Mediaite One Sheet: Trump Vs. Netflix, Kash Patel’s Boondoggle, Colbert Shockwaves

The Big Picture

The chattering class woke up Monday with a lot on its plate. MAGA influencers are turning up the heat on Netflix and its board member, Susan Rice, while the Colbert/CBS/FCC soap opera found new legs on Capitol Hill. FBI Director Kash Patel‘s Olympic beer-spray moment became a Rorschach test for media loyalties — with the left calling it a dereliction of duty and the right calling it a celebration. The BAFTA Awards handed the Oscar race a shakeup, then handed it a racial slur incident that overshadowed everything. And Peter Attia is finally out at CBS News, weeks after the Epstein files made his continued presence untenable.

Today’s sources: CNN’s Reliable Sources | Status | The Bulwark (False Flag) | The Bulwark (The Triad) | The Ankler (Prestige Junkie) | The Ankler (Series Business) | Politico Playbook | Poynter | Barrett Media | Newsbusters | CJR | Nieman Lab | Page Six Hollywood | Simon Owens

Top Story

MAGA TURNS UP THE HEAT ON NETFLIX

The story started with a Truth Social post and a Laura Loomer screed. By Monday morning, it had become the clearest test yet of whether the Trump administration will use regulatory muscle to punish a media company for the politics of its boardroom.

Trump’s demand — that Netflix fire board member Susan Rice or “pay the consequences” — was triggered by Loomer’s claim that Rice had threatened Trump supporters when she warned that companies bending the knee to Trump “are going to be held accountable” when Democrats return to power. Loomer framed it as Rice “threatening half of the country with weaponized government and political retribution.” Sen. Ted Cruz amplified the framing: “Does Netflix stand by their board member threatening punishment & persecution for half of America?”

CNN’s Reliable Sources‘ Brian Stelter was careful to note what Rice actually said versus what Loomer claimed she said — a distinction the MAGA media ecosystem largely ignored. Stelter also flagged the irony: Trump threatening a private company over its board composition is precisely the kind of government meddling that traditionally conservative free-market types would decry. He noted that New York Post columnist Charlie Gasparino acknowledged the Rice controversy plays into “GOP skepticism of Netflix’s politics” — while also openly telling investors they should “take the money and run” on any Paramount counteroffer, suggesting the Netflix-WBD deal only clears DOJ antitrust “if the presidential election were tomorrow and a Dem is in office.”

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, in London for the BAFTAs, batted away the politics with a line that will define the coverage cycle: “He likes to do a lot of things on social media.” On the merger itself: “This is a business deal. It’s not a political deal.”

Status‘ Oliver Darcy covered the Paramount bid subplot — the David Ellison-led company submitted its revised offer Monday as the negotiating window closed — while keeping the political pressure front and center. Simon Owens went further, arguing Netflix comes out ahead regardless of who wins the WBD bid: if it gets the deal, great; if not, it forces Ellison to overpay and saddle Netflix’s biggest competitor with debt for years to come.

What the newsletters largely avoided interrogating: the precedent being set. If a president can threaten a merger based on the political views of a board member, what merger is safe? Stelter gestured at it. Nobody went all the way there.

TAKEAWAY: Loomer lights the match, Trump posts the threat, Sarandos plays it cool, and the media class covers the drama without quite reckoning with what it means that the DOJ’s antitrust review of an $83 billion deal now runs through Truth Social.

Three Takes

KASH PATEL’S OLYMPIC HANGOVER

The FBI director flew to Milan on a government jet, held some meetings, and was caught on video spraying beer and screaming in a locker room while the U.S. men’s hockey team celebrated its first gold medal since the Miracle on Ice. Then he came home and attacked the reporters who covered it. The newsletters sorted the story very differently depending on where they sit.

