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Thursday, December 4, 2025 |
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TGIT, right? Here's the latest on Bari Weiss, Netflix, Olivia Nuzzi, Versant, Jeff Zucker, Prince Harry, Actors on Actors, and much more. But first... |
New York Times sues Pentagon |
This morning, The New York Times sued Pete Hegseth and the Defense Department over the Pentagon's new restrictions on press access.
The lawsuit seeks the repeal of the October policy that prompted Pentagon beat reporters to turn in their press passes rather than sign onto the restrictions.
Hegseth and his aides will likely object to the suit with the same national security arguments that accompanied October's restrictions. But the NYT says "the policy is an attempt to exert control over reporting the government dislikes, in violation of a free press’ right to seek information under their First and Fifth Amendment rights protected by the Constitution."
The suit was immediately cheered by some press freedom advocates. Freedom of the Press Foundation exec director Trevor Timm said the "only way to put an end to the Trump administration’s multipronged assault on press freedom is for every news outlet to fight back at every opportunity."
But it is not without risk. I'm already picking up on some concern that a court ruling against The Times could set back press access more broadly. Here's my story about the suit...
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The (Pentagon) beat goes on... |
The filing in DC district court comes on "a big day" for Hegseth, "as multiple Pentagon crises come to a head," Politico Playbook noted this morning.
And it comes on the same week that Hegseth welcomed dozens of pro-Trump influencers and content creators to the Pentagon for photo ops and press briefings. The content creators, who all accepted the new restrictions at the core of the NYT's suit, have been billed by Hegseth's comms team as the "new Pentagon press corps," despite the group's general lack of military beat reporting experience.
>> Consider this contrast: While
The Blaze published an "exclusive" yesterday titled "Pete Hegseth to bring Christmas back to the Pentagon," exiled outlets like CNN and The Atlantic were revealing the findings of a classified Inspector General report into Signalgate.
>> The Pentagon Press Association, which represents the beat reporters who refused to go along with the new rules, said it is "encouraged" by The Times' effort to "step up and defend press freedom."
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CNN's statement reacting to the suit |
"The Pentagon has asked news organizations to surrender their journalistic principles and First Amendment rights in exchange for access. CNN will not do this," the network said in a statement this morning.
"As we have said, the newly implemented policy is without precedent and threatens core protections for independent journalism. We will continue to cover the U.S. military accurately and fairly and we stand with The New York Times and all of the other major news organizations, from CBS to the Wall Street Journal to Fox News, who have refused to sign up to this reckless new policy. We will follow the progress of The Times's legal complaint closely."
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Netflix ambitions attract anxiety |
"Investors appear to have a bit more faith in Netflix's ability to win the bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery — they're just not sure if they like the idea," Max Knoblauch wrote for Sherwood News. Analysts attributed yesterday's 5% drop in Netflix shares to investor skittishness about a huge acquisition.
Meanwhile, Republican politicians are homing in: "Learning about Netflix’s ambition to buy its real competitive threat — WBD's streaming business — should send alarm to antitrust enforcers around the world," Sen. Mike Lee said last night. "This potential transaction, if it were to materialize, would raise serious competition questions — perhaps more so than any transaction I’ve seen in about a decade."
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Paramount exudes confidence... |
Wednesday's other big development in the WBD deal dance: Bloomberg's Lucas Shaw reported that Paramount has more than doubled its proposed breakup fee, which means it's willing to pay WBD $5 billion "if a deal is agreed to but not consummated."
It's a sign, Lucas wrote, that David Ellison's team "has confidence its proposed merger would pass muster with regulators."
We've been writing about that confidence for a couple of months. But here's the "bigger issue," Business Insider's Peter Kafka wrote: "Trump may be fine with a deal that has the Ellisons, backed by petrostates, controlling a mega-media conglomerate: CBS, CNN, HBO and movie studios. Is everyone else going to sign off, too?"
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Bari Weiss to interview Erika Kirk |
CBS News isn't confirming the plans yet, but The Guardian's Jeremy Barr obtained documents showing that editor-in-chief Bari Weiss "is scheduled to moderate a network town hall event with Erika Kirk."
The pretaped event is set to air on Dec. 13, a Saturday, which is typically the lowest-rated night of the week. But it's notable that CBS is scheduling the special on TV at all. And it's notable that Weiss is moderating it herself, rather than having a CBS anchor do it. Weiss has a Free Press podcast and a history of hosting live events, so maybe it's a no-brainer for her. But many TV news veterans will tell you that it's risky for executives to act like "talent."
