Mediagazer: Sources: Apple tried to buy rap battle livestreaming service Verzuz before it was acquired in March by Triller (Bloomberg)

Top News:

Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:

Fox News has regained its dominance of Nielsen ratings by elevating pro-Trump pundits like Dan Bongino while sidelining liberal voices and Trump critics — Donna Brazile, a Democratic analyst, has left the Murdoch-owned network as some hosts and journalists who questioned Donald Trump have exited or been sidelined.

Discussion: Variety, Mediaite, The Wrap, @whatthebit, @jannwolfe, @tripgabriel, @ichotiner, @varadmehta, @grynbaum, @naima, @oliverdarcy and Hollywood Reporter

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:

VOA management took months to address the fact that an executive producer and a freelancer regularly plagiarized others' work, despite being alerted by staff — Last summer, a Voice of America staffer noticed something odd in the radio scripts that a Paris-based freelancer was submitting …

Discussion: @blmohr

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Google is nearing a settlement of an antitrust case in France alleging it abused its power in online ads, and is likely pay a fine and make changes — French investigation alleged Google's ad server favored its own ad exchange — Alphabet Inc.'s Google is nearing a settlement …

Discussion: New York Post, @martinapennisi, @geradinlaw, Light Reading, Ad Age and @jason_kint, more at Techmeme »

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Clubhouse has hired Kelly Stoetzel, head of conferences and speaker curation at TED, to lead efforts to attract “thoughtful people” like authors and scientists — Clubhouse has hired Kelly Stoetzel, a 17-year veteran of TED and the executive responsible for lining up the company's famous TED Talks.

more at Techmeme »

Kenneth Li / Reuters:

Reuters has postponed the launch of its paywall after a dispute with data provider Refinitiv over whether the move would breach a deal between the companies — (Reuters) - Reuters News postponed the launch of its website paywall following a dispute with financial data provider Refinitiv …

Discussion: MediaPost, @kenli729, Financial Times, @gaberivera, @ivanthek, @alex, @jackshafer, @felixsalmon and Talking Biz News

Brent Lang / Variety:

Lionsgate beat estimates with Q4 revenue of $876.4M, down 7.2% YoY; Starz streaming subscribers grew 69% YoY to 16.7M globally; motion picture revenue fell 25%+ — The better-than-expected results come as Lionsgate is seen as a potential acquisition target for tech giants and media conglomerates looking to get bigger.

Discussion: Marketing Science, MediaPost, @loudmouthjulia, Deadline, investors.lionsgate.com, Los Angeles Business Journal and The Wrap

Bloomberg:

Sources: Apple tried to buy rap battle livestreaming service Verzuz before it was acquired in March by Triller — - Tech giant floated a lower price for Timbaland's platform — Talks show Apple's continued interest in social music offering — Apple Inc. aimed to purchase …

Discussion: @gilliantan, more at Techmeme »

Sara Guaglione / Digiday:

CNN says the 5 Things podcast accounts for 43% of its total podcast downloads, as it plans to expand the 5 Things newsletter and turn it into a franchise — CNN Digital is stretching its 5 Things email newsletter from a daily article roundup into its own franchise.

Richard J. Tofel / Second Rough Draft:

National funding for local news has grown, but the Tribune deal showed few local funders stepping up, which are needed to save or revive local news — There has been an explosion in funding for local news, but most of it is national. — 14 hr ago — Welcome to Second Rough Draft …

Discussion: @evanasmith, @saksappeal, @benyt and @nicdawes

Kate Kaye / Digiday:

Google says it won't build itself Privacy Sandbox backdoors, but whether it will allow itself to use individual-level data from Chrome users remains unclear — Google promised on Thursday it won't carve out separate rules for itself as it forces data privacy restrictions on others navigating …

Discussion: @robinberjon, @kyotonio and MediaPost

Ayushman Kaul / DFRLab:

A Toronto PR firm created news and fact-checking sites pretending to originate from India, which were amplified on social media by dozens of Indian embassies — Site published spurious fact-checks & other content that were amplified by over 50 Indian diplomatic accounts on Twitter & Facebook

Discussion: Twelve Thirty Six, @churumuri, The India Cable, @joeycoleman, @dfrlab, @dfrlab, @architmeta, @dfrlab, @etbrooking, @bendobrown, @rezhasan, @kursed and @dfrlab

Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:

Fortune's editor-in-chief Clifton Leaf is leaving the publication; deputy editor Brian O'Keefe will be acting editor — Fortune editor in chief Clifton Leaf is leaving the publication, and Brian O'Keefe has been named acting editor. — “I have valued my partnership with Cliff enormously …

Thanks:@talkingbiznews