IHIP News: REAL REASON Anderson Cooper LEFT CBS News Amid Bari Weiss & Trump's HOSTILE TAKEOVER!

Today, I am joined by former CNN senior. media reporter. He left CNN and founded. Status, an independent media industry. newsletter and podcast. Welcome to I Hit. News, Oliver Darcy. Oliver, how are you. today? I'm doing well. How are you? Very. well. I mean, I say that, but then you. think about what's going on with the. government and you're like, can I say. that? It's this weird split-screen life. that we're living. I'll tell you, I'm. not doing as well as Kash Patel in that. locker room. Oh [laughter] my god.

That is so bad, Oliver. It's just so. embarrassing that the head of the FBI. is behaving. that way and stealing valor. Yeah, um quite a moment. But uh we're. we're we'll we'll try to be as amped up. as him. >> [laughter]. >> Okay, let's get to the uh CBS and Barry. Weiss and Anderson Cooper leaving 60.

Minutes. You broke this story, and what. is the real reason why Anderson Cooper. left 60 Minutes? Well, officially, as as. you know, he um cited family and saying. he wants to spend more time with kids. Uh but the reality is behind the scenes. he had grown quite uneasy with the. direction CBS News was taking under. Barry Weiss and under David Ellison's. ownership. Um and that's according to. two people familiar with his. decision-making um on this. He you know,

was offered a renewal deal. CBS News. came to him. They wanted him to renew. In fact, they not only wanted him to. renew, they wanted to make him the face. of 60 Minutes and expand his footprint. at the network. Barry Weiss was very. keen on this. Um but at the end of the day, I think he. decided that he didn't really feel. comfortable being associated with Barry. Weiss's version of 60 Minutes, her. version of CBS News. And you know, Anderson Cooper does not need the the. money. He already has a CNN show. He has.

a hit podcast. And so, he ultimately. decides, I'm just going to pass on this. I'm not going to be here. And I think. the real question is, what happens to 60. Minutes going forward? Is he the first. big name correspondent to leave? Or. will, you know, Lesley Stahl and Bill. Whitaker and Scott Pelley and others, will they follow suit soon? So, it's interesting, you know, we all. grew up with 60 Minutes. It's just like. a part of your childhood hearing the. clock tick. And then you think about.

the Ellison family. They're. multi-billionaires. multiple times over. So, they're. Based on what they're doing, they're not. really getting into media. to make money. It's just my opinion. It. looks like they're getting into media to. control. narratives, which is the opposite of. what the media should do and what the. administration wants, which is. propaganda channels. And so, Bari Weiss's role at CBS, is she. operating under like just misguided.

hubris that she thinks she's so great? Or is she executing Larry Ellison's. desire to control American media. narratives despite profit or a little. bit of both? Your opinion. I think it's. a mixture of a lot of things. I think. Bari Weiss. has certainly a point of view that she. started her own outlet, The Free Press, with um I think it's often misguided. Um and I think her editorial philosophy,

which I think really comes down to. >> [snorts]. >> equalizing both It's like a false both. sidesism, right? Like we're going to. give Donald Trump his say, and we're. going to give someone else their say, and people can figure it out. And both. sides are are maybe equal. I think I. think that's been her philosophy. And I. think that David Ellison is has become a. big fan of hers. That's that's according. to my understanding. I'm talking to. people around him. He's a big fan of the. free press, and he brought her in to. I think. um. he I believe he thought he was going to. digitally invigorate the network with. someone who he views as having started a.

successful digital business on Substack, but also I think there's no doubt that. they want to um placate this. administration, and they want to um. curry favor so that they can get some. additional deals done that require. government approval. And right now. you're seeing them make a hostile. takeover play for Warner Bros. Discovery, which is the parent company. of company of CNN and HBO and obviously. Warner Bros. Pictures, and that deal. requires government approval, and their.

