Going nuclear: Ryan Lizza, Olivia Nuzzi, and Oliver Stone attend the screening of Stone’s film "Nuclear Now" at Arleigh and Roberta Burke Theater on May 01, 2023, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for Nuclear Now)
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, we have the latest twists and turns in the Olivia Nuzzi/Ryan Lizza saga, including the media outlets that are about to be called out for having knowledge of a series of alleged ethical breaches by Nuzzi.
Also tonight, Lionel Barber is a legend of journalism. He edited The Financial Times from 2005-2020, when it broke some of the biggest financial stories in the world, including the Wirecard scandal and the downfall of WPP boss Sir Martin Sorrell. He is the author of several books (including the 2024 must-read Gambling Man: The Wild Ride of Japan’s Masayoshi Son, about the CEO of SoftBank), and he co-hosts the podcast Media Confidential with former Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger. It is a true privilege and a pleasure that Barber is joining Breaker to give his unique insight on the state of the media from London. Lionel Barber’s Briefing will appear every other week, alternating with Hamish’s Hot Sauce. Tonight, Barber weighs in on the future of the beleaguered BBC and has the runners and riders for the top gig as Director General.
Plus, details about former Politico heavy hitter Rachael Bade launching her newsletter, and The Daily Mail fires their Executive Editor.
Finally, if you spent the Holiday weekend blissfully offline, we have you covered – we were hunting and gathering the best yarns out there for your reading, listening, and watching pleasure and have them all below.
Mentioned tonight: Josh D’Amaro, Dana Walden, Will Lewis, Mark Thompson, Deborah Turness, Katie Davies, Lord Rothermere, Cami Fateh, Emily Sundberg, Wills Robinson, Jen Smith, Michael Brear, Candace Trunzo, Ted Verity, Barclay Crawford, Sean Spicer, Dan Turrentine, Oli Coleman, Brock Colyar, Zachary Weiss, Mitchell Jackson, Jack Conte, Natalie Jarvey, Tom Brokaw, Mark Zuckerberg, Kerry O’Brien, Brendan Carr, Jason Zinoman, Paul Dacre, Dominic Ponsford, David Bauder, Martin Bashir, Julia Alexander, Michael Savage, Mark Sweney. David Folkenflik, Alex Shephard, and more.
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Lionel Barber’s Briefing
Lionel Barber, former editor of the Financial Times newspaper, speaks at the CBI annual dinner at Grosvenor House Hotel, in central London. (Photo by Victoria Jones/PA Images via Getty Images)
(Exclusive.) Lionel Barber, the former editor at The Financial Times, joins Breaker every other week to share his thoughts on the current state of the media industry. Tonight, Barber writes about the leadership crisis at the BBC and who could be stepping in to steer the ship.
The decapitation of the BBC leadership, courtesy of the fast-and-loose editing of a documentary about President Trump, means that the hardest job in British media has now gotten a whole lot harder.
That job is director general of the BBC, a post which combines the role of editor-in-chief with a CEO’s responsibility for budgets, strategy, and dealing with the government.
When the BBC was founded in 1922, the first occupant was John Reith, a strict Presbyterian Scot standing six feet six tall, with a three-inch gunshot wound from the war scarring his face.
Between 2004 to 2012, Sir Mark Thompson served successfully as DG before moving to CEO and President of The New York Times and now head of CNN Worldwide.
The abrupt resignation of Tim Davie as DG, coupled with the departure of Deborah Turness (whom he recruited from NBC as head of BBC News), means that a wholesale management rethink is underway at the nation’s public service broadcaster.
My understanding is that beleaguered BBC chair, Samir Shah, has decided to split the role of DG. Money, politics, and strategy will be assigned to a CEO figure, while a hard-boiled hack will be appointed to get a grip on the newsroom.
As I explain in my Substack post, the management crisis was triggered by a leaked dossier which catalogued numerous examples of alleged bias concerning Israel, Trump, race, and woke culture.
The most egregious was a spliced edit of a tape of President Trump’s speeches, which implied he had directly incited the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol. Trump is now suing the BBC for at least $1bn.
Some BBC insiders yearn for the return of Thompson as emergency chair, but he has his hands full turning round CNN. The future is uncertain, in part because parent company Warner Bros.Discovery is exploring a potential sale and a plan to split into two publicly-traded companies by 2026.
Dom Loehnis, the veteran headhunter, is leading the search for the new DG. Names mentioned include Alex Mahon (former CEO of Channel 4), Jay Hunt (ex BBC and now with Apple) and Charlotte Moore (former head of BBC Television and now more lucratively employed at Left Bank Pictures).
Sir Howard Stringer, former head of CBS News who has served on the BBC board of directors, believes the crisis is serious but should not be exaggerated. “It’s a molehill, not a mountain.“
Guess Who – Don’t Sue?
(Exclusive.) Olivia Nuzzi’s much-anticipated book American Canto hit bookstores on Tuesday – just as the publication she works for, Vanity Fair, debuted its Hollywood edition.
Nuzzi broke her silence to Emily Sundberg’s Feed Me newsletter, speaking for the first time about a series of tell-all Substack posts from her ex-fiance Ryan Lizza.
“The allegations, made by a man I met when I was 19 years old, are another attempt to harass, humiliate, and harm me until I am as destroyed as he seems to be,” Nuzzi said. “It is abuse that I am all too familiar with, now relocated to the public square and dressed up as some sort of noble crusade.”
Breaker has learned the next instalment in that “noble crusade” – part 5 will drop this week. But what comes after that will be…
Bade Bites Back
(Exclusive.) One of the most plugged-in reporters in Trumpworld, former Playbook scribe Rachael Bade, will tonight launch her newsletter Inner Circle.
The twice-weekly Substack will track power in D.C. and build on Bade’s reputation as a scoop getter.
"People in 'This Town' know me for being obsessed with palace intrigue and what happens behind closed doors -- or trying to scoop what powerful people are thinking and what they're likely to do next,” Bade told Breaker. “Expect more of the same in my newsletter."
Bade says she has been intrigued by the independent media space for some time, “watching with fascination as other journalists quit their jobs to build out their own brands and companies from scratch,” she said. It all seemed a bit scary to me — walking away from a solid income, especially given I support a single-income household.”
It was Breaking Points’ Saagar Enjeti who encouraged Bade to take the plunge into the unknown.
“I decided he’s right — and when I started having problems with Politico this year, I decided…