Breaking the News

Episod

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  Bari Weiss, Peter Thiel, and the Billionaire Media Tycoons Clearing the Runway for Authoritarianism 25.09.2026 1j 18min

  Recorded live Friday September 25, 2026 Julie Roginsky, Michelle Kinney, and Jeff Jarvis break down a brutal week for the free press. Axel Springer chief Matthias Döpfner publicly honored Trump megadonor Peter Thiel in Berlin — with Bari Weiss delivering the tribute — while dismissing his own Politico and Business Insider staffers who objected. Jeff, who’s spent real time around Döpfner (at Davos! lol), explains exactly what kind of provocateur he is and why the timing (and his AI ambitions for the newsroom) should worry anyone who reads Politico’s Playbook. Plus: California AG Rob Bonta signs off on the Paramount–Warner Bros. Discovery merger, and what that means for CNN, HBO, and the studios going forward. And Alex Gibney’s nearly three-hour Elon Musk documentary is headed for domestic release next month — while Musk reportedly tries to block the film and choke off its international distribution. Breaking the News airs live — new episodes every week on The Mayday Network YouTube channel, wherever you get your podcasts. Follow The Mayday Network for more commentary, analysis, and rapid response — new content every day. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/channel/the-mayday-network/id6754000270 Spotify: search ”The Mayday Network” Substack: https://substack.com/@themaydaynetwork Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheMaydayNetwork Threads: https://www.threads.net/@TheMaydayNetwork Website: https://www.themaydaynetwork.com Timestamps: 0:00 Cold open 1:20 Rob Bonta signs off on Paramount–Warner Bros. Discovery merger (teased) 2:01 Bari Weiss’s tribute to Peter Thiel in Berlin 5:43 Who is Matthias Döpfner? 19:09 Peter Thiel on his upbringing, pressed on his ”German” identity 56:40 Back to Rob Bonta and the merger fallout 1:06:42 Alex Gibney’s Elon Musk documentary — Musk reportedly trying to block release
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  Emmys (Matthew Rhys!) Recap, CBS Airs Pentagon Propaganda, Kushner's Secret Putin Deals Exposed, and Sydney Sweeney's New Ad 🥴 19.09.2026 1j 17min

