Top News:
Jana Winter / Reuters:
FBI Director Kash Patel sues The Atlantic and reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick for defamation, seeking $250M, over an article that claimed he had a drinking problem — FBI Director Kash Patel filed a defamation lawsuit against the Atlantic and its reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick following the publication …
Discussion:
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a16z:
A new media company called MTS launches for “monitoring the situation” across tech, business, politics, and culture, with backing from a16z and others — Thrilled to announce our investment in a new media company called MTS — Thrilled to announce our investment …
Matthew Gault / 404 Media:
A Forbes story about a Louisiana man killing 8 children contained a ForbesPredict box asking readers to predict whether Congress would pass new gun safety laws — In another sign that the depravity economy has no bottom, Forbes published a story about a Louisiana man that killed 8 children …
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Deezer says AI-generated tracks now account for 44% of daily uploads, totaling ~75K tracks per day and 2M+ per month, but account for just 1-3% of consumption — Deezer announced on Monday that AI-generated tracks now represent 44% of all new music uploaded to its platform.
New York Times:
Filing: The Onion proposes a new deal for Infowars, licensing Infowars.com for $81,000 per month for six months initially; the deal requires a judge's approval — When Infowars, the website founded by the right-wing conspiracist Alex Jones, came up for sale two years ago, an unlikely suitor stepped up.
Discussion:
The Guardian, The Wrap, Mediaite, NBC News, CNN, Variety, NPR, Rolling Stone, Block Club Chicago, Hollywood Life, Houston Public Media, Washington Examiner, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, Consequence, Courthouse News Service, @mattsheffield@mastodon.social, Mother Jones, Joe.My.God., @pablotorre, @agoldmund, @digiphile.bsky.social, @rwmead.bsky.social, @benmullin.bsky.social, @agoldmund, @canteverdie, Newsweek, Raw Story, The A.V. Club, @christiannightmare … and Politico
Bloomberg:
A look at Chinese streamer iQiyi's overhaul effort to be the industry's biggest AI adopter, as it aims to release a successful GenAI film as soon as summer 2026 — IQiyi Inc. expects AI to create a big chunk of its films and shows virtually from scratch someday soon, a monumental industry shift …
Discussion:
Gizmodo, Tech in Asia, The Wrap, Media Play News, Digital Trends, Yahoo Finance, The Economic Times and NextBigWhat
Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:
More than 250 ex-broadcast journalists urge WHCA dinner organizers “to forcefully demonstrate opposition” to Trump's “efforts to trample freedom of the press” — The prospect of President Trump delivering a speech at this Saturday's White House Correspondents …
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Sources: Bill Ackman proposes merging UMG with his SPAC and naming Michael Ovitz as chair, an offer UMG is likely to reject; UMG stock is down 20% since 2021 — Bill Ackman has offered to buy Universal Music Group. What he really wants is for the stock to go up.
Discussion:
@lucas_shaw
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
Forbes plans its “first foray” into e-commerce with Forbes Wine, a fully owned-and-operated wine section and shop, set to launch later this year — Wine seen as opportunity to build community in move away from scale. — Forbes is making its “first foray” …
Discussion:
InPublishing
Nick Vivarelli / Variety:
The European film industry opposes the EU's plans to change its Creative Europe funding program by combining culture and media under the AgoraEU initiative — European trade organizations representing the full film industry sector spectrum are up in arms against the EU Commission's plans …
Charles Pulliam-Moore / The Verge:
A Japanese court sentences a website administrator to prison for posting spoiler-heavy movie summaries, ruling such spoilers constitute copyright infringement — The Tokyo District Court has ruled that publishing plot details of films and series is a form of copyright infringement.
Discussion:
Tom's Hardware
Winston Cho / The Hollywood Reporter:
How the new Avatar: The Last Airbender animated film leaked months before its Paramount+ premiere; sources: Paramount ruled out a vulnerability in its systems — The movie leaked months ahead of its premiere on Paramount+. An anonymous X account claimed that a Nickelodeon employee emailed …
Discussion:
Gizmodo and @asherelbein.bsky.social
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