“Paramount should enjoy its growing news monopoly while they have it because when Democrats win back power we are going to break up these anti-democratic information conglomerates. All of them.”

— Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), on X.

The Wrap: “Anxiety is high inside CNN, as staffers grapple with the growing likelihood that Paramount’s David Ellison — who appointed Free Press cofounder Bari Weiss to reshape CBS News and has recalled having ‘great conversations’ with President Donald Trump about acquiring CNN parent Warner Bros. Discovery — could ultimately take control of the cable news channel.”

Oliver Darcy: “While the move all but guarantees brutal layoffs across the company, it landed like a meteor at Hudson Yards. Inside CNN, alarm bells went off as staffers began to panic over the suddenly very real prospect that they could be working for Bari Weiss before the end of the year.”

Said one insider: ‘The panic at CNN right now is off the charts.”

“At this stage, CNN staffers have every reason to be worried about the future. What is unfolding is plain as day. Trump, who has despised CNN more than any other institution throughout his political career, wants to neuter the network. He wants to break it. And that is precisely why his administration did everything it could to tilt the scales against Netflix and in Ellison’s favor.“

New York Times: “Netflix’s stunning surrender on Thursday in its effort to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery all but assures that the 24-hour news channel will soon be controlled by David Ellison, the chairman of Paramount Skydance and the technology heir best known in the journalism world for his recent revamp of CBS News.”

“Mr. Ellison’s intentions for the channel remain unclear. But the development has caused some shudders within the CNN newsroom, where the chief executive, Mark Thompson, felt compelled to issue a memo shortly after Netflix’s announcement.”

“Paramount Skydance’s $108bn bid to gatecrash Netflix’s deal for Warner Bros Discovery has cleared a key US antitrust hurdle, in a signal of support from the Trump administration,” the Financial Times report. 

“The media group, whose bid is bankrolled by Oracle billionaire and Donald Trump donor Larry Ellison, said on Friday that its deal had complied with the US Department of Justice’s second request review process, removing a critical impediment to US regulatory approval. By allowing the 10-day statutory waiting period to elapse under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act’s second request process, the DoJ is in effect waving through the Paramount deal on antitrust grounds.”

Tucker Carlson told the Daily Mail that he and his staff were “detained” by Israeli officials following his interview with U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.

He also claimed airport security confiscated his passport.

Texas State Rep. James Talarico (D) did not appear as scheduled on “The Late Show” on Monday, and Stephen Colbert addressed his absence in a segment he was strongly advised against, the New York Times reports.

Said Colbert: “He was supposed to be here, but we were told in no uncertain terms by our network’s lawyers, who called us directly, that we could not have him on the broadcast.”

He added: “Then I was told, in some uncertain terms, that not only could I not have him on, I could not mention me not having him on. And because my network clearly doesn’t want us to talk about this, let’s talk about this.”

Talarico later posted the video of the interview, saying: “Trump is worried we’re about to flip Texas.”

Donald Trump lashed out at “jerk” Bill Maher in a lengthy Truth Social post, calling their White House dinner last April “a total waste of time,” the HuffPost reports.

He added: “Fortunately, his Television Ratings are so low that nobody will learn about his various Fake News statements about me. He is no different than Kimmel, Fallon, or Colbert but, I must admit, slightly more talented!”

CBS News executives “are actively sketching out plans for another deep round of cuts,” Status reports.

“According to people briefed on the situation, the coming layoffs are expected to impact at least 15% of the workforce, making them more severe than the reductions carried out last fall.”

Unlike the last round of staff reductions, “these cuts are being largely orchestrated” by Bari Weiss herself, “and will put her imprint on the network.”

A federal judge said President Trump’s $10 billion defamation case against the BBC can start next year, setting a “provisional start date of Feb. 15, 2027 for a two-week trial,” the AP reports.

A majority of Americans (57%) express low confidence in journalists to act in the best interests of the public, according to a new Pew Research survey.

From The Five on Fox News:

JESSE WATTERS: I was walking on my street, a car drives by and I give him a wave. He rolls down the window and says, “F U fascist.” He doesn’t know I’m a fascist!

JESSICA TARLOV: Yes, he does. You’re on TV.

David Remnick: “How a gift for shooting the shit turned into an online empire—and a political force.”

Melania is having trouble staying on the field at the Super Bowl weekend box office, where it fell off a steep 67 percent, leading to a likely 10th-place finish with $2.4 million, the Hollywood Reporter reports.

“Washington Post Chief Executive Officer Will Lewis resigned, days after the newspaper laid off several hundred staffers in a move that triggered a backlash against billionaire owner Jeff Bezos,” Bloomberg reports.

Wall Street Journal: “Lewis is departing after two tumultuous years atop the organization. He arrived vowing to carry out a digital transformation, stem financial losses and reverse a decline in online readership.”

The Financial Times reports Bezos was angered by Lewis partying it up in San Francisco during Super Bowl Week as he was laying off hundreds of staffers at the newspaper.

“The Justice Department is investigating whether Netflix has engaged in anticompetitive tactics as it probes the streaming giant’s proposed acquisition of Warner Discovery’s studios and HBO Max streaming service,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Questioning how Netflix competes with rivals suggests the department is looking at whether its planned Warner deal could entrench its market power, or lead to a monopoly in the future. U.S. law gives enforcers broad power to oppose mergers that could lead to a monopoly.”

Jonathan Last: “It would be nice if some other billionaire would buy the Post from Bezos. But that’s not going to happen as long as we live in an authoritarian context, because owning a media company is not safe unless you are a supplicant to the regime.”

“All of which leaves us in a bad place. The free market will not save the Post, because its owner is immune to market signals. Politics will not save the Post, because so long as Republican voters demand authoritarianism, no one can own a media outlet without taking on outsized risk. As sad as it is to admit, the Washington Post is beyond help.”