  This week on Breaking the News, Julie Roginsky, Michelle Kinney, and Jeff Jarvis dig into a stacked week: a surprisingly solid Emmys night, AI’s growing shadow over Hollywood and publishing, Sydney Sweeney’s sports-betting ad and whether it’s actually a shrewd business move, and the slow unraveling of CBS’s 60 Minutes under Barry Weiss. And yes, Michelle gushes about Matthew Rhys’s three-Emmy sweep, because we love him and always will. They also break down the widely panned Pete Hegseth pilot-rescue interview, the buried New Yorker report on Jared Kushner and Trump-world’s business dealings with Putin, and why the New York Times just hired its fourth white guy in a row to cover media. Plus, a preview of the JD Vance Vanity Fair deep dive still to come. 00:00 – Cold open 01:10 – Show intro, Substack frustrations 02:51 – Emmys recap begins 03:59 – The Emmys’ big sweep, discussed 05:54 – Diversity critique of this year’s winners 06:30 – Female winners all over 50, Mariska Hargitay’s big year 07:34 – Matthew Rhys wins three Emmys — ”we love him here for other reasons” 🥰 09:09 – Paramount threatens to leave California over blocked Warner Bros. Discovery merger 10:36 – AI’s effect on Hollywood economics; auditions on tape now 13:07 – Daniel Silva’s novels and the ”AI could write the sequel” thought experiment 16:33 – Jeff’s AI-phishing scam story (a fake publisher impersonation) 18:19 – Julie’s unpublished #MeToo book 19:40 – The vanishing gatekeepers debate 21:11 – Jeff’s own publishing horror story 23:55 – Practical Magic 2 and ”did AI write this script?” 24:09 – Sydney Sweeney’s sports-betting ad 26:52 – Is this actually a smart business move? 29:17 – The American Eagle ”good genes” ad backlash, revisited 30:07 – Sports betting and the youth gambling problem 31:57 – 60 Minutes ratings schadenfreude and the Barry Weiss era 33:53 – The correspondents pushed out: Tanya Simon, Cecilia Vega, Sharon Alfonsi, Scott Pelley 34:57 – Ross Douthat’s incentives 36:47 – The Patrick Clancy interview and why the choice of interviewer is the real story 41:59 – Clip: Patrick Clancy’s new wife on 60 Minutes 43:29 – The ”own the libs” theory 44:34 – The actual ratings collapse, by the numbers 49:39 – Clip: Pete Hegseth and the rescued pilot, ”proudest dad moment” 52:08 – Why Norah O’Donnell never asked the hard question 59:29 – What should have been asked instead 1:03:00 – Clip: the second Hegseth segment, the Iranian search party 1:07:00 – Barry Weiss, Hegseth, and his wife Jennifer 1:11:00 – Hegseth’s approval numbers are brutal 1:13:00 – Why Trump keeps him around anyway 1:16:00 – JD Vance’s own Iraq-era hypocrisy, tied in 1:17:00 – Are we already in World War III? 1:19:00 – The New Yorker’s buried Kushner-Russia bombshell 1:22:00 – NYT’s own headline on Trump dangling business deals to Putin 1:24:00 – Oliver Darcy’s Status launch event 1:27:00 – ProPublica’s Don Jr. wedding/Russian-asset scoop 1:29:00 – Brendan Carr, the FCC, and Qatar’s outsized lobbying power 1:31:00 – NYT hires its fourth white guy in a row to cover media 1:35:00 – NYT’s 175th anniversary party — who wasn’t invited 1:36:00 – Wrap-up and a JD Vance preview Breaking the News is a weekly conversation about the stories shaping American politics and media, hosted by Julie Roginsky, Michelle Kinney, and Jeff Jarvis. Every Friday, the three break down the week’s biggest headlines with the sharp, unfiltered perspective of people who’ve spent careers inside politics, journalism, media criticism, and entertainment — no both-sidesing, no false balance, just a clear-eyed read on what actually happened and why it matters. Part of The Mayday Network, an independent, women-led media outlet covering politics, news, media, and culture. Follow The Mayday Network for more commentary, analysis, and rapid response — new content every day.
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  25 Years Since September 11: Jeff Jarvis's Story From Under the Towers, Plus Where We Were That Day 13.09.2026 1j 13min

  Recorded live on September 11, 2026 On the 25th anniversary of September 11th, Julie Roginsky, Michelle Kinney, and Jeff Jarvis share where they were that day and how the last 25 years have changed the way they see it. Jeff was under the World Trade Center that morning, on the last PATH train in before the towers fell, and stayed to report through the day — his account anchors the conversation. Julie was working in the U.S. Senate in Washington; Michelle was a college sophomore in upstate New York. Together they talk about nostalgia as a ”dangerous drug,” the toxic air and cancers that followed, the 9/11 Memorial, and what it means to keep telling these stories 25 years later. Read Jeff’s original reporting from that day, published in the Jersey Journal in 2001: https://www.nj.com/the_jersey_journal_remembers_911/2001/09/a_journey_through_hell.html Read Jeff’s 2025 reflection on Medium: https://medium.com/whither-news/25-years-900e543b3e52 Chapters: 00:00 – Cold open 01:10 – Show intro: 25 years after 9/11 01:54 – Jeff Jarvis: under the towers 10:03 – Jeff’s reflection, 25 years later 11:27 – Michelle: watching from upstate New York 19:45 – Julie: working in the U.S. Senate 25:19 – No partisanship that day, no hot takes 28:37 – Driving past the burning Pentagon 29:07 – The ferry into Manhattan 32:02 – What 9/11 did to the country 36:56 – Bush, Iraq, and ”out of chaos comes opportunity” 40:16 – The NYT headline: ”Trump personifies a nation moving on” 44:04 – Conservatism, nostalgia, and false narratives 47:37 – The tourist’s selfie at Zuccotti Park 53:36 – The toxic air and the cancers that followed 59:59 – Mamdani’s air-quality documents and Steve Witkoff 1:01:53 – The 9/11 Memorial 1:09:14 – On patriotism and disappointment 1:12:00 – Closing thoughts: why we keep telling these stories The Mayday Network: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/channel/the-mayday-network/id6754000270 Substack: https://substack.com/@themaydaynetwork Website: https://www.themaydaynetwork.com
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  The Quiet Insurrection: How Fear Is Reshaping Washington and the Press | Breaking the News 17.07.2026 1j 20min