Brian Stelter, CNN’s Reliable Sources: Methodical. Stelter reconstructed the FBI’s denial campaign — spokesman Ben Williamson spent days ripping MS NOW’s Ken Dilanian for reporting Patel would be partying on the taxpayer dime, calling Dilanian’s outlet a “rag.” Then the video dropped. Stelter framed it as a credibility problem for the bureau, not just for Patel personally, and noted the trip coincided with a Mar-a-Lago shooting, cartel violence in Mexico, and possible Iran strike preparations.

Oliver Darcy, Status: More prosecutorial. Darcy zeroed in on the attack-the-press response — Patel posted a screenshot of the FBI’s email to reporters as a self-own, the email insisting he wasn’t on a “personal trip” while confirming the trip happened. Fox hosts Jesse Watters and Laura Ingraham defended the antics, with Ingraham asking “How dare he celebrate with the athletes?” Former FBI deputy director Dan Bongino told critics to “keep crying.”

Jorge Bonilla, Newsbusters: The conservative counter-framing. The networks’ Patel coverage amounted to “collective freakout and whining” that conveniently gave them cover to skip the White House’s “National Angel Family Day” event honoring families of Americans killed by undocumented immigrants. In Newsbusters’ telling, the media’s obsession with Patel’s beer wasn’t journalism — it was selective outrage that buried a story the left didn’t want told.

TAKEAWAY: Stelter sees a credibility crisis. Darcy sees a press freedom story. Newsbusters sees a coverage agenda. All three are describing the same locker room. None of them are entirely wrong.

📰 Top Reads 📰

Status, Oliver Darcy
THE COLBERT AFTERSHOCK REACHES CAPITOL HILL: A week after Stephen Colbert stunned viewers by claiming CBS barred him from airing a Democratic Senate candidate interview, Sen. Richard Blumenthal sent a letter to Paramount boss David Ellison demanding records and answers on the network’s compliance with FCC chair Brendan Carr‘s equal-time pressure campaign. Status obtained the letter. … QUOTE (Blumenthal): “Paramount’s acquiescence to political pressure raises the alarming prospect that Paramount is willing to silence free speech to elicit political favors from the Trump Administration.” … QUICK TAKE: Democrats are in the minority now, but they’re building the paper trail for when they’re not.

Poynter, Tom Jones
ATTIA OUT BEFORE HE EVEN STARTED: Peter Attia, one of Bari Weiss‘s high-profile CBS News contributor hires, is out after his name appeared approximately 1,700 times in the Epstein documents. Poynter noted Attia had issued a Feb. 2 statement to patients insisting he was never on Epstein’s plane or island — but that, as Variety‘s Brian Steinberg wrote and Poynter cited, Attia had “maintained a relationship with Epstein long after the financier faced sex trafficking and prostitution charges.” Weiss reportedly resisted cutting ties before the network moved Monday. … QUOTE (Jones): “So Attia is out before he even started.” … QUICK TAKE: It took weeks to reach an obvious conclusion. That’s the real story here.

The Bulwark (The Triad), Jonathan V. Last
HOW TRUMP’S OMNISCANDAL BREAKS THE MEDIA: JVL argued that Trump’s “flood the zone” strategy reflects a sophisticated understanding of media’s finite capacity. CNN has seven program blocks per hour. The Times has six front-page slots. When the government generates more scandals than the press can process, accountability collapses by math, not moral failure. Minnesota’s ongoing federal occupation is his case study: not ignored because journalists don’t care, but buried because Iran, tariffs, and a SOTU left no room. … QUOTE (Last): “Trump’s ‘flood the zone with shit’ strategy is more sophisticated than it sounds. It reflects a deep understanding of a fundamental weakness.” … QUICK TAKE: The news isn’t that the media is failing Minnesota. It’s that the system was designed — deliberately — to make that failure inevitable.

Poynter, Tom Jones
CNN SKIPS ANGEL MOM EVENT, WHITE HOUSE POUNCES: CNN did not air the White House’s “National Angel Family Day” event honoring families of Americans killed by undocumented immigrants. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt attacked the network on X, calling it a “total disgrace.” CNN said it was covering the historic Northeast blizzard. … QUOTE (Leavitt): “CNN doesn’t care about the victims of illegal alien crime. They pretend to be a news organization, but they refuse to cover anything that doesn’t fit the Left’s narrative.” … QUICK TAKE: CNN had a defensible editorial reason. Leavitt didn’t need one. That’s the asymmetry in a nutshell.

