NEW: A eulogy for The Post's sports department, which transformed the press box forever and created some of the best sportswriters in America www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/b...

NEWS: The cuts were so severe that at least one department head asked to leave The Post rather than be included in the planning. Peter Finn, The Post's international editor, requested that he be laid off once he learned about the scope of the cuts to his section. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/b...

A staggering statement from former Washington Post editor Marty Baron: "This ranks among the darkest days in the history of one of the world's greatest news organizations."

New: Washington Post Executive Editor Matt Murray and HR Chief Wayne Connell tell employees to stay home for a zoom webinar ahead of “significant actions across the company.” Widely expected layoffs are scheduled to begin today.

News: Former CBS digital exec Christy Tanner is the new CEO of NYPR (the parent organization of WNYC and WQXR)

Jim Butcher's "Twelve Months" is at the top of the NYT's best-seller list this week. I went down to Colorado in March to profile Jim and discovered some surprising connections between his life and the fantasy world of his ultra-popular Dresden Files www.nytimes.com/2025/05/19/b...

The Wall Street Journal opinion page allows President Trump to impugn The Journal (and flout its style guide):

Among the batch of newly released emails from Jeffrey Epstein: Epstein telling Peter Thiel he would “gladly share…expenses for the Gawker suit.” This was sent the day after @rmac.bsky.social and @mattdrange.bsky.social reported in Forbes that Thiel was behind the lawsuit that would bankrupt Gawker

More: Matt Murray is expected to be seated next to Don Graham, the former owner of the Post, according to the seating chart.

Of note: On the attendee roster of this D.C. fete, Bezos is listed as the founder of Amazon, Blue Origin and Prometheus, but not as the owner of The Washington Post

More: Will Lewis, the current CEO of The Post, is also expected to attend, as is Matt Murray, the executive editor, according to the seating chart.

some Washington Post news: Jeff Bezos is expected to attend the Alfalfa Club dinner in Washington, D.C. tonight, according to a seating chart obtained by @tylerpager.bsky.social. He is sitting at a table near Fred Ryan, the former Washington Post publisher. President Trump will also be there.

Just a quick heads-up that @mulbenmulinben.bsky.social is not me. I’ve heard the account is messaging people.

New, with @erikwemple.bsky.social and @katierobertson.bsky.social: The Washington Post is planning cuts that are set to reshape one of America's foremost news organizations

The CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Pat Harrison, just delivered her last words to the board. "Together, we will prove that a nation of neighbors will survive."

During Bari Weiss's employee town hall at CBS News today, Gayle King gave a passionate speech, rallying the troops and criticizing leakers: "I'll be curious to see how long it takes for this to get out. 'Cause it'll be somebody in this room." w/ Mike Grynbaum

some (rare) good news for the journalism industry: The Philadelphia Inquirer is profitable www.inquirer.com/opinion/comm...

new w/ @erikwemple.bsky.social: The Washington Post has reversed course on its Olympics coverage — again www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/b...

NEW: When Congress killed The Corporation for Public Broadcasting in July, experts predicted scores of stations could go dark. Six months later, vanishingly few have shut down. Inside the public media apocalypse that wasn't (yet.) www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/b...

NEWS: Bari Weiss will hold an all-hands meeting to discuss the future of CBS News tomorrow, per note that just went out to employees.

More: @erikwemple and I have been told that employees on The Washington Post foreign staff have been told explicitly that their jobs are at risk. There was also a directive barring reporters from going to high-risk zones as of Feb. 1, which some have taken as a precursor to cuts.

news w/ @erikwemple.bsky.social: The Washington Post's foreign correspondents, including those in Ukraine, are pleading with Jeff Bezos not to slash the paper's coverage of the world. "We urge you to consider how the proposed layoffs will certainly lead us first to irrelevance and later extinction."

Noteworthy: Warner Bros. says CNN will generate roughly $600 million in profit this year, down from $1 billion a decade ago www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/bus...

Breaking: Netflix goes all-cash in bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery. w/ @laurenhirsch.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/01/20/b...

scoop: A top editor at Axel Springer was ousted after a workplace investigation into his conduct at an alcohol-filled Christmas party www.nytimes.com/2026/01/18/b...