  Julie Roginsky, Michelle Kinney, and Jeff Jarvis break down the media’s split-screen response to Trump’s primetime election speech, from ABC and NBC’s blackout to CBS airing it with a disclaimer before getting grilled on air over the decision. They argue the real story isn’t Trump’s evidence, which collapsed on contact, but a president openly threatening ABC and NBC’s broadcast licenses through FCC chair Brendan Carr, and the chilling effect spreading through both parties, from threatened poll workers to a Supreme Court justice describing a bulletproof vest. Plus, Pete Hegseth’s testosterone policy, Gretchen Carlson’s ten-years-later Me Too op-ed, and Julie’s underreported column on the UAE-backed atrocities in Darfur. Breaking the News with Julie Roginsky, Michelle Kinney, and Jeff Jarvis. Follow The Mayday Network for more reporting, analysis, and rapid response — new content every day. 🎙️ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/channel/the-mayday-network/id6754000270 | 📰 Substack: https://substack.com/@themaydaynetwork | 🐦 X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaydayNetwork | 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheMaydayNetwork | 🧵 Threads: https://www.threads.net/@TheMaydayNetwork | 🦋 Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/themaydaynetwork.com | 🌐 Website: https://www.themaydaynetwork.com Also streaming now: The Illegals — The Americans Rewatch Podcast. Watch with our expert panel here: 🎬 https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkgsO7fbBme9Hjq7PBtjcdbI34Z9cbRU2
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  Scott Pelley Left CBS' 60 Minutes in a Blaze of Glory. Where Are the Rest of Them? Who's Left Standing? 05.06.2026 1j

  Scott Pelley cross-examined his own network on the way out the door — and he’s not going to stop speaking out anytime soon.  This week on Breaking the News, Julie Roginsky, Michelle Kinney, and Jeff Jarvis break down what the demolition of Sixty Minutes actually means, why the Ellisons bought Paramount with nothing to lose, and what happens when CNN becomes the next test case.  Plus: Dylan Byers, the White House Correspondents’ Dinner nobody asked for, and why the Graham Platner situation puts Democratic women in yet another impossible position.
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  The 60 Minutes Massacre | Breaking the News 29.05.2026 1j 6min

  The takedown of 60 Minutes. Who ordered it, who carried it out, and what happens next — Breaking the News with Julie Roginsky, Michelle Kinney, and Jeff Jarvis. Air Date: Friday May 29, 2026
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  Stephen Colbert Is The First Cultural Casualty of a Fascist America | Breaking the News 26.05.2026 45min

  [RECORDED LIVE FRIDAY MAY 22, 2026] Stephen Colbert’s show is ending because the president of the United States can’t take a joke. Julie Roginsky, Michelle Kinney, and Jeff Jarvis are live with Breaking the News at 11AM ET every Friday on Youtube and Substack.
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  The New CBS Regime Faceplants - Again | Breaking the News 16.05.2026 42min

