Mediagazer: Sources: BlackRock and Warner Music invest $750M in a fund to buy music-rights catalogs from female and diverse artists, and already spent $300M on 20 catalogs (Anne Steele/Wall Street Journal)

@youranonone:

The website of state-affiliated Russian news outlet RT News was taken down Thursday, and Twitter accounts from the Anonymous collective took credit — The #Anonymous collective has taken down the website of the #Russian propaganda station RT News.

Discussion: Politico, @akjakalope, @youranonnews, @youranonnews, @mikaelthalen, @oliverdarcy, @youranonnews, @youranonnews, @youranonone, @youranonnews, @slpng_giants, @youranonnews, @youranonnews, RT, Hstoday and @mattortega, more at Techmeme »

The Daily Beast:

In a tweet, AP promoted the sale of an NFT linked to a video of migrants in an overcrowded boat, then deleted the tweet and canceled the sale after criticism — GHOULISH — The Associated Press on Thursday hurriedly attempted to scrape the egg off its face after promoting a forthcoming …

Discussion: @rvawonk, Nieman Lab, @banditelli, @chrisgeidner, The Guardian, @aarongell, @chrisgeidner, @associatedpress, Forbes, @joshua_eaton, @chrisgeidner, @kenklippenstein, @associatedpress, @linzsports and The Wrap

Jon Lafayette / Next TV:

Sinclair says a 2021 cyberattack cost $63M in lost Q4 ad revenue, reports an $89M loss, down from $467M net income in Q4 2020, on $1.47B revenue, down 2% YoY — Company reports $89 million net loss for fourth quarter — Sinclair Broadcast Group said that the cyber attack the company faced …

Discussion: insideradio.com, Dow Jones Newswires, TV Technology and TVNewsCheck

Alexandra Bruell / Wall Street Journal:

Vox Media, Complex Networks, and BDG are considering ditching Google's AMP for their own mobile-optimized articles; The Washington Post dropped AMP last summer — Owners of the Verge and Bustle test alternatives to AMP framework, an effort they expect will generate more ad revenue

Discussion: AdExchanger, @keachhagey, @bergmayer, @macaree and @alexbruell, more at Techmeme »

Alexander Marrow / Reuters:

Russia's communications regulator says media outlets can only publish Ukraine info from official Russian sources and failing to do so will lead to restrictions — Russian communications regulator Roskomnadzor on Thursday said media outlets must check the veracity of their reports …

Discussion: @biannagolodryga and @globalfreemedia

Anne Steele / Wall Street Journal:

Sources: BlackRock and Warner Music invest $750M in a fund to buy music-rights catalogs from female and diverse artists, and already spent $300M on 20 catalogs — The companies seek stakes in newer music copyrights in partnership with Influence Media — BlackRock Inc. and Warner Music Group Corp …

Discussion: PR Newswire, @music_zone, Music Ally, Fast Company, Digital Music News, Variety and Music Business Worldwide

Patrick Egwu / Reuters Institute for the Study …:

A look at CJID's three-month fellowship for West African journalists, which provides training, mentoring, and some funding for local climate change stories — Most journalists lack the right skills and some newsrooms aren't committing resources. A fellowship from CJID is trying to change this

Discussion: @_danwhyte, @cjidafrica and @olorunwababs

Financial Times:

Media Partners Asia: Netflix has just 5.5M subscribers in India, far below its 100M goal from 2016, behind Amazon Prime Video's 16M and Disney+ Hotstar's 50M — Streaming juggernaut wanted 100mn subscribers in the country but has managed just 5.5mn — Back in 2016, when Netflix launched in India …

Discussion: @praval, Transistori, @counternotions, @lakshmishaks and @harneetsin, more at Techmeme »

Jill Goldsmith / Deadline:

Discovery reports Q4: 22M streaming subscribers, up from 20M in Q3; net income of $38M, down 86% YoY, on $3.2B revenue, up 10% YoY; US ad revenue rose 5% YoY — Discovery said it ended the fourth quarter with 22 million DTC subscribers, up from 20 million for Q3. The bulk of subs are from Discovery+.

Discussion: The Wrap, @tvgrimreaper, MediaPost, Digital TV Europe, Variety, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and PR Newswire

Randall Chase / Associated Press:

Delaware's Supreme Court upholds a judge's dismissal of a lawsuit by Candace Owens against Facebook fact-checking media organizations USA Today and Lead Stories — DOVER, Del. (AP) — Delaware's Supreme Court has upheld a judge's dismissal of a lawsuit filed by conservative political …

Discussion: American Press Institute

Richard Lawler / The Verge:

Tumblr launches an ad-free tier for $4.99/month or $39.99/year on desktop and in its mobile apps; Tumblr was once opposed to displaying ads, but caved in 2012 — You can fix one of Tumblr's problems, for a fee — Tumblr announced today that users can opt out of ads (on the desktop and in its mobile apps) …

Discussion: TechCrunch, Tumblr Staff, Mashable, Gizmodo, Engadget, Adweek and @quinnypig, more at Techmeme »

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Spotify removes several recently uploaded episodes of The Alex Jones Show, which it banned in 2018, after Media Matters for America discovered the episodes — Spotify appears to have quietly pulled several episodes “The Alex Jones Show,” hosted by the notorious right-wing conspiracy firebrand …

Discussion: Input, Engadget and Media Matters for America