Q&A with HuffPost editor Phil Lewis on aggregating news on X, being a "newsfluencer", Black media and Black newsrooms, the future of news, and more (Jason Parham/Wired)

Mediagazer: Q&A with HuffPost editor Phil Lewis on aggregating news on X, being a “newsfluencer”, Black media and Black newsrooms, the future of news, and more (Jason Parham/Wired)

Top News:

Associated Press:

A bankruptcy judge orders the liquidation of Alex Jones' personal assets but dismisses for now the bankruptcy case against the company that runs Infowars— A federal judge on Friday ordered the liquidation of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones ′ personal assets but dismissed …
Discussion: NBC News, WHDH-TV, New York Times, CBS News, Reuters, @katiephang@threads.net, @kenwhite.bsky.social, @andrewparker.bsky.social, Mediaite, CNN, The Wrap, @VirginiaMurr@mastodon.social, Awful Announcing, Bloomberg, Courthouse News Service, @cnn@threads.net, @themountaingoats.bsky.social, Newser, @janus.bsky.social, @pwnallthethings.bsky.social, Variety, KHOU-TV, Associated Press, @joshuajfriedman.com, HuffPost, New York Post, New Republic, @Green_Footballs …, Axios, Rolling Stone, Washington Post, Gizmodo and NPR

Discussion:

Erik Ortiz /
NBC News: Alex Jones allowed to liquidate assets to help pay debt in Sandy Hook defamation verdicts, judge rules

Owen Boss /
WHDH-TV: What we know about the fight between conspiracist Alex Jones and Sandy Hook families over his assets

Elizabeth Williamson /
New York Times: Judge Orders Sale of Alex Jones's Personal Assets but Keeps Infowars in Business

Dietrich Knauth /
Reuters: Sandy Hook families want to seize Alex Jones' social media accounts

Katie Phang /
@katiephang@threads.net: “The process of shutting down Infowars could play out quickly. A court-appointed trustee would be tasked with securing the assets and then selling off Jones' media empire, including the website, studio space and broadcasting equipment.” @kenwhite.bsky.social: People angry over how they believe criminal law should work take break to be angry over how they believe bankruptcy law should work

Andrew Parker /
@andrewparker.bsky.social: Since “make him stop broadcasting” isn't the kind of relief a tort lawsuit can lead to, their interests would be measured in the amount of the judgment they can recover. — Can't get water from a rock, even if the reality is you'd rather see the rock crushed than get any water.

Jamie Frevele /
Mediaite: JUST IN: Judge Orders Alex Jones's Personal Assets Liquidated to Pay Sandy Hook Victims

Jacob Bryant /
The Wrap: Alex Jones Ordered to Liquidate Assets to Pay $1.5 Billion Sandy Hook Settlement

Virginia Murr /
@VirginiaMurr@mastodon.social: Some good news! — “Alex Jones' personal assets will be sold to help pay Sandy Hook debt as judge decides Infowars' fate” — “A federal judge on Friday ordered the liquidation of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones ′ personal assets but was still deciding on his company's separate bankruptcy case …

Daniel Kaplan /
Awful Announcing: Diamond Sports Group asks for emergency hearing over league demands in bankruptcy case

Evan Ochsner /
Bloomberg: Alex Jones Estate to Be Liquidated to Pay Sandy Hook Debt

Cameron Thompson /
Courthouse News Service: Judge green lights liquidation of Alex Jones' personal assets @cnn@threads.net: A Texas bankruptcy judge has rejected a proposed liquidation of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' company Free Speech Systems, the parent company of Infowars, saying that a denial of the bankruptcy plan was, in his opinion, in the best interest of the creditors. … @themountaingoats.bsky.social: the thing about Alex Jones is he has enough dumbasses in the quiver to gofundme his house when it goes up to auction and then give it back to him. the court ought to have ordered a pair of concrete socks and a sailing excursion off Galveston @janus.bsky.social: feels extremely american to be like “we need you to keep running your stochastic terrorism business so you can pay back the victims of your stochastic terrorism” [embedded post] @pwnallthethings.bsky.social: this is an Olympic gold medallist dubious construction of “best interest”, ngl

Todd Spangler /
Variety: Judge Orders Alex Jones' Personal Assets Liquidated to Pay Sandy Hook Families but Dismisses Infowars Bankruptcy Case KHOU-TV: Who is Alex Jones? How the ring-wing conspiracy theorist built a multi-million-dollar empire

