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** OPINION
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** A blockbuster sale shakes up media, a high-profile journalist is out, and Trump lashes out again
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Gee whiz, a whole lot happened in the media world since my last newsletter, which was only Friday morning. The three biggies: Warner Bros. Discovery was sold; Vanity Fair cut ties with its controversial new hire, the high-profile journalist Olivia Nuzzi; and President Donald Trump continued insulting media members he doesn’t like.

Let’s start with the Warner Bros. Discovery news.


** An upset winner of WBD
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(AP Photo/Richard Drew)

In a surprising development, it’s Netflix that swooped in to buy Warner Bros. Discovery in a deal worth $82.7 billion. Netflix hopes to acquire Warner Bros., including its film and TV studios, its gaming business, HBO Max and HBO.

What’s not included? CNN.

The New York Times’ John Koblin wrote ([link removed]) , “The 24-hour news channel is conspicuously absent from the media entities that Netflix said on Friday it planned to acquire in its proposed takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery. Instead, CNN, along with old-line cable networks like TNT, Discovery, HGTV and the Food Network, will be spun off into a separate publicly traded company that, by next year, will be called Discovery Global. Gunnar Wiedenfels, the chief financial officer of Warner Bros. Discovery, will lead the new company.”

In an internal memo obtained by the Times, CNN boss Mark Thompson told employees, “I’ve been asked by many of you what today’s news means for us. And the answer is that it will enable us to continue to roll out our strategy to secure a great future for CNN by successfully navigating our digital transition.”

For the moment, it appears CNN staffers might sleep a bit easier knowing that David Ellison, the owner of Paramount, will not be buying the network. Ellison was considered the favorite to buy Warner Bros. Discovery in a deal that would’ve included CNN. Could Ellison and Paramount still be interested in a deal to acquire just the cable networks, including CNN? It’s possible. But it’s believed Ellison wanted the whole package.

As Koblin noted, “Some CNN employees were concerned that an acquisition by Paramount could lead to ideological changes at the news channel. Paramount controls CBS News, where Mr. Ellison has installed Bari Weiss, a provocative opinion journalist, as the division’s editor in chief. A combination of CBS’s broadcast news division with CNN’s 24-hour cable channel seemed like a logical outcome of a deal in which Paramount prevailed.”

So what about what is in the deal?

The Associated Press’ Wyatte Grantham-Philips and Matt Ott reported ([link removed]) , “If approved by regulators, the merger would put two of the world’s biggest streaming services under the same ownership — and join Warner’s television and motion picture division, including DC Studios, with Netflix’s vast library and its production arm, which has released popular titles such as ‘Stranger Things’ and ‘Squid Game.’ The proposal could draw intense antitrust scrutiny, particularly for its effects on movie making and streaming subscriptions.”

The complicated regulatory issues, as well as all the various pieces of this sale, mean it could take 12 to 18 months to complete, maybe even longer. And we shall see if the Trump administration puts its thumbs on the scales, as Trump suggested Sunday night on the red carpet of the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony. He told reporters, "(Netflix would) have a very big market share. That’s going to be for some economists to tell, and I’ll be involved in that decision.”

Semafor’s Ben Smith wrote ([link removed]) , “With or without a push from Trump, the Department of Justice or Federal Trade Commission could sue on traditional anti-monopoly grounds — claiming that streaming services constitute a market, and that the merged company would have too much power over consumers. The Ellisons must also reverse course and ensure that Trump doesn’t attack Netflix on Truth Social. A statement that could have blocked the deal could now weigh against the government in court.”

Oh, Smith also wrote, “Everyone hates the Netflix deal — creatives facing a monopsony; arbitrageurs worried it won’t close; Democrats wary of consolidation; and rightists who view Netflix as the last FAANG company whose executives haven’t publicly kneeled, and paid, for MAGA peace.”

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** What happened with Paramount?
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Netflix’s out-of-nowhere acquisition is being called a David-and-Goliath story, a major upset. It appeared that Paramount was a lock to get WBD.

As The Los Angeles Times’ Meg James and Stacy Perman noted ([link removed]) , “By most outward appearances, Warner Bros. Discovery was theirs for the taking. Wall Street analysts, Hollywood insiders and even some of the other bidders expected Paramount to prevail. After all, it was backed by one of the world’s richest men. And it even had the blessing of President Trump, who openly expressed his preference for the Paramount bid.”

