NBC Murmurs, Media Monday, Walker’s Family Feud

Happy Monday, and welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon roundup of the best new work at Puck.

Today, we lead off with Matt Belloni’s definitive, unflinching eulogy for the real Nikki Finke—a one-of-a-kind media entrepreneur, sure, but also a “journalistic terrorist” who tormented Hollywood by blackmailing sources and weaponizing the internet to push her own selfish agenda.

Plus, below the fold: Bill Cohan doffs his green eyeshade to explain how Elon Musk’s revived Twitter deal could cost Morgan Stanley billions. Tara Palmeri reports on the latest Herschel Walker civil wars. Then Jon Kelly joins Peter Hamby to discuss the extraordinary contempt for Musk in the media and the many agonizing decisions facing NBC News.

MATTHEW BELLONI

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.

a message from our sponsor

Students will be able to explore outer space in the metaverse.

With the metaverse, students in a classroom will be able to travel to the depths of our galaxy, helping them get up close to the planets and gain a deeper understanding of how our solar system works.

The metaverse may be virtual, but the impact will be real.

 
See how Meta is helping build the metaverse.

WILLIAM D. COHAN

News and notes on the latest intrigue at the upper echelons of Wall Street: Bridgewater after Dalio, the anxiety of Elon’s bankers, and a prophecy from Larry Summers.

TARA PALMERI

Republican operatives are responding to Walker’s latest scandal with exactly the sort of cynical circumspection you might imagine in midterm-giddy 2022 Washington—gritting their teeth and hoping he can get over the goal line, blaming others, and praying that he’s more Trump than Greitens.

PETER HAMBY & JON KELLY

Jon Kelly joins Peter to discuss the extraordinary contempt for Elon Musk in the media, part of which is deserved and yet some of which is misguided. Then they chat about the many agonizing decisions facing NBC News.