main argument to shareholders is we. think we're the best suitor for this. company because we are basically friends. with the Trump administration, so we can. get this deal through. Netflix, which is. the company that has actually struck a. deal with Warner Bros. Discovery for. some of its assets, they're saying they. can't get the deal done. We can get the. deal done because Donald Trump likes us. And so obviously Donald Trump does not. care about what Paramount puts on. Paramount Plus. He's not watching, you. know, Land Man or Yellowstone. He's.

watching CBS News and 60 Minutes. And um. and they don't want to rock that boat. too much, and so I think you're seeing. Bari Weiss. um. try to avoid landmines and is steering. this network obviously in a more. in more MAGA-friendly waters. I don't. think she's outright MAGA, but I. certainly think she's she's uh you know, not throwing the fastballs that uh. others would throw in her position. I think it would be remiss if we didn't. discuss the fact that Larry Ellison.

um is a hardcore Israel supporter, and. he actually donated money to the IDF in. the middle of a genocide. Bari Weiss is. a hardcore Israel supporter, right? So. they have this in common. All of the capitulations that you see. from law firms to media to corporations, you would think if you were reading. about this that and not watching it, you. never seen a video of him like 300 years. from now. Well, he must be 25 or 30 if. all of these people are going to suck up.

to him like this. And the fact that he's like 80 and. they're all like just. you know, completely capitulating moral. total moral collapse. makes me think, okay, what is their game plan here? I mean, clearly Larry Ellison. is aligned with Benjamin Netanyahu's. idea that we have to control TikTok. in order to control narratives. And. that's what scares me so much about. this. They're using Trump, the biggest.

of a president we've ever had. Let's face it. There's no deep way to. put it. As a useful idiot. I think that I think that what's. alarming is if you look around at the. media landscape right now, it's very much controlled by. billionaires who are bending the knee to. Donald Trump, right? If you look at all. the major, you know, whatever what. happened at Disney with Jimmy Kimmel, you see that situation playing out. You. see obviously what's happening at CBS. right now, Jeff Bezos with the. Washington Post, Patrick Soon-Shiong.

with the Los Angeles Times. Like down. the list it goes. You see billionaires. and corporations capitulating to the. president. And it's what's really sad. about it is that like if you think about. the people who are supposed to safeguard. society and um push back against the. authoritarians, it's. the most powerful people, right? They're. supposed to safe These are the people. who also portray themselves as like we. stand up for democracy um back in 2016. and like we have fact-checking and we're.

going to hold this administration. accountable. It shouldn't be the average, you know, Joe on the street who's like taking up. his Saturday, you know, while working. double duty shifts to protest uh some of. these actions. it should be the Mark. Zuckerbergs of the world or the Jeff. Bezos, the people who have unlimited. money, who have amassed so much power, and who are obviously collectively much. stronger, I think, than the person in. the Oval Office. Instead, you've seen. them being the most selfish and do. everything they can to safeguard their.

own wallets. And I think that's what's. really alarming is like you would never. think that sort of thing would happen in. America, I guess. You would think that. these like powerful men would show some. backbone. And at the end of the day, they're not the ones doing anything. It's it's really the American people in. the streets saying, "We've had enough.". All right. So, you see these. uh traditional media structures that. have all the money in the world bending. the knee to him. But, then you have.

independent media, which is growing at. an astronomical rate. Cable news is kind. of now like the typewriter to the. iPhone. And so, the space that you and I. are on right now is kind of like the new. iPhone of it. And you see Pam Bondi and. Donald Trump go after Don Lemon, independent media. And I understand that. you've cut covered this closely. Do you. think that this is a scare tactic by the. administration to try to silence. independent media voices like yours and.

mine? Of course. I think that's exactly. what they're doing. I mean, I think this. is very evident that they are trying to. intimidate. um the press. And not only, I think, the. new media, which I do think that they. certainly Donald Trump, who is a good. study of the media, understands the. power. That's why he did all those. podcasts with the manosphere in 2024. But, they want to silence everyone, right? They're filing lawsuits against. The Wall Street Journal. They're they're. going after The New York Times. They're. they're threatening everyone. And that's.

