There was big, breaking news on Monday involving the potential Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery megamerger.

Or is it big at all?

Honestly, I’m having a hard time believing that this so-called big news is actually going to be anything more than some juicy headlines that are, at best, a small hurdle on the way to WBD becoming part of Paramount.

OK, so first, what was the news? A dozen Democratic-led states, led by California and New York, filed a lawsuit to stop Paramount’s $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. The suit alleges that the merger would violate the U.S. Clayton Act, an antitrust law that prohibits mergers that would harm consumers by weakening competition and increasing costs.

On its face, it does seem like it could be a big deal.

The New York Times called it “the most serious legal challenge to date” for the Paramount-WBD deal. The Wall Street Journal’s Joe Flint labeled it “the biggest obstacle for a deal that will combine two of Hollywood’s biggest producers and distributors of entertainment and news content.” The Washington Post’s Scott Nover said it was the deal’s “sharpest challenge.” The Los Angeles Times’ Meg James described it as a “last-ditch effort to derail a deal that would transform Hollywood.”

The merger would combine two major Hollywood studios and many noted cable networks and franchises. The new company would take control of Paramount+ and HBO Max, CBS and cable networks such as TNT, TBS, Comedy Central, VH1, MTV, HGTV, Discovery and more. And, most importantly for those interested in this newsletter, the company would own both CBS News and CNN.

New York Attorney General Letitia James said, “This merger would destroy that competition, creating a massive company with unprecedented power and influence over news and entertainment across the globe.”

California Attorney General Rob Bonta said, “Consolidation here not only leads to higher prices — it also leads to fewer opportunities for important stories to come to life, and fewer ways for audiences to encounter stories, ideas, and perspectives beyond their own experiences.” Bonta added, “California and our sister states are fighting for free and fair markets, not rigged markets.”

In a news conference in the Hollywood Hills in front of the legendary Hollywood sign, Bonta said, “Movie theaters, basic cable TV distributors and audiences on every sofa and in every movie seat would feel the impact of this unlawful merger.”

But there is also something deeper at play here.

CNN’s Brian Stelter wrote, “The political dimensions are undeniable: Democrats are lining up to oppose a deal that has been blessed by President Trump and other Republicans. Paramount’s allies say the state AG action is a campaign stunt in a reelection year, while Paramount’s critics say the entire merger is a politically loaded move that hands control of CNN and other media assets to a Trump ally.”

That Trump ally is Paramount CEO David Ellison, son of billionaire Larry Ellison. Both Ellisons are allies of the president.

NPR’s David Folkenflik wrote, “Larry Ellison is one of the richest people on Earth. He is also a Trump supporter and adviser — both formally and informally — serving, for example, on a board counseling the White House on artificial intelligence. Last fall, Trump made good on his plans to grant Larry Ellison and Oracle a controlling stake in TikTok’s U.S. operations. The Ellisons took over Paramount just last summer, making concessions to Trump’s chief broadcast regulator and earning the president’s vocal support.”

And let’s not forget that David Ellison hired Bari Weiss to run CBS News. Weiss had no network TV news experience before being given one of the most powerful journalism jobs in America. But it does appear her politics line up with Ellison’s. Just this past weekend, Trump once again made a crack about CNN, alluding to the merger by telling CNN host Jake Tapper, “We’re trying to have CNN go in a normal path.”

But while Monday’s news certainly made a lot of noise and generated a lot of headlines, does it stand a chance of doing something? Can it actually succeed in stopping this deal?

Well, it may not stop it, but it could delay it, and that would be an issue for Paramount. As Flint wrote in the Journal, “If the states succeed in at least delaying the deal, there could be significant financial implications for Paramount.”

The New York Times’ Benjamin Mullin, David McCabe and Lauren Hirsch wrote, “The states are seeking to freeze the deal, which was scheduled to close in the third quarter of the year, while the lawsuit is being adjudicated. That could be costly for Paramount, which has agreed to pay Warner Bros. shareholders $650 million for each quarter the deal doesn’t close, starting in October.”

But actually stopping the deal seems unlikely.

