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12:50 PM ET, February 16, 2026

Mediagazer

 Top News: 
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Following Disney, Paramount sent a cease-and-desist letter to ByteDance, alleging its AI-generated Seedance videos and Seedream images infringed Paramount's IP  —  Disney also sent a legal demand to Chinese internet company  —  Paramount Skydance accused ByteDance of engaging in …
RELATED:
Osmond Chia / BBC:
ByteDance says it “respects IP rights and we have heard the concerns regarding Seedance” and it plans to “strengthen” safeguards, after Disney's legal threats  —  Chinese technology giant ByteDance has pledged to curb a controversial artificial intelligence (AI) …
Dan Kennedy / The Conversation:
Five regional newspapers in Boston, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Seattle, Philly, and Salt Lake offer examples of sustainability for the news business, as WaPo shrinks  —  The Washington Post's evisceration at the hands of its billionaire owner, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, didn't have to happen.
Bloomberg:
Sources: Warner Bros Discovery is considering reopening sale talks with Paramount after receiving Paramount's most recent amended offer  —  Warner Bros Discovery Inc. is considering reopening sale talks with rival Hollywood studio Paramount Skydance Corp. after receiving its hostile suitor's …
Ken Fisher / Ars Technica:
Ars Technica apologizes after publishing an article it says had fabricated quotations generated by an AI tool attributed to a source who did not say them  —  On Friday afternoon, Ars Technica published an article containing fabricated quotations generated by an AI tool and attributed to a source who did not say them.
RELATED:
Scott Shambaugh / The Shamblog:
A now-removed Ars Technica article, covering how an AI agent wrote a hit piece about an open source project maintainer, seems to have included AI hallucinations  —  Context: An AI agent of unknown ownership autonomously wrote and published a personalized hit piece about me after I rejected its code …
Will Oremus / Washington Post:
Former NPR host David Greene sues Google for allegedly replicating his voice in NotebookLM without permission; Google says the voice is based on a paid actor  —  NPR's David Greene says he was “completely freaked out” when he heard an AI voice that sounded just like his own, and he's suing over it.
Jeremy Barr / The Guardian:
CBS News staffers say they believe the network has decided to retain Peter Attia, who issued an apology for his inappropriate Epstein emails, as on-air analyst  —  Staffers believe network has decided to retain Attia, who issued apology after inappropriate Epstein emails, as on-air analyst
Scott Roxborough / The Hollywood Reporter:
Mexico announces a 30% tax incentive for film and TV productions in Mexico, even as the Trump administration pressures studios to shoot more films in the US  —  Mexico unveils a series of incentives to support local cinema and attract international productions, just as the Trump government is threatening tariffs.
Discussion: UPI, Deadline and Local News Matters
Max Tani / Semafor:
Guardian US plans to launch a daily video podcast in 2026, hosted by Kai Wright and Carter Sherman, to compete with The Daily; a source says it has 10 staff  —  The Guardian is launching its podcast rival to and .  —  The growing US outpost of the left-leaning British publication is launching …
Discussion: @maxwelltani
Financial Times:
Patrick Drahi's new ~15% stake in Channel 13 prompts questions about media independence in Israel; Drahi owns the outlet i24, which supports Benjamin Netanyahu  —  Sale of stake in news channel critical of Israeli premier is latest move to prompt questions about media independence ahead of elections
Drew Harwell / Washington Post:
In the nearly two weeks since his arrest, Don Lemon gained 300K+ Instagram followers, 140K YouTube subscribers, and his Substack soared 73% to 140K+ subscribers  —  The administration's attacks on Lemon and independent journalists have boosted their online attention and revenue.
 
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 More News: 
The Times:
Sources: the UK has shelved proposed anti-SLAPP legislation, fearing a backlash from lawyers, despite appeals from the editors of The Times and The Sun
Discussion: @williamrt
Nathan Taylor Pemberton / New York Times:
Conservative creators are increasingly posting “slopulism”, low-quality political content that prioritizes populist rage, aiming to provoke policy action
Laura Hazard Owen / Nieman Lab:
Q&A with The Atlantic's Liz Bruenig on her hypothetical creative nonfiction measles essay, writing in second person, persuading parents about vaccines, and more
Henry Chandonnet / Business Insider:
A look at Sourcery, a podcast and newsletter from Molly O'Shea, which gets big-name guests including Palantir CEO Alex Karp and Anduril co-founder Palmer Luckey
 Earlier Picks: 
James Faris / Business Insider:
As Netflix, Disney, and Paramount add vertical clips to their streaming services, media analysts warn that short-form video isn't a cure-all
Discussion: Cord Cutters News
Jessica Toonkel / Wall Street Journal:
Memo: LA Olympics Chair Casey Wasserman is putting his talent agency up for sale after his ties to Epstein surfaced and high-profile talent departed the firm
 

 
From Techmeme:

Bailey Lipschultz / Bloomberg:
SpaceX raises $75B in the biggest-ever IPO, pricing 555.6M shares at $135 each, giving it a market value of $1.77T

Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Coinbase launches an AI agent that can execute trades and pay for premium research; users can give it access to their main account or have it operate separately

Maxwell Zeff / Wired:
Anthropic backtracks on its decision to quietly limit Fable 5's ability to develop LLMs, saying “requests will visibly fall back to Opus 4.8”, after backlash
 
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