George Cheeks
Dylan Byers
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August 8, 2025
Visible Man
Media coverage of David Ellison’s post-merger victory tour has largely focused on his plans for CBS News, looming synergies at Paramount, and his relationship with Trump. But all this may understate the true scale of Ellison’s ambition: to transfuse New Paramount with his dad’s tech and turn a legacy creative business into… a platform.
Dylan Byers
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July 25, 2025
Dirty Skydancing
While the media universe overanalyzes the free speech implications of the tediously drawn out Paramount-Skydance merger—the Colbert-Carr-‘South Park’ of it all—CBS rank and file are pondering a simpler question: Who’s gonna fix the evening news?
Kim Masters
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July 22, 2025
In Colbert Blood
CBS’s decision to cancel ‘The Late Show’ has shaken a town beset by fears regarding industry economics and the cozy dealmaking between Trump and the Ellisons. Will the creative community revolt?
Matthew Belloni
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July 18, 2025
CBS in Distress: Colbert’s Exit & The Rhodes-Weiss Era
As Paramount prepares to remake itself, David Rhodes has emerged as a likely successor at CBS News, possibly advised by Bari Weiss. And company insiders suggest that the Colbert cancellation was purely economic, but is that buyable?
Dylan Byers
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May 21, 2025
McMahon Overboard
With the high-wire tensions between Paramount and the tormentor-in-chief at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, it’s easy to view the exit of CBS News C.E.O. Wendy McMahon as fourth-estate martyrdom. But maybe she just wasn’t very good at her job.
Dylan Byers
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April 30, 2025
The Righteous Redstone
Amid Trump’s legal torture of CBS, Shari Redstone has played the role of a spineless placater—a desperate seller eager to settle and liquidate her position in the family heirloom. But her annoyance over CBS News’s coverage of the Israel-Gaza conflict seems to be real—and so are her attempts to meddle with the newsroom’s independence.
Dylan Byers
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February 20, 2025
McMahon on Fire & Politico’s Prince Valiant
News and notes on the latest defenestration at CBS News (and the next one, too), plus a coronation at Politico.
Matthew Belloni
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October 15, 2024
David Ellison Will See You Now
Paramount’s new mogul and his post-merger deputy Jeff Shell are taking meetings with their top executives, as plans for the storied studio—and especially its streaming video ambitions—come into clearer focus.
William D. Cohan
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June 5, 2024
The Shari Soap Opera’s Final Twist
Unimaginably, Shari Redstone has reintroduced a dealpoint that threatens to nuke the Paramount sale. Will Gerry and Ellison blink? And will Mario Gabelli, the aggrieved longtime investor, finally wet his beak?