James wrote in the Los Angeles Times that “legal experts say the states may face an uphill climb to derail the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger because the arrival of Netflix, Amazon and Apple dramatically shifted the landscape. The tech giants, which introduced consumer-friendly streaming options, have lessened the influence of traditional companies such as Paramount and Warner Bros.”

By the way, the other states joining California and New York are Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington.

In a statement, Paramount called the lawsuit “a fundamentally flawed application of the antitrust laws,” adding, “We will vigorously defend the transaction and demonstrate that this challenge is inconsistent with sound competition policy and the competitive realities of the media marketplace.”

Trump announces speech

President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that he will address the nation in a televised speech Thursday night.

He wrote in a short post: “President Trump will be making a Speech to the Nation on Thursday evening, at 9 P.M. Eastern. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

That was all he wrote, so he gave no hint of what he plans to talk about.

However, MS NOW’s Jake Traylor tweeted that the speech will focus on the 2020 election. You read that right: 2020.

Traylor tweeted: “Trump’s Thursday speech is slated to address newly declassified intelligence reports that the White House asserts reveal plans by foreign nations to interfere in the 2020 election, according to two White House officials granted anonymity to discuss internal plans.”

There is no credible evidence to suggest that the 2020 election was rigged against Trump.

While citing Traylor’s reporting, MS NOW’s Nicolle Wallace said on air, “This time, claiming that newly declassified reports reveal foreign interference in that election that his own government didn’t know about at the time, lies that seemed to conveniently obscure that he was the President of the United States. All of his handpicked people ran every facet of the government in 2020. His handpicked Attorney General Bill Barr ran the Justice Department. His handpicked replacement for Jim Comey, Chris Wray, ran the FBI. Both of them have repeatedly and publicly debunked these lies that there was any foreign interference.”

(Mediaite’s Ahmad Austin Jr. has more on the MS NOW report.)

Now the question is whether the networks will pick up his speech. As Mediaite’s Jennifer Bowers Bahney writes, “There is likely to be discussion in media circles about whether some networks will take Trump’s Thursday speech. His last several primetime addresses took on a heavily partisan political tone, and there was grousing from some critics about broadcast networks having to ditch regular programming to air it.”

I happened to be one of those critics, noting that Trump interrupted prime time TV back in April to really say nothing new about the situation in Iran.

If Traylor’s reporting is accurate — that Trump will use his speech to renew unproven claims about an election he lost six years ago — it’s hard to imagine that the major networks would actually televise it.

CNN team accosted

CNN’s Jeremy Diamond, left, reporting from the West Bank next to Kamel Musallet — whose son, Saif, was beaten to death by Israeli settlers a year ago. (Courtesy of CNN)

One year ago, Palestinian-American Saif Musallet was beaten to death by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank. A year later, his father, Kamel Musallet, returned to the site with a CNN team led by Jerusalem correspondent Jeremy Diamond. The group traveled in an armored vehicle and wore bulletproof vests.

But what happened next was frightening.

CNN reports, “Within minutes of arriving at the location where Saif Musallet was killed, Israeli settlers descended on the area. As the CNN team and other journalists tried to leave, a group of four settlers blocked the road with their car and tried to keep the vehicles from moving forward. The four settlers were wielding wooden and metal rods and stones. One brandished a knife and tried to puncture the tires of CNN’s vehicle.”

The incident was caught on video by CNN and by independent journalists.

CNN’s report said, “Once the group made it to safety, Diamond called the Israeli military, which is responsible for security in this area. But the soldiers refused to take action against the settlers. Minutes later, the commander of a different battalion arrived and sent his soldiers after the settlers, detaining them until the police arrived. Israeli police say they arrested four suspects before locating their vehicle nearby. They seized clubs and a knife from inside the vehicle.”

In a statement, the Israeli Police said, “The Israel Police and the (Israel Defense Forces) view any manifestation of violence or causing damage to property very seriously, especially when it concerns media personnel performing their work.”

