Corporate Media

AI and NYT Subscriptions?

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Article in The Wrap by A.j. Karz, 11/4/26

Headline:  “New York Times Faces AI Questions as Digital Subscriber Growth Shines”

Subhead:  “Publisher beats Wall Street expectations as CEO Meredith Kopit Levien addresses AI risks to its subscription business”

“. . .Even a strong quarter of subscriber growth couldn’t free New York Times CEO Meredith Kopit Levien from questions about the risks that artificial intelligence poses to the publisher. . .”

“The strong results come amid an undercurrent of concern over the potential impact of AI, from Google’s AI summaries reducing the need to people to actually read stories to AI agents proactively canceling subscriptions in an effort to save their users money. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.thewrap.com/industry-news/business/new-york-times-adds-420000-subscribers-as-q3-digital-revenue-rises/

“60 Minutes” Sinking Lower

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Article in The Guardian by Jeremy Barr, 10/28/26

Headline: “Embattled CBS leader Bari Weiss downplays concerns about weak 60 Minutes ratings”

Subhead: “CBS News editor-in-chief sidesteps viewership concerns and says flagship show doing ‘tremendously well’”

“. . .Weiss completely overhauled 60 Minutes in late May, ousting the show’s executive producer and parting ways with three top correspondents, including Scott Pelley. But the show has struggled to even match last season’s viewership, which averaged 9.1 million viewers per episode.

“The show’s most recent episode drew just 5.64 million viewers, ‘one of the smallest audiences for the program in years’, Variety reported. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/oct/28/bari-weiss-cbs-news-60-minutes

Will Media Owner Cut Critical Film?

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Article in The Wrap by A.J. Katz, 10/26/26

Headline:  “What Elon Musk’s Skydance Bet Really Means”

Subhead:  “In this week’s The Media Front, we unpack Musk’s $1 billion investment into the media company”

“. . .The bigger question is what Musk gets out of the investment — and what it means for a company that now controls CBS News, CNN, Warner Bros., HBO and Paramount.

“There’s already one particularly awkward example: Alex Gibney’s documentary ‘Musk,’ a critical examination of the billionaire’s business and political influence, is expected to stream on HBO in early 2027. HBO is now part of Skydance, the company Musk has reportedly invested in. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.thewrap.com/industry-news/business/elon-musk-skydance-investment-impact/

Empty Office or Reduced Media Staff?

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy 10/26/26

Headline: “Ellison’s CBS-CNN Split-Screen”

Subhead: “As Skydance looks to eventually marry CNN and CBS News, the company is taking very different approaches to return-to-office mandates and employee buyouts, Status has learned—which may offer hints about their futures.”

“. . .delivered two significant pieces of news to the workforce. First, Ellison and Kreiz championed ‘in-person collaboration,’ declaring it ‘vital to our culture and to the success of our business,’ and thus mandating that employees report to the office five days a week. Of course, such return-to-office mandates are really just thinly veiled efforts to thin the ranks, and it was then predictably followed by a second announcement: buyouts. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/david-ellison-skydance-cnn-cbs-news-buyouts-return-office

CBS Slowly Sinking?

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Article in Huffpost by Ben Blanchet, 10/26/26

Headline:  “Dan Rather Spent Much Of His Iconic Career At CBS News — Now, He Says, It’s A ‘Disaster'”

Subhead: “The 94-year-old former news anchor delivered a brutal assessment of how the network is looking under Bari Weiss.”

“. . . Rather — in an interview with Variety published on Monday — said it’s been “in many ways a disaster” since Skydance acquired CBS News as part of its merger with Paramount Global in 2025. Skydance CEO David Ellison then handpicked Bari Weiss to serve as CBS News’ editor-in-chief, ushering in a rightward shift at the network along with major shakeups at its ’60 Minutes’ news magazine. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dan-rather-cbs-news-bari-weiss-trump_n_6adf9267e4b059999c6128a6?origin=home-latest-news-unit

Musk Buys into Media Control

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Article in The Guardian by Maya Yang, 10/22/26

Headline:  “Elon Musk reportedly invests $1bn in David Ellison’s Skydance“

Subhead:  “Musk’s investment into the new media empire comes after Paramount’s $111bn merger with Warner Bros Discovery”

