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.

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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

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.

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/channel/the-mayday-network/id6754000270 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3nEYLKKfOvZyIdGCLNiraQ Substack: https://substack.com/@themaydaynetwork Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheMaydayNetwork Threads: https://www.threads.net/@TheMaydayNetwork Website: https://www.themaydaynetwork.com

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