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Dylan Byers & Julia Alexander
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Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (Wednesday is an Inner Circle exclusive)
Ace media reporter Dylan Byers brings readers into the C-suite as he chronicles the biggest stories in the industry: the future of cable news in the streaming era, the transformation of legacy publishers, the tech giants remaking the market, and all the egos involved. Also featuring a weekly dispatch from Puck’s crack streaming/media analyst, Julia Alexander.
THE LATEST ARTICLES
Dylan Byers
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February 18, 2026
Anderson of Anarchy
CBS News was abuzz in all the wrong ways again this week as Anderson Cooper announced his departure from ’60 Minutes.’ But the real story at CBS is not Cooper’s martyrdom (Colbert has that covered), it’s what his exit portends for the show’s future and the coming exodus of news talent.
Dylan Byers
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February 13, 2026
Bari’s Bootcamp
Last week, CBS News offered buyouts to 40 or so employees, some of whom seized the moment to attack Bari Weiss’s “heterodox journalism” and a culture of self-censorship on their way out the door. But legacy media’s challenges run far deeper than mere credibility—the industry is also losing its connection to the audience, itself.
Dylan Byers
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February 11, 2026
Last Will and Testament
The final days of The Washington Post’s publisher and C.E.O. were more cowardly and craven than even the newsroom imagined—with elevator closures and a stealth flight from town. Now that he’s gone, the staff is thoroughly demoralized… and wondering how Jeff Bezos will avoid making the same mistake again.
Dylan Byers
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February 6, 2026
Good Will Hunting
While its executive editor, Matt Murray, was overseeing the fallout of the devastating layoffs on K Street, The Washington Post’s absentee leader and C.E.O., Will Lewis, was pregaming with friends at the Super Bowl. Yes, the optics are terrible, but is an aloof and often remote C.E.O. the right guy to save the Post?
Dylan Byers
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February 4, 2026
For Whom Will Tolls
When Bezos bought the ‘Post’ in 2013, he said, “You can’t shrink your way to relevance.” Today, however, his newspaper is attempting to do just that and then some—shuttering entire sections, laying off 300 reporters, and pulling back on crucial reporting. Is a comeback possible, or has K Street officially entered its late Ottoman era?
Dylan Byers
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January 30, 2026
Who Will End Up With CNN?
Speculation that Barry Diller had considered buying CNN has set off another wave of panicked fever dreams surrounding the future of the network if or when WBD’s cable portfolio is severed from the Studios and Streaming mothership. Is it all just industry psychobabble, or has Zaz enlisted a pal to help close his deal with Netflix?
Dylan Byers
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January 28, 2026
Bari the Hatchet
No one said that turning around a legacy news institution in the age of inexorable decline, shattered attention spans, and staff revolts was supposed to be easy. But as Mark Thompson, Will Lewis, and Bari Weiss are proving, you can’t move forward without taking the lead.
Dylan Byers
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January 23, 2026
The Times 4-Day Workweek Holy War
Each era seems to get the New York Times union the negotiations it deserves. The latest, already contentious round of labor relations at the paper is likely to come down to issues like A.I. and return-to-office. Don’t expect a return to the recent age of conciliation.
Dylan Byers
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January 21, 2026
Bari’s Prison of Her Own Design
After a month of contentious delays, 60 Minutes finally aired its piece on the notorious El Salvador prison CECOT. The “hostage standoff,” as one person put it, ended in an uneasy truce that could have been reached a month ago—and without exposing the distrust and division at Bari Weiss’s CBS News.
Dylan Byers
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January 16, 2026
The Politico Succession Games Begin…
An era at Politico has been ending for the last decade—at least since the departures of Mike and Jim, then Jake and Anna, and, of course, the sale to Axel Springer. But with John Harris ascending to the chairmanship, again, it’s finally Axel’s baby. And Mathias Döpfner may be looking outside the mothership for Harris’s successor.
