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Masters of Scale

From Colbert to Trump’s WSJ lawsuit, Axios’ Sara Fischer on media turmoil

Masters of Scale

WaitWhat

Entrepreneurship, Business, Management, Reid Hoffman, Mindset, Diversity & Inclusion, Jeff Berman, Bob Safian, Startups

4.64.4K Ratings

🗓️ 22 July 2025

⏱️ 32 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It’s been one of the most consequential weeks ever in the media business, from CBS’ Stephen Colbert cancellation, and Trump's lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal, to Congress clawing back more than $1 billion in funding from PBS and NPR. Axios’ Media Correspondent Sara Fischer joins Rapid Response to cut through the conspiracy theories and unpack what it all means from here.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

Hey listeners, we're launching a new Masters of Scale survey, and we'd love your input.

0:06.5

Your feedback will help us get to know you, our audience, and create content that better meets your wants and needs.

0:13.8

Go to Mastersofscale.com slash Survey 25 to weigh in.

0:18.5

Again, go to Mastersofscale.com slash survey 25 to give your feedback.

0:28.3

Hey, everyone, Bob Safian here. Today we present a special episode focused on one of the most

0:34.5

consequential weeks ever in the media business, from Stephen Colbert's

0:38.9

cancellation by CBS to Donald Trump's lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal to the clawing

0:44.4

back of a billion dollars from PBS and NPR. My guest is Axios reporter Sarah Fisher,

0:50.9

who cuts through the conspiracy theories to unpack what's really going on.

0:55.4

So let's get to it. I'm Bob Safian, and this is rapid response.

1:05.6

I'm Bob Safian. I'm here with Sarah Fisher, media correspondent at Axios, an analyst for CNN. Sarah, thanks for being here.

1:14.0

Thank you for having me. So I got to say that the headlines in media have been kind of mind-boggling over the past week.

1:21.9

I mean, we have CBS canceling Stephen Colbert show, Trump suing the Wall Street Journal, Congress clawing back funding

1:29.1

for PBS and NPR. It makes your head spin, plus substack raising money at a billion dollar

1:34.7

valuation and Superman killing it at the box office and Emmy nominations and Netflix earnings.

1:39.5

The news cycle is so intense. For someone who's covering all this, like, how are you doing? How is it juggling all this? Yeah, it's not too bad. This is my job. This is what I'm paid to do. You know, this would be like saying to a surgeon, oh my gosh, you had to do, you know, three heart transplants, then you had to do a total blood transfusion, and then you had to see patients for

2:02.3

checkups. They'd tell you, like, that's what I signed up for. So that's how I feel about it, too.

2:06.2

And it's actually better to be very busy and to have a lively new cycle than to be sort of, like,

2:12.6

twiddling your thumbs and looking for something to cover. All right. Well, I'd say let's start

2:17.3

with the most important or consequential, but it's hard for me to

2:21.9

even pick what that is.

2:23.2

So let's start with the most recent bombshell, which is President Trump suing the Wall

...

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