Associated Press:
Alex Jones' personal assets will be sold to help pay Sandy Hook debt as company bankruptcy dismissed

Joshua J. Friedman /
@joshuajfriedman.com: NEW: Alex Jones gets to keep broadcasting on Infowars, with the judge finding it is “in the best interest” of Sandy Hook families for the company to avoid bankruptcy so Jones would be better able to repay his massive debt (via Bayliss Wagner, Austin American-Statesman)

Sebastian Murdock /
HuffPost: Judge Clears Way For Alex Jones To Liquidate Personal Assets To Pay Sandy Hook Families

Priscilla DeGregory /
New York Post: Alex Jones ordered to liquidate assets to pay $1.5B Sandy Hook judgment with Infowars' future in limbo

Edith Olmsted /
New Republic: It's All Over for Alex Jones With New Sandy Hook Ruling

Charles Johnson /
@Green_Footballs@mastodon.social: We shouldn't forget that Donald Trump proudly boasted about his friendship with this vile monster, and often echoed Jones's lies during his campaign. — But I worry that he'll still come back from this somehow. — Alex Jones' assets to be sold to help pay Sandy Hook lawsuit debt | AP News …

Jacob Knutson /
Axios: Alex Jones' personal assets will be liquidated to pay Sandy Hook families, judge rules

Nikki McCann Ramirez /
Rolling Stone: Judge Orders Alex Jones to Liquidate Assets to Pay for Sandy Hook Lies

New York Times:

Sources: Jeff Bezos appears to be standing by Publisher and CEO Will Lewis and has envisioned WaPo growing to reach 100M subscribers from its current 2.5M— The Amazon founder has expressed his support to Will Lewis, the C.E.O., who has faced widespread criticism this month.

Discussion:
@benmullin, @corbinbolies, The Wrap, @davidclinchnews, @danahoule, @tvgrimreaper, @froomkin, @z3dster, @pkafka, @benmullin, Mediaite, The Daily Beast, Media Nation and @jayrosen_nyc@threads.net

Discussion:

Ben Mullin /
@benmullin: Some news in here: Jeff Bezos has told people that The Washington Post can eventually generate 100 million(!) paid subscriptions, which would catapult it far ahead of the competition. w/@katie_robertson https://www.nytimes.com/...

Corbin Bolies /
@corbinbolies: NEW: Will Lewis sends a late-Friday email to Washington Post staffers outlining more plans about the “Third Newsroom,” which will get put together by a “Build It Squad” led by Matt Murray. [image]

Mike Roe /
The Wrap: Washington Post Publisher Shares More ‘Third Newsroom’ Plans With Concerned Staff

David Clinch /
@davidclinchnews: I'm interested to hear the results of the internal survey on the “third newsroom” idea.

Dana Houle /
@danahoule: There are 130M households in the United States. Somewhere there's a typo, or he's gone batshit crazy. @tvgrimreaper: Will Lewis is a dead CEO walking. The knives are out for him. Bezos will abandon him. WaPo, purchased for $250 million, lost $77 million in 2023. A billionaire owner beats having a working business model! Bezos also comes off as delusional in this piece (100m subs!).

Peter Kafka /
@pkafka: Classic journalism riddle: Two people have a conversation. Two people are familiar with the conversation those people had. Are those two people different than the two people who had the conversation? [image]

Ben Mullin /
@benmullin: new, w/@katie_robertson: How Jeff Bezos is trying to fix The Post. Scoops: -Bezos has lately expressed support to publisher Will Lewis -Lewis missed the Pulitzers in May because he was in NY with Bezos discussing turnaround -"The Kansas City Project" https://www.nytimes.com/...

David Gilmour /
Mediaite: Former Staffer Margaret Sullivan Calls on Jeff Bezos to ‘Save’ Washington Post By ‘Firing’ CEO Will Lewis

Corbin Bolies /
The Daily Beast: WaPo CEO's Apology Tour Was an Answer-Free Snoozefest

Dan Kennedy /
Media Nation: The Washington Post looks to local as a way of reviving its sagging fortunes

Adweek:

The Trade Desk threatens to demonetize Yahoo video ad inventory, saying Yahoo had misrepresented inventory as “in-stream”; Yahoo says it's working on changes— The DSP is accusing the publisher of misrepresenting its inventory — The Trade Desk alerted buyers earlier this week …

Discussion:
Catherine Perloff on LinkedIn and Digiday

Discussion:

Catherine Perloff /
Catherine Perloff on LinkedIn: SCOOP: The Trade Desk is threatening to demonetize Yahoo's video, over allegations that Yahoo is falsely declaring its video as in-stream. …

Wired:

Q&A with HuffPost editor Phil Lewis on aggregating news on X, being a “newsfluencer”, Black media and Black newsrooms, the future of news, and more— Editor and news aggregator Phil Lewis isn't afraid of YouTubers or TikTokkers. He says the real threat is misinformation.

