The Latest: Local news crisis in 2026; CNBC’s viewership; NYT in Texas

June 17, 2026

Top stories

■ New Local Journalist Index reveals 2026 data on local news crisis (Rebuild Local) / Is going non-profit the future of local newspapers? (NPR)

■ ‘VP JD Vance says he is "legitimately" worried that someone may have recorded White House Situation Room meetings and leaked the tapes . Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan's recounting of Situation Room meetings in the forthcoming book "Regime Change" is so detailed — and undisputed by the participants — that it has Trump aides fearing a "shocking breach" ... Axios cited anonymous sources, but Vance basically confirmed it during an interview with Megyn Kelly yesterday.’ (Brian Stelter) / JD Vance went on television to plug a faith memoir. 'The View' had other plans (Associated Press)

■ ‘Behind the scenes, Status has learned that top executives at CNN and CBS News have quietly convened for meetings as Paramount moves closer to acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery, uniting the two news operations.’ (Status) / Kara Swisher leaving CNN ASAP over 'incompetent' Ellison (Mediaite)

■ BBC to cut 550 jobs and reduce commissioning spend by more than $100 million as part of savings plan, new director general says (Variety)

■ Arkansas public television set to receive $500K in additional one-time funding (Arkansas Advocate)

■ CNBC sees highest viewership in five years (Talking Biz News) / CNBC to simulcast 11 WNBA games this season (CNBC)

■ New SEC rule could cut radio’s financial transparency in half (Radio Ink)

■ Why The New York Times is expanding in Texas (New York Times) / National welcomes its first Texas culture reporter (New York Times)

■ Spectrum News launches new network in Tennessee (Spectrum)

■ Owner of Denver Post agrees to $13.5 million settlement with city over unpaid rent, will remove sign (Colorado Sun)

■ NewsGuild of New York takes more legal action against Reuters after management threatens journalists (The Wrap)

■ Civil Beat is training the next generation of journalists (Civil Beat) / Jane Barrett appointed head of product, Reuters (Reuters) / 1440 expands leadership team with chief people officer and head of social media appointments (1440) / KPRC 2 news reporter Gage Goulding announces departure (Houston Chronicle)

■ Wired launching forum-style app as added subscriber benefit (Press Gazette)

■ Le Monde blocked the bots . Now it’s working out what to do about paying readers showing up as agents (Digiday)

CRAFT

2 NYT journalists on covering Epstein conspiracy theories

Michael Rothfeld : Drill into both the official narrative and the underpinnings of the pervasive conspiracy theories about Epstein’s death. Question all of it. See what answers we could find. That’s what we did. Let’s face it, if we found that Epstein had been murdered, that would have been a world-shaking story. We didn’t.

Charles Homans : I report often on paranoia and conspiracism in American politics. Many conspiracy theories are absurd, and some people have clear motives for spreading them. But official narratives can be wrong, and strange things do happen. It’s a natural and healthy impulse to seek explanations for why the world is the way it is. ... As reporters, I think part of our job is to help readers think critically about the stories they do and don’t believe. Those stories often exist in the space between completely verifiable facts and pure conspiracism. In the case of the Epstein story, I viewed our project as using reporting to clarify the line between “could happen” and “did happen.” That’s the difference between “just asking questions” and journalism.

-- Excerpt from "How our reporters got at the truth of Jeffrey Epstein’s death" (The New York Times Insider)

CAREER

Making money on Substack as a freelance journalist

“More than 100,000 publishers make money on Substack, and the top 10 collectively bring in nearly $100 million in gross annual revenue (before Substack takes its 10% cut). Substack doesn’t have data to share on the average creator income, but there are now more than 5 million paid subscriptions to creators, writers, and podcasters on the platform. Even so, plenty of newsletters don’t make much (if any) money at all . Speaking from experience, I’ve been publishing my newsletter for nearly two years, and I launched special perks for paid subscribers earlier this year. But I’m still only earning $1,426 annually, before Substack’s cut. It’s a slow burn and a reality check: Collecting payments on Substack is easy, but getting people to pay you enough to make a livable wage can be difficult. It helps if you come to the platform with an existing audience.”

-- Mallary Tenore Tarpley , journalism and writing professor at the University of Texas at Austin’s Moody College of Communication and McCombs School of Business, excerpt from “What journalists gain — and lose — when they go independent ” (Poynter)

COMMUNITY

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