When pro-Trump billionaires Larry and David Ellison bought CBS News last year, they put a MAGA-friendly opinion writer in charge and began turning it into another Fox News.

Now, with Donald Trump’s help, the Ellisons are about to take control of the entire Warner Bros. Discovery media empire, including CNN, HBO Max, and dozens of cable TV channels.

Friends, this is not just another media story. We’re witnessing the step-by-step takeover of the U.S. news media by Trump and his billionaire friends. Their goal is to control everything that Americans see, hear, and read — and they’re doing it with incredible speed.

Jeff Bezos has gutted the Washington Post. The right-wing networks Sinclair and Nexstar are two of the biggest broadcast TV owners in the country. Elon Musk controls X. Mark Zuckerberg has Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. And don’t forget Rupert Murdoch and Fox News.

That’s why it’s so vital that you support the nonprofit independent journalism of The Intercept right now — because if we don’t survive, who will be left to tell the truth?

Will you make a donation to The Intercept? Your donations account for more than 70 percent of our budget, and there’s no other source of funding that could possibly fill that gap.

For months, it appeared that Netflix would take over Warner Bros. But after the Trump administration put its thumb on the scale for the Ellisons, Netflix dropped its bid.

This is what authoritarian capture of the media looks like — and why reader-funded independent journalism is so essential.

As a nonprofit, we can never be bought by any MAGA billionaire — not that we’d be on their shopping list anyway. As long as you, our readers, support us, we’ll be able to keep publishing the high-impact investigative journalism you count on us for.

In addition, our Press Freedom Defense Fund is helping independent reporters and news organizations around the country by providing tools, training, and financial assistance to those facing serious legal threats.

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