Dylan Byers
Verified
As seen in:
Puck,
The Grill Room,
Apple Podcasts,
Trending News (Podcast),
Facebook,
CNN,
CNN Business,
CNN en Español,
Forbes,
Medium,
MSN,
MSN Australia
and
Founding Partner and Senior Correspondent at Puck. Author of In The Room and host of The Grill Room. Reach me at dylan@puck.news.
Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Dylan Byers
Buck– Aikman Partnership Frays After Off‑Air Confrontation
We value your privacy We and our partners use cookies and similar technologies to understand how you use our site and to show you personalized advertisements on other platforms. By clicking "Accept All," you consent to these technologies for advertising, analytics and retargeting. Click "Decline All" to opt out of non-essential cookies. You can learn more in our Privacy Policy.
The Battle of Troy
Last week, ahead of ESPN’s Monday Night Football broadcast in Los Angeles—the Bills defeated the Rams, 37–34 in overtime—Joe Buck and Troy Aikman got into a heated confrontation in the broadcast booth. The two men have been calling NFL games together for 25 seasons, and have long been considered a legit inseparable booth combo during an age of notably abbreviated broadcast marriages.
Bari Weiss Derangement Syndrome
On Sunday morning, as CBS News foreign editor Shayndi Raice’s Israel-Palestine death-toll micro-drama was subsiding and network correspondent Jan Crawford’s now-deleted anti–Abdul El Sayed tweet was about to take flight, The New Yorker published a brief contribution to the inexhaustible Bari Weiss canon: a piece of criticism titled, uninspiringly, The Bari Weiss Effect on “60 Minutes.” And why the hell not?
What CBS News’s October 7 Coverage Says About Bari Weiss
This week, in the wake of two network reports about the Israel-Gaza conflict pegged to the anniversary of Hamas’s attacks on October 7, CBS News once again found itself beset by familiar internal tensions. Lesley Stahl, the 60 Minutes correspondent, was reportedly miffed by Bari Weiss’s edits on a package about extremist Israeli settlers in the West Bank. Meanwhile, correspondent Holly Williams was asked to omit the death toll in Gaza from her package on the war for the Evening News.
ABC’s Don Jr. Math Problem
Last week, Palmer Luckey, the brash defense-tech entrepreneur and Trump Pentagon darling, went on a minor jihad against ABC News for erroneously crediting the investment firm 1789 Capital with a $2.5 billion investment in his A.I. defense firm, Anduril. In fact, 1789, where Donald Trump Jr. is a partner, had invested only $50 million—accounting for less than a single percent stake in the company.
The Bari–Mark Marriage of Convenience
On Tuesday, while fielding reporters’ inquiries about the future of his newly formed media giant from Stage 3 at Paramount Studios, David Ellison informed the assembled journalists that he and his new co-C.E.O., Ynon Kreiz, would each maintain two offices in Los Angeles: one on the Paramount lot in Hollywood, and one about 6 miles north on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank.
The Ballad of Mark and Bari
On Thursday, with less than a week until the close of the Paramount–Warner Bros. Discovery merger and the launch of the new Skydance, The Wall Street Journal revealed that David Ellison had asked CNN chairman and C.E.O. Mark Thompson to stay at the helm of the news network. Hours later, The New York Times followed up with its own report, clarifying that David hoped to keep Mark in place “for at least the next year”—that is, past the end of his current contract, which expires in early 2027.
Why Did David Ellison Hire Ynon Kreiz?
TOn Wednesday, minutes after a judge approved the consent decree for his long-gestating merger, David Ellison announced that he had tapped Ynon Kreiz to serve as co-C.E.O. of the combined Paramount–Warner Bros. Discovery—an advanced iteration of the old Jeff Shell role, this time with real authority and direct reports.
Does Trump’s White House Press Pool Ban Even Matter?
In the weeks since President Trump launched his latest skirmish against the news media—banning CNN, MS Now, and Politico from the White House, then refusing to honor a judge’s order to reinstate their access—several news organizations, from the Times to the Journal to CBS News, have published Vox-style explainers seeking to demystify the White House press pool for a national audience that has largely been disinterested in our sausage making.
