Mediagazer

4:35 PM ET, February 9, 2026

Top News:

Laya Neelakandan / CNBC:

Trump endorses Nexstar's $6.2B acquisition of Tegna, saying “We need more competition against THE ENEMY, the Fake News National TV Networks” — President Donald Trump on Saturday endorsed Nexstar Media's proposed $6.2 billion acquisition of Tegna, just months after criticizing the deal.

Max Tani / Semafor:

Source: WaPo planned a marketing campaign with a new slogan, We The People, but dropped it after MS Now launched a $20M brand campaign with the same slogan — THE SCOOP — Late last year, before The Washington Post slashed its staff and ousted its CEO, the paper was looking to rehabilitate its public image.

Discussion: Fox News, @semaforben, @maxtani.bsky.social, Tangle, @maxwelltani and Business Insider

OpenAI:

OpenAI says it has started testing ads in ChatGPT in the US for logged-in adult users on the Free and Go tiers and that the ads do not change ChatGPT answers — Ads that support free access and don't change ChatGPT answers. — Today, we're beginning to test ads in ChatGPT in the U.S …

Madison Mills / Axios:
OpenAI says ads in ChatGPT are not eligible to appear near “sensitive or regulated topics like health, mental health or politics”

Discussion: The Decoder, The Adobe Blog, The Register, Search Engine Land, 9to5Mac, Android Authority, Tom's Guide, The Mac Observer, The Verge and Droid Life, more at Techmeme »

Jordy Fee-Platt / The Athletic:

Turning Point USA's All-American Halftime Show during the Super Bowl peaked at 6.1M concurrent YouTube viewers; the show wasn't on X due to licensing issues — Share full article — Streamed opposite Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime performance, Turning Point USA's “All-American Halftime Show” …

Discussion: @tpusa, CBS News, The Wrap, Billboard, @mrserikakirk, USA Today, Garbage Day, Fast Company, The Daily Signal, San Francisco Chronicle, The Independent, Mother Jones, Decider, Advocate, Digital Music News, Blaze Media, WXIA-TV, Plain Dealer, The Atlantic, National Enquirer, The Hill, Consequence, Rolling Stone, @peakingtruth, NewsMax.com, ZeroHedge News, @artwithinpod, New Jersey Online, @bubbaprog.xyz, Us Weekly, Daily Caller News Foundation, @blueatlgeorgia, Daily Mail, @esjesjesj, Deseret News, @jamiebonkiewicz, @mindcite.bsky.social, @jefftopolski, @jaredlholt, So What, @kalkail.bsky.social, @seanmdav, Salon, @jackson61689330, TV Insider, @themainewonk, The Daily Wire, @uwebollocks, @secwar, @kid_riles, New York Daily News, Vanity Fair, HuffPost, The Gateway Pundit, The Sun, Screen Rant, Variety, Suggest, IJR, Front Office Sports, Fox News, BizPac Review, Raw Story and Washington Examiner

Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch:
A look at the 2026 Super Bowl ads from Anthropic, Meta, Amazon, Google, and others, as AI continued to take center stage in ad creation and AI product promotion

Reuters:

A Hong Kong court sentences the 78-year-old Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai to 20 years in prison over national security charges, ending a five-year legal saga — Hong Kong's most vocal China critic, media tycoon Jimmy Lai, was sentenced on Monday to 20 years in jail, ending …

Discussion: Press Gazette, CNN, Hong Kong Free Press HKFP, The Free Press, @krislc, The National Pulse, Associated Press, The Hill, Human Events, Al Jazeera, Los Angeles Times, The Daily Wire, France 24, @pressfreedom, @timothy_stanley, The Sun, NewsMax.com, The Guardian, @kenroth, The Indian Express, @samuelmchu, @aliciakearns, @madnesswatcher, @catherinewest1, Daily Star, Metro.co.uk, @bariweiss, @nickkristof, @melissakchan, @dominictsz, @torymemo82, New York Times, Australian Government …, @chinaselect, @frances_hui, @ipacglobal, Washington Examiner, @yvettecoopermp, Le Monde, @pritipatel, @senatorwong, BBC, @madz_grant, @hkfp, @shibanimahtani, @declanganley, Washington Post, @senrickscott, @laiyanhoeric, @chloeclonews, Courthouse News Service, Modern Diplomacy, New York Sun, @kevinkfyam, @lukedepulford, @johnsimpsonnews, @fcdogovuk, @frances_hui, @theblackhorse65, Gamereactor UK, IWCP Online, Reporters Without Borders, Daily Caller News Foundation, Wall Street Journal, RTÉ, UPI, Reuters, The Federalist, Kyodo News, OCCRP, CNBC, Bloomberg, Amnesty International, Committee to Protect …, Financial Times, United States Department …, The Japan Times, Semafor, CBS News and NBC News

Abner Li / 9to5Google:

YouTube launches genre-specific YouTube TV Plans as lower-cost alternatives to the $82.99 monthly subscription; the Sports Plan is priced at $64.99 per month — After teasing in December, “YouTube TV Plans” are rolling out this week as cheaper alternatives to paying $82.99 per month for over 100 channels.

