Joe Pompeo
Vanity Fair
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Past articles by Joe:
Substack Faces Fresh Competition in the Newsletter Wars
The six-year-old self-publishing platform is still a magnet for writers, but WordPress and Beehiiv are vying for market share. After last year’s retrenchment, “we’re just coming out of defensive mode,” says cofounder Hamish McKenzie. → Read More
Is the Air Coming Out of Harry and Meghan’s Content Balloon?
After a best-selling memoir and a hit docuseries, the couple’s split with Spotify is kicking up criticism—“f--king grifters,” snapped Bill Simmons—as well as speculation about whether their $100 million Netflix deal could fizzle out next. → Read More
“Don’t Get Screwed Again”: News Publishers Are Banding Together in the Face of AI Threat
Industry leaders are publicly sounding the alarm and privately negotiating with the likes of OpenAI and Microsoft to get paid for their content. As News Corp CEO Robert Thomson has warned: “We need to be more collectively assertive.” → Read More
Chris Licht’s Chaotic Tenure Atop CNN Is Over
The executive’s exit follows a blistering profile of his disastrous year atop the cable news network. → Read More
Can Chris Licht and David Leavy Repair CNN?
David Zaslav’s trusted lieutenant is coming aboard to help stabilize the network as its embattled CEO tries to contain the damage from a devastating Atlantic profile. “This experience has been tremendously humbling,” Licht told staff Monday. → Read More
Once Renegade Vice Anxiously Awaits Its Private Equity Overlords
“You have one of the most wild, historic, rollicking brands of the last 50 years, and now Fortress owns it?” says one Vice veteran. Still, insiders aren’t ruling out that a better offer may yet come along. (And Shane Smith has remarked to some that he would “take back the company.”) → Read More
The Writers Strike Is Blowing Up the Upfronts
There won’t be any Jimmy Kimmel roasts this year as A-listers skip the advertiser showcases. Netflix dropped its Paris Theater plans while competitors lean into news, sports, and reality. Says a WGA member: “The guild plans to make our presence felt.” → Read More
CNN’s Donald Trump Town Hall Was Essentially a Campaign Rally
The network gave Trump a platform to spout lies and insults—and a cheering section! Network boss Chris Licht is defending the debacle, but inside, says one CNN journalist, “the mood is absolutely the lowest.” → Read More
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? → Read More
“We’re in the Zone”: Alex Wagner Isn’t Living in Rachel Maddow’s Shadow
Now blazing her own trail at 9 p.m., the MSNBC host talks to Vanity Fair about Trump-era accountability, her past life in downtown-cool mags, and her previous breakup with the network: “Once you have been unceremoniously dismissed, you’re gonna have a bit of a thicker skin.” → Read More
Inside CNN’s Defenestration of Don Lemon
On the same day that Fox News announced its breakup with Tucker Carlson, Lemon tweeted that CNN had pushed him out the door, a move that followed months of controversy. As one source put it: “The consensus internally is, onward.” → Read More
BuzzFeed News Is Shutting Down: “I’m Shocked and Sad but Not Totally Surprised”
Jonah Peretti announced the end of BuzzFeed’s Pulitzer Prize–winning online news site, citing sluggish returns in the stock market and struggling advertising. The news comes alongside another round of company-wide layoffs at BuzzFeed. → Read More
“The Dumb Money Is Gone”: Is the Podcast Boom Going Bust?
Fewer acquisitions, smaller budgets, diminished dealmaking—but it’s not all bad! “There’s been no recession among listeners,” says one audio guru. “There’s still more room to grow.” → Read More
“This Is Not an Invasion of the Aliens”: How UFO Mania Went Mainstream
Mysterious aerial phenomena have been generating serious news coverage for the past few years. With unknown objects now being shot down from the skies, the latest headlines are out of this world. → Read More
Stakeouts, a Missing Scarf, and a Dying Dog: Inside the George Santos Media Circus
A Long Island Patch reporter is racking up scoops while congressional correspondents chase down the fabulist freshman rep, who may just be leaning into the press frenzy. Says one member of the scrum, “He’s an idiot, but he’s not an idiot.” → Read More
Will Harry and Meghan Fatigue Threaten the Sussex Content Kingdom?
The prince’s record-smashing book blitz, on the heels of a hit Netflix docuseries, is driving blockbuster sales while also drawing some scorn. “Just a giant pity party,” scoffed one Hollywood exec. Now that all the dirt’s been spilled, where does the royal couple’s Obamas-inspired nine-figure media enterprise go from here? → Read More
The Year in Media: 7 Cliff-Hangers to Keep You in Suspense as the Ball Drops
From corporate tumult and high-stakes legal battles to labor unrest and an utterly epic social media meltdown, there was no shortage of captivating story lines to chronicle in 2022. Here are the industry dramas we’re watching into the New Year. → Read More
“No One Is Going to Kill Twitter Except Elon”: As Musk’s Blue Bird Reels, the Arms Race for an Alternative Is On
Amid the chaos, super-users like Kathy Griffin and George Conway are flocking to a growing crop of rivals, including decentralized Mastodon and the Andreessen Horowitz–backed Post.News. (Coming soon: Jack Dorsey’s Bluesky.) But will Twitter triumph in the end? → Read More
With Penguin Random House Out of the Picture, What Happens to Simon & Schuster Now?
The company is doing gangbusters thanks to the Colleen Hoover effect and a string of bestsellers, but Paramount Global’s options for selling the storied publisher are complicated. Will private equity win the day? → Read More
Is a Shake-Up Coming to The Wall Street Journal?
Murmurs that Murdoch wants his Sunday Times boss to run the Journal are back with a vengeance. There’s word of a “mid-December” editor in chief switcheroo inside the newsroom, which could see a return of British rule. → Read More