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!

We have a bumper edition of Breaker tonight – as editors and executives at every media company grapple with AI, we have a yarn about what happens when a former high-flying WSJ and NYT exec takes over a cult publication and looks to transform it.

Also tonight, new reporting from within The New York Times as the fallout continues over their Mamdani college application story, the dirty tricks a media billionaire put in play to stop NBC’s Kristen Welker from fronting a Republican primary debate, and a special photo report of the media moguls and tech titans at Sun Valley. 

Finally, tonight, a new recurring feature from one of the most opinionated people in media – Substack co-founder (and Chief Writing Officer) Hamish McKenzie will share his thoughts on the media with Breaker subscribers every Tuesday. Tonight, he has a lot to say about Zohran Mamdani.

Mentioned tonight:  Bob Iger, Willow Bay, Ted Sarandos, David Zaslav, Dara Khosrowshahi, Bobby Kotick, Sam Altman, Mark Zuckerberg, Michael Eisner, Jon Stewart, Steve Kroft, Lester Holt, Ronna McDaniel, Hugh Hewitt, Shawn Hubler, Nicholas Fandos, Dana Rubinstein, Benjamin Ryan, Dodai Stewart, Jamelle Bouie, Lydia Polgreen, Patrick Healy, Tyler Pager, Josh Dawsey, and Isaac Arnsdorf.

(Exclusive.) After 16 months of protracted negotiations, The Guardian U.S. and its union reached a tentative agreement as Breaker was going to press on Tuesday evening. 

The new agreement includes a 3.5% cost-of-living raise for anyone earning above $100,000 and 4.25% for staff earning less than $100,000. The four-year deal also includes the addition of non-editorial employees to the union.

(Exclusive.) Louise Story experienced a meteoric rise through the ranks of both The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. 

With more than a decade spent at The Times, she worked on multimedia and strategy initiatives and was Executive Producer of the Times’ Live Interactive Journalism project.

Prior to that, Story served as an Investigative Reporter covering stories that led to major reforms and law enforcement cases. She then went on to The Wall Street Journal, where she served as Chief News Strategist and Chief Product Officer & Technology Officer.

She oversaw the controversial "content review," a report aimed at attracting new readers to the Journal and broadening the paper's reach that was ultimately leaked to The New York Times and BuzzFeed.

Now, after several years in the media wilderness, Story is back as CEO of beloved travel publication Atlas Obscura. 

Story has wasted no time putting her mark on the media company that was founded in 2009 by Documentary Filmmaker Dylan Thuras and Author Joshua Foer. 

After addressing staff on April 10th (a day after she was announced in the role), employees left work for a quarterly company holiday known as “Obscura Day”. To partake in Obscura Day, staffers are encouraged to enjoy the ‘holiday’ by taking in weird travel experiences. 

Staff returned to work on Monday and were shocked to learn that…