Most of the time, law enforcement and local reporters can work hand in hand. After all, a lot of reporting comes from information given to them by the police.

But when the big crowds gather, in the heat of protests, where tempers flare between demonstrators and cops, something shifts.

Like it did in Los Angeles on April 11.

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There’s a phrase in broadcasting for when you’re between gigs: on the beach.

It sounds almost pleasant. It isn’t. It’s more like a kind of gallows humor. Like admiring the view when they’re putting a noose around your neck.

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The following is a fictional “what if” scenario.

Day One — 9:00 a.m. | The House Floor

The vote to impeach Donald Trump has been building for six weeks — slowly at first, then all at once, the way these things always go. What breaks the dam is not a single scandal or a single crime but something more corrosive: exhaustion. Senior Republicans, men and women who have spent years bending their spines into shapes they no longer recognize, have simply stopped bending. A former MAGA congressman from Ohio — a man who once called Trump “the greatest president of my lifetime” on national television — casts the vote that puts the tally over the threshold and then sits very still at his desk while the chamber erupts around him.

The final House count: 241 to 194. Thirty-one Republicans cross the aisle. Trump is now the first and only president to have been impeached three times. The third time, many cable news commentators note, is the charm.

The articles travel to the Senate by courier, as tradition requires, carried by a small procession of House members who look like they are walking to something they cannot take back. Which they are.

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Global press freedom has hit its lowest point in the 25 years that Reporters Without Borders has tracked it.

Far from being a dip, it’s a trend. And there are no signs of it bouncing back.

In its 2026 World Press Freedom Index, the group says more than half of all countries now fall into what it calls “difficult” or “very serious” conditions for journalists. And it’s not just the old threats — arrests, prison, violence — though those haven’t gone anywhere. What’s changing is how the pressure works. It’s more systemic, more bureaucratic, and in some ways more effective.

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Things aren’t looking good for radio. The audience is shrinking. Listening is at the lowest levels we’ve seen.

But I still believe radio has a future, even taking that into account. More on that in a moment.

First, the bad news.

Jacobs Media released its Techsurvey 2026 last week, and if you work in broadcast, you’ll want to sit down. For the first time in the survey’s history, traditional AM/FM listening has fallen to just 54% of the time P1 listeners — that’s the industry term for your most loyal audience — spend with their favorite station. Digital platforms now account for 44%. A ten-point gap.

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The federal government is preparing to do something it hasn’t done in decades.

The FCC is moving to call in all eight Disney-owned ABC station licenses for early renewal — stations in major markets like New York and Chicago, licenses that aren’t due for renewal for years. The orders could come as early as today.

On paper, the FCC will claim the review stems from an ongoing probe into Disney’s DEI practices. Don’t believe it for a second. This is what retaliation looks like when it’s wearing a suit.

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It’s time for a wellness check on CBS News.

What’s happening at CBS Evening News right now looks like a slow-motion car wreck. And a Vanity Fair deep-dive published this week confirms what a lot of us in the industry have been watching with our hands over our eyes.

The short version: Bari Weiss took over CBS News, installed Tony Dokoupil as the evening anchor, and in the first week alone, the wheels started flying off.

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Arguments were heard last Tuesday before the Supreme Court in a little-noticed but very important case that cuts right into how federal power actually works.

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iHeartMedia and SiriusXM may be talking merger.

That’s according to Reuters and Bloomberg, which report early, exploratory discussions about combining iHeart’s nearly 900 radio stations and podcast network with SiriusXM’s satellite programming, along with its own podcast and media businesses. The Wrap adds that music industry mogul Irving Azoff is involved in talks to acquire both and bring them together.

But let’s be clear: there’s no confirmation. Both companies declined to comment. And even if those conversations happened, this is as early as it gets. Most talks at this stage go nowhere.

But what would happen if they did?

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The White House Correspondents’ Dinner is this Saturday. The annual ritual — black tie, awards, scholarships, self-congratulation, a little gallows humor about the state of the business.

And this year, sitting in the room, soaking up every second of it, will be Donald Trump. A man who has called those same reporters “the enemy of the people.” Who has suggested they should be jailed. Who has mocked them, targeted them, tried to sideline them, leaned on their corporate bosses, and worked to make their jobs harder if not impossible.

And now they’re hosting him. The guest of honor. Like the Avengers celebrating heroism with Thanos.

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