Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share Trump's Authoritarian Propaganda Machine
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
Trump's Authoritarian Propaganda Machine
Larry Ellison and his son David Ellison have won the bid to acquire Warner Brothers Discovery in a $110 billion deal, edging out Netflix. The Ellisons, close allies of Donald Trump, are financing the purchase with $70 billion in debt, including roughly $25 billion from Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds. The final price of $31 per share was more than four times the recent low of Warner Brothers Discovery stock.
What this means for American media is staggering. The Ellisons already control CBS and CBS News through their earlier $8 billion Paramount merger. This new deal adds CNN, HBO, HBO Max, DC Comics, Harry Potter, Star Trek, Comedy Central, Showtime, TNT, TBS, the Food Network, HGTV, Discovery, Adult Swim, OWN, The Learning Channel, Avatar Studios, and the Lord of the Rings and Mission Impossible franchises. Larry Ellison also holds a significant stake in TikTok through Oracle.
Hawk outlines how Bari Weiss, placed in charge of CBS News and 60 Minutes, has already driven away viewers and credibility, including Anderson Cooper, who walked away from 60 Minutes after 19 years. The same playbook is expected to be applied to CNN.
The deeper concern is the Ellisons' intent to gut creative talent and replace programming with AI-generated content to service the enormous debt load this deal carries. With Trump signaling regulatory approval, antitrust challenges are effectively neutralized. Scott Jennings and CNN's panel-yelling format come up as symbols of a media landscape already in decline. The consolidation of this much media power in the hands of Trump-aligned billionaires represents a fundamental threat to independent journalism and creative expression in America.
SUPPORT & CONNECT WITH HAWK
- Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mdg650hawk
- Hawk's Merch Store: https://hawkmerchstore.com
- Connect on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mdg650hawk7thacct
- Connect on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hawkeyewhackamole
- Connect on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/mdg650hawk.bsky.social
- Connect on Substack: https://mdg650hawk.substack.com
- Connect on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hawkpodcasts
- Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mdg650hawk
- Connect on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/mdg650hawk
ALL HAWK PODCASTS INFO
- Additional Content Available Here:
- https://www.hawkpodcasts.com
- https://www.youtube.com/@hawkpodcasts
- Listen to Hawk Podcasts On Your Favorite Platform:
- Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3RWeJfy
- Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/422GDuL
- YouTube: https://youtube.com/@hawkpodcasts
- iHeartRadio: https://ihr.fm/47vVBdP
- Pandora: https://bit.ly/48COaTB
View all episodes
By Hawk
4.8
224224 ratings
Larry Ellison and his son David Ellison have won the bid to acquire Warner Brothers Discovery in a $110 billion deal, edging out Netflix. The Ellisons, close allies of Donald Trump, are financing the purchase with $70 billion in debt, including roughly $25 billion from Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds. The final price of $31 per share was more than four times the recent low of Warner Brothers Discovery stock.
What this means for American media is staggering. The Ellisons already control CBS and CBS News through their earlier $8 billion Paramount merger. This new deal adds CNN, HBO, HBO Max, DC Comics, Harry Potter, Star Trek, Comedy Central, Showtime, TNT, TBS, the Food Network, HGTV, Discovery, Adult Swim, OWN, The Learning Channel, Avatar Studios, and the Lord of the Rings and Mission Impossible franchises. Larry Ellison also holds a significant stake in TikTok through Oracle.
Hawk outlines how Bari Weiss, placed in charge of CBS News and 60 Minutes, has already driven away viewers and credibility, including Anderson Cooper, who walked away from 60 Minutes after 19 years. The same playbook is expected to be applied to CNN.
The deeper concern is the Ellisons' intent to gut creative talent and replace programming with AI-generated content to service the enormous debt load this deal carries. With Trump signaling regulatory approval, antitrust challenges are effectively neutralized. Scott Jennings and CNN's panel-yelling format come up as symbols of a media landscape already in decline. The consolidation of this much media power in the hands of Trump-aligned billionaires represents a fundamental threat to independent journalism and creative expression in America.
SUPPORT & CONNECT WITH HAWK
- Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mdg650hawk
- Hawk's Merch Store: https://hawkmerchstore.com
- Connect on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mdg650hawk7thacct
- Connect on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hawkeyewhackamole
- Connect on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/mdg650hawk.bsky.social
- Connect on Substack: https://mdg650hawk.substack.com
- Connect on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hawkpodcasts
- Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mdg650hawk
- Connect on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/mdg650hawk
ALL HAWK PODCASTS INFO
- Additional Content Available Here:
- https://www.hawkpodcasts.com
- https://www.youtube.com/@hawkpodcasts
- Listen to Hawk Podcasts On Your Favorite Platform:
- Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3RWeJfy
- Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/422GDuL
- YouTube: https://youtube.com/@hawkpodcasts
- iHeartRadio: https://ihr.fm/47vVBdP
- Pandora: https://bit.ly/48COaTB
More shows like Hawk Podcasts
View all
The Rachel Maddow Show
37,329 Listeners
The Bulwark Podcast
12,729 Listeners
The Daily Beans
5,502 Listeners
The Daily Beast Podcast
8,369 Listeners
The MeidasTouch Podcast
51,083 Listeners
No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen
7,666 Listeners
The Lincoln Project
9,290 Listeners
Legal AF by MeidasTouch
5,975 Listeners
The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart
11,000 Listeners
The PoliticsGirl Podcast
4,505 Listeners
Political Beatdown with Michael Cohen
2,361 Listeners
UNCOVERED
1,172 Listeners
IHIP News
4,157 Listeners
Inside Trump's Head
663 Listeners
The Jim Acosta Show
978 Listeners