Russell Ray Ptacek (born September 5, 1963) is an American investigative journalist, social media personality, and ASMR researcher.[1]
In the late 1990s, Ptacek headed NewsTV, which sold footage to television channels.[2] He sold NewsTV in 2001 and returned to the University of Kansas, from which he had dropped out in the 1980s to become a reporter for WIBW-TV in Topeka.[1][3]
In 2019, Ptacek began investigating the explosion of new media forms on YouTube, which led to the creation of the ASMR Foundation, where he serves as director.[4]