Writers Strike Coverage in 2007 Was the Nikki Finke Show. Twitter Has Changed the Game

More Media Mayhem • Phone-Flinging Trump • Durbin Says His Piece

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Writers Strike Coverage in 2007 Was the Nikki Finke Show. Twitter Has Changed the Game

Good Saturday morning! With Hollywood at a complete standstill as thousands of WGA writers go on strike, Joe Pompeo refreshes our memory of the WGA-AMPTP showdown from 2007, which was doggedly chronicled by Nikki Finke in the salad days of her breakout blog, Deadline. This week also saw big upheavals in journalism, writes Jill Abramson, who diagnosed what led to the shake-ups at Vice and BuzzFeed, once digital media darlings that are now struggling to weather the industry’s storms.

Zooming out to politics, Charlotte Klein broke a big scoop this week about crass conduct of Donald Trump, who reportedly chucked a reporter’s phones after being asked tough questions. Speaking of the former president, Molly Jong-Fast surveyed the cultural carnage of Trump’s presidency as the civil trial of his rape accuser, E. Jean Carroll, continues this week. Plus, Eric Lutz queried Senator Dick Durbin on the importance of his Supreme Court ethics hearing Tuesday, which saw a frustrating no-show from Chief Justice John Roberts. Thanks for reading, and we’ll see you Monday.

—Jon Skolnik, associate editor

Writers Strike Coverage in 2007 Was the Nikki Finke Show. Twitter Has Changed the Game

Finke’s Deadline was a one-stop shop for strike news during the last WGA-AMPTP showdown. Now, in a thoroughly altered Hollywood media landscape, who needs relentless leaks and furious blog comments when you can just tweet?

Why BuzzFeed and Vice Couldn’t Make News Work

The darling digital upstarts of the 2010s invested heavily in journalism, racking up scoops and awards, but unlike The New York Times, weren’t built to weather industry upheaval.

“Get Him Out of Here”: Donald Trump Tossed NBC Reporter’s Phones During Tirade Aboard Campaign Plane

In a recording obtained by Vanity Fair, the former president lashed out at Vaughn Hillyard over his questions related to the Manhattan DA’s case, demonstrating that the ex-president’s hostile attitude toward the press remains unchanged going into 2024.

E. Jean Carroll’s Quest for Justice and the Carnage of Donald Trump’s Misogyny

The 79-year-old writer’s rape case shows what happens to a country that elects a president who so openly embraces degrading women.

Dick Durbin Wants Supreme Court Ethics Reform—And John Roberts to Get Out of His Way

The Senate Judiciary chairman, whose Tuesday hearing was snubbed by Roberts, thinks it’s high time that the chief justice answers for the scandalous conduct of his court. “When it comes to ethics, he’s citing the separation of powers’ authority,” Durbin tells Vanity Fair. “I think he’s just plain wrong.”