Lloyd Greif, president and chief executive of Greif & Co., a Los Angeles-based investment bank, told the Los Angeles Times, “This is a bad day for Paramount and for the Ellisons. They were overconfident because they underestimated the competition.”

James and Perman wrote that sources told them that Paramount’s first mistake was making low-ball offers for WBD, and that offended WBD executives. In the end, however, it appears Paramount underestimated Netflix.

Check out James and Perman’s story for more behind the scenes.

Oh, it should be noted that there is talk that Ellison and Paramount are not going to go quietly and might put up a fight over how the sale went down.


** Vanity Fair cuts ties with Nuzzi
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Vanity Fair and journalist Olivia Nuzzi are parting ways. This comes as no surprise. Vanity Fair, which had hired Nuzzi as West Coast editor in September, really had no choice. In fact, it was somewhat of a surprise that it hired Nuzzi in the first place.

Nuzzi has been involved in a messy journalism scandal — the most serious of which was her inappropriate relationship with someone she had covered while at New York magazine. That someone was none other than Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

New York magazine cut ties with Nuzzi a little more than a year ago because of that personal relationship — which Nuzzi claimed was never physical. That didn’t stop Vanity Fair from bringing her on in a rather high-profile position.

However, the controversy ramped up in recent weeks as Nuzzi’s ex-fiance, journalist Ryan Lizza, posted a series of Substack pieces that accused Nuzzi of having an affair with another politician she wrote about — former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford. Nuzzi denied those allegations. In addition, Lizza accused Nuzzi of being a political operative for RFK Jr, including sharing research for him about his political opponents and attempting to squash negative stories about him.

Nuzzi just released a memoir, “American Canto,” which includes her account of her relationship with RFK. The book has been met with mostly negative reviews. Nuzzi has slammed Lizza’s Substack posts, calling them “fiction-slash-revenge porn.”

In a joint statement last Friday, Nuzzi and Vanity Fair wrote, “Vanity Fair and Olivia Nuzzi have mutually agreed, in the best interest of the magazine, to let her contract expire at the end of the year.”

In a separate statement to several media outlets, Nuzzi wrote, “I love Vanity Fair and this decision was made out of respect for the staff and faith in the future of the publication.”

In an email to Vanity Fair staff obtained by The Washington Post’s Scott Nover ([link removed]) , Vanity Fair’s global editorial director Mark Guiducci said, “I’m writing to share that Olivia and I have agreed that it is in the magazine’s best interest for her not to continue as West Coast Editor after her contract expires at the end of the year. There’s so much good journalism underway here and we have so much momentum — oh, and a big party to plan — and I don’t want anything to distract us from all of that.”


** Here he goes again
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President Donald Trump speaks with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins at an event in February of this year. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Seems we can’t go more than a day or two without President Donald Trump attacking a journalist with a barrage of insults. His latest meltdown was on CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.

In a Truth Social post ([link removed]) that misspelled Collins’ name, as well as showed off Trump’s poor grammar, Trump wrote, in part, “Caitlin Collin’s of Fake News CNN, always Stupid and Nasty, asked me why the new Ballroom was costing more money than originally thought one year ago. I said because it is going to be double the size, and the quality of finishes and interiors has been brought to the highest level.”

He went on to write, “FAKE NEWS CNN, and the guy who runs the whole corrupt operation that owns it, is one of the worst in the business. Their ratings are so low that they’re not even counted or relevant anymore. MAGA!!!”

It’s not known why Trump took aim at Collins because it’s not clear when she asked Trump about the ballroom. Collins responded on social media by writing, “Technically my question was about Venezuela.” That’s a reference to the administration's bombing of alleged drug smuggling vessels off the coast of Venezuela.


** Frustrating exchange of the day, part one
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Here’s the kind of thing that drives viewers of the Sunday morning news programs bonkers. A politician appears for an interview, gives an answer that’s either misleading or an outright lie, and then, when he gets called out on it, he blames the media.

It happened Sunday.

Missouri Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri, a member of the Armed Services Committee, appeared on ABC’s “This Week.” ([link removed]) Moderator George Stephanopoulos asked Schmidt about former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández being pardoned by Trump. Hernández was convicted in 2024 and sentenced to 45 years for drug trafficking, money laundering and arms dealing. The pardon seemed to go against the administration’s tough stance on drugs coming into the U.S.