“. . .The investment follows Paramount’s recent $111bn merger with Warner Bros Discovery, a huge acquisition that brought the media companies together under the Skydance name. At the head of the new media empire is David Ellison, the son of billionaire Oracle co-founder and Donald Trump ally Larry Ellison. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/oct/22/elon-musk-david-ellison-skydance-investment

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Article in Daily Kos by Oliver Willis 10/22/26

Headline:  “Musk’s $1B stake in Skydance fuels bigoted quest to dominate media”

“. . .Access to Skydance puts Musk, the richest man in the world, in the position of having even more influence over the media than he already has at X. A dizzying array of major media properties are under the Skydance umbrella, including the Warner and Paramount movie studios, CBS, HBO Max, CNN, TNT Sports, and others. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/10/22/800116213/media/musks-1b-stake-in-skydance-fuels-bigoted-quest-to-dominate-media/

Billionaires Bought the Media

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Article in The Hartmann Report by Thom Hartnann, 10/20/26

Headline:  “No Kings? Then Why Are We Letting Billionaires Rule What America Can See and Hear?”

Subhead:  “Millions march against authoritarianism while a handful of powerful men control the digital public square, shape our news, and decide which voices Americans get to hear… “

“As many of us were showing up this past Saturday for our local No Kings marches, with over 3,000 of them underway, the movement’s organizers suddenly found themselves locked out of their Instagram account for hours. . .”

“Then yesterday morning Christiane Amanpour announced that after reporting for CNN for 43 years she’s leaving the network. While she didn’t mention nepo-baby David Ellison who now owns the network, she didn’t have to . . .”

“What we’re seeing here with these two companies in microcosm is that the men who own the social media digital square where a near-majority of people get their news. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://hartmannreport.com/p/no-kings-then-why-are-we-letting-4ee

CBS Shouting-Incident Apology

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 10/15/26

Headline:  “Contrition on the CBS Cruise”

Subhead: “After an explosive all-hands meeting that left CBS News’ Foreign desk in turmoil. embattled editor Shayndi Raice attempted to make some amends during an awkward boat cruise, Status has learned.”

“On Wednesday night, just one day after an explosive all-hands meeting that reverberated across CBS News and the larger media industry, staffers on the network’s foreign desk gathered at a pier along London’s Thames River for a boat cruise. The three-hour excursion had been scheduled some time ago, I’m told, intended as a team-building activity for the journalists who make up the London bureau. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/cbs-news-israel-meeting-shayndi-raice-bari-weiss-holly-williams

Selective Analysis in NYT

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Article in Daily Kos by Oliver Willis, 10/15/26

Headline:  “New York Times cleans up Vance’s bigotry”

“Earlier this week, Vice President JD Vance became one of the most prominent Republican voices to attack Texas’ Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico with bigoted homophobic and transphobic remarks.

“But in covering these smears, The New York Times downplayed Vance’s hateful rhetoric and even sought out a justification from a friendly pro-Republican source. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/10/15/800112897/media/new-york-times-cleans-up-vances-bigotry/

Media Consolidation a Problem?

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Article in The Guardian by Jeremy Barr, 10/6/26

Headline: “David Ellison denies he has ‘politicized’ Skydance despite close Trump links”

Subhead:  “Ellison admits ‘good relationship’ with administration in remarks to reporters about newly merged media company”

“David Ellison, the chief executive of the newly formed media conglomerate Skydance, denied that he has “politicized” the company despite the close connection he has forged with Donald Trump’s White House over the 20 months of his administration. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/oct/06/skydance-david-ellison-trump

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Article in The Washington Post by Scott Nover and Miriam Waldvogel, 10/6/26

Headline:  “Paramount closes $110B deal with Warner Bros. Discovery after months of wrangling”

Subhead: “The deal unites Paramount and Warner Bros. film and TV studios along with CNN and CBS, creating a new megacorporation in Hollywood, streaming and news.”

Read the article at:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/10/06/paramount-closes-110b-deal-with-warner-bros-discovery-after-months-wrangling/?itid=hp_mv-top-stories_Biz/Nat_p008_f001