Mediagazer

4:35 PM ET, February 18, 2026

Top News:

Jack Dunn / Variety:

Stephen Colbert says CBS released its statement “without ever talking to me” and talk shows have long been exempt from “equal time” rules — On Tuesday night's broadcast of “The Late Show,” Stephen Colbert slammed his home network, CBS, for releasing a statement denying …

Discussion: YouTube, New York Sun, Arizona Republic, Forbes, Newsweek, Instapundit, @agomezfcc, Techdirt, Mother Jones, Vox, NBC News, Associated Press, Entertainment Weekly, @larrymathys.bsky.social, Hollywood Life, @jeremymbarr, The Independent, @daveweigel, KVIA-TV, The Wrap, Deadline, @jeremymbarr, Straight Arrow News, TV Insider, CBS News, Newsbusters, @jayrosen.bsky.social, Wonderwall.com, The Federalist, @mlcalderone, @brianstelter, @jeremymbarr, @cavandy.bsky.social, @greg_price11, CinemaBlend, UPI, Washington Times, Los Angeles Times, Mashable, The Hill, Washington Examiner, Mediaite, Suggest, Breitbart, IJR, CNBC, New Republic, LateNighter, Deadline, Louder With Crowder, Just Jared, RedState, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Al Jazeera, Fox News, Fast Company, NewsMax.com, Steady, The Atlantic, Australian Financial Review, Tampa Free Press, FIRE and NOTUS

Corbin Bolies / The Wrap:

Brendan Carr confirms FCC is investigating The View for potentially violating its equal-time rule and says he was “highly entertained” by the Colbert/CBS drama — Brendan Carr also said the media should be “ashamed” for running claims that the FCC blocked James Talarico's “Late Show” interview

Julianna Bragg / Axios:NEW!

Colbert's interview on YouTube with US Senate candidate James Talarico has drawn over 6M views as of Wednesday afternoon in the US, after it was posted Monday — Stephen Colbert alleged that President Trump's talk show directive kept his interview with a Texas Democratic Senate candidate off CBS airwaves …

Discussion: The Wrap, LateNighter, The Moderate Voice, PoliticusUSA, Mediaite, Newser, Associated Press and Daily Caller News Foundation

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Stephen Colbert says CBS lawyers blocked an interview with Democratic US Senate candidate James Talarico, citing the FCC's equal time guidance for TV talk shows

Discussion: YouTube, Reuters, mrcfreespeechamerica.org, The Daily Signal, YouTube, Mediaite, The Wrap, The Ankler, Mercury News, Deadline, New York Times, RedState, Jennifer Johnson on LinkedIn, The Guardian, LaineyGossip, Raw Story, Washington Post, @bgrrl.bsky.social, TheJournal.ie, @bugstev2.bsky.social, NOTUS, @michaeljstern.bsky.social, @mcbridetd.bsky.social, MS NOW, @michaeljstern.bsky.social, HuffPost, @jamestalarico, @jeremymbarr, The Wrap, Wall Street Journal, The Hill, Benzinga, @sgmandanas.bsky.social, ZeroHedge News, @adamscochran, @charles.littlegreenfootballs …, @adamscochran, @kurtbardella, @repdarrensoto, @davidsirota, @kylegriffin1, masslive.com, @schmittnyc, The Hollywood Reporter, @mollyjongfast, @chrismurphyct, @adamwren, @mikenellis, @timodc, @chriso_wiki, @j_g_allen, The Verge, @richardhanania, @terrymoran, @therickwilson, @nathanleamerdc, @mehdirhasan, Talking Points Memo, Variety, @reckless.bsky.social, @ronfilipkowski, @meidastouch, UPI, Lawyers, Guns & Money, @yakhappy.bsky.social, @hissgoescobra, @adamscochran, @redsteeze, @redsteeze, @wjcarter, @nick_field90, @farhip, Business Insider, CBS News, Deadline, New Republic, Blaze Media, Washington Post, @newnarrative.bsky.social, @jayrosen.bsky.social, @mdg650hawk.bsky.social, Peter S. Henne on LinkedIn, Mediaite, New York Daily News, twitchy.com, The A.V. Club, Page Six, Techdirt, Forbes, The Dean's Report, PBS NewsHour, NewsMax.com, Rolling Stone, @eddiesheehy.bsky.social, The Gateway Pundit, @sev.yote.social, New York Post, Washington Times, The Siren, New Jersey Online, Straight Arrow News, @johnshirley2024.bsky.social, New York Sun, @cat1957.bsky.social, The Status Kuo, Mother Jones, Washington Examiner, New York Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, Associated Press, Newsbusters, Endless Urgency …, NBC News, @geneha.com, @drewharwell.com, CinemaBlend, Daily Mail, IJR, Breitbart, The Nation, Bloomberg Law, OutsideTheBeltway, Pied Type, Plain Dealer, The Texas Tribune, MS NOW, USA Today, The Independent, The A.V. Club, Mediaite, @noahshachtman.bsky.social, Axios, @texassignal.bsky.social, The Boston Globe, Us Weekly, Politico, The Daily Beast, Mediaite, @gabrielmalor.bsky.social, Mediaite, Raw Story, TVNewsCheck, Forbes, The Wrap, Mashable, Variety and Variety