certainly to chill speech. And it's so. ironic because Donald Trump and his. administration came in as supposedly. being pro free speech. Remember Donald. Trump in the Oval Office I think on. inauguration day signed some random free. speech thing. I am the free speech. president. And really in practice he is. doing everything he can to silence his. critics. He doesn't believe in free. speech for anyone who doesn't agree with. them. And and I think that certainly. having the FBI.

arrest on Lemon and charging him after. two courts rejected, you know, their. their. them doing this. I think that is there's. no question this is meant to send a. chill down the spine of every journalist. covering this administration, particularly those in new media who. don't have the resources of a billion. dollar company behind them. Does it send a chill to you? Do do. cuz it doesn't I don't know if maybe. I'm wrong about this, but I'm not scared.

of them. I'm not scared of the fascist. I see them as just such. shape shifters. I mean I see Kash Patel. acting like a nut. You see Donald Trump. more concerned about his decorating. You. see Pam Bondi can't even stand up for. victims of child rape. You know, she. walks in there and so like these I don't. have I'm not scared of them. I'm more. scared of. the pain that they exact on marginalized. people in this country than I am.

personally scared of them. What's your. take on on being scared by their. actions? >> I'm not scared of them, but I do think. they can. cause and inflict pain on people they. want to. And even if you have no legal. case, which I think you know, every time. he files one of these lawsuits we always. ask legal experts like what do you make. of it and they always say this is. absurd. This is not this is meritless etc. etc. But. you know, these companies have. law you know, lawyers and and a lot of.

capital behind them to defend themselves. against meritless lawsuits. You know, the president of the United States using. the federal government to go after. someone like Don Lemon, that's going to. be very expensive and very difficult. Right now, he has the DOJ the DOJ has. his phone. Yeah. Who knows what they're. doing with it? Right? They're going. through his text messages. They can. inflict a lot of pain on people. So, am. I scared of these people? No. And will. we ever back down or soften our. coverage? Definitely not. Right. >> But, I don't think I think it's. important to realize that they can push.

a lot of painful buttons for people. And. that's the whole point. They want to. make examples. And the minute you start. letting that fear or like, you know, seep into coverage is I think that's. you know, you don't you can't allow. that. And I I unfortunately think that's. what's happening in a lot of other media. outlets, but um. we shouldn't downplay what they're doing. either. And even though they're a very. incompetent bunch, Don Lemon's going to be stuck in court. for for a while and it's not going to be. a comfortable.

next several months or years for him. Yeah. I I completely agree with your. take on that. They can make your life. absolutely miserable and expensive. Um. all right. Looking ahead the media landscape for. heading into the midterms in 2026, something that bothers me, like I think. about Elon Musk owning the algorithm. algorithms of X. I think about Mark. Zuckerberg who said that Joe Biden, an. 80-year-old man, made him feel neutered. I think about this neutered man owning.

the algorithms of Instagram, of. Facebook, and all of the AI people. And. I worry about the way people get their. news now in little quick bites. Like. you're on your phone, it's like, "Oh, it's a cute cat. Oh, there's the punch. the monkey. Oh my god, somebody got shot. in Minnesota. Oh, look, this would be a. great vacation spot." It's real. disjointed the way we're processing. information now. How much of a worry do you have about. these um morally collapsed.

neutered, their words not mine, billionaires controlling controlling the. algorithms? I think it's, you know, goodness, I think it's very worrisome. Um and I think. it's. really shameful that our um regulators. and Congress have and you know, our. lawmakers in Congress have not passed. any sort of regulation to keep these big. platforms in check. Um but seeing what. they have done since Donald Trump took. office, whether it's Mark Zuckerberg. removing protections for misinformation,

um hate speech, uh eliminating. fact-checking, or you're seeing what. Elon Musk has done, which is turn uh. Twitter into X, which is now basically a. MAGA fever swamp. Um and you look around. uh all the tech companies, even YouTube, you know, YouTube platformed OAN, the. right-wing conspiracy channel on YouTube. TV. Um and and so you see what the the. decisions they're making, and it feels. like all the guardrails are gone. You. know, there were some guardrails that. were erected after Donald Trump won in.