The Ankler (Prestige Junkie), Katey Rich
THE BAFTA SLUR INCIDENT: During the ceremony, Tourette’s advocate John Davidson involuntarily shouted a racial slur while Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo were presenting. The BBC’s tape-delayed broadcast aired the slur but edited out a filmmaker’s “Free Palestine” speech — a juxtaposition Rich called “pretty damning.” Sinners production designer Hannah Beachler wrote that the host’s “if you were offended” apology made the situation worse. The BBC later said it would remove the slur from iPlayer. … QUOTE (Beachler): “I exist above it. It can’t take away from who I am as an artist.” … QUICK TAKE: The BAFTAs managed to simultaneously bungle a disability accommodation and a racial equity moment. One ceremony, two failures.

CNN’s Reliable Sources, Brian Stelter
CASEY WASSERMAN ON THE CLOCK: With the Winter Olympics over, scrutiny of LA28 chair Casey Wasserman over his emails with Ghislaine Maxwell is intensifying. Stelter reports Wasserman has told friends he won’t step down, but backchannel conversations between the U.S. and International Olympic Committees about his future are ongoing. Bob Iger has been floated as a potential replacement. Key complicating factor: Comcast CEO Brian Roberts has both great pride in the Olympics and great aversion to scandal. … QUOTE (Reliable Sources source): “The Wasserman controversy is ‘unwelcome and uncomfortable’ for Comcast.” … QUICK TAKE: Wasserman says he’s staying. The IOC is having a different conversation.

Politico Playbook, Jack Blanchard
TRUMP’S TUESDAY NIGHT STATE OF THE UNION STAKES: With Trump polling at 39 percent approval ahead of Tuesday’s State of the Union, Playbook framed the speech as his best shot to reach beyond the base — and his biggest risk of self-sabotage. The chamber will include Supreme Court justices Trump recently called “an embarrassment to their families,” Republican senators he’s called “losers,” and Democratic guests including Epstein survivors. … QUOTE (Blanchard): “Successfully attacking your opponents is one thing. Successfully defending your record is quite another.” … QUICK TAKE: Thirty million people tuning in, enemies in every seat, and a man constitutionally incapable of staying on script. What could go wrong.

CJR, Liam Scott
THE UYGHUR POST FILLS A VOID: After the Trump administration’s gutting of Radio Free Asia’s Uyghur-language service — which reduced a staff of 20 reporters to one — activist Tahir Imin launched the Uyghur Post, one of the world’s only Uyghur-language news sites, now reaching 30,000 monthly readers with a volunteer staff scattered across a dozen countries. CJR reports the site has already drawn what Imin believes are Chinese state-sponsored cyberattacks. … QUOTE (Sean Roberts, George Washington University): “Since there’s no real way for Uyghurs to express their national point of view inside China right now, these kinds of diaspora sources become an important part of the cohesion of the nation.” … QUICK TAKE: The U.S. government defunded the press serving a persecuted minority. A refugee built a replacement on volunteer labor. The chattering class has not noticed.

Media Newsletter, Simon Owens
META KEEPS FINDING NEW WAYS TO NOT PAY CREATORS: Instagram is adding shoppable “Shop the Look” links to creator posts without their knowledge or consent, directing followers to unvetted products. Owens noted that Instagram Reels generates $50 billion in annual revenue — essentially none of which is shared with creators — while simultaneously limiting creators’ ability to add their own affiliate links. … QUOTE (Owens): “Looks like Instagram found yet another way to fuck over the very creators that deliver it almost all of its value.” … QUICK TAKE: Meta brags about $50 billion from Reels, pays creators almost nothing, and now monetizes their content without asking. The audacity is genuinely impressive.

