 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.
The Walt Disney Company and OpenAI reach an agreement that will make a set of more than 200 animated, masked and creature characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars available for use by Sora, OpenAI’s short-form generative AI video platform... CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss has moved Tony Dokoupil, a co-host at “CBS Mornings” since 2019, into the anchor’s chair for the “CBS Evening News,” following the departure of John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois... USA Today editor-in-chief Caren Bohan has left the paper.
Michael Kaminer, who was responsible for the Observer’s “Power List” for the past 13 years, has cut ties with the publication... The New York Times Company continues the march toward its goal of 15 million subscribers by the end of 2027... The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is providing more than $6 million in funding to eight organizations working to address the challenges local news and information environments face along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Conservative outlets Fox News, Newsmax and the Daily Caller are holding back from signing Pete Hegseth’s edict restricting press access in the Pentagon... CBS News sees the first executive departure of the Bari Weiss era as head of standards and practices Claudia Milne exits... Indiana University shuts down the print version of The Indiana Daily Student.
Rothschild family plans to unload 26.7 percent stake in The Economist... STAT, a digital media company that focuses the life sciences, brings back Damian Garde, who anchored its biotech newsletter and podcast from 2016 to 2024... High Times officially resumes print publication (following its 2024 shutdown) with the release of a limited-edition, collectible 50th anniversary issue. 
CBS News is set to hand over its reins to The Free Press co-founder Bari Weiss as Paramount acquires her site for $155M... C-SPAN comes on board as an official media partner of the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission, which is charged by Congress to lead the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence... A new Gallup survey says that the level of trust that US audiences have in the media has hit a new low.
