Murdoch Buys Vox, Vice News Returns, 2026 Pulitzers Announced: Media News Recap for May

by Maria Perez · Published · Updated

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

May was defined by the growing influence of AI and continued consolidation across the media landscape. Meta cut roughly 10% of its workforce as it shifted thousands of employees into AI-focused roles, and journalists at McClatchy pushed back against the use of AI-generated content by withholding their bylines. Meanwhile, James Murdoch expanded his media portfolio with the acquisition of Vox Media and New York Magazine, while Vice News signaled a comeback under new ownership. The month also brought journalism’s highest honors, with the 2026 Pulitzer Prize winners recognizing outstanding reporting, commentary and investigative work from newsrooms across the country.

Here’s everything you need to know. 

James Murdoch buys Vox, New York Magazine

James Murdoch, the youngest son of conservative media mogul and Fox News founder Rupert Murdoch, is building his own media empire. Murdoch is acquiring New York Magazine, Vox.com and the Vox Media Podcast Network in a $300 million deal with his company, Lupa Systems.

Murdoch had a public split from his father and his media conglomerate — which includes Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and more — over ideological differences. James and his wife, Kathryn, donated more than a million dollars to former President Joe Biden’s campaign for the White House in 2020. He believes in climate change and slammed conservative media outlets in the wake of the January 6 Capitol riot just before Biden took office. In buying the liberal-leaning Vox, he is now set to have an ideological competitor to News Corp. (Politico)

More deals that took place in May include:

Meta lays off 10%, moves 7,000 employees into AI roles

Meta is moving 7,000 employees into roles focused on artificial intelligence and consolidating them into four new organizations, according to a source familiar with the matter. The shift is part of a broader reorganization that will include layoffs affecting 10% of the company.

The changes, which Meta first detailed in an internal memo in April, will include laying off about 8,000 employees and not filling approximately 6,000 open positions. Meta previously confirmed the April memo’s authenticity to NBC News. (NBC News)

More cuts were announced this month, including:

  • NPR trims jobs in newsroom overhaul (NPR)
  • AP finishes U.S. restructuring with round of 20 layoffs (Associated Press)
  • Business Insider to cut under 5% of global newsroom jobs (Reuters)
  • Post-Gazette layoffs begin as new ownership takes control (Editor & Publisher)
  • MIT Sloan Management Review shuts down after 67 years (Poets & Quants)
  • Politico ends weekly labor newsletter (Talking Biz News)

Vice News is being resuscitated with fresh ambitions

Vice News, the hip current events platform that sought to be “The Economist for young people,” is now being resuscitated by company founder Shane Smith, both as a social-platform-first outlet for his podcast and news reports and as a brand partnership vehicle — starting out with a collaboration with Adobe.

The podcast also serves as a thread connecting to the brand’s soft relaunch, which will introduce a new but pared-down Vice News website. In addition to hosting Smith’s video podcast series, the second iteration of Vice News will feature a mix of hosted video news segments and the company’s revenue driver: brand partnerships. The former has already begun populating the YouTube channel, with a series titled “Vice Insider” that brings back some of the correspondents from the 2014 launch to revisit their old stomping grounds and discuss what has happened in the regions and stories they began covering 12 years ago. (Hollywood Reporter)

Other launches announced in May:

Reporters at McClatchy withhold bylines in dispute over AI content

McClatchy, the newspaper chain behind publications including The Sacramento Bee, Miami Herald and Idaho Statesman, has started using a new AI tool that can summarize traditional articles and spit out different versions for different audiences. Its reporters aren’t happy about it.

Journalists in many of the company’s newsrooms are now withholding their bylines from articles created by the new tool, meaning that those articles will run with a generic credit rather than a reporter’s name, as is customary. They are also labeled AI-assisted.

The reporters’ byline strike is one of the sharpest conflicts yet between journalists and their companies over the use of AI. Related debates are playing out in newsrooms across the country, as publishers experiment with new AI tools to streamline work that used to take hours, and some even use it to write full articles. (New York Times)

More AI-related news making headlines this month:

  • News publishers demand accountability from Common Crawl over unauthorized use of content (Editor & Publisher)
  • Google tests new conversational ad formats in AI Mode and Search (Search Engine Land)
  • The Economist launches ChatGPT app (Talking Biz News)
  • Spotify introduces AI-generated personal podcasts (Hollywood Reporter)
  • CNN sues Perplexity over alleged AI copyright theft (CNN)

2026 Pulitzer Prize winners announced

The 2026 Pulitzer Prize winners were announced, with more than one-third of the prizes being awarded to local news outlets. The awards serve as a powerful reminder of the importance of local news in holding power to account, even as the industry faces serious economic headwinds.

Although no single outlet dominated the awards this year, The New York Times won three, while the Washington Post and Reuters each won two.

The most prevailing theme among this year’s winners was outstanding coverage of the current political landscape, including stories about the Trump administration’s federal government overhaul, expansion of executive power, conflicts of interest and immigration enforcement. Several category winners were awarded prizes for their work highlighting the dangers of Big Tech, including surveillance and scams. (Axios)

In case you missed it:

  • Newspapers hit with severe newsprint shortage, higher prices (MediaPost)
  • Online audio, podcast use hits new highs (Radio Online)
  • More than 340 local news outlets limit access to Internet Archive (Nieman Lab)
  • The Guardian posts record U.S. revenue of $81M (Axios)
  • Podcast ad spending up 28% in Q1 2026 (Radio Online)

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Cece and me
Maria Perez
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Maria Perez is director of web operations at Cision. In her spare time, she enjoys gaming, watching too much TV, and chasing squirrels with her dog Cece.

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