The Id, Ego & CNN
On Monday, after David Ellison effectively secured his takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, I began soliciting reactions from inside CNN—a divisional branch of some 3,500 people where, despite the industry’s penchant for simplistic narratives, the thoughts and feelings of staff are by no means monolithic. In recent days, trade press and media reporters have characterized CNN staff by turns as panicked, depressed, and even funereal.
What Trump’s Press War Means for Ellison’s New Empire
On Friday, as you know, the president moved to ban CNN, MS Now, and Politico from the White House. Those three organizations responded by filing a joint lawsuit to enjoin the ban. Meanwhile, the White House TV pool—which includes ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and Fox—opted to forgo coverage of the president’s public activities in support of their fellow journalists.
The People Against Bari Weiss
On Sunday night, Bari Weiss, Nick Bilton, and other 60 Minutes friends and colleagues celebrated the launch of the show’s 59th season with a watch party at the CBS News chief’s apartment in Manhattan. Of course, the gang was already intimately familiar with the premiere episode’s packages. Bari had led the monthslong negotiations to secure Norah O’Donnell’s access to “Dude 44 Bravo” and top Pentagon officials.
Bari Enters Her Monarch Butterfly Era
On Sunday evening, a few minutes after Ross Douthat concluded the debut of Bari Weiss and Nick Bilton’s 60 Minutes with a warning about the disruptive power of A.I. and a nod to the importance of “journalism you can trust,” I got the first in what would soon be a minor deluge of texts from media executives, TV journalists, and, as in this case, some newly self-assured Friends of Bari both inside and outside of CBS: “Conversation over?” this person asked. “Ready to move on?”
Here in 60 Minutes & MS Now’s Eternal Sunshine
On Tuesday evening, Bari Weiss, Nick Bilton, and Tom Cibrowski joined CBS TV chairman George Cheeks at San Vicente, in the West Village, for a cocktail reception with the board of the network’s affiliate stations to mark the upcoming season of 60 Minutes. Bari and Tom both gave remarks. Nick, who is about to begin his first season as executive producer, hosted a panel with correspondents Norah O’Donnell, Bill Whitaker, and Ross Douthat. Mini lobster rolls were passed.
Fox Says It Has Parted Ways With Maria Bartiromo After Sudden Exit
We value your privacy We and our partners use cookies and similar technologies to understand how you use our site and to show you personalized advertisements on other platforms. By clicking "Accept All," you consent to these technologies for advertising, analytics and retargeting. Click "Decline All" to opt out of non-essential cookies. You can learn more in our Privacy Policy.
Maria Prepares for Battle
On July 16, President Trump gave a primetime speech about election integrity in which he attempted to revive long-disproven doubts about the legitimacy of the 2020 election. The president alleged that China had sought to interfere with the electoral process, and called on Congress to enact stricter voting requirements ahead of the midterms.
We Know What Led to Maria Bartiromo’s Departure From Fox Business
Yesterday, Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo left the network. The Mornings with Maria host was booted and given a brief statement from the network. Bartiromo was with the network for over 12 years. The final episode aired Thursday, but this departure was months in the making. It was a firing, not a resignation or a departure of her own accord. Dylan Byers at Puck broke it down: NEW: The Maria Bartiromo backstory, per multiple sources familiar….
Maria Bartiromo: Was Fox Business host fired over leaking internal texts to White House? Explosive backstory emerges
On Tuesday, the sudden departure of Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo triggered speculation the 58-year-old could potentially joining the Trump administration. But a shocking backstory on what led to the firing has now put those speculations to rest. Maria Bartiromo poses on the red carpet for the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors. (REUTERS) The first one emerged from the news outlet Status.
UPDATE: Reports Now Claiming Maria Bartiromo Was FIRED By Fox News Original
The story surrounding Maria Bartiromo’s abrupt exit from Fox News is changing fast. Fox News Media initially announced only that it had “parted ways” with the longtime host, effective immediately. The network did not say she resigned or that she was fired. It gave no explanation for the split. Now, reports are explicitly calling it a firing.
