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5:50 AM ET, July 16, 2026

Mediagazer

 Top News: 
Todd Spangler / Variety:
A Paramount shareholder lawsuit claims David and Larry Ellison made an illegal deal with Trump in trade for approval of the WBD merger, promising to revamp CNN  —  Paramount Skydance chief David Ellison and his tech billionaire dad Larry Ellison have been sued by a Paramount shareholder …
RELATED:
Gene Maddaus / Variety:
Paramount agrees to a request from 12 states, led by CA, to link their federal antitrust case in the WBD merger to an existing Paramount+ subscriber lawsuit  —  Paramount has agreed to a request from 12 states to link their federal antitrust case to a pre-existing suit brought by Paramount+ subscribers.
Brian Stelter / CNN:
Sources: execs expect a judge to grant a temporary restraining order delaying the Paramount-WBD merger; Paramount still expects to close the merger before Q4  —  Executives involved in the pending Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery deal expect that a judge will hit pause on the takeover plan in the coming days.
Todd Spangler / Variety:
The Writers Guild of America sues Paramount and WBD in an effort to stop their merger, claiming the deal would hurt wages and working conditions for writers
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Trump's recent comment on a “normal path” for CNN raised eyebrows amid the Paramount-WBD merger; Paramount would need CNN revenue to help pay off $80B in debt
Winston Cho / The Hollywood Reporter:
Letter: Tennessee Deputy Governor Stuart McWhorter urged David Ellison to move Paramount's corporate headquarters from California to Tennessee
Ted Johnson / Deadline:
Brendan Carr proposes repealing the national ownership cap, which restricts amassing TV stations that cover more than 39% of households, and sets an Aug. 6 vote  —  FCC Chairman Brendan Carr is proposing a repeal of the national ownership cap, which restricts broadcasters from amassing stations …
Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:
The NYT filed a motion Wednesday to quash DOJ subpoenas of three of its reporters demanding they disclose their sources, following coverage of Air Force One  —  The Justice Department is seeking to compel grand jury testimony as part of an investigation into Times reporting on the president's new Air Force One jet.
RELATED:
David A. Graham / The Atlantic:
Acting AG Todd Blanche has shown he's willing to stifle the free press, through subpoenas of WSJ, NYT, and WaPo reporters and a search of a WaPo reporter's home
Corey G. Johnson / ProPublica:
Ethics disclosures show 7 out of 10 FCC commissioners since 2016 have accepted Kennedy Center tickets worth thousands courtesy of CBS or its parent company  —  Reporting Highlights  — Expensive Gifts: Despite regulating broadcast media, FCC commissioners have accepted pricey tickets …
GTLN:
The Georgia Trust for Local News purchased The Macon Telegraph and The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer from McClatchy; The Macon Melody will merge with The Telegraph  —  Deal will revitalize local journalism in Middle, West and South Georgia  —  Dublin, Ga. - The Georgia Trust for Local News today purchased …
Ariel Zilber / New York Post:
Layoffs hit Altice USA's News 12 operations around NYC; source: at least three dozen employees across the Bronx, Brooklyn, Westchester, and Connecticut were cut  —  An earthquake hit local broadcast journalists across the New York metropolitan area this week as News 12 carried out sweeping layoffs …
The Associated Press:
Microsoft adds funding to the AP Fund for Journalism, enabling APFJ to provide 10 local newsrooms in Washington state with AP elections coverage and resources  —  AP Fund for Journalism (APFJ) today announced funding from Microsoft to strengthen the local news ecosystem in Washington state ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Riddhi Setty / Columbia Journalism Review:
A look at Privacy Act lawsuits against the government that result in journalists being subpoenaed to reveal their sources, and their impact on press freedom  —  Catherine Herridge, a former Fox News reporter, is being compelled to pay $800 a day until she reveals confidential sources.
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
A US federal judge rules the State Department engaged in unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination by denying visas to researchers studying misinfo and disinfo  —  Last year, the Marco Rubio-run State Department announced that it would start denying visas to people who worked …
Mizy Clifton / Politico:
Ofcom launches a probe into TikTok over Online Safety Act compliance, citing doubts about the effectiveness of using age inference to determine users' ages  —  The online safety watchdog is worried about TikTok's use of “age inference” to guess users' ages.
 
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 More News: 
Financial Times:
Filings: the US government says it is considering joining Donald Trump's lawsuit against the BBC; the BBC says the “conflict of interest is clear and stark”
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Apple publishes a policy for upcoming Maps ads, says home services ads are banned, medical services ads will be “evaluated on a case-by-case basis”, and more
 Earlier Picks: 
Aaron Smith / Pew Research Center:
Survey: 57% of US women and 47% of men ages 18 to 29 say they get health and wellness information from influencers; women say they see such content more often
Discussion: New York Post
The Athletic:
German soccer league Bundesliga is moving its US TV rights from ESPN to Versant's USA Network and Fandango in a deal, sources say, worth $100M over five seasons
 

 
From Techmeme:

Simon Willison / Simon Willison's Weblog:
SpaceXAI open-sources Grok Build under an Apache 2.0 license, after the tool uploaded user repositories to SpaceXAI's Google Cloud bucket, causing a backlash

Robert Hart / The Verge:
The EU issues two decisions under the DMA that order Google to provide rival AI assistants and search engines comparable access to Android and some Search data

Blake Brittain / Reuters:
xAI sues a South Carolina man for allegedly using Grok to generate CSAM, in one of the first cases of its kind brought by an AI company against one of its users
 
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