The Algorithm Age

Dr. Phil McGraw’s conservative-leaning cable network Merit Street Media is filing for bankruptcy barely a year after its launch, and is also suing its distribution partner Trinity Broadcasting for breach of contract. In its lawsuit against the Christian broadcaster, Merit Street alleged that Trinity “reneged on its obligations and abused its position as the controlling shareholder of Merit Street,” leaving the upstart channel with over $100 million in debt. “These failures by TBN were neither unintended nor inadvertent,” the lawsuit read. “They were a conscious, intentional pattern of choices made with full awareness that the consequence of which was to sabotage and seal the fate of a new but already nationally acclaimed network.” Following a two-decade run as a syndicated daytime talk show host, McGraw announced in late 2023 that he was starting up his own multi-platform media company, which would include a cable television channel featuring a Dr. Phil primetime program...

Have YOU got a story? Email tips@ Olivia Munn is opening up about a harsh experience on the set of HBO 's The Newsroom with a director who tried to hinder her from getting future roles. The 44-year-old actress was first best known as a correspondent on the popular G4 series Attack of the Show, before breaking through as an actress as Sloan Sabbith on The Newsroom. She opened up about an unnamed director on The Newsroom during a wide-ranging chat with Dax Shepard on his Armchair Expert podcast . The actress - who recently made headlines for comments about Jeff Bezos' ex Mackenzie Scott - realized this director wanted to put his 'imprint' on her Sloan Sabbith character, which involved a romantic relationship with Thomas Sadoski's Don Keefer. 'There was a storyline where my character and Tom Sadoski’s character are dating and falling in love,' she said. However, the director, 'kept trying to force me to carry that stor...

Christy Rutherford left a successful Coast Guard career due to toxic leadership and burnout. She faced deeper burnout, financial loss, and depression after resigning from her position. Rutherford rebuilt her life and now helps other leaders recover from burnout and achieve success. I started my career in the US Coast Guard as a college sophomore in 1996. After graduating, I was stationed on a ship in Charleston, South Carolina, chasing drug runners in the Caribbean. I transitioned into crisis management and moved four times over the next 12 years. I responded to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and worked on Capitol Hill as a congressional fellow for the late Congressman Elijah Cummings in 2007. I loved my career and learned from some exceptional leaders. I also had the misfortune of surviving a few toxic ones. I was one of 50 Black women officers out of nearly 50,000, and I felt my competence was questioned regularly. I worked 80 hours weekly to prove myself....

The lawyer for the man accused of killing King of the Hill actor Jonathan Joss maintains that the shooting was in self-defense and says it was not a hate crime because the suspect “has a brother who is gay.” Sigfredo Ceja Alvarez, 56, was arrested in connection with the murder of Joss, 59, who was fatally gunned down in front of his San Antonio home on June 1 in what his husband claims was a violent, anti-LGBT+ attack. Initially, police said there was “no evidence” to indicate Joss’s death was related to his sexual orientation , but they have since opened an investigation into the motive. “Freddy’s position is that he’s innocent. It’s difficult for anyone who’s been accused of something they didn’t do, especially murder, ” attorney Nico LaHood told NBC Dallas-Fort Worth. Joss and his husband, Tristan Kern de Gonzales, 23, were visiting their burned-down home to check the mail when Joss began screaming and crying over their dog’s burnt remains, leadin...