Defector:

The Longform podcast, featuring weekly interviews with nonfiction writers, is planning to end production after 12 years— Wednesday morning, I saw a tweet from the Longform podcast: Jay Caspian Kang, a staff writer at The New Yorker, was the guest on for their 583rd episode. I perked up.

Discussion:
@pjmaciak, @hannahmc_carthy, @benmullin, @kavahnmansouri, @iamstevenhale and @askanyone

Discussion:

Phillip Maciak /
@pjmaciak: I have learned so much from listening to the interviews on @longform podcast over the years. For something in this ephemeral media universe to feel like an institution is a huge deal. Dive in if you haven't. One of your favorite writers is probably in there.

Hannah McCarthy /
@hannahmc_carthy: Sad to hear the @longform podcast is wrapping up. https://defector.com/...

Ben Mullin /
@benmullin: I'm really sad to see the @longform podcast ending. I started listening to it during my first journalism job, and it has felt like a campfire we could all huddle around as the industry got increasingly bitter. But I'm also really grateful for a great run.

Kavahn Mansouri /
@kavahnmansouri: I've been driving all day but finally have a second to properly mourn the @longform podcast. I have a vivid memory of listening to their interview with Gay Talese while working at a pipe factory during my college years. It came at a point where I really didn't believe I could...

Kavahn Mansouri /
@kavahnmansouri: make it in journalism. That episode and so many others kept me going, kept me inspired and gave me an idea of what it was like to be a working writer. If you haven't listened, get to it. It's a huge resource for growing writers. And we should always be growing.

Steven Hale /
@iamstevenhale: I am immensely bummed that the @longformpodcast is ending but also immensely grateful for the 12 years of shows. It's been an inspiration and a lifeline to me as I've tried to be a writer. Hell of a run.

Reuters Institute:

How news outlets Newslaundry, The News Minute, The Wire, The Caravan, and Scroll, joined forces to report on India's elections with the help of audience funding— Our contributor Raksha Kumar spent the day with them — At 7:30 on 4 June, a regular bungalow in South Delhi was swarming …

Discussion:
@risj_oxford and @basuashis

Discussion:
@risj_oxford: NEW on our website How @newslaundry @thenewsminute, @thewire_in , @thecaravanindia and @scroll_in joined forces to broadcast the Indian elections' result with the help of audience funding ✍️ Our contributor Raksha Kumar spent this crucial day with them https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac .uk/ ...

Axios:

Workweek, a publishing platform for creators serving business professionals, raised a $12.5M Series A to expand from its eight newsletters and 500K+ subscribers— The company raised $1.5 million in seed round funding in a round led by LightShed Ventures. — The company provides publishing …

Discussion:
@adamry_n, @rameeztase and Talking Biz News

Discussion:

Adam Ryan /
@adamry_n: I'm proud to make two big announcements today for Workweek: We've launched a Professional Network Platform and to help accelerate our success, we've raised a $12.5M Series A financing round. [video]

Rameez /
@rameeztase: Huge news for the @workweekinc team. I've long been obsessed with the B2B creator thesis - taking the best professionals in the world, making them content creators, and helping them monetize in every which way possible - and @AdamRy_n is making it happen in front of our eyes.

Politico:

Sources say the publisher Little, Brown canceled prominent journalist Jason Zengerle's biography of Tucker Carlson, partly due to Carlson's mainstream absence— A major publisher just canceled a big-budget book on the former Fox News star, cementing his mainstream absence.

