Full story about what's going on at CBS News: www.cnn.com/2025/12/21/m...

Overwhelming amount of media world chatter and concern about "60 Minutes" tonight. Why would CBS News promote the story about the Trump admin's deportations to CECOT on Friday, only to shelve it today? Correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi says it is "not an editorial decision, it is a political one."

"The speculation often is stoked by ideological accounts that seize on 'clues' reinforcing their worldviews. Corrections are exceedingly rare — and seldom travel as far as the original claims."

Wrote about the Epstein Files. The redactions,the political point scoring, an administration that has long lost the benefit of the doubt, and why this very real conspiracy (with victims who deserve real accountability and transparency) won’t go away

I wrote about Benny Johnson, a documented plagiarist who’s become something like MAGA’s content creator in chief: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

CNN: "Trump talks about neuroses, selecting chairs and his wife’s underwear drawer in latest affordability speech"

This year, President Trump "has tested the limits of the First Amendment time and again." And this excellent new CNN feature gathers all those incidents in one place, making it easier to see the scope of his crackdown and suss out connections between them www.cnn.com/politics/fre...

Today's Reliable Sources lead ➡️ Tracking a year of free speech threats — and the limits of Trump's revenge campaign cnn.it/49if8Tc

"Although the transaction is not yet complete, the move brings TikTok one step closer to securing its long-term future in the United States." www.cnn.com/2025/12/18/t...

Kevin Hassett confirmed my reporting on Morning Joe today while complaining that most TV networks didn't show his slides. "I was expecting when I was flipping around to just see the slides everywhere. Gosh, we spent so much time, more time on them."

Trump’s communications team shared a set of slides with the major TV networks ahead of time and encouraged the networks to show them on screen Via @brianstelter.bsky.social www.cnn.com/politics/liv...

Today's Reliable Sources lead: One of the best ways to understand this year in media is to unpack the competition between YouTube and Netflix. cnn.it/45ejrMQ

Scooplet: The White House wanted tonight's prime time address to double as a PowerPoint presentation. Trump's comms team shared a set of slides with the major TV networks shortly before the speech. But only one, Fox News, opted to show them on screen. Here's the backstory...

First on CNN: @warren.senate.gov & @blumenthal.senate.gov are pressing Attorney General Pam Bondi to recuse herself from the antitrust review of the Warner Bros. Discovery deal. They say "the corruption concerns related to this deal extend to your office." Here's why

You can’t spend months radicalizing your fanbase and then expect them to process things logically.

This just in: The Oscars telecast will move from broadcasting to streaming in 2029, switching from ABC to YouTube — a watershed moment for the entertainment business. www.cnn.com/2025/12/17/m...

Here's an earlyish edition of Reliable Sources, looking ahead to the FCC chairman's expected grilling on Capitol Hill today: cnn.it/4p3k9Uz

Breaking: Warner Bros. Discovery is officially rejecting Paramount’s buyout offer, calling it “illusory” and arguing that the existing plan to sell most of the media company to Netflix is a better deal for shareholders. Here's my full story: www.cnn.com/2025/12/17/m...

I asked a bunch of media lawyers and law professors to read Trump's lawsuit against the BBC. Every expert said they're skeptical about Trump's chances. Here's more of what they said >>> www.cnn.com/2025/12/16/m...

Or Michael Kinsley.

"President Trump defended White House chief of staff Susie Wiles in an exclusive interview with The Post Tuesday — saying she was right to tell Vanity Fair he has an 'alcoholic’s personality' and that he has full faith in Wiles to continue in her role." nypost.com/2025/12/16/u...

Joe Biden once said, "In Washington, D.C., a gaffe is when you tell the truth." Tell that to Susie Wiles, who said lots of true things to Chris Whipple, and is now under severe scrutiny for doing so. Clip from today's Inside Politics >>

I disagree that Trump has "managed to make it seem normal." While yes, Trump is making it a regular habit, it is the media (legacy in particular) that is normalizing it. Trump is always going to do whatever he wants to do; it's up to the media framing to show how abnormal these suits are.

🙋‍♂️ I wrote for Vanity Fair for a couple years. The fact-checking process is INTENSE. Editors and fact-checkers probe your sourcing, your framing, your quotes. Thus Susie Wiles knew this story was coming and knew the quotes were legit. She can object to "context" but not quotes.

The VF profile notes Wiles was incorrect about violent Jan. 6 defendants receiving greater-than-recommended sentences, but it doesn’t capture how wildly off base she was. I don’t think there was a single above-guidelines sentence given in a J6 felony case. www.vanityfair.com/news/story/t...

