MEDIA
Dylan Byers
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December 2, 2022
The CNN Green Room Massacre
End notes on a sad day or two at CNN as the Licht era enters a new phase.
Dylan Byers
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December 1, 2022
Iger’s Hero’s Welcome & Licht’s Cuts
News and notes on a chilly holiday season for media C.E.O.s.
Dylan Byers
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November 23, 2022
Igermania, The WaPo & Zaz
News and notes on the interior monologue of the media industry in semi-pre-holiday-repose.
Dylan Byers
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November 19, 2022
Fred Ryan’s Re-Election
Questions about Ryan’s leadership have become widespread at the Post, where the gulf between the paper and the Times widens, and the finger-pointing has taken hold.
Dylan Byers
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November 16, 2022
The Licht Show & WaPo Politics
The latest news on Chris Licht’s attempts at CNN transformation, and the biggest story inside The Washington Post.
Dylan Byers
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November 11, 2022
Licht’s Debate Prep
A tune up for a companywide town hall suggests what’s on the mind of the newish C.E.O.’s anxious charges.
Dylan Byers
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November 9, 2022
The Cable Election Upset of the Age
Sans Wolf Blitzer and his “key race alerts,” CNN lost the overall ratings battle to MSNBC on election night. It’s a sign that an era keeps ending, of course, but also that the executives in charge haven’t yet figured out how to create the next one.
Dylan Byers
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November 4, 2022
Can Licht Make the Cuts?
A brutal $100 million financial engineering effort begins at CNN.
Dylan Byers
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November 2, 2022
A Licht in the Attic
In the last 72 hours, at least twenty CNN employees (on-air talent, rank-and-file staff, and more) have called or texted me, many of them unsolicited, to convey that things have never been worse.
Dylan Byers
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October 28, 2022
The Chris Licht Gut Punch
CNN staffers are in a panic over forthcoming layoffs, pining for Zucker, and waiting for the next shoe to drop. The party line is “right-sizing,” but Licht and Zaslav’s new approach—a smaller digital footprint, fewer original series and films, cross-functional consolidation—appears to reflect a growing delta between the CNN they inherited and what they want it to be.
Dylan Byers
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October 21, 2022
Tapper Troubles & Semafornication
News and notes on the industry’s inside conversation: a check-in on the Tapper experiment, Murdoch curiosities, and Semafor’s launch.
Dylan Byers
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October 20, 2022
The Murdoch Succession Moment Arrives
New reporting on Lachlan’s ascension, Rupert’s merger rationale and ‘Journal’-Fox rollup fears.
Dylan Byers
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October 14, 2022
A Wrinkle at ‘The Times’
Friday news and notes on the inside conversation coursing through the media business, from Times grumblings to Tapper’s primetime performance.
Dylan Byers
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October 13, 2022
Timesism & Its Discontents
The New York Times is stronger than ever—lightyears ahead of the Post in subscription, acquisitive, by far the most influential beacon of journalism on Earth. And yet a string of amicable high-profile journalistic departures has led some Media Cassandras to shriek. Big deal? No deal? Well, it’s the Times, after all, so it’s a thing.
Matthew Belloni
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October 10, 2022
The Dark Legacy of Nikki Finke
Finke presented herself as a no-bullshit reporter who kept Hollywood moguls honest, and we all found her copy completely irresistible. But she perverted the profession by blackmailing sources, often targeting the weak, and weaponizing the internet to push her bile—and her own agenda.
Dylan Byers
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October 7, 2022
More MSNBC Murmurs & CNN Fantasy Football
News and notes emanating from the media industry on a fall Friday: the Semafor pre-launch buzz, Punchbowl rumors, the Licht vision, and the MSNBC pickle.
Dylan Byers
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October 5, 2022
MSNBC’s Wagnerian Opera
Alex Wagner’s early ratings suggest that the MSNBC audience may be actively tuning her out. It’s an invitation for Tapper and Licht to quit the apparent mutual disarmament pact around 9 p.m. and take back the hour.