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Cable Guy: The Peacock Stream Team of Brian Roberts and Mike Cavanagh ponder their unconscious uncoupling. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Welcome to the latest edition of Breaker. If this email has been forwarded, you can subscribe here and send your questions and complaints here. If you have a tip, contact the 24/7 Breaker Tip Hotline via text or Signal # 551 655 2343. Anonymity guaranteed!
In tonight’s edition, “60 Minutes” is gearing up for its 59th season, but after new EP Nick Bilton promised "journalistic independence,” CBS News’ Bari Weiss has reassigned a high-profile political story – greenlit to another correspondent – to a splashy new hire. Why are producers now refusing to work on the piece? Find out below.
Plus, we bring you an insider look into the annual Sun Valley Allen & Co. conference, dubbed the “summer camp for billionaires.” Scroll down to see photos of which moguls made the cut this year.
Finally tonight, Breaker dropped by the Prospect Magazine headquarters in London and joined former Financial Times editor (and Breaker columnist) Lionel Barber and former Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger to chinwag on their Media Confidential podcast. We talked about building Breaker, the importance of lawyers in journalism, the Murdochs, and the “Catch and Kill” backstory. You can listen here.
Mentioned tonight: Tanya Simon, Draggan Mihailovich, Cecilia Vega, Sharyn Alfonsi, Nick Bilton, Bari Weiss, Holly Williams, Erin Lyall, Sir Trevor Phillips, Lara Logan, Matt Gutman, Jo Ling Kent, Imtiaz Tyab, Adam Yamaguchi, Douglas Murray, Kevin Dietsch, Alan Rusbridger, Lionel Barber, Brian Roberts, Mike Cavanagh, David Zaslav, Neal Mohan, Ted Sarandos, Bob Iger, Jerry Yang, Bret Taylor, Wendi Murdoch, Mary Barra, Barry Diller, Ken Langone, Rob Manfred, Michael Eisner, Josh D’Amaro, Alex Karp, Dara Khosrowshahi, Brian Grazer, Bobby Kotick, Michael Kives, Sam Altman, and more.
Bari’s 60 Shapeshifting
(Exclusive.) In the wake of the not-so-friendly fire that followed the “Black Thursday" firings of “60 Minutes” Executive Producer Tanya Simon, her deputy executive editor Draggan Mihailovich, and correspondents Cecilia Vega and Sharyn Alfonsi, the new “60 Minutes” EP, Nick Bilton, sought to bring the room temperature down.
“The foundation of ‘60 Minutes’ is its journalistic independence,” Bilton wrote to his troops earlier last month, adding: “We will always make the story the North Star – not relationships nor politics nor anything else.”
But already CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss has compromised that promise of independence by meddling in a politically charged “60 Minutes” story that was already in the works, multiple people familiar with the situation have told Breaker.
Back in May, Simon had greenlit a “60 Minutes” story about the controversial politician …
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⁘ As credited in The New York Times, CNBC, Axios, The New York Post, CNN, Bloomberg, The Guardian, and more.
Sun Of A Pitch
The Breaker beancounter once again kiboshed our trip to observe the mergers in the mist of Idaho with the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference kicking off this week.
While our trademark fedora is missing in action, Getty snapper Kevin Dietsch is not and was on hand at the Sun Valley Resort on Tuesday to capture the tech titans and media moguls arriving for the start of the four-day confabs. Let the schmoozing begin with our first 2026 Sun Valley photo gallery.
The Zas Jean pool: Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav is (HBO) Maxed out in denim as he arrives for the Allen & Company Conference on Tuesday. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Like and Subscribe? YouTube CEO Neal Mohan embraces the tech bro casual look as he arrives in Sun Valley. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Thunder Buddies: Streaming big wig Ted Sarandos arrives at the “Summer Camp for Billionaires” looking like a man who could do with a night of Netflix and chill. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Additional pics of Bob Iger, Jerry Yang, Bret Taylor, Mary Barra, Barry Diller, Ken Langone, Rob Manfred, Michael Eisner, Wendi Murdoch, Alex Karp, Josh D’Amaro, Brian Grazer, Michael Kives, Bobby Kotick, Dara Khosrowshahi, and Sam Altman below.
Support fearless independent journalism.
The rest of this newsletter is for paid subscribers.
⁘ Unlock full access to our twice-weekly newsletter and archive.
⁘ As credited in The New York Times, CNBC, Axios, The New York Post, CNN, Bloomberg, The Guardian, and more.