A joint call for accountability
This morning two of the world’s biggest newsrooms came together to issue a joint call for accountability.
“On the one-year anniversary of the Israeli strikes on Nasser Hospital in Gaza that killed our colleagues, we remember their lives and once again call on the Israeli government to provide a full explanation of what happened,” AP executive editor Julie Pace and Reuters editor in chief Alessandra Galloni wrote in a joint statement.
“The strikes on Aug. 25, 2025, killed five journalists, including Reuters cameraman Hussam al-Masri; visual journalist Mariam Dagga, who worked for AP and other news organizations; and Moaz Abu Taha, a freelance journalist whose work had been published by Reuters. They were at the hospital in their professional capacity, doing critical work to keep the world informed,” the editors wrote. “A year later, we remain devastated by their deaths and are still searching for answers from the Israeli authorities about what happened that day.”
The strike led Benjamin Netanyahu to issue an apology for the “tragic mishap.” But one year later, “the information we have received… has fallen short of the clear answers and accountability that an incident of this gravity requires,” Pace and Galloni wrote.
The statement concluded, “We will continue to seek answers, demand accountability and call for access to Gaza to provide support to our colleagues who have been covering the war for almost three years now.”
>> The NYT’s lead right now: A new study indicates that one in four NFL players get “the degenerative brain disease known as C.T.E.,” John Branch reports. And that’s “under the most conservative of assumptions,” the researchers found. It’s fair to wonder, and watch for, how the networks with NFL contracts will cover this study.
>> “A federal judge in Minnesota will probe this week whether grounds exist to toss the Justice Department’s case against journalist Don Lemon. It’s the latest example of judges’ growing skepticism of whether the department is behaving ethically behind closed doors in grand jury proceedings,” CNN’s Whitney Wild and Katelyn Polantz report.
>> This midterm year, misleading polling “has shaped campaign narratives, donor behavior and news coverage like never before,” the NYT’s Reid J. Epstein writes. Among the factors: “Bad polls. Misleading betting odds. Surveys meant to shape narratives.” And more…
Citing “confidential documents obtained by The Washington Post,” Jonathan Edwards reports that “ticket sales and fundraising collapsed after President Donald Trump’s name was added to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, even as the center’s leaders publicly touted a financial turnaround.” Here’s a gift link to the exclusive report…
Abdul El-Sayed generated lots of buzz — and clippable content — by appearing on Jesse Watters’ Fox News show last night. I counted half a dozen headlines about it on Mediaite this morning.
El-Sayed showed a keen understanding of Fox’s outrage machine — refusing to take the bait when Watters asked whether it’s okay “for a parent to slash his kid’s ding-a-ling off” or whether trans athletes should compete in women’s sports. Each time, he redirected toward gas and grocery prices, the war in Iran, and health care.
“I’m out here trying to take on the health care crisis and Big Pharma, and you’re asking me about who gets to play what sports,” El-Sayed told Watters at one point. “It’s silly.”
The NYT’s Bayliss Wagner wrote that the interview demonstrated El-Sayed’s general election strategy “to cast ‘culture-war’ issues as a distraction from the everyday problems Americans face, like rising costs and worries about health care.”
>> Beware the algorithmic distortion: After the segment aired, I saw X post after X post from conservatives celebrating Watters for dunking on El-Sayed and exposing Democratic “extremism.” Meanwhile, editor Andrew Kirell saw post after post from liberals applauding El-Sayed for showing how to handle Fox — by engaging and knowing all their tricks.
A US Central Command official revealed the existence of “a secret directory of journalists who have been blacklisted by the press office” when he threatened to place a reporter from The Intercept on it. That reporter, Nick Turse, wrote about it here.
After CENTCOM’s media operations chief “repeatedly refused to answer questions” about the Iran war earlier that day, Turse “called back multiple times” until Richard Allee, a CENTCOM public affairs executive assistant, picked up the phone.
“You’ll be put on a list of people to disregard,” Terse says Allee told him. Pressed for the names of reporters and outlets on this list, Allee reportedly replied, “I’m not privy to give you that information.”
In an email, CENTCOM’s press office said it “does not have a ‘blacklist.’” However, “a U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said” that Pete Hegseth’s office “had a standing order not to engage with this reporter and would deny it if challenged,” Turse reports…
After we shipped yesterday’s newsletter, Paramount pushed back on Rob Bonta’s claim that it leaked “the alleged substance of settlement discussions” to the press.
