We’re a few months away from the midterms and the biggest question on my mind right now isn’t who wins. It’s who controls what you get to see, hear and believe before you vote.
The media we once relied on to keep us informed is being bought, intimidated, even charged with federal crimes by the Trump administration to keep us in the dark about the true scale of the corruption it’s getting away with. That’s why I built COURIER as an alternative for the Americans fed up with the corporatization of legacy outlets and I’m so proud that we’ve grown into one of the largest independent news networks in the country. The most hopeful part, though, is seeing how many talented journalists have joined that mission to do the real accountability work those outlets won’t do.
Don Lemon is one of those people. So we sat down to talk about the state of media itself.
You know Don from 17 years as a correspondent and anchor at CNN. What you may not know is how fast he rebuilt everything after they let him go and what he learned in the process.
When we first met back in 2023, he hadn’t figured out his next move just yet. He tried a licensing deal with Elon Musk, but it fell apart the moment Don sat Musk down for an interview and actually challenged him. The lesson there wasn’t about Musk or what platform he should try next. It was about what independence protects.
“I’m not gonna pull my punches because I’m afraid of access.”
In legacy media, access is the cage. It’s the interview you can’t jeopardize, the source you can’t afford to anger or the boss you can’t embarrass. Independence is your way out. So Don decided to turn on his camera and speak directly to viewers on YouTube. No handlers. No network. No one to answer to but his audience. That is where the whole industry is heading — and why the people trying to control it are moving so fast. Cue the Ellisons.
David Ellison — son of Trump megadonor Larry Ellison — is trying to take over Warner Bros. Discovery in a $111 billion deal. Between this and his father’s investments, one MAGA family would control TikTok, Paramount, CBS, Warner Bros., HBO and CNN ahead of the midterms. Trump himself called new CNN ownership “imperative.” We already know how this story ends, though, because CBS (where I started my career) was the testing ground. Ellison took over, installed Bari Weiss, gutted “60 Minutes,” buried stories and cut Trump a $16 million check to settle his lawsuit. That’s not a newsroom. That’s obedience.
But this isn’t just about the Ellisons and the future of CNN. The media watchdog Free Press graded the 35 biggest media companies in the country on their independence from Trump on a scale from free to “propaganda.” Two. Just two came back genuinely independent. The rest, to varying degrees, are caving to Trump through settlements, killed stories, gutted DEI commitments and private dinners at Mar-a-Lago. If nearly every outlet answers to the president, then the “news” becomes whatever he needs it to be. Which means we become every autocracy we’ve ever warned about. This is what makes Trump’s second-term war on the press so much more dangerous than the first.
That’s why I wanted Don on my show. He’s living proof of the alternative — complete independence over what he reports on to his millions of followers across his platforms. I asked him where he finds his courage to keep going despite getting fired, smeared and arrested by federal agents for covering a protest. He told me he couldn’t live with himself if he didn’t. Journalism is the only profession written into the First Amendment. It’s not there to protect people who say what their bosses want or bend the knee to power.
“I will have a voice no matter how much they try to stop me.”
Remember, they can buy the newsrooms. They can’t buy your trust.
Watch my full conversation with Don and tell me who you actually trust to tell you the truth right now.
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