Sports
Gregg Berhalter Is Back. Can He End the Drama and Take the US Men's Soccer Team Forward?
In an exclusive interview with Vanity Fair, the returning US Soccer coach opens up about his difficult break from the team, patching things up with young star Gio Reyna, and, as the World Cup comes to the States in 2026, advancing to a round “that no US team has ever gone to.”
Media
MSNBC Is Having Its Super Bowl With Donald Trump’s Indictments
The network’s mix of weighty reflection, analysis, and schadenfreude is drawing in major ratings, surpassing Fox News and CNN as the go-to network for coverage of Trump’s criminal charges.
Media Moves
More Executive Churn at the Daily Mail as Lord Rothermere Eyes a Telegraph Bid
Global chief brand officer Sean Walsh is exiting the UK tabloid juggernaut, the latest in a game of high-level musical chairs.
excerpt
How Musk, Thiel, Zuckerberg, and Andreessen—Four Billionaire Techno-Oligarchs—Are Creating an Alternate, Autocratic Reality
In an excerpt from his new book, The End of Reality, the author warns about the curses of AI and transhumanism, presenting the moral case against superintelligence.
Media
The New York Times Has Had a Summer of AI Anxiety: “They’re Freaking Out”
Management sent a notice to staff to not put any proprietary information into AI tools as the newsroom dedicates about 60 employees to AI working groups.
Media
CNN Majorly Shakes Up Its Lineup With First Overhaul Since Chris Licht's Departure
The network has announced new primetime shows for Abby Phillip and Laura Coates ahead of the 2024 election, in the biggest move from the interim leadership team yet.
THE PLAYER
Dave Portnoy Bought Barstool Back. Can Erika Ayers Badan Keep His Pirate Ship on Course?
As Penn pivots from Portnoy’s brand of bro-ish excess to family-friendly ESPN, Barstool is free to be itself.
Media
Sam Bankman-Fried Might Soon Be Officially Barred From Talking to the Press
The FTX founder’s gag order, which will be hashed out in court on Friday, has ignited First Amendment concerns from The New York Times and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. “Parties to criminal prosecutions,” RCFP’s legal director argues, “have valid, interesting, and newsworthy things to say.”
Media
Hollywood Media Is Abuzz With a Star Columnist’s Request for Priority Access
As the entertainment media industry gets turned upside down amid the dual writers and actors strikes, a Hollywood Reporter writer’s request for seemingly preferential treatment becomes the email heard around Hollywood.
Book Publishing
Simon & Schuster’s Private-Equity Marriage Looks Good on Paper, but Will the Honeymoon Last?
CEO Jonathan Karp is touting the “commitment to growth” promised by storied investment firm KKR, which has inked a $1.6 billion deal to buy S&S from Paramount Global. But cost cutting fears are always just a bean count away: “How much leaner can they get? We’re about to find out.”
Sports Media
Like It or Not, the Aaron Rodgers Era Gets the Hard Knocks Treatment
The Jets are reluctantly starring this week in the latest installment of the NFL Films-HBO franchise, which will put the team’s preseason hopes under the microscope. “We don’t try to spin things to make people look worse,” says one producer, or “make people look better.”
Media
Variety’s “Battle Over CNN” Feature Has Set Off a Full-on Media Brawl
The magazine’s scathing feature on former network chief Jeff Zucker has unleashed an outcry over its veracity, with some top media brass even calling for a retraction. “It is stunning to read a piece that is so patently and aggressively false,” said Zucker’s spokesperson.
Labor in Limbo
Hollywood Strikes Magnify Media Tumult: “It Is Existential That We Get This Resolved”
As earnings season gets underway, the complete shutdown of scripted entertainment is amplifying the industry’s woes. “If this goes past summer,” says one heavy hitter, “it’s gonna start having a real impact.”
Sports
Lionel Messi’s Moment: Major League Soccer, Apple, and Adidas Are All Banking On a Legend’s Left Foot
Landing the GOAT has already put MLS on the map like never before. The big question, says commissioner Don Garber, is whether “a football-loving world” can “fall in love with Major League Soccer.”
Media
After the Podcast Gold Rush, Is Audio Too Corporate to Be Cool?
I lived through the boom-bust cycle (celebrity deals, canceled shows), and the term podcasting is feeling dated—“almost pejorative,” as Sam Sanders puts it. Still, Ira Glass thinks the industry should keep its eye on the craft and “leave the cool out of it.”
Media
Times Staff Union Files Legal Grievance Over Sports Shuttering, As Questions Abound
The abrupt decision—and unanswered questions—continues to disrupt the newsroom. Publisher AG Sulzberger has agreed to meet directly with the sports section in the coming weeks.
Hot Seat
Kathryn Murdoch Wants to Flip the Dystopian Script With New “Protopian” Production Studio
In a wide-ranging sit-down, the Quadrivium president talks about the “better futures” movement, her planned PBS docuseries, the Fox-Dominion settlement, and why she and husband James Murdoch only made it through half an episode of Succession: “It just felt weird.”
Media
Google's New AI Tool May Put Newsrooms In a Bind
Several top news executives were reportedly disturbed by a demonstration of the company's new AI article-writing tool. But will they ultimately be able to resist the technology as outlets like G/O and the AP are already using it?
Media
“There Hasn’t Been Empathy”: NYT Staff Frustration Spills Over After Sports Desk Closure
A routine all-company meeting turned tense as New York Times employees pressed management on its decision to disband the sports section and subcontract work to nonunionized staff at The Athletic.
Hot Seat
Zanny Minton Beddoes Wants The Economist to Be More “Present” in the Media Conversation
In a wide-ranging sit-down, the editor of the perennially emulated newsweekly talks about a globally critical election season, “shifting The Economist into the 21st century,” and where to draw the line for de-platforming. On her old acquaintance Tucker Carlson: “Could one debate with him? My general view is you should try.”
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Booth Babes, Bull Rides, and Volcano Bonds: A Walk Through Miami’s Bizarre Bitcoin Symposium
Thousands of crypto boosters, from Tucker Carlson to Peter Thiel to Francis Suarez, flocked together to celebrate their vision of financial utopia. But the scene itself, as Ben McKenzie and Jacob Silverman chronicle in an excerpt from their new book, Easy Money, had all the hallmarks of a relatively dim dystopia.