Top News:
Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Filing: Paramount extends the deadline for WBD shareholders to vote on its $30-per-share offer to February 20 — Paramount has extended the deadline for Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders to throw their support behind the company's hostile takeover bid. — The initial deadline of Wednesday has now been pushed to February 20.
Discussion:
The Wrap, Reuters, Variety, Los Angeles Times, The Hollywood Reporter, Cord Cutters News, Bloomberg, OloriSuperGal, Bloomberg Law, BMI, Mediaweek, Forbes and mxdwn Television
Liz Hoffman / Semafor:
Sources: the US and China approve a deal to sell TikTok's US business to a group of mostly US investors led by Oracle and Silverlake, set to close this week — The US and China have signed off on a deal to sell TikTok's US business to a consortium of mostly US investors led by Oracle and Silver Lake …
Discussion:
Crypto Briefing and DatacenterDynamics, more at Techmeme »
Clayton Davis / Variety:
Ryan Coogler's Sinners breaks the Academy Awards' nomination record with 16 nominations, surpassing the previous record of 14, held by three films — Ryan Coogler has officially rewritten Oscar history. — Coogler's “Sinners” shattered the Academy Awards' all-time nomination record Thursday …
Discussion:
Screen Rant, The Hollywood Reporter, Dexerto, Entertainment Weekly, CBC News, Associated Press, TV Insider, Decider, Page Six, The Indian Express and Gold Derby
Washington Post:
An Israeli strike killed three journalists in Gaza, one of whom freelanced for AFP and CBS; Israel says it targeted operators of a drone affiliated with Hamas — The journalists were killed Wednesday in a strike on their car in central Gaza. Israel's military said it struck “several suspects” who were operating a drone.
Discussion:
New York Post, The Guardian, Reporters Without Borders, France 24, Aleteia, Mediaite, @dude.computer, Middle East Monitor, Zeteo, BBC, Le Monde, Reuters, CBS News, Washington Examiner, @erinmcunningham.bsky.social, Courthouse News Service, New York Times, The Times of Israel, Al Jazeera and Committee to Protect …
Mia Sato / The Verge:
Cate Blanchett, Cyndi Lauper, and 800+ creatives launch “Stealing Isn't Innovation” to protest unauthorized AI training, backed by RIAA, SAG-AFTRA, and others — Cate Blanchett, Cyndi Lauper, George Saunders, and other creatives say that AI companies are …
Discussion:
Variety, Music Ally, Billboard, Music Business Worldwide and The Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »
Perry Stein / Washington Post:
A US judge blocks federal officials from examining devices seized from WaPo reporter Hannah Natanson's home until after he can review and rule on access issues — The seizure “chills speech, cripples reporting, and inflicts irreparable harm,” The Post said in statement.
Discussion:
Deadline, CNN, The Guardian, Mediaweek, @jeremymbarr, Mediaite, @maxwelltani, Freedom of the Press …, Ars Technica, NBC News, @myhlee.bsky.social, Raw Story, Al Jazeera, Courthouse News Service, Politico, MS NOW, Straight Arrow News, @cmerfy.bsky.social, @robertscotthorton.bsky.social, @bselena.bsky.social, New York Times, @frankamari.bsky.social, US District Court, Eastern District of Virginia, Jodie Ginsberg on LinkedIn, @clancyny.bsky.social, @clancyny.bsky.social, The Gateway Pundit, @joffirphd.bsky.social, @acarv.in, @hannahnatanson.bsky.social, NewsMax.com, @trevortimm.bsky.social, @freedom.press, @washingtonpost.com, NOTUS, Fox News, The Independent, The Hill, Associated Press, Washington Examiner, Martin Baron on LinkedIn, @reedfrich.bsky.social, @justinbaragona.bsky.social, @allanschlosser.bsky.social and @drewharwell.com
Business Insider:
Vimeo is laying off staff for the second time since September 2025, when it cut 10% of its workforce; Bending Spoons acquired Vimeo for ~$1.38B in November 2025 — - Vimeo is laying off staffers globally in a new round of cuts. — The job cuts arrived a few months after tech holding company Bending Spoons bought Vimeo.
The Hollywood Reporter:
The FCC says TV talk shows should now comply with equal time political broadcasting rules; the board's lone Democrat calls the change a censorship escalation — The FCC released new guidance Wednesday that stipulates that daytime and late night talk shows will be expected to comply with equal time rules.
Discussion:
Ars Technica, Mediaite, Fox News, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, IJR, Washington Post, LateNighter, Inside Radio, @farhip, CBS News, @farhip, Reuters, The Gateway Pundit, New York Post, Paste, Raw Story, Washington Examiner, Variety, TheDesk.net, @laurentguy.bsky.social, @natanael.bsky.social, @maraleia.bsky.social, @greene.haus, @radicalcompliance.bsky.social, Cord Cutters News, @avi.zollman.com, Deadline, Consequence, The Wrap, @frydawolff.bsky.social, Forbes, TV Tech, NewsMax.com, Politico, Bloomberg, Newsbusters and Breitbart
Hanaa' Tameez / Nieman Lab:
Q&A with YouTuber J.J. McCullough, who started his channel in 2015 and has 1M subscribers, on research, earning enough for a middle-class lifestyle, and more — “I respect mainstream media a great deal. I think they're doing better work than a lot of new media people do.
Discussion:
Simon Owens's Media Newsletter, @simonowens.bsky.social and @tongli.bsky.social
Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:
The UK's Future acquires social-first publisher Sheerluxe and Blush Talent MGMT for an initial £39.9M, rising by an additional £40M based on performance — Magazine giant Future is attempting to grow its share of creator-led digital marketing spend by acquiring social-first publisher Sheerluxe.
Discussion:
Future and BusinessCloud
Seyma Bayram / Columbia Journalism Review:
A look at The Amargi, a new nonprofit digital outlet based in Germany covering Kurdish news in English and trying to avoid favoring any specific political party — The Amargi, a digital outlet based in Germany, takes the lead on Kurdish news. — Kurdish media has a storied history of coverage from exile.
Discussion:
@cjr, @kamalchomani and UnHerd
Ernesto Van der Sar / TorrentFreak:
Unsealed docs: Spotify and labels sued Anna's Archive over plans to release scraped Spotify data; US court grants a temporary order taking down some domains — Spotify and several major record labels, including UMG, Sony, and Warner, have taken legal action against the unknown operators of Anna's Archive.
