 Milo Yiannopoulos |
Milo Entertainment Inc., the company operated by right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos, has reportedly laid off all its staff. The move follows the April 16 death of cryptocurrency billionaire Matthew Mellon, allegedly from a drug overdose. Mellon had been expected to provide Milo Entertainment with a cash infusion that would have kept it in business. Formerly bankrolled by Robert and Rebekah Mercer, whose other beneficiaries have included Breitbart News, Sen. Ted Cruz and President Trump, Milo Entertainment has hit hard times since the Mercers pulled their funding last year. The company has downscaled its “The Milo Show” from a video program to one only available in an audio version. However, dangerous.com, the company website where browsers have to shell out $47.50 for an annual membership, is still up and running.
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Gothamist, the New York City-centric news site that closed in November along with its sister site DNAinfo, was back up online as of Thursday. Led by Jen Chung and Jake Dobkin, its original co-founders, the site has brought back editor-in-chief John Del Signore and editorial director Jen Carlson, among others. Gothamist staffers have been posting stories since early this month, but Thursday was the official return. WNYC purchased Gothamist in February, and the site now features links to pieces from the station. While DNAinfo’s archives will now be hosted by WNYC, the site is not going back up at present. The November closure by former owner Joe Ricketts, who is also the founder of TD Ameritrade, came just a week after employees at Gothamist and DNAinfo had voted to unionize. In September, Ricketts posted an entry titled “Why I’m Against Unions at Businesses I Create” on his blog, and the Writers Guild of America, East accused him of threatening workers during the organizing drive.
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YouTube, owned by Google, deleted millions of videos from its platform for content policy violations in last year’s fourth quarter before viewers saw them, it said in a report highlighting its response to requests that it better monitor its online community. Artificial intelligence flagged almost all of the allegedly offensive or harmful videos removed from the site, the company said. YouTube says it receives 400 hours of new video uploaded every minute, which prompted the company to automate its monitoring system. That system has failed to stop the posting of extreme and abusive content, resulting in a loss of business from advertisers who claim that their ads have been played before such videos. YouTube says that more human curators will working in collaboration with advanced computer systems to remove the worst videos before they become viral.
 Steph Curry |
Steph Curry, who has been sidelined from the NBA playoffs because of an MCL sprain, has signed a multi-year development and production deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment, according to a report in The Wrap. Curry has also formed a production company, Unanimous Media, that will produce film and TV projects that focus on family, faith and sports. Its headquarters will be located on the Sony Pictures studio lot in Culver City, California. “[Curry is] tapping into his drive and creative energy on the court to expand to horizons off the court and we’re honored to be a part of it,” added Chris Parnell, co-president Sony Pictures Television.
USA TODAY brings on Jamie Stockwell as VP of news, effective March 30. Stockwell was most recently deputy managing editor of news for the Washington Post... YouTube expands its likeness detection capabilities to a pilot group of government officials, journalists and political candidates... The AP Fund for Journalism adds 50 news organizations to its local news program, bringing the total number of participating newsrooms to 100. 
Versant Media Group, the NBCUniversal cable TV spin-off, today reported its first financial results as 2025 revenues dipped 5.3 percent to $6.7B and standalone EBITDA dropped 9.1 percent to $2.2B.
Trump Media & Technology Group is discussing a spin-off of the Truth Social platform following the expected closing of its $6B merger deal with TAE Technologies... Condé Nast sells off Them, the digital LGBTQ-focused platform it launched in 2017, to Equalpride, publisher of Out, The Advocate, Out Traveler, Health PLUS Wellness and Pride.com... CBS News has parted ways with longevity influencer Peter Attia, one of the 19 contributors that editor-in-chief Bari Weiss brought on as part of her plan to present a wider variety of voices on the platform. 
Symbolic.ai forms a partnership with News Corp to begin using the company’s AI-native publisher platform in the newsrooms of News Corp publications to augment research, writing and publishing... Mediaite launches a newsletter that promises to give readers a summary of—media newsletters... The Fund for American Studies launches the Journalism Excellence Fellowship, a program that will provide promising young journalists the opportunity to work alongside top writers, reporters, and media professionals.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which has roots going back to 1786, is going out of business, the paper’s owners, Block Communications, announced on Jan. 7... GQ editor Will Welch is stepping down to take on a new Paris-based role with the musician Pharrell, who is also men’s creative director at Louis Vuitton... Semafor says it has raised $30 million on a $330 million valuation, following its first profitable year. 
