Good morning from CNN's nerve center in Atlanta! I wish everyone could take a tour of this campus and appreciate the vast scale of the news operation. Now, here's the latest on Paramount, Rachel Maddow, NPR, the NYT, Elon Musk, Sports Illustrated, and many more... |
Keeping the viewer-in-chief happy? |
Does Fox News avoid booking certain Republican Party critics of President Trump to protect its own relationship with the viewer-in-chief?
That's what Rep. Thomas Massie claims.
Massie — who has become an undeniably newsworthy figure by challenging Trump on multiple fronts — says Fox News has not invited him "on a single show" for the "last 18 months."
And that's been a big deal in the run-up to today's GOP primary in Kentucky since, as Massie put it, Fox has "a monopoly on the screens in a lot of Republican houses."
When CNN's Jeff Zeleny interviewed voters in Massie's district recently, several said they'd noticed that they never see Massie on Fox — and wondered why.
Massie is "a rare contrarian in a compliant era for Republicans," Zeleny wrote in this CNN.com piece about Massie's primary opponent Ed Gallrein.
The race has become "the latest stop" on Trump's revenge tour, and as such, it's getting plenty of national news media attention.
But Massie says Fox has "blacklisted" him. "And why are they doing that? Because they're afraid that if they give me venue to speak, that the White House will shut them out," he said in a recent interview with Cincinnati Public Radio.
"And they want access more than anything," Massie continued. "They need access in this Trump presidency, whether it's cabinet secretaries to come on their shows... or to get a special scoop on something."
The result, Massie said in the radio interview, is that "I have to pay to be on Fox now, with my ads."
|
Massie will be on Fox today |
A Fox rep told me he was on the network with Will Cain 14 months ago, so his "last 18 months" claim was not quite right.
But 14 months is a long time, given how much Massie has been in the news for defying Trump over the Epstein files, federal spending and the Iran war. So I'd say his broader argument still seems credible.
Plus, it's well known that MAGA antagonists like Marjorie Taylor Greene have also been persona non grata at Fox.
Notably, though, Massie is booked on "America's Newsroom" during the 10 a.m. ET hour today. (One has to wonder if that election day booking is meant to blunt his complaints about Fox.)
Gallrein, meantime, was on Laura Ingraham's show last night, delivering his Massie-bashing closing argument to Kentucky voters...
|
Massie's other megaphones |
Fox aside, Gallrein has been almost "invisible in the district and in the media," Ben Jacobs writes in this new Slate piece from Northern Kentucky.
Massie, on the other hand, "has never been press shy. In the home stretch, he’s been featured in a profile in the left-wing Mother Jones and been trailed by a posse of right-wing influencers, who have descended from across the country to attend Massie's events and boost his campaign online. It is a combination that certainly appeals to those Republican primary voters with an independent streak."
Polls start to close in Kentucky at 6 p.m. ET...
|
Lots of live coverage tonight |
And Kentucky isn't the only state voting today. It's Election Day in six states, "setting up another major test of President Trump's political influence and power," as Kate Bolduan said on "CNN News Central" just now. All the cable newsers will have special coverage tonight... |
Paramount says Bari Weiss has David Ellison's 'full support' |
Paramount supported embattled CBS News editor in chief Bari Weiss on the record last night after Puck's Dylan Byers reported that Paramount's leaders "have had informal discussions about changing Bari's mandate at CBS News — and, eventually, CNN — in ways that would give her less control over the linear product."
Byers wrote that Weiss "would likely cede day-to-day control over Evening News, CBS Mornings, and 60 Minutes... shifting her focus to the news division's digital growth while maintaining broad editorial influence across all the company’s platforms."
Paramount said in response that "Bari has the full support of Paramount and David Ellison as the editorial leader overseeing CBS News and 60 Minutes. Reports suggesting otherwise are inaccurate."
|
'Press crackdowns in Gulf spike following Iran war' |
And the crackdowns "risk becoming permanent," the
Committee to Protect Journalists says in this new report. CPJ has documented "a crackdown on the press across the Gulf, and tracked unpublicized cases of arrests, intimidation, legal and financial actions against journalists and their media outlets."
"Many of these incidents have not been disclosed publicly, as journalists and media outlets fear further retaliation from authorities," CPJ says, warning "that this points to a widening crackdown that is reshaping how, and whether, the Iran war is reported." Read on...
|
NYT files another lawsuit against the Defense Department |
The New York Times is suing the Defense Department a second time.
In Monday's new suit, the paper accused the department "of violating the First Amendment by requiring journalists to have an official escort at all times when visiting the Pentagon," Erik Wemple reports.