The Maria Bartiromo backstory, per multiple sources familiar....(Fired)
Free Republic Browse · Search News/Activism Topics · Post Article Skip to comments. NEW: The Maria Bartiromo backstory, per multiple sources familiar....(Fired) X.com ^ | Dylan Byers Posted on by CaptainK NEW: The Maria Bartiromo backstory, per multiple sources familiar.... Maria Bartiromo wanted to pursue a story related to China and 2020 election voting conspiracies... a major sensitivity for the network given its Dominion and Smartmatic lawsuits.
Inside Anna Wintour’s Galliano Miscalculation
On a Thursday in mid-August, Max Hollein, the chief executive officer and director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, ventured to the Regency Bar & Grill on Park Avenue for breakfast with Jonathan Greenblatt, the C.E.O. of the Anti-Defamation League.
Out of Fox to Give
Last week, Abdul El-Sayed, the progressive Democratic Senate candidate and latest punching bag of the conservative commentariat, appeared on Jesse Watters’ Fox News show and engaged in a rollicking exchange on issues foreign, domestic, and anatomical: Iran, ICE, Medicare, transgender athletes, and Watters’ own preputial status. (“Are you circumcised?” the Senate hopeful asked in an exchange ostensibly about gender-affirming care. “Yeah,” Watters said. “But, I mean…”)
The Wall Street Journal’s A.I. Verdict
This week, in what may be a watershed moment for the media industry, The Wall Street Journal unequivocally endorsed a contributor’s use of A.I. to produce an opinion column. The op-ed, bylined by billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller, called on Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to stop propping up the bond market. At first glance, this seemed like regular WSJ Opinion fare—a Wall Street heavy commandeering the paper’s prized real estate to jawbone Washington—with some added personal intrigue.
All the News That’s Fit to Prompt
This time last year, I asked Meredith Kopit Levien, the prescient and talented chief executive of The New York Times Company, what excited her most about the coming A.I. revolution. Specifically, I wondered how she intended to utilize this new technology to advance her paper’s growth.
The New York Times in the Era of the Journalism-Influencer
On Monday, ESPN reported that the NBA’s nearly yearlong investigation into the Los Angeles Clippers found no evidence that the team’s owner, Steve Ballmer, had secretly funneled money to Kawhi Leonard in order to circumvent the salary cap.
The Joy of ‘60’
In the coming weeks, I’m told, Bari Weiss’s CBS News will embark on an aggressive marketing push to promote the newly revamped 60 Minutes, which is now less than a month away from its September 13 debut. Sources familiar with the plans say that CBS will blanket the airwaves and major markets with a multipronged, cross-platform campaign to emphasize the show’s new look and feel and commitment to its 60-year legacy.
Paramount Dangles CNN as Bargaining Chip in $110 Billion Warner Bros. Discovery Fight
Paramount Skydance Chief Legal Officer Makan Delrahim said the sale of CNN is "on the table" as the company seeks to resolve a California-led antitrust lawsuit blocking its $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. The comments, made at a Politico conference, triggered immediate pushback from media insiders Brian Stelter and Dylan Byers, who cited Paramount sources insisting CNN is not being shopped.
Live Free Press or Die Hard
Earlier this week, during an all-hands meeting at The Free Press, Bari Weiss announced that the company’s president and publisher, Dennis Berman, and its chief growth officer, Daniel Hallac, would be stepping down into advisory roles. On some level, this marked a perfectly natural evolution in the company’s post-deal life cycle: Dennis and Daniel had joined in late 2024, less than a year before Bari sold her startup to David Ellison.
Greenberger’s First 100 Days
Politico, the once-scrappy and relentless disruptor of American political journalism, will celebrate its twentieth anniversary next January—a milestone that underscores just how thoroughly some of the digital media revolution’s insurgents have transformed into their industry’s institutions.
