Good Sunday morning! I'm about to take my kids to tour their summer camp. But first, here's what I have been working on lately.
– When the NCAA women’s basketball final out-rated the men's for the first time ever, I knew the topic for this week's episode of Inside the Hive from Vanity Fair. With the WNBA draft starting on Monday, this episode – "the Caitlin Clark effect" – is especially timely.
– When O.J. Simpson died earlier this week, Rolling Stone asked me to describe "How the O.J. car chase and trial changed media forever." Read the reflections from Jeff Zucker and others here.
– When I began working on a profile of NBC's news boss Cesar Conde for Fast Company, I thought it was a chance to write about business, not politics. But then NBC's Ronna McDaniel blowup happened. I penned this column about why McDaniel's hiring and firing was inevitable, then revised the Conde profile for this month's print edition. It is online now.
– This weekend I'm updating and expanding last fall's Network of Lies for its paperback release in September. Every author appreciates when a book has a long life. Last month I talked about Lies at the Tucson Festival of Books in Arizona (one of the panels aired on C-SPAN's Book TV here) and earlier this week I signed copies at the LBJ Library in Austin, Texas.
– I recently guest-hosted a month's worth of the Apple News In Conversation podcast and explored the many ways in which this presidential election season is unlike any other — from the candidates to criminal trials to disinformation to dissatisfaction with the political system. Check out the episodes below.
– On the BBC the other day, I explained why I hope the new film Civil War is a wake-up call for every American who tosses around the words "civil war" in casual conversation. Have you seen the film yet?
Finally, if you're one of my editors, you should know that I am full of Disney-related story ideas this spring. My family’s spring break trip to Walt Disney World was mind-blowing. There’s so much I want to know about the theme parks; time to do some reporting!
As always, all my fun “content” is over on Instagram.
All the best,
–Brian