Donald E. Newhouse, who ran the newspaper division of Advance Publications, has died at age 96. Newhouse and his older brother Si inherited a media empire from their father Samuel I. Newhouse. They divided responsibilities, with Si running Condé Nast, including The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Vogue,Architectural Digest and Wired, and Donald the Advance newspapers and cable assets. 

Anna Gomez, the sole Democrat on the Federal Communications Commission, is urging publishers to fight  what she says is the administration’s effort to crack down on free speech, Associated Press reports. Gomez sent a four-page letter earlier this month to Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro, describing s the FCC’s “sustained, coordinated campaign of censorship and control” against Disney.

Anthropic confirms it is collaborating with other companies on a project called Glasswing, in an effort to safeguard critical software from AI-driven exploits, Bleeping Computer writes. This occurs as Anthropic prepares for the public rollout of Mythos, a model that it says offers improvements in cold reasoning and autonomy far above its current flagship model, Opus 4.7. The model may be coming to Claude Code. However, Mythos can automatically develop functional cyberattacks at a highly professional level. "The advantage will belong to the side that can get the most out of these tools," Anthropic warns.

CBS and Paramount have pulled back from sending copyright notices to prevent a parody by Stephen Colbert on Michigan public access show “Only In Monroe” from going viral on social media, NPR reports. In the parody, which was financed by CBS, Colbert says, "It's been an excruciating 23 hours without being on TV. So I am grateful to be here on Monroe Community Media, before they also get acquired by Paramount." The parody was approved for distribution on only three YouTube channels. 

Goalhanger Ventures, Gary Lineker’s new ventures arm, has invested in Charlie Tymon’s Invisible Media, which operates Invisible Hand, a digital media platform and YouTube channel. Invisible Media is developing new specialist formats, including The Invisible Game, on the hidden economics of everyday life and business decisions, and has formed a partnership with Backyard Cricket, a sports creator brand.

Social media companies, including Meta and TikTok, have settled a lawsuit filed by Kentucky’s Breathitt County School District, the first of about 1,200 similar cases to be resolved, Associated Press reports. The case was set to be tried in federal court in Oakland, California. The terms were not disclosed, but the district was seeking $60 million. It was set to go to trial in federal court The districts are seeking compensation for dealing with harm to children's mental health caused by social media addiction. Google’s YouTube and Snap have also settled. 

Black men who voted for President Trump in 2024 and Joe Biden in 2020 are unhappy with Trump and also with mainstream news media, a focus group has determined, Huffington Post reports. They now largely get news from nontraditional outlets and independent creators on YouTube and other platforms. They are frustrated with the economy and gas prices.

Much has been written about artificial intelligence (AI) killing traffic to media sites, but it is becoming clearer that the fight for attention is shifting to information cited most prominently in an AI summary, Pete Pachal writes in Fast Company. AI presence may not be a substitute for website traffic, but it is “the new proxy for relevance and authority.”

Veteran markets reporter Matt Phillips is returning to Axios and will co-author the Axios Markets newsletter with Emily Peck, Talking Biz News reports. Phillips had been serving as senior markets correspondent at Sherwood News. Prior to his first turn at Axios, he covered financial markets for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal,Vice and Quartz. “We’re thrilled to bring Matt back to Axios,” says Kate Marino, executive editor, in a statement. “His distinctive reporting will further establish Axios as essential reading on the most important trends shaping business and financial markets.”

Versant Media Group is leaning into sports media rights and digital as its traditional TV exposure is shrinking, SimplyWallSt reports. The company’s profit margins are under pressure and funding for new sports rights could tighten, but the move into sports could help mitigate the softness in legacy pay TV in time.