Channels with Peter Kafka

We originally published this interview with Bloomberg's Joe Weisenthal on Feb. 11, 2026, and it's one of my favorite chats of the year. We'll be back with a new conversation on July 8.

If Joe Weisenthal didn’t exist, the internet would have to invent him. Because Joe Weisenthal is built for the internet — more specifically, an internet personality: Knows a lot, curious about even more, often right, happy to be wrong, always has something to say about anything.That persona/personality did wonders for Joe in the early days of Business Insider — which, not coincidentally, were also the early days of Twitter, where Joe really took off. Then he took his talents to Bloomberg, and since then has turned himself into a successful business/finance podcaster: Along with co-host Tracy Alloway, they’ve turned “Odd Lots” into a project no one at their employer knew or cared about into a genuine hit.Discussed here: Why Joe is still at Bloomberg, instead of doing the indie media route that could make him a gazillion dollars; what makes a perfect podcast guest; and Joe’s semi-secret country music ambitions. Plus something smart you can say about tariffs, if you’re in a place where people are talking about tariffs.
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The Rebooting's Brian Morrissey joins me from Cannes, where OpenAI is pitching advertisers, creators are becoming media brands, and thousands of people are still flying across the Atlantic to meet with people they could see back home. We talk about what's changed in advertising, what's changed in media, and why Cannes keeps getting bigger.

We also get into why the ad industry's biggest gathering feels increasingly disconnected from the ads themselves; why CMOs are the real celebrities of Cannes; how creators like Emily Sundberg fit into the modern marketing ecosystem; and whether AI is actually transforming advertising—or just giving everyone a new buzzword to put on a slide deck.
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Today’s show is about money, and how to make it in entertainment.

The streaming boom made Hollywood feel like it had solved its money problem: Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney and everyone else wanted endless stuff. Top talent got paid, and so did everyone else.

That boom is over, and now the industry is consolidating. And at the same time, lots of artifacts of old Hollywood that could generate a lot of money for some people — like syndication payouts in TV or backend deals for movies — don’t really exist in a world dominated by streamers.

So how do actors, writers, directors, producers and creators make money in 2026? Peter Micelli, CEO of Range Media Partners, makes his money by representing talent like Bradley Cooper, Tom Hardy and Halle Berry. He’s been arguing for a while that stars shouldn’t just wait for work, but should be out there turning themselves into businesses. That certainly won’t work for everyone, but I think if you squint you can see a new economy starting up — especially for creatives who have meaningful followings online.
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Brian Stelter and Nilay Patel are both covering big, powerful institutions that are undergoing real change, whether they like it or not.

Stelter, CNN’s chief media analyst, joins me to talk about the mess at CBS News and 60 Minutes: What is Bari Weiss’s rationale for trying to remake Paramount’s news operations? And does owner David Ellison care about the very inevitable stumbles that have followed since she showed up? We talk about Scott Pelley’s public exit interview, what 60 Minutes might look like next fall, and why this has morphed from a media industry story to one normal people seem to care about.

Also discussed: The fact that Stelter could end up working for Weiss in the near future.

Then Nilay Patel, editor-in-chief of The Verge, joins from Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, where Apple tried to convince everyone that it has an AI plan — and why that plan is different and better than the one it promised in 2024 and never delivered. A new Siri — if it works as advertised — sounds great. But what’s really important for Apple's AI strategy, Patel argues, is prepping for a future where the iPhone gets displaced by… something.

Also discussed: The fact that Vox Media, the company that owns both The Verge and the podcast network you’re listening to right now, are about to split up.
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Dhar Mann’s videos look simple, because they are simple: Someone acts badly, someone learns a lesson, everyone gets a moral by the end. You don’t have to be a kid to enjoy these, but it helps.The business behind them is complex. Mann has built a scripted-video studio that turns out TV-length episodes in weeks, generating billions of views a month. Now he tells me he’s expanding beyond YouTube and Facebook into places like Samsung TVs and Fox-backed microdramas, and he thinks the assembly line he’s built will work, there, too.
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