Scott Feinberg / The Hollywood Reporter:

The Academy will no longer show Oscar-nominated films to members on big screens after the screenings drew “an average of five members” over the last years — The organization says its post-nominations screenings, which reportedly cost thousands of dollars a pop, drew …

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:

Q&A with YouTube VP of Subscription Products Christian Oestlien on YouTube TV's future, the NFL and Oscars deals, its friendly rivalry with Netflix, and more — YouTube is going to start selling cheaper TV bundles for sports fans, news junkies — Happy Super Bowl Sunday …

Discussion: Awful Announcing, TheDesk.net, Sports Business Journal, Variety, @lucas_shaw, The Athletic, Hunter Walk on LinkedIn, Pocket-lint, Cord Cutters News, @matthewkeyslive, @lucas_shaw, The Streamable and @tvgrimreaper

K.J. Yossman / Variety:

HBO Max is set to launch in the UK and Ireland on March 26, with ad-supported tiers costing £4.99 or £5.99 per month and ad-free at £9.99 or £14.99 per month — HBO Max has finally set the launch date for the rollout of its standalone streaming service in the U.K. and Ireland.

Pamela McClintock / The Hollywood Reporter:

Amazon's Melania documentary fell 67% in its second week box office with $2.4M; Amazon MGM Studios says it is sparking “interest” among Prime Video subscribers — The first lady's documentary fell off a steep 67 percent in its second weekend, prompting Amazon MGM to go on the offensive …

Discussion: Stereogum, Mumbrella, PoliticusUSA, @stevensantos.bsky.social, @laurenmeidasa.bsky.social, TechCrunch, Entertainment Weekly and Mediaite

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

UK's weekly street newspaper Big Issue makes its two top digital editors redundant as part of a “difficult but necessary” restructure of the organization — Digital editor and deputy both departing. — Weekly street newspaper Big Issue has made its two top digital editors redundant …

Discussion: HoldtheFrontPage

Sara Guaglione / Digiday:

The Athletic is investing in live blogs and video to combat AI scraping; Similarweb says The Athletic had 16.9M unique visitors in January 2026, up 59% YoY — As the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics collide this week, The New York Times-owned publication The Athletic is playing up coverage …

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More News:

Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Nexstar seeks to broaden The Hill's sponsors, pitching it as “non partisan and brand safe” ahead of midterms; Comscore: its page views grew 7% in 2025 to 1.24B

Valida Pau / The Information:
Beast Industries, the entertainment conglomerate founded by MrBeast and last valued at $5.2B, acquires Step Mobile, a teen-focused banking app

Discussion: TechCrunch, Business Insider, Dexerto, @alexisohanian, @fundstrat, @mrbeast, @chamath and @pitdesi, more at Techmeme »

Tony Maglio / The Hollywood Reporter:
Holywater, the Ukrainian-founded company behind microdrama platform My Drama, acquires AI-assisted VFX company Jeynix and rebrands as Holywater Tech

Rohan Goswami / Semafor:
Sources: Live Nation-US DOJ settlement talks divide the Trump admin; DOJ antitrust boss Gail Slater is sidelined as Live Nation lobbies against a March trial

Discussion: Digital Music News, NewsMax.com, Reuters, The Verge, WinBuzzer and Engadget

Abner Li / 9to5Google:
YouTube launches a Premium paywall for song lyrics on YouTube Music, after testing it in recent months; users get five free lyrics before they have to subscribe

Earlier Picks:

Paul Farhi / @farhip:
Washington Post Guild Steward Sarah Kaplan says the reported 300 layoffs figure doesn't account for non-Guild cuts, making the actual total “well over” 300

Discussion: @devlinbarrett, Washingtonian, @deggans, Townhall, Deadline, New York Post and New York Times

Alexandra Alter / New York Times:
How AI is impacting the romance novel industry, with authors failing to disclose AI use and using pen names more, bogging down the publishing ecosystem

Discussion: The Decoder, @brandyljensen, Christian Science Monitor, Gizmodo, Chuck Wendig, @tgwood505.bsky.social, @dtgeek@mastodon.social, @tcarmody.bsky.social, @ggreadsandwrites.bsky.social, @duncanweldon.bsky.social, @davidrlurie.com, @jodimca.bsky.social, @xoxogossipgita.bsky.social and Jacobin

Rebuild Local News:
A look at the first year of Illinois' news tax incentive program; it awarded $4M in tax credits to support 260 jobs at 120 outlets, one-third of them nonprofits

Discussion: @rebuildlocalnews.bsky.social and @mattdpearce.com

Miranda Green / Columbia Journalism Review:
A Tow Center probe found that GOP-aligned Metric Media filed 9K+ FOIA requests across the US in the past year, often about culture-war issues like banned books

Discussion: @cdarwin@c.im, @columjournreview.bsky.social, @freedom.press and @briankrebs@infosec.exchange

Michael Williams / CNN:
Entertainment and sports agent Casey Wasserman, who chairs the 2028 LA Olympics coordinating committee, faces calls to resign after appearing in Epstein emails

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, The Wrap and Stereogum

From Techmeme:

Stevie Bonifield / The Verge:
Discord says it will roll out age verification globally from March to access some content; all accounts will have a “teen-appropriate experience by default”

CNBC:
Slack message: Sam Altman tells staff that ChatGPT is “back to exceeding 10% monthly growth”, and OpenAI plans to release “an updated Chat model” this week

Jordan Novet / CNBC:
Databricks raised $5B in equity financing and $2B in debt at a $134B valuation and says its annualized revenue crossed $5.4B for the January quarter, up 65% YoY

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