top News:
Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Bryan Cranston, Joaquin Phoenix, and 1,000+ writers, actors, and directors sign a letter opposing Paramount's WBD bid, warning it cuts jobs and audience choice — The letter warns that the deal will result in fewer jobs for creatives, along with higher costs and less choice for audiences.
Discussion:
Variety, The Hill, NBC News, The Wrap, Deadline, The Contrarian, @benmullin, Bloomberg and The Hollywood Reporter
Corinne Ramey / Wall Street Journal:
A US judge dismisses Trump's $10B defamation suit against WSJ over an article asserting Trump's name was on a 2003 letter to Epstein, but says Trump can re-file — The president alleged an article about a bawdy Epstein birthday letter was defamatory — A federal judge on Monday dismissed …
Discussion:
New York Times, Associated Press, Reuters, Variety, The Hill, CNN, CNBC, Mediaite, RedState, New York Post, CBS News, Politico, Bloomberg, @farhip, MS NOW, @jeremymbarr, @mattzeitlin, @klasfeldreports, MeidasTouch News, @kylegriffin1.bsky.social, @garretthaake, The Independent, @benmullin and Talking Biz News
Suzanne Vranica / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: the US FTC is in settlement talks with ad companies to end an antitrust probe into their alleged coordinated boycotts against sites like Elon Musk's X — The government began an inquiry last year into whether ad firms were funneling client dollars away from certain media platforms
Discussion:
New York Times, @brianstelter, Reuters and @thezedwards.bsky.social, more at Techmeme »
Bloomberg:
Analysis: NBC's annual sports spending may rise ~19% to ~$9.5B if it commits to a 50%+ price hike for NFL rights, as sports leagues leverage multi-outlet deals — The NFL is the most popular sport in the US. The government says it's hurting fans. — Good afternoon from Los Angeles.
Discussion:
Financial Times
Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
The Economist plans to launch Economist Play, featuring shows hosted by Economist correspondents alongside interviews and debates, in its app this summer — Founded in 1843, the British newsmagazine The Economist has long been an outlier in the news business.
Discussion:
Talking Biz News and Oliver Money on LinkedIn
Christopher Weber / Associated Press:
A look at the Aadam Jacobs Collection, which is adding its 10,000+ concert recordings to the Internet Archive; only one or two artists have requested takedowns — On July 8, 1989, a young music fan named Aadam Jacobs, with a compact Sony cassette recorder in his pocket …
Discussion:
Digit, @mikerugnetta.com, @michaelzapata.bsky.social, @gdub1972.bsky.social and Dexerto
New York Times:
How Muslim women writers in Nigeria bypass religious censorship by posting erotic novel installments in WhatsApp groups and placing cliffhangers behind paywalls — Zealous officials burned their predecessors' romance novels. Now, young Muslim women in northern Nigeria publish their erotic books in installments on WhatsApp.
Discussion:
@cobbo3.bsky.social, BOOK RIOT and Condia
Alice Brooker / Press Gazette:
The Telegraph says its newsletter From the Editor, read by 850K+ people daily, has become its “biggest source” of new paying subscribers one year after launch — Flagship Telegraph newsletter From the Editor has become its “biggest source” of new paying subscribers one year after launch.
Kelsey Warner / Semafor:
Gulf countries like the UAE and Kuwait, as well as Iran and Israel, implement a sweeping media crackdown amid the war; the UAE arrested a journalist on March 17 — The News — After a few photojournalists were arrested in the UAE last month, some global newswires stopped publishing …
Discussion:
New York Times, ABC, @dominicgwinn.com, Washington Examiner and The New York Review of Books
Isabella Simonetti / Wall Street Journal:
Tucker Carlson partners with Skyhorse Publishing to launch Tucker Carlson Books, an imprint with a slate of titles by high-profile authors like Russell Brand — The imprint is set to include books from Russell Brand, Milo Yiannopoulos and Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong — Tucker Carlson is getting his own book imprint.
Discussion:
The Independent and @whistlingbatter.bsky.social
Kristen Hare / Poynter:
A look at efforts to preserve local news archives, including work made for digital platforms first, and why some news leaders see archives as community gifts — Yes, the physical ones, but the digital ones, too. Because losing them means losing the only record many communities have of themselves.
Discussion:
@poynterinstitute.bsky.social and University of Missouri
Alexandra Alter / New York Times:
Most major book publishers lack clear rules on AI use, frustrating authors and readers and raising fears that AI-generated books will slip past editors — Major publishing houses risk unwittingly putting out books generated with A.I. tools. Authors and readers are frustrated, nervous and grasping for solutions.
Discussion:
Jane Friedman
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