“The Supreme Court declined to take lawyer Alan Dershowitz’s appeal of his defamation lawsuit against CNN,” Deadline reports.

“The BBC has requested that Donald Trump hand over his phone records and private schedules from around the time of the Jan 6 2021 insurrection as part of the US president’s defamation lawsuit against the corporation,” The Telegraph reports.

“Lawyers for the broadcaster have demanded Mr Trump disclose a string of documents for the case, including his telephone logs, calendars, schedules and diaries from Nov 3 2020 to Jan 20 2021.”

“The Justice Department took the extraordinary step of seeking to force reporters for The Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal to testify before a federal grand jury — but withdrew the subpoenas earlier this month after they were challenged by the news organizations,” the Washington Post reports.

Dan Pfeiffer: “Paramount buying Warner Brothers is bad. Full stop. But it’s not the media merger that scares me the most.”

“On Monday, Fox Corporation agreed to acquire Roku for $22 billion — the largest deal in the company’s history. Most of the coverage framed it as the Murdochs finally getting into the streaming business, where they have long lagged behind their competition. That’s true, but it buries the part that should worry anyone who cares about democracy.”

“Fox buying Roku is a very big deal, and in terms of political impact, it might end up being much larger than pro-Trump billionaires owning declining traditional media outlets.”

“President Donald Trump said his administration is about to sue ABC over its reporting on the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool,” Mediaite reports.

“ABC viewers across the country are getting a message from the network: If you like your local stations, or ‘The View,’ help us get the government off our back,” the Washington Post reports.

“ABC on Monday launched an on-air campaign asking viewers to send comments to the Federal Communications Commission’s website pushing back on the agency and its chairman, Brendan Carr.”

Deadline: ABC launches on-air campaign warning viewers of FCC actions and urging public comment.

“Vice President Vance on Wednesday said he was ‘legitimately worried’ about audio tapes of conversations from the Situation Room being leaked to journalists at The New York Times,” NewsNation reports.

“His comments come after a recent report alleged that Vance led the administration’s response to fallout from the release of files tied to deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein. A separate report from the Times detailed President Trump’s discussions in a series of meetings inside the Situation Room pertaining to U.S. strategy throughout the Iran war.”

“Sean Penn, coming off his third Oscar win for One Battle After Another, has been quietly setting up a passion project. And it’s a doozy,” Deadline reports.

“The currently untitled film will follow the early life of a cop who goes on to be caught up in the January 6th Capitol riots. Penn has scripted and will direct the movie, which has five-time Oscar nominated actor Bradley Cooper in talks to star in the lead role. There’s no deal yet.”

“The Justice Department’s senior leadership closed an investigation of Paramount’s bid for Warner Bros. Discovery before career staffers who were concerned about the acquisition had an opportunity to object,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“A team of career lawyers who had spent months scrutinizing the deal were leaning toward recommending a lawsuit challenging it on the grounds that the combination of the two movie studios would be anticompetitive and violate antitrust law.”

New York Times: “Mr. Patel has yet to reach a settlement or a favorable jury verdict in the cases. Each of the news organizations he has sued has defended its journalism and said it was protected by the First Amendment.”

“But the strategy is a familiar one. Mr. Trump, the man who appointed Mr. Patel to lead the F.B.I., has long turned to the courts when faced with unfavorable press coverage. And perhaps no one in his two administrations has followed his lead as closely as Mr. Patel, who has filed at least six defamation lawsuits against news media companies and commentators in nearly seven years.”

“In some of the cases, Mr. Patel filed strongly worded complaints only to allow them to languish in the ups and downs of civil litigation — a trajectory that some legal experts said raised questions about his objectives.”

New York Times: “One V.I.P. guest at the fight will be celebrating, too: David Ellison, the technology heir and Paramount Skydance chief executive who on Friday received a gift of sorts from the Trump administration.”

“After months of meticulous courtship of the president and his senior aides, Paramount got word on Friday that the Justice Department would not challenge its $111 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, eliminating one of the last major obstacles for the deal to close.”

“Upon completion, the merger will elevate Mr. Ellison, 43, into a rarefied level of media moguldom. He will be in charge of two Hollywood film studios; a pair of streaming services, including HBO Max; and two major television news platforms, CBS News and CNN.”

Meet the Press anchor Kristen Welker told Vanity Fair that President Trump’s insults and personal attacks during their interview were anticipated and that it “doesn’t faze me at all.”

“The Justice Department will not challenge Paramount’s merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, clearing a major hurdle for the $111 billion deal,” the New York Times reports.

“The merger would consolidate the ownership of two major movie studios; two major streaming services, Paramount+ and HBO Max; and two television news networks, CNN and CBS News, under the leadership of the tech scion David Ellison.”

Status: “After Scott Pelley chose to publicly confront management at the Bari Weiss-led CBS News over the firing of several colleagues and cite ideologically motivated changes that threatened to compromise the show’s integrity, correspondents Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker, and Jon Wertheim released a statement saying that they intended to stay. Not because they disputed Pelley’s characterization of events, but rather because, as they succinctly put it, ‘We don’t want to see ’60 Minutes’ die.’”

“The decision might appear to stabilize a situation that risked seeing the entire franchise implode, or at a minimum, struggle to deliver enough stories to populate a 59th season when the program returns from its annual summer hiatus in September.”