🎬 SHOWBIZ 🎬

Page Six Hollywood, Tatiana Siegel
THE WOODY ALLEN EPSTEIN WAYFAIR RABBIT HOLE: The Epstein files have spawned a conspiracy theory connecting Woody Allen, Epstein, and a set of outdoor folding chairs ordered from Wayfair for Allen’s 81st birthday — touching off a “Wayfairgate”-adjacent frenzy online. Siegel traced the full paper trail: a two-month advance gift-planning operation, multiple staffers obsessing over shipping updates, real-time FedEx tracking relayed to Allen’s assistant. The chairs cost about $158 each. Siegel was careful to note the conspiracy is unfounded, and that Polaris, which runs the National Human Trafficking Hotline, has said such theories actively harm real victims. … QUOTE (source who worked with Allen): “This is all simply inexplicable.” … QUICK TAKE: Epstein bought a disgraced Hollywood director some cheap patio furniture, and the internet decided it was a code. This is where we are.

The Ankler (Series Business), Elaine Low
TOP MODEL RECKONING GOES NO. 1 ON NETFLIX: Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model shot to the top of Netflix’s U.S. chart after premiering Feb. 16, reigniting debate over Tyra Banks‘ accountability for the show’s treatment of contestants. Low has a scoop: a former CW exec disputes Banks’ claim that she was forced to fire the judge trio — the exec says then-network president Mark Pedowitz directed Banks to shake things up but did not specifically direct her to fire the judges. Pedowitz declined to comment. … QUOTE (Former CW exec): “The success of that show changed the business strategy and direction of UPN.” … QUICK TAKE: Tyra says she was forced. A network exec says otherwise. The docuseries is No. 1. The accountability tour has begun.

Page Six Hollywood, Ian Mohr
INCOMING DISNEY CEO BREAKS BREAD WITH KATZENBERG: Page Six Hollywood spotted incoming Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro dining with former Disney chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg at the Polo Lounge ahead of D’Amaro’s March 18 takeover from Bob Iger. Sources say Katzenberg recently took his grandkids on a Disney cruise. … QUOTE (Mohr): “The two likely had plenty to talk about.” … QUICK TAKE: New Disney CEO has lunch with the last guy who tried to take on Disney and lost. Noted.

👀 What Got Missed? 👀

The chattering class treated Kash Patel‘s locker room beer-spray as breaking news. But here’s the observation nobody made: this isn’t new behavior. Patel has been operating like a wannabe influencer since day one — government jets, presidential speakerphone appearances, Trump banners hung outside Justice Department buildings. Each episode came with an explanation. None of it, standing alone, was disqualifying. But the pattern has been visible for months, and the newsletter class is only now clutching its pearls because there’s video. The real media failure isn’t covering the beer. It’s that nobody connected the dots until the footage made it impossible to ignore.

🏆 Newsletter of the Day 🏆

The Bulwark (False Flag), Will Sommer — On a day full of Tucker Carlson takes, Sommer’s was the best. The False Flag piece went beyond the Loomer-Tucker feud as entertainment and actually explained the structural reason Carlson keeps his White House access despite causing diplomatic incidents, apologizing to heads of state, and being publicly denounced by MAGA allies: he’s too powerful a media figure to push entirely outside the tent. Sommer had the sourcing, the context, and the sharpest framing of any newsletter on the story. On a day when everyone noticed the drama, False Flag explained the machinery behind it.

The Bottom Line

The Kash Patel story, the Tucker Carlson story, and the Netflix/Susan Rice story are all, at their core, the same story: accountability only works when someone has the power to enforce it. Patel appeared to stretch the truth about his Olympic trip, got caught on video, and attacked the reporters anyway — because he could. Carlson caused a diplomatic incident, apologized to a head of state, and was back at the White House by Monday — because the relationship is too mutually beneficial to sever. Trump threatened Netflix over a board member’s speech — because the DOJ is his. The chattering class covered each of these as discrete dramas. They’re not discrete. They’re the same playbook, running simultaneously, on multiple tracks. The only outlet that came close to making that connection today was JVL — and he was writing about Minnesota.