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Hey, good morning. Here's the latest from "New Heights," David Ellison, Mehdi Hasan, "Extra," The Economist, "Baby Shark," and more....

🎙️ Taylor's podcast play

From a PR and marketing POV, Taylor Swift's "The Life of a Showgirl" album announcement has been a smashing success, one that speaks volumes about the state of media in 2025.

The rollout was all centered on her appearance on her boyfriend Travis Kelce's "New Heights" podcast. After listening to the episode last night, a PR exec texted me and asked, "Why would Taylor EVER do a mainstream media interview ever again?"

Grasping for an answer, I thought, maybe Swift's team would consider a morning show sit-down or a primetime special if she were ever on the defensive over some scandal or something. Submitting to hard-hitting questions can have value in certain situations. But generally speaking, podcasts with friends are the PR way to go.

Plus, as the YouTube live-stream of the "New Heights" episode showed, video podcasts are TV now, anyway. Swift wasn't bypassing TV; she was making TV. (About 1.3 million people were watching live until there was a tech glitch.) 

No matter the medium, for a guest like Swift, a podcast like "New Heights" is a safe space: You know a hard-nosed journalist is not going to interrogate you; you know you'll have plenty of time to say whatever you want; and you know it's going to be edited to make you sound great. In other words, you get control, comfort and attention.

In an age when "sources go direct," news outlets have to figure out how they fit in. One answer: Recognize the podcast was a big pop culture event and live-blog it accordingly! CNN's team also recapped "5 things we learned" from the pod here.

The brands came out to play

CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister writes: As if she needed to prove it again, this really is Taylor Swift's world and we're all just living in it. There is no other star — ever, of all time — who has done what Taylor Swift has done. Forgot about her record-breaking music and tours: Swift is a cultural force, an economic force, and she has the power to influence global trends in a heartbeat.

This week, companies from Starbucks to Olive Garden to Cheez-Its got into Swiftie-mania with sparkly orange social media posts, in hopes of catapulting their brand recognition based on Swift's worldwide fame.

And the podcast was part of the excitement. Swift typically keeps her love life to her lyrics, but this time, it was real life. For the first time ever, fans got a firsthand glimpse into Swift’s relationship. But they also saw a relaxed, comfortable artist who talked about her new album, music career and fandom with a level of vulnerability and realness that made her feel like a normal human — not the biggest superstar in the world.

Elizabeth is right... And let me just add... The podcast was so long, and included so many topics, that it will inspire a week's worth of followups and features! 

Swift sees her role as 'world-building'

Swift shared some insights about her job — and it is a job — toward the end of the episode. She talked about the element of surprise: "I work so hard to try to surprise fans, and they're like, 'I don't want to be surprised!'"

But deep down inside, they actually do want to be surprised, she believes: "I know that when I can really get them and surprise them, that it was so worth it. Because that's what entertainment is, really: Is giving people something to escape, to seek their teeth into, to — like, we're world-building, you know?"

 >> Andrew Kirell adds: With all the "showgirl" aesthetics, one can't help but wonder if Swift — ever the businesswoman — has another surprise up her sleeve: Could this all be tying into a highly lucrative Las Vegas performance residency, possibly at the Sphere, where she'd become the immersive venue's first female headliner?

'New Heights' reaches... new heights

The NYT's Jessica Testa points out that all the Swift hype lifted "New Heights" to #1 on the Apple Podcasts chart this week. "It had held that spot before, but not consistently." The show's distributor, Amazon's Wondery, is going through big changes right now...

👀 The Onion can revive its Infowars bid

Hadas Gold writes: Alex Jones' far-right platform Infowars can be sold once again to help pay the more than $1 billion he owes the families of Sandy Hook shooting victims, a Texas district court judge ordered on Wednesday. This now paves the way for The Onion to revive its bid for the conspiracy-driven outlet and its assets. Details here...

Paramount: More than just a meme stock!

The new Paramount became a meme stock yesterday, rocketing more than 50% higher at one point, before settling up 37% for the day. This morning, it's coming back down to Earth a bit, but shareholders are still feeling better about the recent merger.

 >> At a press conference on the Paramount Pictures studio lot, David Ellison and co. made lots of news. THR wrapped it up here. He confirmed that BET Networks is no longer being shopped to buyers; he talked about "Top Gun 3" and "Star Trek" as top priorities. He didn't answer every Q, though, "batting away speculation that he was interested in acquiring TikTok and declining to discuss specifics on new voices he might like to bring into CBS News."

 >> Speaking of Paramount, Mario Gabelli "is moving forward with a class-action lawsuit seeking damages for the 'unfair and inequitable' merger payout given to Shari Redstone's National Amusements," TheWrap's Lucas Manfredi reports.