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Raskin writes to CBS ombudsman |
Dominick Mastrangelo's headline for The Hill: "House Democrat launches investigation into Trump, '60 Minutes' interview edit."
Rep. Jamie Raskin is that House Dem, and he's charging that Trump "increasingly appears to be exercising direct control over CBS's editorial decisions." Raskin publicized his probe yesterday by sending a letter to new CBS ombudsman Kenneth Weinstein, demanding info that Weinstein most certainly will not answer. "You have a duty to defend CBS's editorial independence," Raskin wrote...
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Comcast's board formally approved the Versant spin-off yesterday, and today the new company will hold its inaugural investor day. Mark Lazarus and members of his leadership team will present their plans this afternoon. Shares of VSNT will start trading the first week of January... |
Does scandal sell? Not for Olivia Nuzzi’s book so far |
That's the headline on Harmeet Kaur's piece for CNN. Kaur tried to find someone buying "American Canto" in Manhattan on launch day and struck out. As with Ryan Lizza's "paywalled installments of his side of the story, which circulated widely via pdf and email among journalists reluctant to invest subscription money in the scandal, there appeared to be a gap between how ready people were to read the story and how ready they were to pay to read it," she concluded.
>> Alison Herman's take for Variety: "Nuzzi's Disastrous Memoir Rollout Is a Doomed Attempt to Have It Both Ways."
>> But as Herman pointed out, Nuzzi's "Signs Your Book Rollout Has Gone Awry" list for Feed Me is a reminder of Nuzzi's writerly brilliance...
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Two student magazines suspended over DEI |
How the news finds young people |
In 2008, I penned a story for the NYT about how young people process political news online. I quoted a college student in a focus group who said, "If the news is that important, it will find me."
That sentiment has proven all too prescient. A new analysis from the Pew-Knight Initiative shows that young adults follow the news much less closely than any other age group. And while only one-fifth of young adults reported seeking out the news often or extremely often, they’re more likely to get their news incidentally: "70% of young adults say they get it because they happen to come across it." In other words, the news finds them.
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🏈 NFL's record-breaking ratings blitz |
"A whopping 57.2 million viewers watched Dallas’ 31-28 Thanksgiving Day victory over Kansas City on CBS and Paramount+," Richard Deitsch reports, shattering “the previous regular-season record set three Thanksgivings ago in 2022, when the Cowboys and Giants drew 42 million viewers on Fox." (NYT)
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>> There "has never been a more important time for news. But also, its business model, and its editorial, are under assault, and it's really, really difficult," Jeff Zucker said in a keynote chat at Content London 2025. (THR)
>> The publisher network URL Media (co-founded by CNN alum S. Mitra Kalita!) has secured a "transformative" $5 million Knight Foundation grant. (AdWeek)
>> "
Scott Mills, president and CEO of BET Media Group, is departing after 23 years with the company." He didn't specify a reason.
Louis Carr will move into the post. (Variety)
>> Helen Shaw is the NYT's new chief theater critic. (X)
>> Gill Smith is the next editor of The US Sun. (Press Gazette)
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>> Elon Musk recently spent a day "spreading and praising claims that 'White people are on the verge of extinction,' Somali immigrants have 'no right to be in America,' and nonprofits who support them are committing 'treason and should be met with force,'" as Adi Robertson wrote here. (The Verge)
>> Russia has blocked access to Roblox, "accusing it of distributing extremist materials and 'LGBT propaganda.'" (Reuters)
>> Newsweek "is developing an AI-powered homepage, modeled after Google’s AI Mode search experience, as part of a broader partnership with Google Cloud." (Digiday)
>> Sam Altman is going on "The Tonight Show" next Monday. (LateNighter)
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>> Prince Harry popped up behind Stephen Colbert last night. (YouTube)
>> Variety and CNN "have revealed the star-studded lineup for the 23rd season of Actors on Actors," which will begin rolling out this Friday. (Variety)
>> Netflix has ordered a drama series set "in the world of Las Vegas gambling" created by "Billions" co-creators Brian Koppelman and David Levien. (Deadline)
>> Season three of "Euphoria" is coming to HBO in April. (TheWrap)
>> Amazon's Prime Video removed several English-language AI dubs from anime titles after the streamer faced "massive backlash." (Gizmodo)
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