Cameron Adams / The Daily Beast:

Sources: CNN restricted staff from using its platforms for self-promotion, after Jake Tapper pushing his Joe Biden book turned into a “rolling infomercial” — TURNING A PAGE — The anchor is said to be “very, very unhappy” at the network's new policy on self-promotion.

Discussion: New York Post, @billkuchman.bsky.social, @wehriskat.bsky.social, @lmarson05.bsky.social, TV Insider, @xelahart.bsky.social, @dankennedy.net, Raw Story and @optimisticdoomer.bsky.social

Dominic Patten / Deadline:

Netflix sends ByteDance a C&D letter over Seedance 2.0, joining WBD, Paramount, and Disney, saying “forensic evidence” shows “unauthorized derivative works” — With their two-page correspondence and potential legal action to follow, Netflix have linked arms …

Discussion: Screen Rant, Business Insider, CinemaBlend, TechRadar, Comic Book, GamesRadar, primetimer.com, The Wrap and Variety

Gene Maddaus / Variety:
WBD joins Disney and Paramount in claiming infringement on ByteDance's AI video tool Seedance and demands ByteDance cease training AI on Warner Bros. characters

Discussion: The Wrap, The Decoder, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter and PetaPixel, more at Techmeme »

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Audible launches an “immersion reading” feature that lets readers switch between ebook and audiobook versions of a title in their Audible and Kindle libraries — Only days after Spotify announced its foray into physical book sales, which included an audiobook feature that lets …

Discussion: Audible.com, Android Authority, Publishers Weekly, Thurrott, The Verge, 9to5Mac, TechRadar, Mashable, ZDNET, Good e-Reader and Jane Friedman

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

The Irish Times says it now has ~150,000 print and digital subscribers, and it has reached a milestone where subscriber revenue fully funds its journalism — Revenue generated by subscribers to The Irish Times is now fully funding its journalism for the first time.

Discussion: @metacurity.com

Katie Campione / Deadline:

The Writers Guild Staff Union calls a work stoppage, one month before the WGA begins AMPTP negotiations, accusing the WGA West of bad faith bargaining — The Writers Guild of America West's staff has gone on strike. — A month before the writers guild is set to bargain with the Alliance …

Discussion: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap and The A.V. Club

Melissa Heikkilä / Financial Times:

Q&A with Synthesia co-founder and CEO Victor Riparbelli on growing the London-based enterprise AI video platform, hitting a $4B valuation, regulation, and more — The founder of the $4bn UK start-up talks about his mission to reinvent content creation and how Europe can compete in the global AI race

The Keyword:

Google rolls out Lyria 3, a generative music model that can make 30-second tracks with Nano Banana cover art, in beta in the Gemini app in eight languages — The Gemini app now features our most advanced music generation model Lyria 3, empowering anyone to make 30-second tracks using text or images in beta.