  CBS News sent its anchor to Taiwan instead of China. Then got him kicked out of his hotel. Then his cameraman collapsed on air. Meanwhile Paramount is cutting a podcast deal with Stephen Miller’s wife (ofStephen) Trump called a New York Times reporter treasonous on Air Force One, there were zero women at the US-China summit, and the media still can’t write a straight headline. Julie Roginsky, Michelle Kinney, and Jeff Jarvis break it all down — the collapse of legacy media, the rise of state media, and why independent press is the only thing left worth paying for.
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  Women Are Still the Story They Won't Tell | Breaking the News 08.05.2026 1j 6min

  Julie K. Brown broke the Epstein story. A white male editor blocked her Pulitzer — twice. She just got it anyway. A decade late. Julie Roginsky, Jeff Jarvis, and Michelle Kinney on the misogyny that’s no longer even trying to hide — in media, in politics, at the New York Times, and at CNN. The Me Too movement isn’t dead. The people in power just need you to think it is. Jeff Jarvis is the ally we wish there were more of. This is what that sounds like.
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  The Scott Jennings Problem: CNN, the Supreme Court, and a Democracy in Freefall | Breaking the News 05.05.2026 1j 9min

  [Recorded live May 1, 2026.]  Michelle is out this week, so Julie Roginsky and Jeff Jarvis take it from here. CNN is circling the drain. Scott Jennings is running the place -- why is no one covering the real story? The Supreme Court just handed democracy a gut punch. And Julie has changed her mind about expanding the Court — and she’ll tell you exactly why. The Mayday Network is women-founded, women-led independent media covering politics, culture, media, and journalism.
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  Breaking the News: Why The White House Correspondents' Dinner Is the Worst Night in Washington 26.04.2026 53min

  Julie Roginsky, Michelle Kinney, and Jeff Jarvis tear apart the WHCD — access journalism, the (15!!!) CBS tables, Pete Hegseth’s drink order, and why there is no amount of money that will ever buy you talent, taste, or class. Also: the death of Condé Nast, the Met Gala goes full billionaire, and where the hell are the artists like Taylor Swift in this perilous moment for America?
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  White House Correspondents' Dinner 2026: Bari Weiss, Pete Hegseth, and the Media's Surrender | Breaking the News 11.04.2026 48min

  The White House Correspondents’ Dinner is a conflict of interest wearing a tuxedo — and this year, it’s worse. Bari Weiss invited Pete Hegseth. CBS is losing Stephen Colbert and replacing him with Byron Allen. The Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan Iran war chapter drops — and the sources make themselves look very good. Jared Kushner is negotiating with Iran in Pakistan. Melania’s past is about to catch up with her. And someone in the comments coined the term ”Epstein visa.” Just another Friday.
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  The New York Times Has a Women Problem and We're Not Letting It Go | Breaking the News 06.04.2026 1j 10min

  Julie’s back from Japan and she’s got things to say. The New York Times ran two op-eds declaring Me Too dead and the future no longer female — on the same day it buried a story about a church trying to strip women of the right to vote. Meanwhile, Iran dropped an AI-generated Lego hit on Pete Hegseth that honestly out-trolled the entire Democratic Party. Plus: an American fighter jet downed over Iran, the slow death of bold storytelling in Hollywood, and King Charles as NATO’s secret weapon. Michelle Kinney, Julie Roginsky, and Jeff Jarvis. The Daily Dispatch with Julie Roginsky and Michelle Kinney is brought to you by The Mayday Network — a women-founded, women-led independent media — built for a country in crisis.
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  Michael Cohen Is a Scorned Man, MAGA Declares Liberal Women the Enemy, and Julie's Fox News Feelings 14.03.2026 1j 13min