Discussion:

Phillip Nieto /
Mediaite: Tucker Carlson Biography Dumped — Politico Columnist Argues Over Tanking Relevance

Justin Baragona /
@justinbaragona: Pretty much the perfect breakdown of Tucker Carlson's fall from mainstream relevance. https://www.politico.com/... [image]

Josh Kraushaar /
@joshkraushaar: “The journey from comfort in the mainstream to aggrievement on the margins is one of the most fascinating evolutions in today's society.” https://www.politico.com/... @nahbabynah: Political News, R&L The Disappearing Tucker Carlson: For Tucker Carlson, it has to be the ultimate good-news, bad-news moment: A major publishing house has canceled a prominent political journalist's upcoming biography of the far-right media... https://www.politico.com/... #Trump2024 [image]

Jason Weisberger /
Boing Boing: A book about a failed Fox host can not find a publisher @threnody.bsky.social: reposting @katmabu.bsky.social's video because deplatforming works—from the host of the most watched cable “news” show to pedophile accounts on bluesky. — a year & change ago, this man was an inescapable avatar of white nationalist hate. he can't get a book published. even josh hawley can do *that. …

Gillian Branstetter /
@gbbranstetter.bsky.social: That's it's own fascinating story, no? Most influential cable news host and white supremacist propagandist reduced to niche vlogger [embedded post]

New York Times:

The movie The Apprentice has yet to find a US distributor, suggesting that some media companies may have already been intimidated by Trump and his supporters— This week I finally got to see “The Apprentice,” an absorbing, disturbing movie about the relationship between the red-baiting mob lawyer Roy Cohn and a young Donald Trump.

Discussion:

Alex Griffing /
Mediaite: 'It's Frightening': Michelle Goldberg Warns Trump Threats Already Intimidating Media Companies To Avoid Critical Film

Brian Stelter /
@brianstelter@threads.net: 👆🏼 The film's writer, gabrielsherman, shared this column on Instagram today and commented, “Hollywood is terrified of Trump and he's not even elected yet. Imagine what artists will go through if he actually wins.”

Kim Masters /
@lkimmasters@threads.net: What sort of evidence would you expect to find other than the fact that there is no deal? An email saying hell no, I am scared? 

Dan Gillmor /
@dangillmor@mastodon.social: Two op-eds in the NY Times today illustrate the growing threat Trump world poses to journalism. — https://www.nytimes.com/... and — https://www.nytimes.com/... If the NY Times NEWS pages understood the threat, or cared more about it, maybe they'd do their jobs better. …

Dina Jay /
@dinajay17@threads.net: They can release it on line. Set up a website. Put it behind a paywall. This is 2024. There is more than one way to skin a cat.

Chuck Darwin /
@cdarwin@c.im: The Chilling Reason You May Never See the New Trump Movie — Negotiations are ongoing, and domestic distribution could still come together. — Yet the possibility that American audiences won't be able to see “The Apprentice” — isn't just frustrating. — It's frightening, — because it suggests that …

Tom Donahue /
Tom Donahue on LinkedIn: It is every citizen's and every company's civic duty to make sure Tr*mp does not return to power. — “It's common to read about movies …

Luca Shaw /
@lucas_shaw@threads.net: I've seen a lot of people write about this. Has anyone provided evidence that distributors are scared?

Jake Lahut /
@jakelahut@threads.net: Some real free country stuff here..

Jeff Jarvis /
@jeffjarvis@mastodon.social: Frightening how the GOP's authoritarian intimidation works, at Stanford (Internet Observatory) and Hollywood. Too much fascism, too little courage. — The Chilling Reason You May Never See the New Trump Movie https://www.nytimes.com/...

Brian Stelter /
@brianstelter@threads.net: The Trump biopic “The Apprentice” is struggling to land a U.S. distribution deal. “It's frightening,” @michelleinbklyn writes, “because it suggests that Trump and his supporters have already intimidated some media companies, which seem to be pre-emptively capitulating to him.” …

Los Angeles Times:

A look at the growing popularity of Tubi as streaming prices rise; Nielsen: May was Tubi's most-watched month ever, with an average of 1M viewers, up 46% YoY— In the era of “streamflation,” it's a good time to be Tubi. — Subscription prices for Netflix, Disney+, Max and Peacock …

Discussion:
@neverleftpod: Omg hahahah! Take that @StreamOnMax #DontStreamOnMax #FireDavidZaslav https://www.latimes.com/... [image]

Jesse Hawken /
@jessehawken: The People's Streaming Service ™

Matthew A. Cherry /
@matthewacherry: The Tubi switch up gonna be so Fox and WB/UPN like. Wait and see. @iamkingwilliams: Fwiw, Tubi is building its * actual * viewership and subscriber base on Black customers While the headlines focus on its growth with licensed movie and tv shows and white Gen Zers using the platform for the first time @imani_barbarin: Bad news for streaming platforms and an indication on the cost of living as Tubi is one of the few movie and tv platforms where you can watch content for free.

