Mediagazer: Bill O'Reilly's role as professional provocateur, not news anchor, feeds the Fox brand and wallet; his show brought in over $100M in ad revenue in 2014 (New York Times)

3:55 AM ET, February 26, 2015

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Bill O'Reilly's role as professional provocateur, not news anchor, feeds the Fox brand and wallet; his show brought in over $100M in ad revenue in 2014 — For Bill O'Reilly and Fox News, a Symbiotic Relationship — Hours after the news broke that Brian Williams had misrepresented his account …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, USA Today, New York Magazine, The Huffington Post, @dellcam, @jayrosen_nyu, @stimulator, Washington Post, @mgsiegler, @colmorrisdavis, @colvinius, @clydehaberman, The Daily Beast and Mother Jones

Tom Kludt / CNNMoney:

Bill O'Reilly now scrutinized for story of murdered nuns — The questions keep piling up for Bill O'Reilly, and increasingly those questions are being raised by a liberal media watchdog that has long feuded with the conservative Fox News host. — For the second time in as many days …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Mediaite, Deadline, Salon and Raw Story

Gabriel Arana / The Huffington Post:
Bill O'Reilly Lied About Witnessing Suicide Of JFK Assassin's Friend, Former Co-Workers Say

Margaret Sullivan / New York Times:

New York Times community editor on comments: expansion plans, “censorship” complaints, West Coast time issues, and resource challenge from moderating by hand — Trying to Keep a ‘Celebrity Class of Commenters’ Happy — Censorship! Discrimination! Downright confusion!

Discussion: Gigaom, @sulliview, @jcstearns, @jayrosen_nyu, @mathewi and Poynter

Margaret Sullivan / New York Times:

Two examples of gratuitous anonymous quotations in the NYT: the absurd, on port authority restrooms, and the serious, on Jeb Bush — AnonyWatch: On Port Authority Restrooms and Jeb Bush's Adviser — I'd never want to stand in the way of letting someone fulfill her ambitions …

Discussion: Poynter, Mother Jones, @dangillmor, The New York Observer, New York Magazine and Mediaite

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Viacom's Nickelodeon will launch Noggin, a subscription video service aimed at pre-schoolers, on March 5 for $5.99/month — Nickelodeon To Launch Noggin Subscription-Video Service in March — Nickelodeon is tapping into its past to help spark its future.

Discussion: Multichannel News, TechCrunch, Home Media Magazine, @awallenstein, AdAge, Tubefilter, Media & Entertainment, Business Wire, Adweek and @xpangler

Jillian D'Onfro / Business Insider:

WSJ: YouTube remains unprofitable, breaking even in 2014 with revenue of $4B — YouTube still doesn't make Google any money — YouTube still isn't a profitable business for Google, sources tell The Wall Street Journal's Rolfe Winkler. — Thanks to a premium ads push last year called …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Engadget, AdExchanger and @pkafka

Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:

Ex-Times editor Jill Abramson inks $1M book deal — Simon & Schuster has won the bidding for the first book by former New York Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson since she was booted from her job last May, The Post has learned. — The winning price was not disclosed but is believed …

Discussion: Guardian, @jembradshaw, @mlcalderone, @rcallimachi, bookforum.com and FishbowlNY

Farhad Manjoo / New York Times:

Q&A with Dick Costolo on Twitter's lack of broad appeal and plans to handle harassment — Dick Costolo Thinks It's O.K. to Never Tweet — In a recent earnings report, you said Twitter had 288 million active users a month — only a few million more than in the quarter before.

Discussion: Business Insider

Tom Risen / US News:

The FCC is likely to pass net neutrality rules Thursday, but Republicans and telecoms will fight on — The FCC is likely to pass net neutrality rules Thursday, but Republicans and telecoms will fight on. — FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler expects a lawsuit challenging his net neutrality rules.

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable

Steven Swinford / Telegraph:

BBC's licence fee should be decriminalised then scrapped, MPs say — The Department for Culture, Media and Sport says that the BBC is not ‘brave enough’ and needs to do more original programming — The BBC's licence fee is becoming “anachronistic” and should be de-criminalised …

Discussion: Guardian, BBC and The Independent

John Herrman / The Awl:

Facebook as a CMS, with distribution to a large audience and with ad tools and revenue, could attract some publishers — The Facebook Proposition — After a week hosting and attending a conference about the future of the media, Walt Mossberg has a conclusion: “How's the Media Industry These Days?

Discussion: @paujwill, @martinbeck, @ctbarna, @michael_connor, @connorsouthard, Wall Street Journal and Re/code

Jonathan Peters / Columbia Journalism Review:

Arizona courts seek notes used by former Gov Brewer in writing of her book, they may be protected by journalist shield law — Why Jan Brewer is sounding like James Risen — Arizona's former governor is claiming First Amendment protections, and she may have a point

Discussion: @jackshafer