Julia Black / Vanity Fair:

OpenAI hires Instagram's VP of global partnerships, Charles Porch, as its first VP of global creative partnerships, seeking to win over a skeptical Hollywood — Charles Porch's newly created role as OpenAI's VP of global creative partnerships signals the AI giant's new focus on the entertainment industry

Discussion: TVNewsCheck and The Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »

Tim Hardwick / MacRumors:

Apple launches Apple Music Connect, a new resource for music labels and distributors to manage promotional assets, upload press photos, and more — Apple has launched Apple Music Connect, a new resource for labels, distributors, and partners to manage promotional assets, upload press photos …

Discussion: iPhone in Canada, iClarified, The Mac Observer, AppleInsider, Cult of Mac and MacTech.com

Katie Robertson / New York Times:

The New York Times wins three 2025 Polk Awards, including for its Trump coverage; The Boston Globe, ProPublica, AP, and Business Insider also won — The Times was honored for its coverage of President Trump, the abuse of housekeepers and nannies in Saudi Arabia and brutality in New York prisons.

Discussion: New York Magazine, The Boston Globe and @jeremymbarr

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More News:

Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Snap says its direct revenue business has reached a $1B ARR, driven primarily by Snapchat+ surpassing 25M subscribers since its 2022 launch

Discussion: Reuters and The Information, more at Techmeme »

Olivia Empson / Wall Street Journal:
A profile of women-focused conservative magazine Evie, founded in 2019 and named for a modern take on the Bible's original woman, with 192K Substack followers

Discussion: The Cut, Wired, Feed Me and Vanity Fair

Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
A US federal judge orders OpenAI to stop using the word “Cameo” for its Sora products and features, in a trademark lawsuit filed by celebrity video app Cameo

Discussion: Engadget, Android Headlines, Los Angeles Times, The American Bazaar, Mashable, Tech in Asia, Reuters and Chicago Business Journal

Diane Sylvester / Editor and Publisher:
News Literacy Project survey: 84% of US teens describe news media negatively, and 94% think news or media literacy should be part of their education

Discussion: Erin Schneider on LinkedIn, Esther Wojcicki on LinkedIn and @dankennedy.net

Freddie Sayers / The Spectator:
The Spectator has 113K subscribers, a record, print is its fastest-growing type of subscription, and it is offering its subscription service to external clients

Discussion: City A.M., Advanced Television and The Streamable

Earlier Picks:

Cristina Criddle / Financial Times:
Perplexity says it has no plans to further pursue ads, which it introduced in 2024, after phasing them out in late 2025 over fears they would erode user trust

Discussion: Gizmodo, The Information, The Verge, Android Headlines, @cszabla, @librariancapital.bsky.social, WinBuzzer, MacRumors, @homemadehooplah, PYMNTS.com, Benzinga, Semafor, Search Engine Land, The Decoder, @charlesmok.bsky.social and Business Insider, more at Techmeme »

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / TechCrunch:
Amnesty research: a government customer of spyware maker Intellexa hacked the iPhone of journalist Teixeira Cândido in Angola in 2024 via Predator spyware

Discussion: Metacurity, The Record, Reporters Without Borders, Amnesty International USA, Amnesty International …, Reuters, Bloomberg, @lorenzofb.bsky.social and Committee to Protect …

Caitlin Huston / The Hollywood Reporter:
Versant's MS Now signs a deal with Crooked Media to air highlights from Crooked podcasts such as Pod Save America and Lovett or Leave It, at 9pm ET on Saturdays

Discussion: @jeremymbarr, Richard Hudock on LinkedIn, Brands, The Wrap, Mediaite and Deadline

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Automattic adds an AI assistant to WordPress.com, enabling users to perform site-wide layout and style modifications via natural language commands

Discussion: Engadget, TechRadar, eWeek, @jameswlepage, @wordpressdotcom, @rafaltomal, WordPress.com News, @georgebaily@mastodon.social, TechEBlog, Tech in Asia, The Verge and @lauridonahue.bsky.social

Krystal Hur / Wall Street Journal:
Filing: Berkshire Hathaway reports that it purchased 5.1M shares of The New York Times during the December quarter; NYT rises 3%+ pre-market

From Techmeme:

Todd Haselton / The Verge:
Google unveils the $499 Pixel 10a, with a Tensor G4 and 8GB of RAM like the Pixel 9a, Satellite SOS, an 11% brighter screen, but no Pixelsnap, shipping March 4

Alicia Tang / Bloomberg:
Fei-Fei Li's World Labs raised $1B from Autodesk, a16z, Nvidia, AMD, Sea, and others to build its world models for robotics, scientific discovery, and more

The Record:
Texas AG Ken Paxton sues TP-Link, alleging it deceptively markets its products as secure while allowing the CCP to hack into consumers' devices

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