Ellison’s NYT Op-Ed Is a Media Rorschach Test
On Tuesday, ahead of Paramount’s second-quarter earnings, David Ellison published an op-ed in The New York Times that sought to reframe the antitrust battle over his Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition as a political referendum on his prospective control of CNN. “I believe this fight is not really about market share,” the 43-year-old executive wrote. “I believe a plainer worry sits beneath the briefs and the news releases: the news. The issue is whether I can be trusted as a steward of Warner’s CNN.”
Ross Douthat’s Exit Exposes a Crack at the Times
Several weeks ago, while I was trying to glean the type of personalities that Bari Weiss might want for CBS News and the soon-to-be revamped 60 Minutes, a source familiar with her thinking started by listing off a number of New York Times journalists who had become early stars of the paper’s burgeoning video-first era, including The Interview co-host Lulu Garcia-Navarro and Opinion columnist Ross Douthat. On some level, this made a lot of sense.
Ellison’s Escape Hatch & The Zaslav Lottery Ticket
By this point, David Ellison’s long, hard-fought pursuit of both Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery has become a Hollywood saga with more plot twists than the films either studio produces. His latest move to bypass settlement talks with Rob Bonta and the other Democratic attorneys general and instead take the merger to trial has transformed what looked like another regulatory slog into one of the decade’s defining corporate legal battles.
Let’s Talk About X
On Sunday, Bernard Arnault, the famously ruthless and reserved chairman and C.E.O. of LVMH, the $260 billion luxury conglomerate, became the third prominent business leader in as many weeks to join Elon Musk’s X and leverage the platform as a direct line to the public—and, in his case, a means of beating back negative press.
We’ll Do It Live!
On Tuesday, Chris Berend, the former chief digital officer of NBC News and alumnus of CNN, Bloomberg, Esquire, and ESPN, announced that he was taking his talents to Hearst Magazines, where he will become chief content and experience officer—a newly created title that seemed designed to telegraph the 139-year-old publisher’s new priorities.
Democrats Listen to Podcasts, Too
On Monday, my partner Peter Hamby sat down with the progressive YouTube star Brian Tyler Cohen to explore the Democratic Party’s long, somewhat awkward migration into the new creator era. Peter—Puck’s resident political savant, and one of the sharpest minds on the intersection of media and politics—has spent his career straddling both worlds and is a reliably brilliant analyst of the landscape.
The Ballad of Bill Owens
In the coming weeks, I’m told, new 60 Minutes executive producer Nick Bilton will announce a fresh slate of correspondents who will anchor the storied newsmagazine’s 59th season, which debuts in just two months. The names are sure to garner significant scrutiny and attention—the inexorable decline of television news notwithstanding.
Let CNN & CBS News Eat Their Cake
On Monday, California Attorney General Rob Bonta materialized on a dusty patch of trail in front of the Hollywood sign to announce that he and 11 fellow state A.G.s had sued to block the Paramount–Warner Bros. Discovery merger. His complaint dutifully catalogued the threats to moviegoers, theatrical distributors, and cable operators, as well as the familiar harms: extensive job losses, weakened competition, fewer movies and TV shows.
Meta Removes Feature That Uses Public Instagram Posts to Generate AI Images Following Backlash
Meta has now backpedaled on an earlier feature they introduced as public Instagram posts will no longer be used to generate AI images on the platform after the company completely removed it. Meta Removes Feature Using Public IG Posts to Create AI Images Meta AI expanded into image generation earlier this month, adding the ability for anyone to reference public Instagram accounts when creating AI-generated images through the app.
Meta elimina función de IA controvertida en Instagram tras la reacción de usuarios
Meta decidió retirar una función de inteligencia artificial (IA) en Instagram que generó controversia entre sus usuarios. Esta herramienta, lanzada recientemente, permitía modificar imágenes de cuentas públicas sin notificar a sus propietarios, lo que provocó una inmediata reacción negativa. La función formaba parte de una serie de herramientas de IA presentadas por Meta a principios de semana, que incluía el generador de imágenes conocido como Muse Image.
Meta Pulls AI Image Tool That Let Users Remix Public Instagram Photos
Meta has removed a newly launched Meta AI feature that let users generate images by referencing public Instagram accounts, following immediate backlash over its opt-out default setting. The tool was pulled days after its introduction, with Meta admitting it "missed the mark." The reversal comes as Meta also tightens privacy on its Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses by disabling the camera if the privacy LED is tampered with.
