---
title: "Kash Patel sues The Atlantic for defamation"
description: "☀️ Happy Thursday! The Briefing is your guide to the world of news and information. Sign up here! In today’s email: 🔥 Featured story FBI Director Kash Patel filed a defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic and reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick earlier this week, seeking $250 million in damages. The magazine published an article by Fitzpatrick about Patel’s job […]"
date: "2026-04-23"
authors:
  - name: "cstaubin"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/newsletter/the-briefing/kash-patel-sues-the-atlantic-for-defamation/"
---

# Kash Patel sues The Atlantic for defamation

**☀️ 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:** Kash Patel files defamation suit against The Atlantic

- **New from Pew Research Center:** The types of news content Americans seek out or happen to come across

- **In other news:** Federal judge pauses Nexstar-Tegna merger until antitrust trial

- **Looking ahead:** Trump to attend WHCA dinner

- **Chart of the week:** Seeking out versus coming across news, by age

🔥 **Featured story**

**FBI Director Kash Patel** filed a [defamation lawsuit](https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/20/media/kash-patel-fbi-atlantic-lawsuit-sarah-fitzpatrick) against **The Atlantic** and reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick earlier this week, seeking $250 million in damages. The magazine published an article by Fitzpatrick about Patel's job performance, including allegations that he regularly engages in excessive drinking.

In a separate incident, **The New York Times** [reported that the FBI investigated](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/22/us/politics/fbi-times-reporter.html) one of its reporters after she wrote an article about Patel's girlfriend.

Most Americans say that the people they get news from definitely (41%) or probably (31%) should **keep an eye on powerful people** in their daily work, a [2025 Pew Research Center survey](https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2025/08/20/what-do-americans-want-from-their-news-providers/#what-roles-do-americans-expect-their-news-providers-to-fulfill) found. However, there is skepticism – especially among Republicans – that journalists [act in the best interests of the public](https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2025/08/20/how-americans-view-journalists-and-their-role-in-society/#public-confidence-in-journalists): 45% of U.S. adults say they have at least a fair amount of confidence in journalists to do this, and that figure falls to 27% among Republicans and GOP leaners.

*Read more about how many Americans get news from and trust [The Atlantic](https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/feature/news-media-tracker/the_atlantic) and [The New York Times](https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/feature/news-media-tracker/the_new_york_times).*

🚨 **New from Pew Research Center**

This week, we released a [new analysis](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/04/20/what-types-of-news-do-americans-seek-out-or-happen-to-come-across/) from the Pew-Knight Initiative looking at the **types of news that Americans seek out versus those they happen to come across.**

A growing share of U.S. adults say they mostly **get news because they happen to come across it,** but this varies depending on the type of news. The content that most people say they get by chance tends to be reactions to news: **humor** and **opinions.** Meanwhile, Americans are more likely to seek out **in-depth information or deep dives,** as well **as up-to-date information** about an issue or event.

📌 **In other news**

- [Federal judge pauses](https://www.npr.org/2026/04/17/nx-s1-5789059/judge-halts-nexstar-tegna-merger-lawsuits) **Nexstar-Tegna** merger until antitrust trial

- **Warner Bros. Discovery **shareholders [vote in favor](https://www.axios.com/2026/04/23/warner-bros-discovery-approve-paramount-skydance-deal) of **Paramount **merger

- **NOTUS **to [rebrand](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/16/business/media/notus-news-to-become-the-star.html) as The Star

- **The Onion** [reaches agreement](https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/20/media/the-onion-alex-jones-infowars-tim-heidecker) to take control of **InfoWars**, pending court approval

- Journalist** Amal Khalil** [killed in Israeli air strike](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yvn036evlo) in Lebanon

- **McClatchy **[faces backlash](https://www.thewrap.com/media-platforms/journalism/mcclatchy-content-scaling-agents-roiling-newsrooms/) over AI news tool

- **Joe Rogan **[visits Trump in the White House](https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2026/04/18/joe-rogan-iran-war-critic-joins-trump-at-white-house-as-he-loosens-restrictions-on-psychedelics/)** **amid criticism of** Iran War**

- An inside look at the [donation network](https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/04/20/nick-fuentes-stream-donors-funding/) of **far-right influencer Nick Fuentes**

- **Crooked Media **[breaking into TV](https://www.axios.com/2026/04/22/crooked-media-tv-fast-channel)

- [The relationship](https://www.cjr.org/feature/ai-data-centers-local-news-deserts-meta-openai-texas-new-mexico.php) between **AI data centers** and **local news**

📅 **Looking ahead**

**President Donald Trump** [will attend and speak at](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/20/business/media/white-house-correspondents-dinner-trump.html) this weekend’s **White House Correspondents’ Association dinner **for the first time while in office. Given the strained relationship between Trump and the press, hundreds of journalists [signed a letter](https://messagetowhca.tiiny.site/) urging the organizers to speak out in support of press freedom.

In a [survey conducted early last year](https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2025/03/31/most-americans-say-they-are-tuned-in-to-news-about-the-trump-administration/#views-on-the-trump-administration-s-relationship-with-the-news-media), **a majority of U.S. adults (64%) said the Trump administration and the U.S. news media have a very or somewhat bad relationship, **compared with just 11% who said the relationship is good. Republicans and Democrats largely agreed in these assessments, although they differed sharply on whether the Trump administration has been too critical of the media, or vice versa.

📊 **Chart of the week**

This week’s chart comes from the Center’s [new analysis](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/04/20/what-types-of-news-do-americans-seek-out-or-happen-to-come-across/) of the **types of news Americans seek out or happen to come across,** looking at differences by age.

In general, younger adults are much more likely than older people to get news because [they happen to come across it](https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2026/02/11/the-age-divide-in-how-americans-think-about-news/). For example, **52% of adults ages 18 to 29 say they mostly get up-to-date information about an issue or event by chance,** compared with 28% of adults 65 and older.

![](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/younger_adults_are_more_likely_than_older_ones_to_say_they_come_across_most_types_of_news_by_chance.png?w=640)

*👋 That's all for this week. *

The Briefing is compiled by Pew Research Center staff, including Naomi Forman-Katz, Christopher St. Aubin, Joanne Haner, and Sawyer Reed. It is edited by Michael Lipka and copy edited by David Kent.

*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*.