2016 when people grappled with the fact. that misinformation um misled a lot of. people, and um they seemed to take it. seriously. And then after Donald Trump. um incited the insurrection, they booted. him from their platforms. They they. showed some backbone. And now it's like. we've completely gone back to square. one. There's it just seems like there is. no nerve from these platforms to stand. in Donald Trump's way, and you know,

with with. Larry Ellison owning a piece of TikTok. now, um and again not wanting to anger. the very thin-skinned man in the White. House, you. I don't know, you you really start to. wonder. how these algorithms are going to be. used. And even if they're not tilted in. one way or another, I think you could. certainly argue that on X they are. certainly tilted toward Elon Musk. But. even if they're just totally neutral, I. think the absence of having like some. antibodies in the system in the, you.

know, form of fact-checking or not. allowing misinformation to run rampant. on the platforms, I think that ends up. benefiting Donald Trump because he's the. he's he's happy to play in the mud. He's. happy to play dirty. He's happy to lie. and misinform. And I think typically on. the other side, Democrats are not. engaging in that sort of behavior. But. if you can poison the well just a little. bit, cloud the, you know, cloud. everything for everyone, it ends up. benefiting Donald Trump. And so,

um, you know, I don't know. I I I I worry that that. everyone is just getting information. from the these these apps on these. phones and um. there are really no protections on there. anymore. Yeah, and I Larry Ellison acquiring. TikTok was really the the um a gift to. Benjamin Netanyahu. Benjamin Netanyahu. had a conference where he sat down with. American influencers and said, "We need to own TikToks. It it it is the. next place where we need to go to fight.

this war, which is a propaganda war. because so many Americans saw what was. happening in Palestine. And it it it's bothering. It's I mean, watching little kids get blown up and. shot and people's houses being. annihilated is really a problem. So, you. have people that are associated with. Israel now that are saying stuff like. now that the TikTok images are. subsiding, they're intentionally they don't want us. to see the truth about what murderous.

fascist um war criminal Benjamin. Netanyahu is doing to Gaza, which also. now we know from Axios is why Kamala. Harris because the Democrats didn't have. moral clarity on that. And and even at. home, you think look at like what's. going on with these ICE apps, right? Where people are. um, you know, they're they're reporting. ICE and Apple, I think and Google have. taken some of these ICE apps away um, and the administration is pressuring.

companies like Meta to um, crack down on. these groups that are sharing, you know, um, where where ICE is policing. And you. know, and these companies are complying. And so, uh, again, it really I think. there's a big issue when. our information flows through people who. have no actual principles. And what. we've seen in this administration is. that all these principles these. companies claim to have, they don't. They just they're apparently.

very flimsy, right? Like after the. insurrection, I remember everyone came. out and they said, "We're not donating. to anything, you know, uh, members of Congress who supported the. um, the uh, the stop the steal stuff. We're not. going to support them. We're not going. to We're going to completely back off. um, you know, uh, associating ourselves with anyone that. pushed the big lie. And I think there. was a real question of whether like Fox. News was even in that boat, right? I. mean, obviously they were pushing.

election misinformation. They spent $787. million. settling with one voting uh, technology. company. And it's like, you know, there. was there were questions with like. should Comcast be. beaming Fox News into everyone's homes? And we are so far from that conversation. now. It's like again, all these all these. principles these companies claim to have. turn out to be total BS. They have none. And uh, maybe we shouldn't have been so. naive to even believe anything um, that. they had they they they cared about it, you know,

on being good citizens of the, you know, of our democracy. But um, I think that's. been. really remarkable to see, too. Yeah, I uh, had Kara Swisher on the pod. and she said that the big tech guys. believe in nothing and if Kamala would. have won they'd have their pronouns in. their company bios and I thought, you. know, that's. that's probably exactly it. They're just. billionaire prostitutes. Oliver, thank. you so much for joining me and I wish. you the best of luck with your new. venture.

status and I hope to collaborate with. you again soon. Thank you so much. >> [music].