"The new lawsuit says the Pentagon escort policy is unconstitutional because it imposes unreasonable burdens on reporters," Wemple writes. The Pentagon didn't respond to his request for comment...
|
>> In the latest signs of the NYT's growing video ambitions, Brooke Minters has been named the director of the new Shows department, with Lisa Tobin as director of development. (NYT)
>> "After writing bestsellers about the military, the oil and gas industry and the state of democracy, Rachel Maddow is now working on a history of the Justice Department." Her book will come out on November 10. (AP)
>> MS NOW announced another live event with Maddow and other hosts, this time in Philly and pegged to America's 250th anniversary, taking place June 25. (Inquirer)
|
NPR's latest restructuring |
NPR is "restructuring its newsroom, including cutting some reporting and editing jobs, as it attempts to keep pace with changing audience habits while adjusting to an era without federal subsidies," the outlet's media guru David Folkenflik reports. About 300 employees are being offered buyouts.
>> The financial reality post-federal defunding: NPR CEO Katherine Maher "said the network expects to earn $15 million less in station fees this year and is anticipating a drop in corporate sponsorship revenue."
|
Today's new nonfiction releases |
>> The Oklahoman deleted an op-ed that compared the Oklahoma City Thunder to the state of Israel, Sean Keeley writes. (Awful Announcing)
>> Sports Illustrated deleted writer Parker Loverich "and his entire archive of articles" from its website "following allegations of AI plagiarism," Maggie Harrison Dupré reports. (Futurism)
>> "The NYT's standards editor Susan Wessling sent out a memo" yesterday reminding staffers that they "cannot bet on prediction markets on subjects they cover" or are likely to cover, Bobby Allyn reports. (X)
>> The union representing Reuters editorial staff is alleging that "Reuters retaliated against a journalist for raising concerns about the company's ties to ICE," Angela Fu writes. (Poynter)
>> Amazon has "cut affiliate commissions up to 50% for some publishers, leaving them reeling," Mark Stenberg reports. (Adweek)
|
|
|
OpenAI clears an Elon Musk hurdle |
Hadas Gold writes: It took a jury less than two hours to tell Elon Musk he had lost his massive case against OpenAI. Musk claimed the ChatGPT maker’s execs Sam Altman and Greg Brockman "stole a charity" by abandoning a nonprofit mission and turning the company for-profit — a claim that, had he won, could have scrambled the entire AI industry. But instead, it came down to procedural grounds: The jury said Musk waited too long to bring the case and that the statute of limitations had passed. Musk seized on that technicality, writing in an X post that the verdict wasn't on the merits of the case and he will appeal.
Altman has thus far stayed quiet, though OpenAI’s attorney, William Savitt, celebrated the victory, saying it revealed Musk's suit to be "a hypocritical attempt to sabotage a competitor." Even with an appeal looming, the verdict clears a major obstacle for OpenAI as it pumps out new models and features, and eyes a massive potential IPO. If that happens, a new class of tech millionaires and billionaires could be minted.
|
Elsewhere in Muskworld: "X wants to carve out a bigger slice of the creator economy, and it is launching a new product that it thinks can entice creators to do more on the platform (and earn more revenue doing it), while also persuading big brands to spend more on ads, all powered by AI, of course," THR's Alex Weprin reports.
>> Meanwhile, X "has introduced some more incentive to get users to pay for 'verification' on its platform," Engadget's Jackson Chen writes...
|
More of today's tech talk |
>> Eeek: "Amazon is positioning Alexa+'s extended answers on any number of different topics as 'podcasts,' completely compiled using AI," Todd Spangler reports. (Variety)
>> Apple "is preparing a wave of artificial intelligence features for its next iPhone and iPad operating systems, including a grammar checker and new shortcut options," Mark Gurman reports. (Bloomberg)
>> Spotify acknowledged backlash over its app's new logo "and said the old 2D logo will return to users' phones next week." (Variety)
|
'Married at First Sight UK' rape allegations |
"Two women have told the BBC they were raped during the filming of one of Channel 4's biggest shows, Married at First Sight UK, while a third has described an allegation of a non-consensual sex act," the BBC's Noor Nanji reported for a Panorama doc. "Channel 4 was aware of some allegations before broadcast, and all the episodes featuring the women had been available on its streaming service," Nanji added. On Monday afternoon, "Channel 4 said it had removed all episodes from streaming and linear services." Read on...
|
Last night on late night... |
"Why aren't you guys in a gulag somewhere, shackled down in a basement?"
"We hide behind cartoons."
That's what "South Park" co-creator Trey Parker said to Jimmy Kimmel during a rare TV appearance by Parker and Matt Stone last night. Variety's Marlow Stern summed up the segment here.
Meantime, "The Late Show" featured a "worst of" episode last night; LateNighter's Matt Webb Mitovich has a recap here...
|
There's more to enjoy with CNN All Access |
Unlock deeper analysis and exclusive videos on the stories you care about. Subscribe here. |
|
|
|
® © 2026 Cable News Network. A Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All Rights Reserved.
1050 Techwood Drive NW, Atlanta, GA 30318 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