'South Park' gains momentum

Last week's "South Park" was "its highest rated episode since 2018 and biggest share in series history," Comedy Central said yesterday.  Overall, on both cable and the Paramount+ streaming service, episode two of the new season garnered 6.2 million viewers in its first three days of release, which is up from episode one, indicating the buzz about its unrelenting satire of President Trump is helping the show. Here's my full story...

Joint presser in Anchorage ✔️

Aides to both Trump and Vladimir Putin have confirmed that the two leaders plan to hold a joint press conference after their discussions in Alaska tomorrow.

News networks are in full summit-prep mode, flying anchors to Anchorage and plotting hours of special coverage. Karoline Leavitt said on Fox this A.M. that Trump will "sit down and look the Russian president in the eye and see what progress can be made to move the ball forward to end this brutal war and to restore peace."

Here's the new cover of The Economist, out today...

Historians howl over Smithsonian 'review'

The White House "review" of Smithsonian museums is going to cast a shadow over the institution for months, maybe years, to come. Sarah Weicksel, the executive director of the American Historical Association, says some of her members are alarmed. She told WBUR's "Here and Now" that the Smithsonian doesn't belong to Trump, it "belongs to all of the American people." 

 >> Historian Thomas Lecaque writes at The Bulwark: "This is fascism, and the rewriting of history in service of a fascist mythology is part of the program."

 >> National Review's editors say those accusations are preposterous: "America's national museums have been captured by a niche ideological faction that believes that Western civilization, and, indeed, our nation, is irredeemable." The Smithsonian "should ditch the ideology and keep the history."

The 'fame junkie' president

"Whatever else he is or has become, Donald J. Trump is at heart a pop culture obsessive. A fame junkie of the highest order. Us Weekly in human form," the NYT's Shawn McCreesh writes. "That piece of him did not just fade away because he became the leader of a populist political movement and a two-time president. It's all still wound up in there," as was evidenced by his Kennedy Center appearance yesterday. Check out McCreesh's analysis here. CNN's Adam Cancryn has more on this year's honorees here.

Briefly…

 >> The Government Accountability Office is investigating Kari Lake's dismantling of the US Agency for Global Media, Scott Nover reports. (WaPo)

 >> David Folkenflik's latest: "Is Kari Lake a CEO? Her agency said so. The law suggests not." (NPR)

 >> "Should Jon Stewart Run for President in 2028?" Mehdi Hasan is warming up to the idea. (Zeteo)

 >> Derek Hough is the next host of "Extra." (Deadline)

 >> Michael Mraz is TIME's new head of Product and Platform AI. (TIME)

>> Michael Calderone, editor of Vanity Fair's The Hive, is exiting the Condé publication in the coming weeks. Personal note: Calderone edited most of my VF work and was exceptional to work with. The best of the best! [Ed. note: Kirell seconds all of this!] (X)

💡 If you're not 'clipping,' you're losing 

I associate the word "clippers" with news junkies like @Acyn who expertly clip cable news segments for social sharing. But there is so much more to clip, as this Ben Raab story for the WSJ points out. "Clipping is one of the hottest corners of marketing," he writes, with creators and companies paying clippers "to saturate TikTok and Instagram with bite-size videos until they are almost impossible to miss." 

"Online marketplaces have developed to connect brands with clippers," he adds. Here's how it works...

Today's tech talk 

 >> "Russia has started restricting some Telegram and WhatsApp calls, accusing the foreign-owned platforms of failing to share information with law enforcement in fraud and terrorism cases." (Reuters)

 >> A Department of Homeland Security sizzle reel that used Jay-Z's "Public Service Announcement" was flagged for copyright violations across social. (404 Media)

 >> "Apple is plotting its artificial intelligence comeback with an ambitious slate of new devices, including robots, a lifelike version of Siri, a smart speaker with a display and home-security cameras," Mark Gurman reports. (Bloomberg)

 >> ICYMI, Meta says Threads now has "more than 400 million monthly active users," up from 175 million last summer. (Fast Company)

Entertainment notes and quotes

 >> A copyright battle over the "Baby Shark" song "has come to an end with a court clearing the Korean creators of the most popular version of plagiarism," CNN's Gawon Bae reports. (CNN)

>> Priscilla Presley has been sued for $50 million amid a "power struggle" over the Graceland business empire, Winston Cho writes. (THR)

 >> Following a "massive bidding war," the rights to the "Jason Bourne" franchise have been locked down by NBCUniversal, "paving the way for new installments," Justin Kroll reports. (Deadline)

 >> Last but not least, "Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical," which is "billed as the first 'Peanuts' musical in 35 years," arrives on Apple TV+ tomorrow. (AP)

This edition of Reliable Sources was edited by Andrew Kirell and produced with Liam Reilly. Email us your feedback and tips here.