Mediagazer: Paul Rittenberg, executive vice president of ad sales at Fox News and one of the network's first employees, is stepping down (A.J. Katz/TVNewser)

1:40 AM ET, February 28, 2017

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The White House appears to have leaked a story about a Politico reporter to the Washington Examiner, in retaliation for a story by the same reporter on WH leaks — Never let it be said that President Trump and his underlings don't work hard, especially when it comes to initiatives aimed …

Discussion: Politico, CNN, New York Times, The Wrap, The Huffington Post, Washington Examiner, @stevenjay, @mlcalderone, @elistokols, @yashar, @brucebartlett, @cbudoffbrown, TVLine and @maggienyt

Mike Allen / Axios:

Sources: Sean Spicer had the CIA's director and a GOP official call reporters to discredit an NYT story on links between Trump's campaign aides and Russia — Exclusive: Spicer arranged CIA, GOP intelligence push-back — White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer personally picked up the phone …

Casey Newton / The Verge:

Mozilla buys Pocket, its first acquisition, and says the read-it-later service will continue operating as an independent subsidiary — From browser extension to acquisition — Mozilla has acquired Pocket, a kind of DVR for the internet, for an undisclosed sum.

Discussion: The Mozilla Blog, Pocket Blog, GeekWire, MacRumors, Digital Trends, VentureBeat, ZDNet, MacStories, Fortune, Recode, Fast Company, Mashable, Android Police, @caseynewton, @kunalcagarwal, @joshconstine, @caseynewton, @jamieartkin, @benpopper and The Loop

Jack Nicas / Wall Street Journal:

YouTube viewers worldwide watch more than 1B hours of video a day, a 10-fold increase since 2012, threatening to eclipse US TV viewership — Google unit posts 10-fold increase in viewership since 2012, boosted by algorithms personalizing user lineups — YouTube viewers world-wide …

Discussion: YouTube Blog, ZDNet, @david_marcelis, @scottmaustin, @sallyshin, @samsheffer, @dseetharaman, @jacknicas, @rkyncl, @jackmarshall, HYPEBEAST and Axios

David Lieberman / Deadline:

Time Warner shares rise to 52-week high as FCC Chairman Pai says he probably won't review AT&T deal, meaning it would only require approval of Justice Dept. — Time Warner shares jumped late this morning after FCC chairman Ajit Pai said that his agency probably won't review its $85 billion deal to sell itself to AT&T.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, The Verge, Variety and @srabil

Kurt Schlosser / GeekWire:

Amazon Studios wins its first-ever Oscars with best foreign language film for “The Salesman” and best original screenplay for “Manchester by the Sea” — Amazon Studios won its first-ever Academy Awards on Sunday night, taking home three Oscar statues …

Mark Olsen / Los Angeles Times:
ESPN Films won its first Oscar last night, with OJ: Made In America, an eight-hour documentary that divided critics because of its unusual format

Discussion: @latimesent, @foxphil and @indiefocus

Louis Nelson / Politico:

Former President George W. Bush says media is indispensable to democracy, in what is seen as a direct rebuttal of Trump's war on the press — Former President George W. Bush said Monday that the media is “indispensable to democracy,” a break from the position of his fellow Republican …

Discussion: TODAY.com, The Slot, Mediaite, Washington Post, The Daily Caller, The Week, USA Today, NPR, CNET, @dabeard, Politicus USA, TVNewser, Newser, TheBlaze, Mashable, @saletan, @daveweigel, @katieglueck, @rourkel, @nishachittal, @blakehounshell, @lauraolin, @kallisti, Fox News Insider and AOL

Andrew E. Kramer / New York Times:

A look at StopFake News, a weekly Ukrainian TV show that debunks fake news, particularly factual errors in Russian propaganda — KIEV, Ukraine — The studio lights dim, and the anchor taps a stack of papers on her desk and directs a steely gaze toward the television cameras.

Discussion: @maitlis, @anneapplebaum, @karaszpalko, @christopherjm, @michaeldweiss, @nytimesworld and PEN America

Benjamin Mullin / Poynter:

International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which broke Panama Papers story, splits off from Center for Public Integrity, citing financial reasons — Shortly after breaking the Panama Papers, an international exclusive that shed light on illegal offshore banking around the globe …

Discussion: @journalism, @bgpublic and @benmullin

Politico:

Trump's advisers and career civil servants spawn encryption boom in Washington DC, as they try to conceal communications with employees and press — Both career employees and White House aides have taken steps to conceal their communications with colleagues or the news media.

Discussion: Vanity Fair

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Comcast to launch YouTube app on its Xfinity X1 set-top platform later this year; terms of the deal with Google are not being released — Cable operator inks distribution deal with Google-owned video platform — Comcast plans to launch a YouTube video app on the Xfinity X1 set-top platform …

Discussion: Business Wire, Wall Street Journal, Home Media Magazine, The Wrap, Fortune, Softpedia News and Recode

WRTV-TV:

Donald Trump will meet with regional press affiliates, including reporters from E.W. Scripps Company, in an off-the-record dinner on Monday night — CNN , Scripps National Desk — President Donald Trump is holding court with “regional press affiliates” in a private dinner on Monday, the White House said.

Discussion: CNN, @brianstelter and @cnnmoney

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More News:

A.J. Katz / TVNewser:
Paul Rittenberg, executive vice president of ad sales at Fox News and one of the network's first employees, is stepping down

Discussion: Ad Age, Broadcasting & Cable, Adweek, @jbflint and Variety

Erich Schwartzel / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: China's recent capital-control policy has stalled Chinese investments in Hollywood, including one deal that would have put MGM under Chinese control

Discussion: @wsj and @hilaryr

New York Times:
Swedish officials say they've never heard of a man who appeared on Fox News, identified as a Swedish national security adviser

Discussion: @ssilvius, @jamie_weinstein, @rudnit, @tinadupuy, @albertocairo, @chunklet, @melissagrelo, @exlarson, @kfile, Washington Post, The Huffington Post and The Week

James Vincent / The Verge:
Fox launches month-long pilot with Telstra and Ericsson preloading films onto phones, then asking customers to rent or pay for them

Discussion: Engadget and @verge

Leo Barraclough / Variety:
Film4's Head of Creative Rose Garnett appointed director of BBC Films

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Patrick Shanley / Hollywood Reporter:
Actor Zach Braff, SNL fans suggest Alec Baldwin should take Donald Trump's place at this year's White House Correspondents' Dinner

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Matt Pressberg / The Wrap:
How anime-focused Crunchyroll turned a streaming service for a niche audience into a global powerhouse with 1M paid subscribers

Pete Brown / Columbia Journalism Review:
Study explores how 14 publishers are experimenting to reach audiences across 16 different social platforms

Discussion: @coryschouten, @emilybell and @mattliddy

McKay Coppins / The Atlantic:
Profile of Tucker Carlson, who as a newly minted primetime Fox News anchor has emerged as one of the most powerful people in media

Discussion: @mckaycoppins, @lkherman and @mckaycoppins

From Techmeme:

Andy Greenberg / Wired:
Cisco details a hacking campaign that penetrated multiple governments' networks using two zero-day flaws in its VPN and firewall Adaptive Security Appliances

Ben Glickman / Wall Street Journal:
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David Pierce / The Verge:
Hands-on with the Rabbit R1: a fun and funky AI device that feels pretty nice and does a solid job with basic AI questions, but the Rabbithole app is unfinished

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