Dan Patrick blasts WNBA commissioner

I had originally planned to write this for Monday’s newsletter, but so much happened over the weekend that I had to put it on the back burner.

In a rare public bashing, sports radio and TV host Dan Patrick had harsh criticism for WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert.

Engelbert had agreed to appear on Patrick’s radio/TV show Thursday. It was a good get for Patrick because the WNBA is facing criticism for a variety of reasons, including questionable and inconsistent officiating, the treatment of players and expansion, among other topics. Engelbert, in particular, has been scrutinized, with many critics asking if the job is too big for her and whether the league, at a critical moment in its history, is being held back by her leadership — or lack thereof.

Patrick, no doubt, would have conducted a respectful but tough interview, and Engelbert would have had the chance to explain herself and talk about the league on a major national platform. Patrick’s show was airing live from the American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, and Engelbert was one of the celebrities.

Patrick’s show heavily promoted Engelbert’s appearance. But Engelbert ended up a no-show.

Patrick said on Friday’s show, “Yesterday, after the show, we waited almost two hours for her. This was scheduled. She was going to do a conference call in her hotel room, and then she was going to join us.”

The interview was set up between Patrick’s producer, Todd Fritz, and Engelbert herself.

Patrick said, “We’re waiting to interview her. They didn’t balk at anything, didn’t say you can’t ask anything. And we thought, OK, we’re gonna be able to finally ask questions about Caitlin Clark, the WNBA, expansion, and a lot of different things. We waited, and we waited, and we waited, and then Todd got word that the commissioner said the WNBA PR staff said she is not allowed to do this. You’re the commissioner, and you’re listening to the PR department, which is fine, but did you check with PR before you said yes to us?”

Wait, doesn’t the PR department work for Engelbert? Patrick was irritated, and he had every right to be.

He said, “We’re just trying to be a journalist here, that’s all. We’re just trying to ask questions. But don’t say yes. And then all of a sudden, somebody probably said, ‘Oh, maybe we shouldn’t do this.’ Well, at some point you have to do this!”

While Patrick was saying this live on the air, Engelbert was nearby, hitting practice golf shots.

The whole ordeal was a horrible look (again!) for Engelbert and the WNBA. She’s the commissioner of a league that wants to be a major sports league. She is obligated to do interviews. But what makes this truly pathetic is that she agreed to do the interview and then backed out, citing others who work for her as the reason why.

Barstool Sports’ Dave Portnoy, a big WNBA fan, tweeted, “This is one of my biggest pet peeves in the world.  When people like @CathyEngelbert say they can’t do something because their agent or PR said so. THEY WORK FOR YOU. Absolute coward move. Anyway this is just yet another example of what show the @wnba is. Worst run league in the world.”

Media tidbits

• The Guardian’s Jeremy Barr with “Is Donald Trump winning his war against the media?”
• CNN’s Jeremy Diamond and Oren Liebermann with “Israeli soldier who assaulted CNN cameraman reprimanded but avoids criminal charges.”
• The New York Times’ Malia Mendez with “PEN America President Resigns After Article About Israel and Cultural Boycotts.”
• Variety’s Brian Steinberg with “NBC’s Best Chance to Boost Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers May Come During TV’s Slow Summer Cycle.”
• Awful Announcing’s Sam Neumann with “Tony Reali launching ‘Real Deal,’ a sports culture podcast with iHeartPodcasts.”
• Front Office Sports’ Ellyn Briggs with “Why So Many Media Outlets Are Rushing Into Sports.”

Hot type

• For The New York Times, Alessandra Schade with “How a Second-Grade Teacher Revived a Beloved Video Game.”

More resources for journalists

• STARTING TOMORROW: Strengthen your 2026 midterm coverage with practical tools for reporting in this free, live 75-minute Beat Academy webinar on July 15, 2026. Enroll now.  
• Step up and lead with influence: navigate workplace dynamics, pitch ideas confidently and level up your leadership. Online group seminar: Aug. 27-Oct. 1. Apply now.
• Learn how to write a memoir with expert guidance in a five-week virtual workshop. Enroll now. 

Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at tjones@poynter.org.

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