--- title: "Forbes fires top editor over secret payment" description: "The Briefing ☀️ Happy Thursday! The Briefing is your guide to the world of news and information. Sign up here! In today’s email: 🔥 Featured story The top editor of Forbes was fired after failing to disclose a $6 million payment from the founder of a company that does business with the publication, igniting questions […]" date: "2026-08-13" authors: - name: "nformankatz" url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/newsletter/the-briefing/forbes-fires-top-editor-over-secret-payment/" --- # Forbes fires top editor over secret payment August 13, 2026 ## The Briefing --- **☀️ Happy Thursday!** *The Briefing is your guide to the world of news and information. [**Sign up here!**](https://www.pewresearch.org/sign-up-for-the-briefing/)* **In today**’**s email:** - **Featured story:** Forbes top editor fired after accepting multimillion dollar payment - **In other news:** Social media addiction lawsuits against tech companies to move forward - **Looking ahead:** FCC faces legal challenges after voting to lift national broadcast ownership cap - **Chart of the week:** Republicans and Democrats engage in society in similar ways ### 🔥 **Featured story** The **top editor of Forbes was fired** after [failing to disclose a $6 million payment](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/12/business/forbes-editor-fired.html?) from the founder of a company that does business with the publication, igniting questions about potential conflicts of interest. While the reason for the payment is unclear, former Chief Content Officer Randall Lane said he should have disclosed it and called the omission a “serious error in judgment.” A [2025 Pew Research Center survey](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/04/24/americans-remain-concerned-about-press-freedoms-but-partisan-views-have-flipped-since-2024/) found over half of Americans (55%) say** U.S. news organizations are influenced a great deal by corporations and financial interests.** According to a [separate 2025 Center survey](https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/feature/news-media-tracker/forbes/), 78% of Americans have heard of Forbes, and 9% say they regularly get news there.[] ### 📌 **In other news** - Court rules thousands of **social media addiction lawsuits** [against tech companies](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/social-media-addiction-lawsuits-court-rules/) can move forward - **White House Correspondents’ Association** pushes White House on [press pool protocols](https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/11/media/trump-white-house-press-heinrich-plane-af1) to preserve credibility and safety - [New York Post](https://www.axios.com/2026/08/11/new-york-post-hamilton-ai-chatbot) launches its own **AI chatbot** to increase news personalization - **Myspace** owners eye another [potential relaunch](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/09/myspace-comeback-rival-social-media-giants.html) of the site - **Society of Professional Journalists** revises its [code of ethics](https://www.cjr.org/feature/society-professional-journalists-spj-revising-the-ethics-code-ethical-precepts-ai-voice-content-creators.php) in the AI age - How the introduction of a **skip ahead** button on **Spotify** could [upend the podcast industry](https://www.semafor.com/article/08/09/2026/spotifys-new-skip-button-could-end-the-podcast-business-as-we-know-it) - **USA Today Co.** employees [call for company](https://www.niemanlab.org/2026/08/an-inherent-conflict-of-interest-800-usa-today-co-employees-want-the-company-to-end-its-new-palantir-partnership/) to end partnership with **Palantir** - White House Press Secretary **Karoline Leavitt** [announces departure](https://apnews.com/article/trump-press-secretary-leavitt-dc3753a957b05ef554bf277221d9cf46) from Trump administration ### 📅 **Looking ahead** The **Federal Communications Commission** faces legal challenges after [voting to eliminate](https://www.nbcnews.com/business/media/federal-communications-commission-scraps-limit-broadcast-tv-ownership-rcna587641) the national TV ownership cap, which prevented a single company from owning stations that reached more than 39% of U.S. TV households. Now, deals would be decided on a case-by-case basis. **Free Press** has [challenged the ruling](https://www.axios.com/2026/08/11/fcc-broadcast-ownership-cap-deals), with more appeals expected to follow. **Nexstar,** the nation’s largest owner of local TV stations, is at the front of the conversation, as their $6.2 billion merger with **Tegna** would create an entity that would reach [a majority of U.S. households](https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/fcc-eliminates-tv-station-ownership-cap-nexstar-broadcaster-1236829194/). According to a [2025 Pew Research Center survey](https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/fact-sheet/local-news-fact-sheet/), **TV stations remain one of the most popular sources of local news.** A majority of U.S. adults (65%) say they often or sometimes get local news from their local TV news stations, and about a third of Americans (34%) say television is their preferred source of local news. ### 📊 **Chart of the week** This week’s chart comes from our new [Pew-Knight Initiative](https://www.pewresearch.org/collections/pew-knight-initiative/) study on [how Americans engage in public life](https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2026/07/16/how-americans-are-engaged-with-news-politics-religion-and-civic-life/), and how that differs by political party. Our analysis split the U.S. public into four “engagement groups” – Mobilizers, Connectors, Spectators and Outsiders – based on their patterns of participation in activities like voting, donating to charity, attending religious services, joining groups and following the news. We found that **none of the four groups are dominated by one political party.** The two most highly engaged groups lean modestly in different directions politically: Mobilizers are slightly more likely to be Democrats (or lean Democratic). Connectors are a bit more likely to be Republicans (or lean Republican). ### Engagement groups are politically mixed *% of U.S. adults in each engagement group who are …* | | Rep/Lean Rep | No lean/Refused | Dem/Lean Dem | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Mobilizers | 41 | 2 | 57 | | Connectors | 51 | 6 | 43 | | Spectators | 42 | 8 | 50 | | Outsiders | 45 | 15 | 40 | Note: Engagement groups are based on a cluster analysis that sorted Americans into four groups based on their responses to 19 questions about political activity, civic involvement, religious attendance and attention to news. Source: Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults conducted July 9-Dec. 5, 2025. “How Americans Are Engaged With News, Politics, Religion and Civic Life” *👋 That’s all for this week.* The Briefing is compiled by Pew Research Center staff, including Naomi Forman-Katz, Christopher St. Aubin, Emily Tomasik, Joanne Haner and Sawyer Reed. It is edited by Kirsten Eddy and copy edited by Mia Hennen. *Do you like this newsletter? Email us at [journalism@pewresearch.org](mailto:journalism@pewresearch.org) or fill out this [two-question survey](https://us1.list-manage.com/survey?u=434f5d1199912232d416897e4&id=449f3c3d35&attribution=false) to tell us what you think*.