How One New York Times Reporter Covers Media Layoffs and Mergers

How One New York Times Reporter Covers Media Layoffs and Mergers - The New York Times

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Layoffs, Mergers and Ego Clashes, Oh My! How One Reporter Covers It All.

To report on the business of media, the journalist Ben Mullin says he is “endlessly curious” about the people populating his own industry.

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When Ben Mullin was a junior at California State University, Chico, he spent most of his time in the tiny basement of a 40-year-old building, working as an editor on the student newspaper.

Perhaps all of those long hours in the basement left his performance in the classroom a bit lacking. “I was failing my capstone journalism class,” said Mr. Mullin, now a reporter on the Business desk of The New York Times. “Our adviser for the student newspaper suggested that I had no business failing the class as an editor for the publication.”

To avoid failing, he withdrew from the class and took it again the following semester. Things were looking up: That same semester, he wrote an article for the Poynter Institute about how student newspapers across the country, including his, were struggling financially.

That article was his first to be published in a national publication, and the first of many that would lead to his current beat: the business of media. “I gravitated toward media reporting because I was afraid of what the journalism business might have in store for me,” he said.

Mr. Mullin joined The Times in April 2022 from The Wall Street Journal. In his role, he covers the deals, layoffs and power struggles at major companies in news and entertainment.

In an interview, Mr. Mullin discussed the trends he watches, the outlets he reads and why he’s almost ready to cut out social media. These are edited excerpts.

When did you decide to become a journalist?

When I was in college, I thought I would go to medical school. But I always loved reading and writing, so I decided to join the student newspaper. It immediately became clear to me that I was way better at talking to people and typing up what they said than I was at deciphering chemical compounds. So I just let nature take its course, so to speak.

How does one of your articles typically begin?

The best stories come from sources who have known you for a long time and feel comfortable talking to you. I ask them what’s on their mind, what The Times should focus on and what readers should care about. But stories can come from all over the place — editors, co-workers, my inbox.

How do you build relationships with sources?

Some of it comes from cold calls. I spend a lot of time on LinkedIn figuring out who seems to be connected to who and what types of information they may have. Underlying all of these relationships is curiosity. I like talking to people; I’m endlessly curious about what motivates them.

What’s challenging about your beat?

The media beat tends to be porous, unlike covering national security, for example. Information is less likely to stay concealed for a long period of time, so finding information and making it public as quickly as you can is one challenge.

There are some stories that do stay secret for a really long time. The Business desk recently published a story about the drama behind the Disney succession process. I think one of the reasons some of that stayed secret for so long was because some of that information was closely held by few people.

There are other media stories that are open secrets but are tough to get published, like the Harvey Weinstein accusations, which my colleagues Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey broke. I think many people were peripherally aware that Harvey Weinstein was abusing women. But actually codifying the story and getting it published was another matter. Tapping into those different rungs of information, and figuring out what needs more time to simmer, is a balancing act.

What media trends do you follow?

Streaming is only going to become more important, especially as media executives consider bundling their services. Many stories about the business of media have been driven by the slow and inexorable decline of cable television. Because cable was the best business model to exist in media, a big question is: What’s going to replace that? And if it’s streaming, will it ever be as profitable as cable once was?

The presidential election is an incredibly important story. Regardless of who wins, it is going to change the scope of the media business because it could change who is in charge of agencies like the F.C.C. and the F.T.C. And I think the future of journalism and whether it’s going to remain robust, or be supplanted by nontraditional sources of information, is another really important story.

I’ve noticed you post a lot on X. Is engaging on social media important to you?

David Carr once said something like, “Twitter isn’t waiting to see what I think.” I could stand to spend less time on social media, and my reporting would probably be better if I did. We have some of the best journalists in the world — they are probably not spending all of their time on X.

If you had to give up the media beat, what would you write about?

I love cooking. I’m an amateur baker. One of my favorite things about living in New York is going to all the amazing restaurants here. My dream job is to be a taste tester for The New York Times Cooking team.

In the spirit of your article about sprouts of hope in journalism, what outlets are you reading these days?

I spend a lot of time with most of the biggest news organizations — The Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, the Financial Times. I subscribe to Puck. I read Semafor. I read a bunch of newsletters. And then I spend way too much time on social media.

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