“So all of this talk,” I said, “about accusing Letitia James of mortgage fraud….” “Well, that might be the one retribution,” Wiles replied. www.vanityfair.com/news/story/t...

Up until this year, it was unheard of for a sitting American president to sue a news outlet. In just a few months, President Trump has managed to make it seem normal. But legal experts are VERY skeptical of his new suit against the BBC.

➡️ Tuesday's Reliable Sources, with the latest on Vanity Fair's surprising interview with Susie Wiles, Howard Stern's new deal with SiriusXM, the BBC's charter review, and much more... cnn.it/48G68Hh

After months of speculation about his future on the radio, Howard Stern has signed a new contract with SiriusXM. "We are coming back for three years," he said on his show this morning

"At a moment when income inequality, the looming threat of A.I. and the rise of authoritarianism seem to be straining American societal cohesion, a revolt against self-dealing elites may be the only cause compelling enough to bring us together." www.nytimes.com/2025/12/14/o...

Horrifying case study of Trump admin manipulating a gold standard local news outlet. “‘Chilling effect’ does not begin to describe the neutering of our political coverage." Unacceptable anywhere, but KCBS hits close to home. A soundtrack of my Bay Area childhood. My dad was a reporter there. 💔

In 2025, @pressfreedomtracker.us documented at least 32 instances in which journalists were detained or charged — just for doing their jobs. Nearly 90% of them occurred while journalists were covering demonstrations. Read our annual arrest report:

CNN anchors keep having to interrupt coverage from one crime scene to report breaking news from another crime scene. Today's Reliable Sources digest: cnn.it/451v0qF

Hollywood has to wake up tomorrow and just go back to work like nothing fucking happened. I don't know that there's a person in the industry who hasn't been influenced by Reiner's work. Tomorrow is an industry day of mourning, pure and simple. It's all any of us are going to be talking about.

The cultural impact of Rob Reiner cannot be understated. Legend isn't big enough a word. It goes to 11. You can't handle the truth. As you wish. I'll have what she's having. I'm your number one fan. You guys wanna see a dead body? The very idea of a bucket list. The West Wing. All from his movies.

Famed director Rob Reiner and his wife, photographer Michele Reiner, have died, a family statement says, as police conduct homicide investigation. https://cnn.it/4ahUELk

Actor, writer, director, political activist, role model – Rob Reiner played almost every part in Hollywood. Our live coverage of his death continues overnight on CNN

Today's Reliable Sources lead: For President Trump, the tug-of-war over Warner Bros. Discovery is a chance to yank the rope and knock CNN off balance.   Right now, he is certainly trying to do so — but it's far from certain whether he can succeed. cnn.it/44SfNIq

A media mogel with important merger business before the FCC says he has "great conversations" about it with Trump, while Trump for his part speaks openly about the kind of ownership he wants to see at CNN, a news network he detests. And it's just another day in our Orbanization. Via @status.news

This is the most-read story on the AP's sprawling website this morning: "New York Times, after Trump post, says it won't be deterred from writing about his health." A sign that the public is paying close attention to Trump's attacks against the media? apnews.com/article/trum...

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Today's comments from Trump – saying "it's imperative that CNN be sold" – will intensify the questions about what Larry and David Ellison have said to him about their intentions for CNN

President Trump inserted himself directly into the battle for control of Warner Bros. Discovery today, saying “it’s imperative that CNN be sold” while deriding the network. Trump's comments suggest that he favors Paramount's hostile bid. And we're covering it in detail *at* CNN >>>

NYT STATEMENT: “.. Mr. Trump welcomed our reporting on the age and fitness of his predecessors; we're applying the same journalistic scrutiny to his vitality." @brianstelter.bsky.social $NYT www.cnn.com/2025/12/10/m...

The New York Times' careful, clinical story about President Trump showing "signs of fatigue" and facing "realities of aging in office" came out two weeks ago. But the story definitely got under the president's skin. And it still seems to be on his mind >>>

Delighted this piece is now live on @theverge.com: I've spent months investigating how a supposed war against the "censorship-industrial complex" has been used by the US right to wage war against misinformation research – and free speech itself – across the world. Please do give it a read.

Here's the latest on David Ellison, Ted Sarandos, Dasha Burns, Tony Dokoupil, Stephen Colbert, USA Today, "South Park," Christopher Nolan, and much more... cnn.it/4rQbbfS

"there's a new serif in town"