Public Media Funding and Americans’ Trust in News Sources: June Media News Recap

Welcome to Media Insider, PR Newswire’s roundup of media news stories from the month. 

June was another whirlwind month for media news. From the latest developments in the attempts to cut funding to public media to evolving partnerships (and lawsuits) between the media and AI companies, and the latest findings of Americans’ trust in news sources, there was a lot to keep track of.

Dive into our recap to catch up on the month’s big media news, and discover a few headlines you might have missed.

House Republicans vote to claw back $9.4 billion in funding for foreign aid, NPR and PBS

In mid-June, the Republican-led House voted 214-212 to pass a “rescissions” package from President Donald Trump that would cancel $8.3 billion for foreign aid and $1.1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides funding to NPR and PBS.

The package is part of an effort by the White House to codify cuts proposed by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Four House Republicans voted with 208 Democrats to reject the measure. The package now heads to the Senate, where it isn’t subject to the 60-vote threshold, meaning Republicans can pass it along party lines.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, has said she opposes cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, noting that parts of her state rely on it to meet important needs. “Not only would a large portion of Alaska communities lose their local programming, but warning systems for natural disasters, power outages, boil water advisories, and other alerts would be severely hampered,” Murkowski said. (NBC News)

In related news:

• An appeals court reinstated parts of Trump’s ban on the Associated Press from several key areas, including the Oval Office, Air Force One and the president’s home in Mar-A-Lago. (Politico)
• After suspending correspondent Terry Moran for posting derisive comments on social media attacking President Trump and Stephen Miller, ABC News decided not to renew Mr. Moran’s contract. (New York Times)
• Widespread layoffs took place at Voice of America and its parent agency, the US Agency for Global Media. (CNN)
• The L.A. Press Club filed a lawsuit against the city and its police chief over alleged attacks on journalists covering recent protests. (Washington Post)
• President Trump and Paramount Global are in “active settlement discussions” over the “60 Minutes” lawsuit. (Hollywood Reporter)

Paramount to cut 3% of U.S. workforce as it deepens cost-cutting

Paramount Global announced it would cut hundreds of employees in the latest round of layoffs at the media company. The layoffs come as the company fights battles on several fronts, including navigating a decline of the traditional pay-TV bundle, seeking regulatory approval for its proposed merger with Skydance Media, and potentially settling a legal battle between Paramount-owned CBS and the Trump administration over a “60 Minutes” interview.

“We recognize how difficult this is and are very thankful for everyone’s hard work and contributions. These changes are necessary to address the environment we are operating in and best position Paramount for success,” the company’s CEOs said in a memo announcing the cuts. (CNBC)

In other labor news:

• The Minnesota Star Tribune, the state’s largest media company, is offering employee buyouts. (Minnesota Reformer)
• TechCrunch quietly shut down its operations in Europe, a “gut punch to the ecosystem.” (Sifted)
• Warner Bros. Discovery made cuts to the cable television side of its business, largely impacting the Discovery side of the company. (Deadline)
• Spotify laid off 15 employees from its podcast division, which includes The Ringer and Spotify Studios. (Variety)
• The Vox Media Union avoided a strike when it reached a tentative agreement on a new contract. (TheWrap)

Boston Globe, Future, Vox Media join ProRata’s generative AI licensing model

Publishers including The Boston Globe, Vox Media, Future, as well as Fast Co. and Inc owner Mansueto Ventures have signed up for AI startup ProRata’s revenue share program. The new sign-ups bring the total number of publishers that license content to power ProRata’s AI search engine to 500.

ProRata operates Gist.ai, an AI-powered search engine that utilizes licensed content to generate answers. Gist answers search queries using only licensed content from publisher partners, creating a more controlled environment that reduces the chances of the system pulling inaccurate, outdated or low-quality information—essentially decreasing the likelihood of AI-generated hallucinations.

