Mediagazer: A profile of Russia's most influential news anchor Dmitry Kiselyov, once an admirer of Western news networks who has since become Putin's propagandist in chief (Matthew Luxmoore/Wall Street Journal)

Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:

Fox Corp. acquires Red Seat Ventures, which helped Tucker Carlson, Nancy Grace, Megyn Kelly, Piers Morgan, and others set up their podcast businesses — Tucker Carlson, Nancy Grace, Megyn Kelly and Piers Morgan are among the clients of Red Seat Ventures, which now joins Rupert Murdoch's empire.

Discussion: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, @crampell.bsky.social, @alexweprin, @cbalfe, @claytravis, @bristei, @bristei, @stevekrak, @gottalaff.bsky.social, @grynbaum and Reuters

Amanda Holpuch / New York Times:

Lee Enterprises says a “cybersecurity event” has disrupted operations at its newspapers since at least February 3, forcing some to not print at all — The media company Lee Enterprises said a “cybersecurity event” had created havoc at dozens of its newspapers, prompting some to publish shorter editions or not print at all.

Discussion: TechCrunch, Augusta Free Press, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Register, Daily Progress, Press of Atlantic City, Omaha World-Herald, Buffalo News, News & Advance, La Crosse Tribune, WISC-TV, @kennysmith.bsky.social, Kenosha News, Ravalli Republic, The Beatrice Daily Sun and @dicktofel.bsky.social

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:

Fox Corp. names John Nallen as president and COO, promoting one of Lachlan Murdoch's top deputies, in a deal that will keep him at Fox through June 2028 — The owner of the Fox network and Fox News says that Nallen has signed a new long-term deal with the company.

Discussion: The Wrap, Variety and Deadline

Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:

Edison: despite Spotify's video push, only two of the top 10 US podcasts post videos on Spotify; 37 of the top 50 US podcasts regularly post videos on YouTube — Popular programs like New Heights and Club Shay Shay have yet to put their videos on the streaming service

Discussion: Edison Research, Barrett Media and Podnews

Alice Robb / Bloomberg:

A look at the debate about how much authors should get paid to license books for AI; Microsoft offered HarperCollins $5,000 per title, of which authors get 50% — Most experts agree that tech companies should pay creators whose work is used to train artificial intelligence.

Discussion: New York Post, Beyond Search, Enrico Bonadio on LinkedIn, @newsfromcity and @alicelrobb, more at Techmeme »

Financial Times:

Sources: the UK's ITV has held early talks with RedBird IMI about a deal for ITV Studios; CVC and Blackstone are also interested in ITV's production arm — London-listed company could put broadcasting arm into a joint venture or sell it — Major shareholders in ITV support management efforts …

Discussion: Ian Whittaker on LinkedIn

Bloomberg:

While traditional TV viewership has plummeted, the NFL's share of TV viewing has doubled over the past two decades, despite a brief dip around 2016 — While viewership of everything else on traditional TV plummeted, the NFL somehow got bigger. — Good afternoon from Chicago and happy Super Bowl Sunday.

Discussion: TVNewsCheck, Breitbart and Washington Post

Benj Edwards / Ars Technica:

A look at WikiTok, a site that lets users vertically swipe through an endless stream of random Wikipedia article stubs without algorithmically tracking the user — On Wednesday, a New York-based app developer named Isaac Gemal debuted a new site called WikiTok, where users can vertically swipe through …

Discussion: Interesting Engineering, @clemens@social …, @peterrenshaw@ioc.exchange, @marklittle.bsky.social, @sohkamyung@mstdn.io and @kyle@mister.computer

Matthew Luxmoore / Wall Street Journal:

A profile of Russia's most influential news anchor Dmitry Kiselyov, once an admirer of Western news networks who has since become Putin's propagandist in chief — Dmitry Kiselyov rose through the aftershocks of the Cold War and emerged as Vladimir Putin's propagandist in chief

Discussion: @mjluxmoore

Emmanuel Morgan / New York Times:

A look at former NFL player Shannon Sharpe's success moving from TV commentator to podcasting, especially with his own show, Club Shay Shay — “Club Shay Shay” became a must-stop destination for Hollywood after Katt Williams aired his grievances. “This was our ‘Thriller’ album,” said the host Shannon Sharpe.

Washington Post:

Many independent media organizations in Ukraine and exiled Russian news outlets that relied on US funding are struggling to survive after Trump suspended USAID — Independent media in Russia and Ukraine have been critical of their governments and provide alternative reporting, but much of it relied on U.S. grants.

Discussion: Reporters Without Borders, @goldstein.bsky.social, New York Post, EADaily, The Daily Wire and PolitiFact

Thomas Germain / BBC:

An Adalytics report shows how ad systems run by Google, Amazon, Microsoft and others inadvertently placed ads on a website that hosts CSAM — Some of the biggest tech companies in the world served ads on a website featuring images of child abuse, helping to fund its operations.

Discussion: Digital Trends, adalytics.io, Marketing Brew, Politico, Koen Smeets on LinkedIn, Josh Golin on LinkedIn, EsstN, Nick Swimer on LinkedIn, @jpmarthoz.bsky.social, @andil.bsky.social, @thedesk.net, Digiday and Adweek

Discussion: Adweek, U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn …, The Register and DoubleVerify

Kerry Flynn / Axios:

Analysis: since his political career began in 2015, the number of media and defamation suits involving Trump or his businesses grew 4x vs. prior three decades — - Each case is unique yet connected, Kevin Goldberg, vice president at Freedom Forum, a nonpartisan nonprofit fostering First Amendment freedoms, tells Axios.

Discussion: @kerrymflynn