In recent months, there have been questions about whether the Corporation of Public Broadcasting would go into "hibernation" -- biding its time in case new funding eventually became available. That won't happen. The board of the CPB has voted to dissolve the organization.

Happy new year! If there's something going on at your media company you think the public needs to know about, drop me a line on Signal: benmullin.13

scoop: During a heated conference call this spring, the head of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting told Katherine Maher, the C.E.O. of NPR, that she should resign. My profile of Katherine Maher, which goes behind-the-scenes of the most consequential fight in NPR’s history.

NEW: Bari Weiss addresses her decision to hold last night's CECOT story on the CBS News morning editorial call: "Our viewers come first, not a listing schedule or anything else..."

scoop: Shelly Banjo to be named deputy editor in chief at @semafor.com, reporting to @semaforben.bsky.social

Barry Diller's advice to Paramount and Netflix? "Be prepared for a long siege." David Ellison's war with Netflix is a re-run of Diller's quest for Paramount three decades ago. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/b...

news: USA Today Editor in Chief Caren Bohan is exiting the company, per sources familiar. She will be replaced in the interim by Michael McCarter.

The Washington Post's RIPPLE™️ is here!! www.washingtonpost.com/ripple/

Interesting: Journalists at Politico and E&E News say they won an arbitration case over the use of A.I. tools in their newsrooms. "This case marks one of the nation’s first major labor-arbitration rulings addressing the impact of AI on journalists’ work." wbng.org/2025/12/01/p...

scoop w/ @laurenhirsch.bsky.social and @nsperling.bsky.social: Warner Bros. boss David Zaslav held a dinner party at Woodland, his French Regency-style home on Wednesday, where he talked up a bid from Netflix. The latest on the race for Hollywood's big prize: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/b...

tidbit: Hannah Poferl, The Times' head of audience, is leaving for a new opportunity, per email from Joe Kahn and Meredith Kopit Levien. She reported jointly to Meredith and Joe and will be replaced in the interim by executives who report separately to both.

News: The Bulwark has hired Renita Jablonski, The Washington Post’s head of audio. Quote from Jablonski:

the debate over A.I.'s use in newsrooms is also taking place at @npr.org, where last week a producer raised questions about a proposal to use A.I. to create digital versions of some radio stories: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/b...

scoop: this year, an engineer at The Washington Post quit, citing unethical use of A.I. in an un-launched product. The Post ended up rolling out a different A.I. aggregator that it now uses. All that, and lots more, in this story with @katierobertson.bsky.social: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/b...

Axios co-founder Jim VandeHei announces cuts affecting 19 individuals on the product, tech and design teams, per note. “This is a difficult, but necessary, move to meet our evolving tech strategy.”

news: Laurie Orlando, SVP of strategy and talent, is leaving CBS News, per memo

Puck's acquisition of Air Mail means that some of the powerful people it covers now hold stakes in the company. Below are disclosures from Dylan Byers and Jon Kelly about RedBird, which has a stake in Paramount, and David Zaslav, who runs Warner Bros. Discovery.

Quick question: Does anyone know if there have been any great books written about efforts to create The State of Jefferson™️

scoop w/Jessica Testa: Puck paid $16 million (mostly in stock) for Graydon Carter's Air Mail. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/30/b...

News: Long-expected layoffs are beginning to hit Paramount today. Overall, roughly 2,000 employees are expected to be cut, or about 10% of the combined company. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/b...

new: Bari Weiss, the new editor in chief of CBS News, surprised senior staff at “60 Minutes” last week when she asked a provocative question — Why does the country think you’re biased? Inside Bari’s first two weeks, with Michael Grynbaum: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/19/b...

new: The Washington Post is rolling out a beta version of Ripple, its A.I.-enabled opinion product. "The intention is to provide a range of recent perspectives from other publishers across America."

It's taken me a couple of days to process the death of Rick Edmonds, who I was lucky enough to work with at Poynter. Rick was a tremendous human and a superb colleague. Kristen Hare gets at what made him so special in this obituary.

It's official: Paramount is buying The Free Press for $150 million and making Bari Weiss the editor in chief of CBS News www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/b...

scoop: Adam O’Neal, the new Opinion Editor at The Washington Post, is laying off staffers as part of a plan to shake up the section. A source says six employees are affected. I’ve also been told some contractors are being terminated. Here’s one email provided by a source: