☀️ Happy Thursday! The Briefing is your guide to the world of news and information. Sign up here!
In today’s email:
- Featured story: CBS News president out amid continued tensions over Trump lawsuit
- In other news: Major newspapers print reading lists with AI-generated fake books
- Looking ahead: Weather data diminishing amid federal government cuts
- Chart of the week: How news makes Americans feel
🔥 Featured story
There were continued developments at CBS News this week as Paramount executives reportedly forced out CBS News President Wendy McMahon, who told staff that “it’s become clear the company and I do not agree on the path forward.” Her resignation comes amid talk of Paramount moving toward a settlement in a lawsuit by President Donald Trump, who accused 60 Minutes of deceptively editing an interview with Kamala Harris ahead of the 2024 election. Paramount is also seeking approval from the Federal Communications Commission for a merger with Skydance Media.
There is a widespread belief among Americans that the relationship between the Trump administration and the U.S. news media is a bad one: 64% of U.S. adults say the relationship is bad, while just 11% say it’s good, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted earlier this year.
Most Americans also are at least somewhat concerned about potential restrictions on press freedoms in the U.S. The share of Democrats who say they are extremely or very concerned about this has surged from 38% in 2024 to 60% this year. Democrats also have become more likely since last year to say U.S. news organizations are influenced a great deal by political interests.
📌 In other news
- Philadelphia Inquirer, Chicago Sun-Times print reading lists with AI-generated fake books
- EU providing emergency funding for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
- European editors speak out against legislation in Hungary restricting foreign-funded media and rights groups
- Department of Homeland Security using polygraphs to search for media leaks
- Salvadoran journalists pushed to flee after exposing alleged deals between president and gangs
- Swedish journalist freed after facing charges of insulting Turkish president
- Women’s protest group launches campaign for press freedom in Afghanistan
- Several journalists speak out about sexual misconduct allegations against Wesley Lowery
📅 Looking ahead
Meteorologists are expressing concern about losing weather data amid staffing cuts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Weather Service.
More Americans get local news about the weather than any other topic. Nine-in-ten U.S. adults say they at least sometimes get local news and information about weather, including 68% who do this often, according to a 2024 Center survey. Among those who get local weather news, a majority (63%) are extremely or very satisfied with it, and an additional 31% are somewhat satisfied.
📊 Chart of the week
This week, the chart comes from our recent study on how Americans define news. In the survey portion of this multimethod study, we asked Americans how often the news they get makes them feel each of several emotions.
Americans generally say the news gives them negative feelings more often than positive ones. Roughly four-in-ten Americans say the news they get often or extremely often makes them feel angry (42%) or sad (38%). And about a quarter say it frequently makes them feel scared (27%) or confused (25%). The one exception to this pattern involves feeling informed: Nearly half of Americans (46%) indicate the news they get often makes them feel informed.
👋 That’s all for this week.
The Briefing is compiled by Pew Research Center staff, including Naomi Forman-Katz, Jacob Liedke, Christopher St. Aubin, Luxuan Wang and Emily Tomasik. It is edited by Michael Lipka and copy edited by David Kent.
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