Brian Stelter on the Trump Media Shakedown Era

Channels with Peter Kafka

Vox Media Podcast Network

Technology, Tv & Film, Business News, News

4.4 • 585 Ratings

🗓️ 25 February 2026

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Brian Stelter puts its clearly: "All M&A runs through the Oval Office right now.” So how much does Trump matter in the Netflix/Paramount battle for Warner Bros. Discovery — and what does he want out of it? Stelter, CNN’s chief media analyst and author of the newsletter Reliable Sources, walks us through the information vacuum around the deal, Trump’s habit of inserting himself as a would-be kingmaker, and the harder-to-prove question haunting every newsroom: not just what Trump says out loud, but what companies do (or don’t do) because they’re afraid to become his next target. Then we broaden out: Brendan Carr’s FCC and broadcast pressure, the Nexstar/TEGNA fight, and what’s going on in Murdochland when Trump can sue the Wall Street Journal and still break bread with Rupert Murdoch. Plus: the state of CNN — and what it’s like to work at a network that may have a new owner sooner than later. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is brought to you by Vanta.
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0:27.0	Get started today at Vantor.com.
0:34.9	From the Vox Media Podcast Network, this is channels with Peter Kafka.
0:39.9	That is me.
0:41.1	And today we are talking about power, specifically Donald Trump's power to affect the way big media companies operate.
0:48.3	This is a topic I cover a lot on this podcast, obviously, and over at Business Insider, where I'm chief correspondent.
0:55.2	But sometimes I want to put it all in one place, in one discussion, because it's a huge story that also has a lot
1:00.4	of nuance. Yes, Donald Trump is trying to use the power of the presidency in unprecedented ways
1:06.1	to affect media companies, among others. A lot of the time time he's been very successful. But there are other
1:12.4	examples where it hasn't worked. And then there's a lot of murkiness where it's very hard to figure
1:17.5	out whether a media company is doing something to please Trump, to avoid being punished by Trump,
1:22.2	or whether it's something they wanted to do anyway. We have the perfect guess for this conversation.
1:28.0	That's CNN's Brian Stelter, who has been chronicling the relationship between Donald Trump
	...

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