The Briefing
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In today’s email:
- Featured story: Skydance says CNN will retain its editorial independence
- New from Pew Research Center: What do health and wellness influencers post about?
- In other news: Former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt joins Fox News
- Looking ahead: ABC asks federal judge to block FCC’s early review of broadcast licenses
- Chart of the week: How Americans engage with news online
🔥 Featured story
Paramount’s merger with Warner Bros. Discovery was finalized this week, with the resulting company to be known as Skydance. In a press conference, CEO David Ellison sought to address concerns about the future of CNN, which Skydance now owns. He vowed that the network will retain complete editorial independence and kept its leader, Mark Thompson, at the helm.
Our recent study of Americans’ views on press freedom found that many people are wary of corporate influence on news organizations, and most oppose direct intervention by company owners. For instance, about three-quarters of U.S. adults say it is completely (58%) or somewhat unacceptable (17%) for the owner of a news organization to kill a story because it goes against their own political interests. Far fewer say this is completely (4%) or somewhat acceptable (9%).
🚨 New from Pew Research Center
Social media influencers are an important part of how many Americans understand their own health. But what information are health and wellness influencers sharing with their audiences?
A new Pew Research Center analysis looks at more than a half a million posts on social media from more than 6,000 health and wellness influencers.
📌 In other news
- Karoline Leavitt, former White House press secretary under Trump, joins Fox News
- CNN, MS NOW and Politico return to court over White House ban; Politico reporter blocked from Air Force One
- Local TV news giant Sinclair to launch Substack brand called The National Press
- U.S. Agency for Global Media is rebuilding Voice of America after the Trump administration gutted the broadcaster last year
- Spotify renews podcast deal with Joe Rogan
- Journalist groups call on X to reject Turkish authorities’ request to restrict news accounts
- Supreme Court declines to hear appeal in the legal battle between the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and its union
- Three African military governments launch a joint television channel with support from Russia
- A close look at a mysterious local news outlet in Virginia
- Columbia University pauses admissions to its journalism master’s program
📅 Looking ahead
ABC and parent company Disney are asking a federal judge to block the FCC’s early review of broadcast licenses for eight ABC-owned stations. The news organization argues that the scrutiny is retaliation for coverage and programming critical of President Donald Trump, raising a broader question about whether the threat of regulatory action could influence how broadcasters cover the administration. A ruling could come later this month from a judge who has seemed skeptical of the FCC’s actions.
Americans see substantial political influence on the news media: 81% say news organizations are influenced at least somewhat by government and political interests, including about half (49%) who say there is a great deal of political influence, according to a June 2026 Pew Research Center survey. Similar shares say more specifically that political interests impact which news stories get covered.
Partisan differences have narrowed in recent years. The share of Republicans who say government and political interests influence news organizations a great deal fell from 67% in 2024 to 54% in 2026, while the share among Democrats rose from 34% to 46%.
📊 Chart of the week
This week’s chart comes from a recent Center analysis from the Pew-Knight Initiative looking at Americans’ online news engagement habits.
Many Americans privately share or chat about news with others (56%) and like or save posts about news (45%). But fewer publicly post, share or comment about news online (26%).
| Percentage | |
|---|---|
| Privately chatted about or shared news | 56 |
| Liked or saved posts about news | 45 |
| Publicly posted, shared or commented about news | 26 |
👋 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 Michael Lipka and copy edited by Anna Jackson.
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