30 h. ago White House discussed axing CNN hosts that Trump hates with Larry Ellison as part of takeover talks, report says

Paramount has prepared a bid to buy Warner Bros Discovery, CNN’s parent company

Politics

42 h. ago Larry Ellison discussed axing CNN hosts with White House in takeover bid talks

Senior officials indicated favorability toward Paramount Skydance to acquire Warner Bros DiscoverySenior White House officials have discussed internally their preference for Paramount Skydance to acquire Warner Bros Discovery in recent weeks, and one official has discussed potential programming changes at CNN with Larry Ellison, the largest shareholder of Paramount.The discussions, according to people familiar with the matter, comes as Paramount portrays itself as the best bid for Warner Bros Discovery, after it announced last month it was open to offers, because it would have an easier time getting through regulatory review. Continue reading...

Events

4 d. ago Larry Ellison scales back £10bn Oxford science institute in leadership rift

Trump-supporting billionaire narrows EIT’s ambitions by cutting initiatives and tightening control

Politics

4 d. ago Three schoolchildren taken to hospital after being poisoned in science lab

Police supporting school after chemical taken from laboratory, headteacher says

Politics

2 w. ago Washington National Opera may move out of Kennedy Center due to Trump ‘takeover’

Ticket sales at about 40% unsold compared with before president made himself chair of US performing arts centerThe Washington National Opera (WNO) is considering moving out of the Kennedy Center, the company’s home since the US’s national performing arts center opened in 1971.The possibility has been forced on the company as a result of the “takeover” of the center by Donald Trump, according to WNO’s artistic director, Francesca Zambello. The president declared himself chair of the institution in February, sacking and replacing its board and leadership. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Met police’s culture makes racial harm ‘inevitable’, internal review finds

The revew, the first to focus on the racism of the institution as a whole, found a culture and leadership determined to prevent real changeThe “racial harm” the Metropolitan police inflicts on black people is “institutionally defended”, with its leadership and culture protecting the force from real change, an internal review has found.The report by Dr Shereen Daniels, published on Friday, draws on internal documents and evidence, with the Met responding by accepting long-standing evidence of racism and discrimination within Britain’s biggest force. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Racism 'baked' into Metropolitan Police with skin colour discrimination

Discrimination in UK's largest police force is part of the 'institutional design' and the leadership and culture means darker skinned officers are 'labelled confrontational', probe reveals

Events

2 w. ago Trump and his media buddies are taking the muddling of reality to a whole new level | Arwa Mahdawi

How scared should we be by Trump’s heavily edited appearance on a US news programme this weekend, and Elon Musk’s Grokipedia?You know how I’m going to be able to tell that I’ve really made it as a writer in America? When our very handsome (much better-looking than Zohran Mamdani!) and very high-IQ leader Donald Trump gives me a personal shoutout to commend me on what a wonderful job I’m doing. As we all know, a good journalist should always make the rich and powerful feel comfortable.While I wait for that day to come, I’m watching and learning from the head honchos at CBS. Trump appeared on CBS News’s 60 Minutes on Sunday night for his first sit-down with the show in five years and commented on how much better the network has become after its owner, Paramount, was taken over by his billionaire allies, the father-and-son duo Larry and David Ellison. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago CBS News heavily edits Trump 60 Minutes interview, cutting boast network ‘paid me a lotta money’

Trump said Paramount’s sale to David and Larry Ellison was ‘greatest thing that’s happened in a long time’ for free pressThe CBS News program 60 Minutes heavily edited down an interview with Donald Trump that aired on Sunday night, his first sit-down with the show in five years.Trump sat down with correspondent Norah O’Donnell for 90 minutes, but only about 28 minutes were broadcast. A full transcript of the interview was later published, along with a 73-minute-long extended version online. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago From CBS to TikTok, US media are falling to Trump’s allies. This is how democracy crumbles | Owen Jones

We’re watching the Orbánisation of the US – and as in Hungary, control of the media is key to consolidating powerDemocracy may be dying in the US. Whether the patient receives emergency treatment in time will determine whether the condition becomes terminal. Before Donald Trump’s return to the presidency, I warned of “Orbánisation” – in reference to Hungary’s authoritarian leader Viktor Orbán. There, democracy was not extinguished by firing squads or the mass imprisonment of dissidents, but by slow attrition. The electoral system was warped, civil society was targeted and pro-Orbán moguls quietly absorbed the media.Nine months on, and Orbánisation is in full bloom across the Atlantic. Billionaire Larry Ellison, the Oracle co-founder, and his filmmaker son, David, have become blunt instruments in this process. Trump boasts they are “friends of mine – they’re big supporters of mine”. Larry Ellison, second only to Elon Musk as the world’s richest man, has poured tens of millions into R...

Politics