ProRata’s program differs from other AI/publisher deals because it pays out 50% of all its revenue to publisher partners regularly, depending on how often their content powers AI responses—as opposed to one-time licensing payments or lump-sum multi-year contracts.

Over the next month, Gist.ai will replace some publishers’ onsite search functions or be added as an AI-powered search option for others, a free service to its publisher partners. “We appreciate the transparency, publisher credit and focus on monetization [ProRata is] bringing to the marketplace,” Jacob Salamon, vp of business development at Trusted Media Brands, said. (Digiday)

It was a busy month for AI headlines. Here are some stories you might have missed:

• Time is embracing AI for several projects, including podcasts, onsite toolbars and more. (MediaPost)
• Reddit has filed a lawsuit against AI company Anthropic for allegedly scraping its content without permission. (Engadget)
• Journalists are implementing extra checks to keep ahead of fake experts. (Press Gazette)
• Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince says publishers are facing an existential threat in the AI era. (Axios)
• Journalists at several News Corp outlets reported concerns about an in-house AI tool called “NewsGPT.” (The Guardian)

X piloting new program to elevate content users agree on

To build momentum around opinions that are widely shared, X (formerly Twitter) is piloting a new program that uses its Community Notes feature to highlight posts where people of typically differing opinions agree with each other.

The program could help make conversations on and off X less polarizing. The small pilot will encourage contributors to rate and provide more feedback on specific posts, such as whether they think the content helps to unify a polarizing opinion or if it’s funny. That feedback will be used to help develop an open-source algorithm to identify posts liked by people from different perspectives.

X’s VP of product, Keith Coleman, believes the program could reshape social discourse and “has potential to change the world.” (Axios)

Catch up on more of June’s social media news:

• Trump extended the deadline for a TikTok ban for a third time. (MediaPost)
• YouTube Shorts reached a milestone, now averaging 200 billion daily views. (TheWrap)
• Meta announced that all Facebook videos will soon be shared as Reels, regardless of their length or formatting. (MediaPost)
• McDonald’s announced that it would allow members to exchange points earned on its app for a Snapchat+ subscription. (Social Media Today)

News Media Tracker: How Americans Use and Trust News Sources

The media landscape is fragmented across channels and platforms, so Pew Research Center has built an interactive tool to track Americans’ awareness of each one (currently tracking 30 different news sources), whether they regularly get news there and whether they trust or distrust it.

Among the findings:

• Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents are much more likely than Republicans and GOP-leaning independents to both use and trust several major news sources (major TV networks, legacy newspapers, cable networks and public media).
• A majority of Republicans (57%) say they regularly get news from Fox News, the most-used news source for this group by far.
• Democrats turn to a wider range of news sources, regularly getting news from sources like CNN (48%), NBC (47%), NPR (32%), The Associated Press (31%) and The New York Times (29%).

View the interactive tool from Pew Research Center.

In other survey and research news:

• The Reuters Institute released the 2025 Digital News Report, based on data from six continents and 48 markets. (Reuters Institute)
• New data found that the vast majority of Americans (83%) say they have not paid for news in the past year. (Pew Research Center)
• Climate reporters shared tips for protecting their mental health. (Reuters Institute)
• Just over half the world’s leading English language news websites lost traffic year over year in April 2025. (Press Gazette)

ICYMI

Here are a few other big headlines from June:

• Anna Wintour is stepping down as editor of American Vogue. (Wall Street Journal)
• Warner Bros. Discovery announced its plans to split into two publicly traded companies, parting its television networks from its streaming business. (Axios)
• The Guardian introduced Secure Messaging, a tool for confidential communication between the public and the press. (The Guardian)
• Mark Guiducci, the creative editorial director at Vogue, will take the top job at Vanity Fair, replacing Radhika Jones. (New York Times)
• Netflix purchased a pilot television series from The Daily Beast. (Semafor)
• For the first time ever, The New York Times will have co-chief restaurant critics to expand starred restaurant reviews across the country. (New York Times)

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