Seen & Being Seen in Sun Valley
On Wednesday morning, Jeff Bezos took the stage at the annual Allen & Co. conference here in Sun Valley and, in conversation with Marc Andreesen, regaled this rarefied audience with the civilization-altering opportunities that exist above them in space and on the moon. By building gigawatt-scale data centers in the great unknown, he said, humanity could more efficiently harvest solar energy while relieving the demand for power and water here on Earth.
Hillary's 'Clinton Cash' dismissal is dead in the water
Original Article Posted By: earlybird, 7/7/2026 10:57:52 AM Right about the time Drudge Report splashed a link to Jonathan Chait's latest column across its homepage, I got a g-chat from a Democratic strategist: "This is a big deal," he wrote. "My gut tells me it elevates this story to something bigger and more needing of her response.
One Flew Over the Comcast Nest
On Monday, mere days after Brian Roberts signaled his intention to spin off NBCUniversal and Sky into a stand-alone media business, a glimmer of his masterplan may have emerged. Sky C.E.O. Dana Strong announced a $2.14 billion deal to acquire ITV’s television holdings—but not its studio business, which will list separately.
Between 30 Rock and a Hard Place
On Sunday night, Ted Sarandos was at the Kennedy Center, in Washington, honoring Bill Maher at the annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. During the afterparty, I’m told, one attendee asked Ted whether Netflix would ever get into the TV journalism game. “Ted firmly slammed the door on it, saying very directly that he has zero interest in being in the news business,” a guest present at the event told me.
The Comcast-NBCU Split: What Comes Next
On Monday, shortly after Brian Roberts announced his intention to split Comcast and NBCUniversal into their own pure-play companies—the latest tectonic shift in the industry’s long and protracted dismantling—he stressed to investors that this was “absolutely not” a prelude to future mergers and acquisitions. Needless to say, dear reader, absolutely no one believes that.
Ben on a Wire
On Tuesday, shortly after the news broke that conservative media star Ben Shapiro was eyeing an I.P.O. for The Daily Wire and seeking a new $100 million-plus investment, a well-placed source texted me to offer a more clear-eyed assessment. They are “wanting [and] needing to grab cash,” the source said. “I’ve never known what it feels like to be drowning, but I guess this is that.”
Inside CNN’s Bet on Its Digital “Unicorn”
In May, Paramount convened the top executives at CBS News and CNN for an inaugural videoconference ahead of their impending integration. During the meeting, which I reported on last week, CNN C.E.O. Mark Thompson, executive editor Virginia Moseley, and chief operating officer and digital product lead Alex MacCallum presented Bari Weiss, CBS News president Tom Cibrowski, and others at Paramount with the broad outlines of their business.
MS NOW & Later
Earlier this year, as faithful In the Room readers know, Comcast spun off most of its profitable-but-declining cable assets, leaving MS NOW, CNBC, USA Network, and Golf Channel, among others, in the charge of veteran executive Mark Lazarus. I have long been bearish about this business, which has seemed destined to fall into the hands of private equity and a likely acquire-and-fire doom loop.
Inside David Ellison’s Hunt for a Bari Weiss Deputy
Earlier this week, Tom Cibrowski, the president and executive editor of CBS News and unwitting Sancho Panza of the network’s Bari Weiss era, found himself in a delegation of Paramount technical staff on a tour of Warner Bros. Discovery’s Techwood Campus—the 30-acre production complex in Midtown Atlanta that serves, among other things, as the global headquarters for CNN.
The Times’ Ruemmler in the Jungle
Late last week, several New York Times reporters reached out to me independently to share their latest discontent with the paper’s Opinion section—a department that seems to have become a perennial source of internal frustration, from the Tom Cotton “Send in the Troops” goat rodeo of the early B.L.M. era all the way through Nick Kristof’s recent two-handed grab of the Israel-Gaza third rail.
Show More
loading
Actions
Get in touch with Dylan
Contact Dylan, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack