MEDIA
Dylan Byers
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May 8, 2026
The Ben Commandments
The sudden, precipitous decline of Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire—with its sweeping layoffs and a steep drop-off in audience—has actually been a long time coming. And while it’s easy to point to MAGA’s shift away from Israel, its co-C.E.O.’s dream of producing an Arthurian fantasy series isn’t helping either.
Dylan Byers
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May 6, 2026
James Murdoch’s School of Hard Vox
The least objectionable of Rupert’s sons is closing on a deal to buy much of Vox Media in order to complement his current holdings—Art Basel and Tribeca Enterprises—as well as his ambition to build a global TED-meets-Burning Man events brand. Is this the first step toward real cultural influence, or simply his own Penske-esque captive investment?
Dylan Byers
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May 1, 2026
World War Alfonsi
After going toe to toe with Bari Weiss over her “Inside CECOT” story, veteran correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi became the face of fourth-estate resistance at 60 Minutes. But as she prepares a heroic exit, a mass exodus is unlikely to follow. After all, where’s a well-paid TV journalist to go?
Dylan Byers
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April 29, 2026
Teflon D’Onofrio
Months after another round of deep cuts and Jeff Bezos’s overdue jettisoning of Will Lewis, ‘The Washington Post’ is grappling with the harsh realities of rebuilding the brand—beginning with naming Lewis’s permanent successor.
Dylan Byers
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April 24, 2026
Bari’s Post-WHCD Purge
After partying with the president, Pete Hegseth, and Stephen Miller at an event ostensibly celebrating a free press, Weiss will return from Washington with immediate plans to further overhaul 60 Minutes—and to implement another round of layoffs at CBS News.
Dylan Byers
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April 22, 2026
The Weiss House
While fourth-estate purists bemoan the diminishment of press freedoms under Trump, CBS’s Bari Weiss and David Ellison will be breaking bread over White House Correspondents’ Association weekend with two of the administration’s most visible press antagonists. Cue the outrage… but that’s the point.
Julia Alexander
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April 17, 2026
Doomsday Prepping for the A.I. Media Apocalypse
The already shell-shocked media business is bracing for yet another existential disruption: a future in which many readers are replaced by A.I. agents summarizing their work—and cutting out the advertisers that are the lifeblood of the industry.
Dylan Byers
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April 15, 2026
The Approval Matrix Revolutions
News, notes, and all the scuttlebutt pertaining to Jim Bankoff’s admirable, atom-splitting attempt to sell off Vox Media in parts: ‘New York,’ its various digital assets, and the podcast network that powers the business.
Dylan Byers
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April 10, 2026
The Lehane Asylum
A genuinely intelligent conversation with OpenAI policy chief Chris Lehane, who led last week’s acquisition of 'TBPN.' Here, he explains the marketing value of his new podcast, its supposed independence, and Sam Altman’s trust issues.
Dylan Byers
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April 8, 2026
The Greenberger Mile
Behind the promotion of new top editor Jonathan Greenberger is Mathias Döpfner’s belief that video is the future of Politico (more Dashas!), even as the future of its business is increasingly oriented around international growth and fending off NOTUS.
Julia Alexander
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April 3, 2026
The Hasan Piker Paradox
In a media economy increasingly oriented around fandoms rather than scale, the controversial leftist Twitch commentator may offer a model for slumping TV news brands in desperate need of adrenaline.
Dylan Byers & Ian Krietzberg
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April 1, 2026
The A.I. Journalism Big Bang Theory
An essential conversation with Puck’s in-house A.I. sage, Ian Krietzberg, on the value and limits of automation, the audience and trust that A.I. can never reproduce, and yes, that Fortune reporter using A.I. to post hundreds and hundreds of articles.
Dylan Byers
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March 27, 2026
He’s Just Not That Into YouTube
An important, and frankly disturbing, conversation from Jim Steyer’s Common Sense Media Summit with the attorneys general of New Mexico and California, where landmark cases against Meta and YouTube may presage social media’s Big Tobacco moment.
Dylan Byers
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March 25, 2026
Guns & Rosslyn
As the search for Politico’s next editor-in-chief drags into its third month, promising but obvious candidates are falling fast while sources say Axel Springer C.E.O. Mathias Döpfner is close to picking a winner. Just don’t expect it to be anyone obvious.
Dylan Byers
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March 20, 2026
CNN’s Open Mic Night
The new set for Anderson Cooper’s AC360 has all the trappings of a 1950s radio show, with retro mics and paper maps. While C.E.O. Mark Thompson may be overseeing a makeover that skews creator-relatable, it undermines CNN’s news authority, especially during a war. At least Twitter enjoyed it.
Dylan Byers
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March 18, 2026
Little Allbritton
As the son of a yesteryear D.C. media baron, and the moneyman behind Politico, Robert Allbritton is still fighting for credit. Now he’s rebranding NOTUS, his post-Politico plaything, by hiring reporters and once again going after The Washington Post.
Dylan Byers
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March 13, 2026
The Snows of Kalorama
It had all the trappings of a turning point for 'The Washington Post,' with dozens of executives, editors, and reporters summoned to Jeff Bezos’s local manse for an unhurried, candid, even conciliatory discussion about what’s gone wrong with the paper since the centibillionaire bought it in 2013. But what attendees say they didn’t discuss is how to save it.