“We share AG Bonta’s concerns about the public discussions and misreporting that has surrounded this deal,” the company said in a statement. “As we have assured the Attorney General’s office, Paramount has not been the source of the leaks of any of our confidential discussions with the AG’s office.”
Last night, Bonta told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins that he’s ready and willing to reschedule a meeting if Paramount can “get their house in order, stop the lying leaks, and engage in good faith.”
So a round of settlement talks seems likely — and equally likely to prove unproductive.
Bonta “told TheWrap that someone else would have to own a ‘significant’ portion of the 50 basic cable channels that would be included under the combined company, but stopped short of saying CNN would be one of them,” per Lucas Manfredi. And Bloomberg’s team reports that bankers and would-be buyers are “eyeing potential assets that might be for sale…”
As streaming platforms aim to reduce churn, they’re trying to transform into one-stop content shops via bundling, striving “to be the main entry point to everything streaming has to offer,” John Koblin writes in today’s NYT. The print headline: “The Bundling Battles Begin.”
Koblin reports that Netflix “has had recent discussions about making other streaming services available as well, including Peacock and Fox One.”
>> Speaking of Netflix, in the UK, the streamer “posted $2.81 billion revenues for full-year 2025, meaning it generated more cash than the country’s leading commercial broadcaster, ITV.” (Deadline)
>> “Jon Whitticom, a prominent Netflix exec who helped build the streamer’s advertising business, is leaving the organization.” (Business Insider)
“As part of Disney’s cost-reduction efforts, the company is offering longtime executives early retirement,” Deadline’s Nellie Andreeva scooped yesterday. An internal memo called the buyouts “one of several actions we’re taking to reshape our organization, including involuntary staff reductions that have already begun in some areas and will continue into next year.”
That’s the headline from LateNighter’s Jed Rosenzweig, recapping Jimmy Kimmel’s visit to Dax Shepard’s “Armchair Expert” podcast.
Kimmel’s contract is up next May. While talking about the retirement question, he said, “Weirdly, I deal with it less now than I used to because now I feel like… this show is an outlet for people who are outraged by what’s going on, and I feel some responsibility to those people. So it’s not just like, ‘Man, why do I need to get up in the…’ It’s like, well, yeah, there is kind of a reason, a non-financial reason that you need to do this.”
If you were watching CNN around noon Eastern yesterday, you likely noticed it. A technical issue across Warner Bros. Discovery’s channels disrupted CNN, HBO and other channels during the noon hour, resulting in scrambled screens and pixelated chaos. I wrote about it here.
>> New this morning: Crooked Media has “inked a deal to acquire and revive the ‘FiveThirtyEight Politics’ podcast hosted by Nate Silver, Clare Malone and Galen Druke.” (Variety)
>> Jeremy Barr interviewed Catherine Herridge, who is asking SCOTUS to protect her from having to reveal her confidential sources or face mounting fines. “The day I disclose, my career is over,” she told him. “I mean, I’m finished.” (The Guardian)
>> Scott Nover profiled conservative journalist John Solomon and his new, strange status as “chairman of the newly formed and vaguely defined Government Transparency Task Force.” (WaPo)
>> “BuzzFeed’s latest round of layoffs took effect Monday,” and “HuffPost’s National desk has been reduced to three reporters.” (TheWrap)
>> Emily Compagno has been named a full-time co-host of “The Five.” (THR)
A leaker has been sharing material from Rockstar’s forthcoming “Grand Theft Auto 6” for a full week, and “the person or group responsible shows no sign of slowing down even in the face of court action from Rockstar parent company Take-Two,” IGN’s Wesley Yin-Poole reports.
The leaker “is even running a poll to decide which video to leak next.” Netflix is releasing an official sneak peek at the game on Thursday…
I loved this Brooks Barnes joint in the NYT: “Universal’s New Coaster Is a Scream. That’s the Problem.”
He says the new “Fast & Furious” roller coaster at Universal Studios Hollywood was built to be “whisper quiet,” and it was, but “they didn’t fully account for the enthusiasm of the riders.” Nearby residents can now hear “bloodcurdling screams” from the riders, leading some to demand that Universal “find a way to muffle its very happy customers.”
Barnes chronicled those twists and turns here…
This edition of Reliable Sources was edited by Andrew Kirell and produced with Liam Reilly. Email us your feedback and tips here.