David Weigel /
@daveweigel: The movies are BACK

Nina Braca /
UPROXX: Tubi Users Aren't Hesitating To Share Why The Streamer Is Thriving Beyond Expectations

Lauren Townsend /
Lauren Townsend on LinkedIn: This is a BIG deal... “Nielsen data showed that May was Tubi's most-watched month ever, with an average audience of 1 million viewers, up 46% from a year ago. …

Josh Van Houdt /
Josh Van Houdt on LinkedIn: “The streamer edged out Disney+, which averaged 969,000 viewers. Tubi also easily beat NBCUniversal's Peacock, Warner Bros. Discovery's Max …

Anjali Sud /
Anjali Sud on LinkedIn: May = new milestone! — The LA Times reported that May was Tubi's most-watched month to date and that according to Nielsen, we surpassed Disney+ in viewers 👀 …

Mary Kate Carr /
The A.V. Club: Tubi outperformed Disney+, Peacock, and Max last month

New York Times:

Google CEO Sundar Pichai testified briefly at the fraud trial for Carlos Watson of Ozy Media, denying Watson's alleged claims that Google sought to buy Ozy— Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of Google, said he never discussed a potential acquisition of the digital media start-up.

Discussion:
Nieman Lab, Courthouse News Service, Bloomberg and Associated Press

Discussion:

Joshua Benton /
Nieman Lab: Scenes from the trial of Ozy's Carlos Watson

Nika Schoonover /
Courthouse News Service: Ozy Media CEO directed senior management to lie to investors, former exec says

Avalon Pernell /
Bloomberg: Google CEO Testifies at Ozy Trial, Denies $600 Million Offer

TVNewsCheck:

NBCUniversal unveils 27 members of its Paris Creator Collective for Olympics social media content, partnering with Meta, Overtime, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube— Continuing its efforts to reach Olympic fans of all generations, NBCUniversal today unveiled its first-of-its-kind …

Discussion:
Reuters, Adweek, NBCSports.com, Media Play News and Broadband TV News

Discussion:
NBCSports.com: NBCUNIVERSAL TO SEND 27 CREATORS TO OLYMPIC GAMES PARIS 2024 IN PARTNERSHIP WITH META, OVERTIME, SNAPCHAT, TIKTOK AND YOUTUBE

Erik Gruenwedel /
Media Play News: NBCUniversal Sending 27 Social Media Creators to Paris Olympics

Wired:

Yahoo debuts a revamped version of its free Yahoo News app, powered by Artifact's AI tech, after acquiring the Instagram co-founders' news app in April 2024— Artifact, the news app startup from Instagram's cofounders, was purchased by Yahoo earlier this year.

Discussion:

Allie Wickert /
Allie Wickert on LinkedIn: I don't know about you, but keeping up with the news has become... painful. There's pay walls, misleading headlines and clickbait, and an oversaturation of “news.” … Gadgets 360: Yahoo News App Gets an AI-Powered Revamp, Integrates Artifact's Technology for Personalised News Discovery

Will Shanklin /
Engadget: Yahoo News gets an AI-powered overhaul

Jim Lanzone /
@jlanzone: @kevin @mikeyk Also important to note that the app is grounded in partnerships with a huge number of curated content sources across dozens of categories - reducing spam/noise - and we share revenue with those partners.

Jim Lanzone /
@jlanzone: It's alive. Yahoo+Artifact app launches today. Thanks @kevin and @mikeyk for helping us make it happen. Killer roadmap ahead - so much more we can do here.

Coleen O'Lear /
Coleen O'Lear on LinkedIn: You know I live for launching news products! 🚀 This one will forever be near and dear ... my first launch at Yahoo News was a big one. …

Vera H-C Chan /
Vera H-C Chan on LinkedIn: AI scaling up human ingenuity is key (and not the other way around). Glad to see Yahoo continue to make strides in this area. …

Caragh Fisher O'Connor /
Caragh Fisher O'Connor on LinkedIn: The new era of Yahoo News is here - and it's pretty great! Today we introduce a brand new mobile app and homepage powered by the incredible AI technology …

Natalie Korach /
The Wrap: Yahoo News Integrates Artifact AI Technology Into Reimagined App - Here's What's Different

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