So it’s natural that Stephanopoulos would ask Schmidt if he supported Trump’s decision to pardon Hernández.

Schmidt started by answering, “I'm not familiar with the facts or circumstances, but I think what's telling here is to try to imply that somehow President Trump is soft on drug smuggling is just ridiculous. It's totally ridiculous.”

Schmidt went on to give a lengthy answer, but Stephanopoulos wasn’t about to let him off the hook for his ridiculous claim that he didn’t know the “facts or circumstances” of the Hernández case.

Stephanopoulos said, “What do you mean you're not familiar with the facts and circumstances of the pardon? It's been well reported all across the country. He is the former president of Honduras. He was convicted of conspiring to bring in 400 tons of cocaine into the United States, also guns and other materials. It's been front page news across the country. Aren't you curious about that?”

Then Schmidt turned to the Trump playbook of attacking the media. He said, “Well, I'm curious about your pushback on that particular point. With your previous guest (Washington Democratic Congressman Adam Smith), you had zero pushback because he is giving the Democrat talking points like you spew every single week, which is probably why your ratings are so bad.”

Again, it’s this kind of gaslighting and lying that makes the Sunday shows, even when a host pushes back like Stephanopoulos did, so frustrating to watch.


** Frustrating exchange of the day, part two
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Here’s another frustrating exchange from Sunday morning.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent appeared on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” Moderator Margaret Brennan asked Bessent about the economy, and specifically about deepening affordability, which Republicans are trying to sell as a made-up narrative by Democrats and the media, as if Americans aren’t noticing how much groceries and gas cost.

In fact, Brennan asked, “But when we hear from, for example, the president, when he says that affordability is a con job by Democrats, that seems to just not be resonating with consumers that have been polled by CBS. Sixty percent of Americans polled by this network told us President Trump makes prices and inflation sound better than they really are. And his approval rating in the economy is now down to 36% in our latest poll. On inflation, approval is even lower, at 32%. Don't you need to show that you feel the pain?”

That’s an excellent question from Brennan, backed by real numbers.

Yet, Bessent went to the Trump playbook by saying, “Well, Margaret, I think the president's frustrated by the media coverage of what's going on and …”

Brennan cut him off and accurately pointed out, “Yes, this is the polling of average Americans.”

Bessent said, “The average Americans, they are hearing a lot from media coverage.”

Bessent tried to defend the economy and affordability issues. When Brennan asked, “You do believe there's an affordability problem?” Bessent then blamed Joe Biden, who hasn’t been president for 11 months — a point that Brennan reminded Bessent, and the viewers.


** Media tidbits
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* Strong recommendation of the day: Be sure to check out the Netflix documentary on The New Yorker called “The New Yorker at 100.” Narrated by actress Julianne Moore, the 96-minute documentary intertwined the history of the iconic magazine with the current magazine as it prepared for its 100th anniversary. Many staffers are featured, including, of course, David Remnick, who has been The New Yorker’s editor since 1998. This doc is fantastic, especially if you like journalism and especially if you have an affinity for New York City.
* Wowza. “Saturday Night Live” roasted Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in a good cold open ([link removed]) on Saturday night. Colin Jost played Hegseth as a raging lunatic in a sketch that might have been really funny if there didn’t seem to be an awful lot of truth in it.
* Speaking of Hegseth, here’s a good column from Mediaite’s Alex Griffing: “The Pentagon’s New ‘Press Corps’ Is an Utter Embarrassment — And It Won’t Help Hegseth.” ([link removed])
* The New York Times’ Victoria Kim with “A Grand Social Media Experiment Begins in Australia.” ([link removed])
* And here’s Kim with “What to Know About Australia’s Social Media Ban.” ([link removed])


** Hot type
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* CBS’s “60 Minutes” and correspondent Lesley Stahl with “Marjorie Taylor Greene says Republicans are ‘terrified to step out of line.” ([link removed])
* The Washington Post’s Geoff Edgers with “Rosie O’Donnell’s life in exile.” ([link removed])
* The New Yorker's Justin Chang and Richard Brody with “The Best Films of 2025.” ([link removed])


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Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) .

The Poynter Report is your daily dive into the world of media, packed with the latest news and insights. Get it delivered to your inbox Monday through Friday by signing up here ([link removed]) . And don’t forget to tune into our biweekly podcast ([link removed]) for even more.
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