Top News:
David Folkenflik / NPR:
Memo: NPR is restructuring its newsroom and offers buyouts to ~300 staffers, mostly in newsgathering desks, expecting to earn $15M less in station fees in 2026 — NPR is restructuring its newsroom, including cutting some reporting and editing jobs, as it attempts to keep pace …
Erik Wemple / New York Times:
NYT files a second lawsuit against the DOD, alleging a March mandate requiring official escorts for journalists at the Pentagon violates the First Amendment — The Times is challenging a new requirement that reporters covering the military complex have an official escort …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Associated Press, Courthouse News Service, Raw Story, The Wrap, NewsMax.com, Mediaite, The Guardian, Bloomberg Law, @scottnover and CBS News
Michael Savage / The Guardian:
Channel 4 removes all episodes of Married at First Sight UK after three former contestants alleged rape and non-consensual sex acts occurred during the filming — Former contestants claim there was not enough protection for cast during making of Channel 4 show
Discussion:
BBC, GB News, TV Blackbox, The Sun, Just Jared, HELLO!, Deadline, Daily Star, Channel 4, Reality Tea, E! Online, The Tab, Mirror, TMZ.com, TechRadar and Sky News
Mark Stenberg / Adweek:
Sources: Amazon restructured its Associates program, including slashing commissions rates by as much as 50% and cutting bonuses for high-performing publishers — Publishers are scrambling to reorient their commerce businesses after the tech giant also gut reporting tools
Discussion:
@markstenberg3
Dylan Byers / Puck:
Sources: Paramount has had informal talks about Bari Weiss ceding day-to-day control of Evening News, CBS Mornings, and 60 Minutes to a more experienced exec — As it closes in on its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount leadership has had informal discussions …
Discussion:
Mediaite, @pucknews, Raw Story, @mikeisaac, @brianstelter and @brianmfloyd.bsky.social
RELATED:
Matt Hughes / The Guardian:
WBD's TNT Sports ends the 34-year tradition of providing free UK access to the Champions League soccer final, requiring an HBO Max or TNT Sports subscription — - Three European finals restricted to TNT Sport customers — Uefa understood to be unhappy with the decision
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Amazon's Alexa+ now produces AI-generated “podcasts” on various topics in the US, featuring chats between two AI “co-hosts”, using content from media outlets — The podcast sector suddenly may have a big new player: Amazon's Alexa+ AI-powered voice assistant.
Loree Seitz / The Wrap:
Sony Pictures Television acquires a majority stake in 32 Flavors, the production company behind some of Bravo's hit reality series, like The Real Housewives — The production company is behind hit Bravo reality series like “Vanderpump Rules,” “The Real Housewives” and “The Valley”
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, Reality Tea, Deadline, Sony Pictures and The Hollywood Reporter
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
Sky News plans to launch its first paid digital subscription, Sky News Insider: Podcasts, on June 15 for £2.99 per month, bundling three podcasts with no ads — Sky News will include ad-free listening and bonus episodes across three podcasts as part of its first paid online subscription offering.
Jackson Chen / Engadget:
X quietly limits users who didn't pay for verification to “50 original posts and 200 replies per day”, down from 2,400 posts per day — That's down from the previous 2,400 posts per day limit. — X has introduced some more incentive to get users to pay for “verification” …
Reuters:
Sources: FIFA officials are visiting India, where no World Cup broadcast deal is agreed; Reliance-Disney JV offered just $20M and Sony refrained from bidding — FIFA media rights officials are visiting India this week, three sources said, ahead of next month's World Cup for which soccer's ruling body …
Discussion:
Streaming Better and BMI
K.J. Yossman / Variety:
BBC Director General Matt Brittin begins his tenure, warning staff that “tough choices are unavoidable” as the BBC seeks to cut costs and simplify operations — Describing himself as a “lifelong fan of the BBC,” the former Google executive opened the missive by saying …
Discussion:
The i Paper, The Wrap, GB News, @michaelsavage, The Guardian, Agence France-Presse, The Sun, Deadline, The Standard, The National, Radio Times and Broadband TV News
Maggie Harrison Dupré / Futurism:
Sports Illustrated deleted the profile and articles of writer Parker Loverich, after Sportico editor Dan Bernstein accused Sports Illustrated of plagiarism — Sports Illustrated deleted an author — and his entire archive of articles — from its website following allegations of AI plagiarism.
Discussion:
@dan_bernstein_, @dan_bernstein_, @mags_h11, @dan_bernstein_ and Awful Announcing
