Brian Stelter

Trump just deflated weeks, no, *months* of incredibly hostile Fox News and MAGA media commentary about @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social.

The stuff Trump and Mamdani agree on is basically the median voter agenda.

CNN’s owner weighs bids; Kimmel makes Trump an offer; Meta tests daily briefing

➕ much more in today's Reliable Sources digest: cnn.it/3Mghh8P

Former VP Dick Cheney's funeral is underway. CNN and MS NOW are providing special, dedicated live coverage. Fox News is not. (Fox's anchor says she'll show George W. Bush's eulogy when it happens. The other channels are showing all the moving tributes.)

Good morning! Here's the latest on Brendan Carr, CNN, Fox News, Jimmy Kimmel, Adam O'Neal, Ian Mohr, Letterboxd, and more...

👇👇👇

Jodie Ginsburg: “We need to stand up to those people who want to attack press freedom and attack journalists. It's going to require us not just to celebrate the courage of others, but to be courageous ourselves."
Via @brianstelter.bsky.social

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When you’ve run out of new material.

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As I wrote in today's Reliable Sources newsletter, even the mere perception of corporate meddling can do damage — a lesson that CNN staffers internalized a few years ago. As always, journalists just want to do their jobs, free of partisan interference. (cnn.it/4oan4tY)

Lowell doesn't name the WH official, but says they "engaged in a dialogue about possibly axing some of the CNN hosts whom Donald Trump is said to loathe."

Was it stray chatter or a serious conversation? Impossible to know. But this report intensifies what is already an awkward situation...

"Senior White House officials have discussed internally their preference for Paramount" to win the WBD bidding war, and "and one official has discussed potential programming changes at CNN with Larry Ellison, the largest shareholder of Paramount," @hugolowell.bsky.social reports.

Larry Ellison discussed axing CNN hosts with White House in takeover bid talks Exclusive: Senior officials indicated favorability toward Paramount Skydance acquiring Warner Bros Discovery

When the WBD "for sale" sign went up last month, CNN journalists wondered if a Paramount takeover would affect CNN's independence. The worries were largely speculative, though some of us have seen this movie before. Now a new Guardian report is making it specific and explicit:

David Ellison may have a ‘Trump card’ — literally — in Warner Bros. Discovery pursuit | CNN Business The Paramount Skydance CEO is “undeterred” after WBD rebuffed his first three offers, sources say, and Ellison’s allies are privately arguing he’s the only buyer who’d pass muster with Trump administr...

Background: Last month I quoted a source saying that Paramount CEO David Ellison has "the Trump card." People in Ellison's camp are arguing that Paramount is the only bidder who will pass muster with the Trump administration. (Though European regulators would be involved, too.)

🧵 Today is the deadline for suitors eyeing Warner Bros. Discovery (CNN's parent) to submit their first-round, non-binding bids for all or part of the media giant. Paramount is reportedly the only bidder trying to buy the entire company. And there's a newsy new story about Paramount >>>

Not just left vs right: Most voters think about affordability and material wellbeing, not in ideological terms Most voters want a party that emphasizes cost of living issues and makes the world a better place. Few Americans think in solidly ideologically terms. "Moderates" are mostly non-ideological.

Good morning. I've got a banger new post out today that develops a new method for placing voters on the left-right ideological spectrum, and adds a new, "non-ideological"/affordability axis to usual way we chart & think about US voters (esp swing voters). www.gelliottmorris.com/p/not-just-l...

Elon Musk’s Grokipedia cites Stormfront — a neo-Nazi forum — dozens of times, study finds An analysis by researchers at Cornell University is the first comprehensive look at Grokipedia since Musk launched his project last month.

NEW: Elon Musk's Grokipedia cites a neo-Nazi website 42 times, researchers say www.nbcnews.com/tech/elon-mu...

"We need to stand up to those people who want to attack press freedom and attack journalists. It's going to require us not just to celebrate the courage of others, but to be courageous ourselves."

—CPJ president @jodieginsberg.bsky.social in today's Reliable Sources newsletter: cnn.it/4oan4tY

Today's Reliable Sources lead: Trump is especially jumpy about Epstein questions. cnn.it/44jTZoJ

@brianstelter.bsky.social always with the vital reminder of facts: "The FCC does not regulate the ABC network; it licenses local stations, some of which ABC owns."

Democratic FCC commissioner Anna Gomez: "These threats sound ominous, but they're empty."

Screen grab from @brianstelter.bsky.social after MBS came to the WH.

Trump’s anti-press outburst hits differently with a Saudi prince by his side | CNN Business President Trump frequently demonstrates his disdain for journalists. He expresses his admiration for authoritarians almost as often. Tuesday showed how intertwined those two instincts really are.

About today...

Trump's anti-press outburst hits differently with a Saudi prince by his side

Opinion | ‘Things happen’ Setting the record straight about our murdered colleague.

Washington Post editorial about Trump's comments today: "These distortions dishonor Khashoggi’s legacy, stand at odds with the facts and are beneath the office of the president."

Trump’s anti-press outburst hits differently with a Saudi prince by his side | CNN Business President Trump frequently demonstrates his disdain for journalists. He expresses his admiration for authoritarians almost as often. Tuesday showed how intertwined those two instincts really are.

Trump frequently demonstrates his disdain for journalists.

He expresses his admiration for authoritarians almost as often.

Today showed how intertwined those two instincts really are.

My latest analysis for CNN:

Paramount CEO David Ellison is set to attend tonight's East Room dinner with President Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, per a source.

Hosting a man who (per the CIA) ordered the murder of a journalist, Trump berates a journalist who dares to "embarrass our guest" by asking about it and later threatens to take away her network's license for asking about Epstein files.

FBI and Justice Department struggle to beat back conspiracies their leaders once fanned | CNN Politics When the FBI director came back from Asia touting a major win for the administration’s drug crackdown last week, his victory lap was cut short by yet another development in the Jeffrey Epstein saga.

For Kash Patel "and other FBI and Justice officials, the first 10 months in office have featured a series of headaches, with theories once peddled by the president’s loyal supporters-turned-government officials getting in the way of their new priorities."

Nightmare blunt rotation.

Here's the latest on the BBC, One America News, Seth Meyers, Brendan Carr, Ryan Lizza, NPR, Walter Isaacson, Roblox, "Baby Shark," and more... cnn.it/47M5RlJ

The White House Intervened on Behalf of Accused Sex Trafficker Andrew Tate During a Federal Investigation Federal authorities were chided for seizing electronic devices from Tate and his brother, and told to return them, records and interviews show. Experts said the intervention was highly inappropriate.

NEW: When Andrew Tate landed in the US, Customs & Border Protection seized his electronic devices. But @propublica.org found that a White House official told DHS to return the devices, emphasizing that the request came from the White House.

By @robert-faturechi.bsky.social & Avi Asher-Schapiro

"Trump's team tried to walk back these false claims. He won't let them." @ddale8.bsky.social explains here: www.cnn.com/2025/11/17/p...

MTG's break with Trump is highlighting the cracks within MAGA world, which are increasingly apparent through MAGA-aligned media brands and commentators.

What stands out to me is not the number of the cracks but the sheer *variety* of them. Here's a list: cnn.it/3LHqoiJ

So @brianstelter.bsky.social has a good cheat sheet on the cracks in MAGA