Top News:
Yasmin Khorram / Politico:
The US DOJ approves Paramount's $111B purchase of WBD without forcing divestitures or behavioral remedies; state AGs could still try to block the move — The DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Paramount did not respond to a request for comment.
Discussion:
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Bloomberg:
Sources: Roku is in talks to sell itself; its shares have risen about 24% this year, giving the company a market value of $19.9B — Roku Inc., the streaming video platform, is in talks to sell itself, people with knowledge of the matter said. — The San Jose, California-based company …
Daniel Arkin / NBC News:
Gene Shalit, a longtime film critic for NBC's Today who was with the show from 1970 until his retirement in 2010, dies at 100 — He stood out from the TV pack with his bowties, bushy moustache and movie reviews studded with cheeky turns of phrase. … Gene Shalit, the longtime film critic for NBC's …
Discussion:
Variety, HELLO!, Suggest, @mikebeauvais, Us Weekly, Los Angeles Times, Reuters, @darrenrovell, Comic Book, @edeggans.bsky.social, People, USA Today, Daily Mail, Associated Press, BBC, TMZ.com, New York Times, @simsjames.bsky.social, TVLine, Extra, @dansheehan.memyon.org, @sagaftra.org, @debramayberry.bsky.social, The Wrap, Deadline, Vulture, @crobertcargill.bsky.social, The Hollywood Reporter, The A.V. Club and Instapundit
Gary Baum / The Hollywood Reporter:
A look at the first “case” brought before Objection, which aims to use AI to evaluate news stories, and a Q&A with Objection's founder; the site is now dark — The billionaire has reteamed with the legal strategist who helped him bring down Gawker to start an AI-powered appeals court for the rich and aggrieved.
Aidan Ryan / The Boston Globe:
A look at an AI-reliant news site for 19 towns south of Boston, which uses public meeting transcripts and LLMs to produce stories and has 350 paid subscribers — The digital site South Shore News faced a significant test when founder Justin Evans put up a paywall in April …
Erica Ryan / Reporters' Lab:
Duke Reporters' Lab reports a global drop in fact-checking projects from 464 in 2024 to 441 in 2025; US projects fell from 65 in 2024 to 61 in 2025 — Three times as many fact-checking projects stopped as started in 2025, but the majority are weathering money woes, political attacks
Neel Dhanesha / Nieman Lab:
Q&A with Ian Coss, host of GBH's Big Dig podcast, on his multi-city live event tour in partnership with local NPR stations, the use of GBH archives, and more — “Ultimately bureaucracy is just people trying to accomplish something, and there's good stories in there.”
The News Minute:
Delhi High Court quashes the case against NewsClick on foreign funding, saying investigators failed to establish cheating, conspiracy, or any scheduled offense — Justice Neena Bansal Krishna said that the investigators failed to establish cheating, criminal breach of trust, conspiracy or any scheduled offence.
Janko Roettgers / The Verge:
Apple TV relies on a few tentpole titles to draw audiences, like HBO did in the past, while Netflix uses its catalog size and algorithms to keep viewers engaged — Unlike competitors like Netflix, Apple TV emphasizes tentpole titles over large catalogs.
Discussion:
Forbes, Spyglass, ScreenRant and The Wrap
Malcolm Ferguson / New Republic:
60 Minutes correspondent Cecilia Vega was fired while working on a feature on Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories — 60 Minutes correspondent Cecilia Vega was fired while she was in the midst of a feature on Francesca Albanese, U.N. special rapporteur …
Financial Times:
Palantir loses its legal bid to force Swiss magazine Republik to publish Palantir's responses to coverage of Switzerland's rejection of the company's services — Peter Thiel-chaired data intelligence group sued publication over reports that Switzerland rejected its approaches
Discussion:
The Guardian, Lawyer Monthly and @adfichter@infosec.exchange
Kayla Cobb / The Wrap:
MrBeast hits 500M subscribers on YouTube, becoming the first creator to reach the milestone, after crossing 100M subscribers in 2022 — The creator is the first to ever reach this milestone — MrBeast has broken yet another record. Jimmy Donaldson, aka MrBeast, hit 500 million subscribers …
