For today, links to reports from MintPress News and National Public Radio; other articles are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (LEBANON, WEST BANK, GAZA and UKRAINE entries for this date are HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE or scroll up.  MEDIA 2-8-25 entry is HERE.) — MCM

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FROM FEB. 18  USAID’s giant network of ‘independent’ media, by Alan MacLeod | MintPress News / Consortium News  The Trump administration’s decision to pause U.S. Agency for International Development funding has plunged hundreds of so-called “independent media” outlets into crisis, thereby exposing a worldwide network of thousands of journalists, all working to promote U.S. interests in their home countries. READ MORE . . .

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FROM FEB. 20  Americans are reading fewer books for less time. People want to know why. Reported by Ailsa Chang and Brittany Luse | NPR  According to a Gallup survey from 2022, Americans are reading fewer books per year than ever before. And the time that people spend reading has dropped over the years, too. Click HERE to listen and read.