Variety

The reporting we cite

12 stories, each opening at its source.

• Variety — 60 Minutes shake-up: CBS ousts Tanya Simon, Vega, Alfonsi; taps Bilton
• Variety — 'Sinclair Broadcast Group Denies Trump Campaign Claim of Deal for Favorable Coverage' (Smith's denial)
• Variety — 'NAZA' review
• Variety — fired correspondent says she was pushed to report events 'that never happened'
• Paramount-WBD will be 38.5% owned by Middle Eastern funds — Variety, April 2026
• Variety — 'Macklemore Speaks Out After Being Dropped From Ed Sheeran Tour' (the MetLife 'Free Palestine' speech and 'Hind's Hall')
• WGN, KTLA, WPIX layoffs tied to merger debt · Variety, February 2026
• Variety — 'Robert Kraft Defends Banning Macklemore From Ed Sheeran Tour' (his full statement)
• How strong is the state AGs’ lawsuit — Variety analysis, July 2026
• Variety — '60 Minutes' firings spur fear at CBS News
• David Ellison considering tapping Elon Musk for Paramount investment — Variety, Sept. 2026
• Variety — Did Lesley Stahl consider quitting '60 Minutes'? CBS calls it a 'twisted, ludicrous narrative'

Where their work appears on this site

• The Illusion of Local News →
• In Their Own Words →
• The Editor-in-Chief →
• The Ellison Press →
• The Stadium Double Standard →
• Israeli Influence on the United States →
• Media Ownership →
• Who Controls What You Get to Know →

How we graded the claims built on their work

11 FACT · 2 PROBABLY TRUE · 1 SOME SMOKE. A grade is our reading of the public record on one claim, not a verdict on the person.

1. 'Black Thursday': the newsroom cleared out.

   FACT
   The Editor-in-Chief →

2. 'We are here to deliver your message': the chairman, the President, and a disputed deal.

   FACT
   The Illusion of Local News →

3. 'Yes. Completely.' — one soldier, asked the question directly.

   FACT
   In Their Own Words →

4. A coordinated steer, or the friction of a reinvention?

   SOME SMOKE
   The Editor-in-Chief →

5. Gulf sovereign-wealth backing: 38.5% at close

   FACT
   Media Ownership →

6. Gulf sovereign-wealth backing: 38.5% at close

   FACT
   The Ellison Press →

7. Macklemore was dropped from Ed Sheeran's stadium tour after a 'Free Palestine' performance.

   FACT
   The Stadium Double Standard →

8. Nexstar-Tegna and the FCC waiver

   FACT
   Media Ownership →

9. Robert Kraft confirmed barring Macklemore from Gillette — citing 'no platform for hate speech' — and his reasoning is on the record.

   FACT
   The Stadium Double Standard →

10. The 12-state antitrust lawsuit to block the WBD deal

    FACT
    Media Ownership →

11. The 12-state antitrust lawsuit to block the WBD deal

    FACT
    The Ellison Press →

12. The exodus, and who got reassigned.

    FACT
    The Editor-in-Chief →

13. The loop closes: Ellison bankrolled Musk's Twitter takeover — now Paramount is reportedly weighing a Musk check for the Warner deal.

    PROBABLY TRUE
    The Ellison Press →

14. The settler-violence fight: Lesley Stahl and 'Lost Sheep.'

    PROBABLY TRUE
    The Editor-in-Chief →