Tina Tells All

Tina Brown has spent decades at the top of the media world, reinventing magazines like Vanity Fair and The New Yorker with her sharp editorial instincts and unmatched eye for cultural relevance. Now, as she returns with her Truth Tellers Summit and a growing Substack following, she remains as incisive—and candid—as ever.

In a Q&A with Status, Brown dished on who she believes is thriving, who’s floundering, and which legacy outlets will still be alive a decade from now. She shared her preferred picks for the next Vanity Fair editor, reflected on the perils of billionaire ownership, and explained why big scoops are still the secret to a great publication.

Brown also opened up about the shift to writing independently, likening Substack to “swimming naked,” and made a full-throated case for fact-based reporting in what she calls a “republic of lies.”

Below is the Q&A, lightly edited for style.

You just announced the speaker lineup for this year's Truth Tellers Summit. What kind of “truth” do you think is being lost—or distorted—today that this event hopes to defend?

That truth should never be in inverted commas! And the slovenly concept of a post -truth world is just an excuse for journalistic laziness. Given that we increasingly live in a republic of lies and invertebrate media owners are groveling before Trump to protect their multiple conflicts of interest, fact- based, fact-checked, balls-high reporting has never been more indispensable.

If you were Roger Lynch and Anna Wintour, who would you be looking for as the next editor of Vanity Fair?

Kara Swisher! She seems able to juggle as many jobs as Elon Musk. David Haskell is doing a superb job at New York mag. Ditto Maer Roshan at The Hollywood Reporter and I have said I think the solution to the whole problem is an acqui-hire of Janice Min and her sharp, clever Hollywood platform, The Ankler. The best of all would be Keith McNally. He's got the world view, the visual sense, and a great writing voice.

What advice would you give the next generation of editors-in-chief trying to make a splash in 2025?

The same as in my generation. It takes three big news scoops to start to turn a magazine around. There is simply no other plan to bring a magazine back to life. It has to be a must-read, can’t-miss, you feel-dumb-if-you-haven’t-read it. Cf. The Atlantic.

There is a lot of political tension today between newsrooms and their owners, whether corporate giants or billionaires. How would you recommend top editorial leaders thread this needle?

The sad truth is that journalists are only as brave as their owners allow them to be, so find a billionaire without conflicts like Laurene Powell Jobs—and establish a trust born out of success that makes that owner look good. Cf. Ben Bradlee with Kay Graham. Alternatively, foundations like the Scott Trust that owns the Guardian are the next best thing. Every so often, there is the luck of working for an individual like David Thomson, chairman of Thomson Reuters who believes wholeheartedly in news independence as does the Sulzberger family with The NYT.

Of the legacy media brands that exist today, which ones do you think will be around and thriving in 10 years? You can't just say The New York Times!

More than many of the loud-mouthed new platforms think, I suspect. “Legacy media” is an old concept in itself as even creaky outfits are reinventing themselves. Ten years from now, we will for sure still have The New Yorker, The Economist, The Atlantic, WSJ, CNN (yes, I think it will revive), and “60 Minutes,” whose brand is so strong, I suspect even Shari Redstone and the Ellisons can’t kill it. I have no doubt that some of the new upstarts like Bari Weiss’s Free Press will prosper, but people may be surprised to find that dinosaurs still rule the earth.

Name the media leader you believe is doing the best job in the industry—and name the media leader performing the worst.

Well, you gotta say that Jeff Goldberg is acing it at the moment and I’m thrilled he is coming to the Truth Tellers Summit. The worst has got to be Jeff Bezos, who lost 12 of the best Washington Post staff writers to the other Jeff in just the past three months. Also, Emma Tucker is killing it at the Wall Street Journal, a model for turning around a news organization without any of the sturm und drang of Will Lewis at the Washington Post. Also, I’m a big fan of Alessandra Galloni, editor-in-chief of Reuters, who is fast and furious when it comes to foreign news,

You’ve run glossy magazines and edited prestige titles. But now you're on Substack. What’s it like operating in the bare-bones, direct-to-reader newsletter world?

At first, it was a bit like swimming naked, filing into the ether by pressing publish with a quivering index finger. But now, I really love the unencumbered nature of writing Fresh Hell whenever I feel like it and I enjoy being in the midst of a growing experimental community of great voices.

Who do you read to stay sharp and informed?

Oooh, so many. Just for starters, David Frum, Anand Giridharadas, Niall Ferguson, Simon Schama, Peggy Noonan, Shawn McCreesh, Ashley Parker, Ed Luce, David Remnick, Ben Smith, Nellie Bowles, Tunku Varadarajan, Andrew Sullivan, Bill Cohan, Michael Lewis, Adam Gopnik, and, forever Dowd.

• Donald Trump continued his 100 days media tour, appearing for an interview on "Meet the Press" with Kristen Welker in which he said he was not sure he needed to uphold the U.S. Constitution: "I don't know." [NBC News]

  • Trump also moved to end funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities. [NYT]

• The top story on The WSJ's homepage Sunday: "Why There Will Never Be Another Warren Buffett." [WSJ]

• MSNBC debuted its revamped weekend lineup, featuring “The Weekend” a.m. and p.m. On Monday, it will debut “The Weeknight” with Symone Sanders Townsend, Alicia Menendez, and Michael Steele.

• Jake Tapper pressed Stephen A. Smith on whether he is really "prepared to be president," asking, "What do you say to somebody out there who’s watching who thinks you have no political experience, no foreign policy experience?" [Mediaite]

• Mike Tirico suddenly exited Kentucky Derby coverage after a "significant reaction" to his nut allergy. [Deadline]

• David Ellison’s Skydance paused spending on Jeremy Strong's 9/11 drama series as the fate of its merger with Paramount remains up in the air, Nellie Andreeva reported. [Deadline]

• The BBC urged disgraced ex-anchor Huw Edwards to return the salary he collected while under arrest: "Give it back Huw, just give it back." [Deadline]

• Donie O'Sullivan argued "it’s time we change how we talk about conspiracy theories." [CNN]

• The White House celebrated "Star Wars" day by posting an A.I.-generated image of Trump as a ripped Jedi Knight: "Happy May the 4th to you all." [Variety]

  • Trump also posted an A.I. image of himself as pope, offending some in the Roman Catholic community. [CNN]

• "Saturday Night Live" opened mocking Trump's executive orders. [YouTube]

  • Sabrina Carpenter made a surprise appearance during Quinta Brunson's "shorties" skit. [YouTube]

• Lady Gaga drew a staggering 2.5 million people to her free beach concert in Rio de Janeiro. [Variety]

  • Earlier, police in Brazil said they thwarted a planned bomb attack on the concert. [BBC]

• Marvel’s "Thunderbolts" bolted into theaters with a strong $76 million opening at the domestic box office and $162 million internationally.

• "Sinners" continued posting stellar numbers, pocketing another $33 million, down only 27% from its second weekend.

• "A Minecraft Movie" printed another $13.7 million in receipts (it has now made $873 million globally) and "The Accountant 2" walked away with $9.5 million.

• Alec Baldwin's "Rust" earned just $25,000 in a limited release.

[Data via Box Office Mojo]