David Folkenflik

speaker

217 appearances 2 recordings 1 series first heard Aug 2026 last heard 3d ago

David Folkenflik’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 2 in all, peaking in Sep 2026 with 1.

Appearances

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The NPR Politics Podcast · What is Trump's interest in Paramount's merger with WB? · 6 Aug 2026 podcast

But nonetheless, the idea that the journal is reporting is that the decision was made, if anything, prematurely by top officials to prevent the nonpartisan lawyers from deciding they wanted the administration actually to intervene. matched

to either require concessions or to prevent this from going through. matched

Secondarily, there's the Federal Communications Commission, and it's only involved not because of Warner Brothers Discovery's assets, but because Paramount itself owns a couple dozen television stations and the new merger would require a significant infusion of foreign investment. matched

And that foreign investment in the broadcast local TV licenses held by Paramount requires review. matched

The FCC hasn't yet given the OK on that. matched

But interestingly, the head of the FCC, who has worked very closely with President Trump on his media priorities, has signaled that he, you know, supports this deal. matched

You wave the cape and let the bull with the horns just run right through. matched

So Trump has just, you know, first off, talked about it. matched

He has talked about the idea, particularly that CNN, owned by Warner Brothers Discovery, needs new ownership. matched

And he has trashed CNN repeatedly, as we heard, but not just then. matched

He has a close relationship with Larry Ellison, whom, you know, as we've reported, has been an advisor. matched

Trump has been a financial backer. matched

Trump has matched

Trump basically arranged a sale of TikTok operating in the U.S. matched

to a consortium that's effectively controlled by Ellison and for which his company Oracle is sort of a dominant player, you know. matched

And so they essentially have been. matched

intertwined, you know, Ellison promoting Trump's political interests and Trump promoting Ellison's business interests. matched

So you've seen that happen. matched

You've seen David Ellison make gestures and concessions to Trump's regulators and taking over matched

Paramount and CBS in particular, appointing an editor in chief over CBS News who believes that much of the mainstream media is too reflexively hostile to Trump, too anti-Israel and too reflexively woke. matched

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