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| Heather Mills |
The Rupert Murdoch-owned News Group has issued a public apology for hacking the phones of Heather Mills, the former wife of Paul McCartney, and her sister Fiona Mills. A financial settlement over the charges filed by Mills against the company was awarded in February. The amount of the settlement was not disclosed. According to a report in the Financial Times, News Group has settled approximately 1,000 civil cases related to phone hacking practices since 2010, with legal costs estimated at more than $520 million. While Mills’ case related to 141 articles that appeared in the Sun and News of the World, both News Group papers, the company’s apology only pertained to activities carried out by News of the World, which shut down in 2011 after it was revealed that the paper had intercepted the voicemail of a missing teenager who was subsequently murdered. Though Mills said outside court that she and her sister had been “awarded the highest media libel settlement in British legal history,” the award was actually for invasion of privacy, and was not a libel case.
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The Chicago Defender, a newspaper that has served the city’s African-American community since 1905, will be putting out its last print edition on July 10. Hiram Jackson, CEO of Real Time Media, parent company of the publication, told the Chicago Tribune that “doubling down on our digital platform” was seen as the best way for the Defender to continue reaching its audience. He said that while the print paper has been publishing 16,000 copies weekly, it reaches more than 475,000 unique visitors per month online. “In 2018, the Chicago Defender print version was profitable,” Jackson said. “But the readership trends as it relates to our print product were decreasing and our digital audience was vastly increasing.” While access to the website is currently free, he said the Defender plans to erect a digital paywall to get online subscriptions to monetize the website.
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| Nelson Mandela |
Nelson Mandela’s family is partnering with Sugar23, a production company headed up by Academy Award-winning producer Michael Sugar, and ad agency DMA United to launch Mandela Media, according to a report on Deadline. Sugar23 and DMA will be responsible for Mandela Media’s content development, production, branding and initiatives pertaining to creative business development. A statement from the company says that “through the Mandela Media banner, Mandela’s family will seek stories from around the world that fit with the core ethos of who he was and what he continues to represent, focusing on racial inclusion and equality, gender equality, mental health awareness and social justice.”
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.
