Mediagazer: Nielsen: TV coverage of Michael Cohen's congressional testimony brought in just under 16M viewers, compared to 20M for Kavanaugh's hearing and 19.5M for Comey's (Rick Porter/Hollywood Reporter)

Peter Kafka / Recode:

Plepler and Levy's exits indicate that AT&T plans to combine HBO and Turner into one entity, contrary to previous comments, which will be run by Bob Greenblatt — HBO's famous boss is going because the TV business is changing. Warner Bros.' boss is staying because the movies aren't going anywhere.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, @jadande, Business Insider and The Wrap

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Turner Broadcasting President David Levy confirms he is leaving WarnerMedia in about two months — David Levy is getting ready for what is likely to be his last insider's view of the NCAA Final Four. — In 2010, Levy was one of the principals in a surprising sports deal that brought …

Discussion: Ad Age, CNN, Ad Age, Business Insider, @bristei and @richarddeitsch

Michael O'Connell / Hollywood Reporter:

Memo: HBO CEO and Chairman Richard Plepler tells staff he is leaving the company, nine months after AT&T's acquisition of HBO parent Time Warner — It's the end of an era. — One of the most storied runs in TV is coming to an end. Richard Plepler is leaving HBO after 27 years with the cable giant …

Caysey Welton / Folio:

Dennis Publishing, the UK-based owner of The Week, has acquired 99-year-old Kiplinger Washington Editors Inc.; Kiplinger's COO will become its CEO — Terms of the deal were not disclosed. — Dennis Publishing, the U.K.-based owner of The Week, has acquired 99-year-old Kiplinger Washington Editors Inc.

Discussion: Adweek, New York Post, MediaPost and Talking Biz News

Tom Jones / Poynter:

A look back at The Rocky Mountain News, the Pulitzer-winning paper that closed 10 years ago, and how Denver fell from having 500+ journalists to fewer than 80 — Early in 2008, John Temple was excited about the 150th anniversary of his newspaper. The publisher, president and editor …

Discussion: The Atlantic, @mattdpearce, @senatorbennet, @theatlantic, @fishnette, @dgoold, @poynter, The Colorado Sun, @coindependent, CU Independent, The Colorado Independent and @alex_burness

Jeffrey Schweers / Tallahassee Democrat:

Judge throws out defamation suit against NYT by a professor known for defending genetically modified food, citing “fair report” privilege and public records law — A University of Florida horticulture professor known for his scientific defense of genetically modified foods lost …

Discussion: @ericliptonnyt, @careygillam, @morisy, @ericliptonnyt, @adamliptak, @careygillam, @gmwatch, @kevinfolta and @cynthiabarnett

James Walker / Press Gazette:

EU commissioners say Facebook's, Google's, and Twitter's reports on their fight against disinformation don't give enough information on their results — European Union commissioners have accused three tech giants of providing “too little information” in reports on their efforts …

Discussion: Reuters, Techdirt and 9to5Mac

Natalie Jarvey / Hollywood Reporter:

Sources say Instagram is paying some IGTV creators, but some big influencers stay away due to obstacles like discoverability, monetization, and vertical format — Unlike the wildly popular Insta Stories, the social media juggernaut's new extended video service has struggled to capture the zeitgeist …

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Twitter says in the coming months it will test a Hide Tweet feature that allows users to hide replies to their tweets that others can view through a menu option — Twitter today confirmed it's developing a new “Hide Tweet” feature, which it says will give users another option to protect their conversations.

Discussion: MediaPost, Variety, Adweek, The Week, The Wrap, The Verge and 9to5Mac, more at Techmeme »

Natalie Jarvey / Hollywood Reporter:

LinkedIn will launch a weekly podcast, Hello Monday, on March 4, hosted by Jessi Hempel, formerly a senior writer at Wired — The show will be hosted by LinkedIn senior editor-at-large Jessi Hempel, and each episode will feature an interview with someone who has found success in their field.

Discussion: @jessiwrites and Talking Biz News, Thanks:@steverubel

Simon van Zuylen-Wood / Vanity Fair:

Inside Facebook's content policy team, which is made up of several dozen Facebook engineers, lawyers, and PR people who decide what users can post — The company blew it on privacy and fake news. Can it do better against trolls and racists? An exclusive embed with Facebook's shadow government.

Discussion: @pt, @antoniogm, @antoniogm, @ibogost, @antoniogm, @xixidu and @chronotope, more at Techmeme »

Rick Porter / Hollywood Reporter:

Nielsen: TV coverage of Michael Cohen's congressional testimony brought in just under 16M viewers, compared to 20M for Kavanaugh's hearing and 19.5M for Comey's — The former Trump lawyer's grilling by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform was the most watched program on TV Wednesday.

Discussion: The Hill, Fortune, Contemptor and TVNewser