Top News:
Perry Stein / Washington Post:
Source: the US DOJ sought to force WaPo and WSJ reporters to testify before a grand jury but withdrew the subpoenas this month after the outlets challenged them — Subpoenas for reporters to appear before a grand jury are exceedingly rare. The journalists have not testified. — Summary
Discussion:
Associated Press, Fox News, New York Times, NBC News, NOTUS, CNN, Washington Post, UPI, Newser, The Hill, Raw Story, @jcollins.bsky.social, @froomkin.bsky.social, @briankrebs@infosec.exchange, News Usa Today, @zackwhittaker.com, @jamiegangel, @brianstelter, Politico, Mediaite and New Republic
Jake Kanter / Deadline:
UK ministers are advancing a bill requiring YouTube and TikTok to promote BBC and ITV content, as well as forcing streamers to show big sports events for free — YouTube, TikTok, and other major video-sharing platforms will be told to carry public service content prominently under new legislation being drawn up by the UK government.
Discussion:
Reuters, @jeffjarvis.bsky.social, Mirror, The Sun, MediaNama, @europa, @m_simonyan, @sprinterpress, BBC, Breitbart and The Daily Sceptic
RELATED:
Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:
A UK report on the plan to require social platforms to prominently show “trustworthy news” acknowledges that criteria for trustworthiness are yet to be defined — The British government is asking social media companies to put more news — real news, produced by public service broadcasters …
Deadline:
Piers Morgan's Uncensored raised $27M led by Raine Ventures and Antenna Group, with Elisabeth Murdoch participating, sources say at a $145M valuation — Among those backing the former CNN anchor is Elisabeth Murdoch, an interesting detail for media watchers, given that Morgan carved …
Discussion:
Press Gazette, The Wrap and @piersmorgan
Max Tani / Semafor:
Documents: The Daily Wire, founded by conservative podcaster Ben Shapiro in 2015, seeks to raise at least $100M in a round that would value the company at $750M — The Scoop — The Daily Wire, one of the biggest players in conservative media, is in talks to take on at least $100 million in investment …
Discussion:
@solomonrmissouri.com, @normjess@tech.lgbt, @steveschulz.bsky.social and @semafor.com
RELATED:
Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Sources: CBS News' ombudsman has issued no public statements or internal feedback since being hired as a condition of FCC approval for Skydance's Paramount deal — With CBS News rocked by controversy, some viewers have turned to the network ombudsman for a public response. So far, they haven't gotten one.
Discussion:
@scottnover
Sarah Nassauer / Wall Street Journal:
Walmart acquires Paris-based Vibe.co, which lets businesses create and buy ads on CTVs, sources say for $1.4B, as it competes with Amazon for ad revenue — Retail giant is paying $1.4 billion for Vibe.co, a company that enables advertising through connected TVs
John Koblin / New York Times:
Netflix orders a spinoff of Hot Ones, the hit YouTube series hosted by Sean Evans, titled Hot Ones: Extra Heat, set to stream after major live sporting events — The streaming giant bought a spinoff of a popular online interview series that features celebrities eating fiery chicken wings, the latest salvo in its rivalry with YouTube.
Discussion:
Nerdist, The Wrap, The Cut, Tubefilter, mxdwn Television, Mumbrella, TVLine, Collider, Just Jared, Deadline, Realscreen and The Hollywood Reporter
Hallie Rich / Library Journal:
Marc DeBevoise is named CEO of OverDrive, parent of audiobook app Libby and video streaming service Kanopy; founder Steve Potash will become board chairman — OverDrive announced leadership transition with founder and CEO Steve Potash named Chairman of the Board. Marc DeBevoise will become next OverDrive CEO.
Discussion:
Publishers Weekly, Crain's Cleveland Business and OverDrive
Paul Farhi / Washingtonian:
WaPo's opinion section has been promoting data centers, only sometimes mentioning owner Jeff Bezos' vested interest in them or the paper's OpenAI partnership — The Washington Post's opinion editors love data centers, the humongous and increasingly unpopular server warehouses …
Discussion:
@FAIR@mastodon.world, @tonyromm.bsky.social, @samlitzinger.bsky.social and Poynter
Zac Ntim / Deadline:
UNIC: cinema admissions fell 4.4% YoY to 873.2M in Europe in 2025 and box office revenue fell 1.2% to €6.9B; US movies make up the bulk of the European market — Cinema admissions dropped 4.4% across Europe to 873.2 million in 2025, according to a new report published by the International Union of Cinemas (UNIC).
Discussion:
@paulharper.eurosky.social
Sapna Maheshwari / New York Times:
A look at Ina Garten's new seven-figure deal with Vox Media for a video podcast where she'll make cocktails with guests, and the bidding war for the show — Ina Garten, the longtime Food Network Star, will start a new podcast this fall. Instead of cooking, she'll be making cocktails with her guests.
Juro Osawa / The Information:
ByteDance unveils Seedance 2.5, saying the AI video model can generate up to 30-second clips from up to 50 reference materials, up from 12 for Seedance 2.0 — ByteDance on Tuesday unveiled Seedance 2.5, its new AI video generation model, at a conference in Beijing.
Discussion:
The Next Web, @alisaqqt, @udiwertheimer, @deryatr_, @kimmonismus, The Decoder, @emostaque, RuntimeWire and Caixin Global, more at Techmeme »