  Nobody should be surprised about’s Michael Cohen long con. Julie and Michelle weren’t. He’s teaming up with Laura Loomer on Rumble, Kkkaroline Leavitt is already tweeting it out, and the whole thing is so coordinated it practically came with a press kit. This is what a scorned man looks like when he finds a new grift. Palantir CEO Alex Karp went on CNBC and explained that AI exists to strip political power from educated liberal women and hand it to working class men — out loud, on camera. Michelle breaks down the AWFUL nonsense. Jeff Jarvis connects it all to Hannah Arendt and the deliberate weaponization of ignorance. A DOGE staffer cancels a Holocaust documentary for being too focused on women. And Julie asks out loud whether her years at Fox News made things better or worse. Should liberals even appear on Fox? What’s the answer?
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  Trump Shrugs Off American Deaths, Chance of Retaliatory Attacks at Home. The Media Still Won’t Say It: This Is WW3. 06.03.2026 1j 13min

  Asked whether Americans should be worried about retaliatory attacks at home, Donald Trump responded -- “I guess.”  https://time.com/7382697/trump-iran-war/ At the same time, Russia is reportedly providing intelligence to Tehran targeting U.S. forces, the conflict is spreading across the Middle East, and the American press still refuses to say what this increasingly looks like. This is World War III.  Julie Roginsky, Michelle Kinney, and Jeff Jarvis discuss what’s actually happening — and why much of the media still won’t connect the dots.
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  Who Controls the Media -- Controls Democracy. 27.02.2026 1j 13min

  Legacy media is changing fast — and not for the better. Julie Roginsky, Michelle Kinney, and Jeff Jarvis break down the accelerating collapse of trust in news institutions, the looming takeover reshaping CNN and major entertainment companies, and what happens when journalism, culture, and democracy collide. If the old media system is ending, what replaces it — and who do we trust next? We also talk about where audiences are actually going now… and what we’re watching when we need a break from all of this.
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  Colbert vs. CBS — And the Death of Old-Timey Media 23.02.2026 1j 5min

  [RECORDED FEBRUARY 20, 2026] Stephen Colbert pushed back. CBS flinched.   And the ground is shifting under everyone. Anderson Cooper stepped away from 60 Minutes. Jake Tapper looks increasingly squeezed inside CNN’s shrinking cable universe. In a post-cable world, where does someone like Tapper even land? Who survives when the old guard collapses? This isn’t just about one show or one network. It’s about the unraveling of legacy media — under corporate ownership, political pressure, and a collapsing business model. This week, Michelle Kinney, Julie Roginsky, and Jeff Jarvis break down Colbert vs. CBS, Anderson’s 60 Minutes exit, Tapper's big book chill, and what the death of old-timey media actually means for the future of journalism. If the old institutions can’t hold — what replaces them? (Independent media!)   The Mayday Network is women-founded, women-led independent media — built for a country in crisis. The Mayday Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mayday-podcast/id1838167527 Follow The Mayday Network: https://www.themaydaynetwork.com https://twitter.com/MaydayNetwork https://www.instagram.com/TheMaydayNetwork https://www.threads.net/@TheMaydayNetwork https://bsky.app/profile/themaydaynetwork.com
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  Don Lemon and Georgia Fort Arrested | Media Silence, Epstein Distractions, and the End of Press Freedom 30.01.2026 58min

  [RECORDED LIVE FRIDAY JANUARY 30, 2026] Journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort were arrested despite a judge finding no legal basis to do so. This is tyranny.  Michelle Kinney, Julie Roginsky, and Jeff Jarvis unpack what these arrests reveal about the state of press freedom in the United States, why legacy media continues to downplay authoritarian behavior, and how journalists outside the corporate press are increasingly being targeted.
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  The Media’s Role in America’s Authoritarian Slide 13.01.2026 1j 21min

  In the first episode of Breaking the News, Jeff Jarvis, Julie Roginsky, and Michelle Kinney examine how American media is helping normalize authoritarianism — from the killing of Renée Goode to the press’s increasingly sanitized coverage of Trump’s behavior and abuse of power. Through a sharp, unsparing conversation about language, narrative, and access journalism, they connect how violence, corruption, and delusion become “just politics” when the press refuses to tell the truth. This episode sets the tone for a new weekly series dedicated to holding the media accountable for how power is reported, framed, and ultimately protected.