David Cohn
Appearances
Morning Wire
India and Pakistan Conflict & Trump Fights Climate Rules | 5.8.25
What are we seeing? Yeah, this is certainly a game changer for the TV ratings industry. And the context here is that it has become increasingly more difficult to track how people are engaging with their content with cell phones and tablets and computers and smart TVs and such. But there is new technology and it's far more accurate.
Morning Wire
India and Pakistan Conflict & Trump Fights Climate Rules | 5.8.25
And the big switch to this new technology happened in January when Nielsen received accreditation for it. And they're calling this measurement technology Big Data plus panel. So what this does, it takes viewership data from cable and satellite set top boxes and combines that with smart TVs. And that is called automatic content recognition.
Morning Wire
India and Pakistan Conflict & Trump Fights Climate Rules | 5.8.25
But it combines all of that with traditional panel based tabulation. So that's a panel of households and individuals who provide detailed viewership information, sort of how we think of as typical Nielsen TV ratings. Nielsen CEO Karthik Rowe announced that big data plus panel tech will be used for all of its clients starting this year, and he called it a massive change in measurement at scale.
Morning Wire
India and Pakistan Conflict & Trump Fights Climate Rules | 5.8.25
It sounds like an apt description in this case.
Morning Wire
India and Pakistan Conflict & Trump Fights Climate Rules | 5.8.25
All of the data is going to allow Nielsen to be more accurate, but sports is going to be a big boon in this. Sports 100%. And naturally, sports programming already dominates much of America's media landscape. For instance, the NFL delivered 70 of the top 100 broadcast in 2024.
Morning Wire
India and Pakistan Conflict & Trump Fights Climate Rules | 5.8.25
But the new analyzation tool here is already signaling even higher audience totals going forward for the NFL and really other sports. This, of course, is very good news when you think about how much money the NFL is spending for some of these primetime games. And they're poised to benefit, and they're calling the Big Data Plus panel technology a move to modernize measurements.
Morning Wire
India and Pakistan Conflict & Trump Fights Climate Rules | 5.8.25
Even Amazon has been among the early adopters of this new technology and said its 2024 audience for Thursday night football alone has reached an average viewership of 14.2 million. So that's 8% higher than the traditional panel-based audience of 13.2 million. And this tool was also the basis for Super Bowl 59, reaching an audience of 182.8 million. Absolutely jaw-dropping numbers for sure.
Morning Wire
India and Pakistan Conflict & Trump Fights Climate Rules | 5.8.25
They really are. Total domination of sports is changing how many of these platforms think about this programming. I'll give you two more companies here, Amazon Prime and Netflix, spending huge amounts of money on live sports shows, and that shows just how crucial they think this is.
Morning Wire
India and Pakistan Conflict & Trump Fights Climate Rules | 5.8.25
No, the latter for sure. Local and rural. I even have a quote here from Nielsen. They think this technology will help add in harder to reach rural areas. This also benefits sports in a disproportionate way, given the communal viewing aspect that is inherent to live games. You can watch a football game with 10 of your buddies, something like that.
Morning Wire
India and Pakistan Conflict & Trump Fights Climate Rules | 5.8.25
And I do want to make one final point here, because among the issues Nielsen is working through, one is reducing the turnaround time for reporting the results. The enhanced numbers typically take several days to tabulate for each broadcast, especially for some of these bigger events like we're talking about.
Morning Wire
India and Pakistan Conflict & Trump Fights Climate Rules | 5.8.25
They are now working to reduce that to one day turnaround very quickly, similar to how traditional viewership totals have arrived.
Morning Wire
DOGE Probes the Fed & Trump’s Gaza Proposal Fallout | 2.6.25
Whatever the legal issues may be, whatever the moral issues may be, they can't stay. There's not a building there which wouldn't be condemned by any zoning board in the United States. They're all going to fall down. And so they all want to leave. I mean, much more so than before even.
Morning Wire
DOGE Probes the Fed & Trump’s Gaza Proposal Fallout | 2.6.25
I just think that once you reach the conclusion that for their own safety, for their own health, they have to leave, then it opens up a much wider focus on what could be.
Morning Wire
Hegseth’s Nomination Fight & U.S. v. Skrmetti | 12.5.24
And the question of how many minors have to have their bodies irreparably harmed for unproven benefits is one that is best left.
Morning Wire
Hegseth’s Nomination Fight & U.S. v. Skrmetti | 12.5.24
When I realized there was a serious problem here, I said, what has been the problem with boycotts in America? Why have they not been successful? And how did we get here? And so I had to put together sort of the fact that all of this accelerated after George Floyd. And it was under the noses of a lot of executives who didn't quite realize what they were greenlighting.
Morning Wire
Hegseth’s Nomination Fight & U.S. v. Skrmetti | 12.5.24
And now they've had four years to experience it. And many of those people have buyer's remorse. And so they just need an excuse to get rid of it because this is essentially a house of cards.
Morning Wire
Federal Workers Reinstated & Trump Tower Swarmed | Afternoon Update | 3.13.25
White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt confirmed the visit set for April 28th.
Morning Wire
Federal Workers Reinstated & Trump Tower Swarmed | Afternoon Update | 3.13.25
This marks a shift from 2018 when the Eagles were disinvited after some players opted out over Trump's criticism of anthem protests. And they weren't the only ones. Several dozen major sports teams won championships during President Trump's first administration. Many celebrated at the White House. Many did not. Of those teams that didn't, not all did so in defiance. Some had scheduling conflicts.
Morning Wire
Federal Workers Reinstated & Trump Tower Swarmed | Afternoon Update | 3.13.25
Some were not invited to begin with for various reasons. This time, many players on the Eagles, including lineman Lane Johnson, say they are honored to go.
Morning Wire
Rethinking Gaza: Trump's Bold Middle East Strategy | 2.9.25
And then I think there's a desire to move forward with normalization with Saudi Arabia or Indonesia or others. But understanding that you got to sort of quiet this area down and have a strategy that to de-radicalize the Palestinian population. So, you know, that's a lot to say from body language, but, you know, again, I've been in the room a lot.
Morning Wire
Rethinking Gaza: Trump's Bold Middle East Strategy | 2.9.25
And that's sort of what I took from watching it and, of course, obviously hearing the comments of both leaders.
Morning Wire
Rethinking Gaza: Trump's Bold Middle East Strategy | 2.9.25
Well, look, I think he is looking at a 50 plus year problem that only seems to get worse.
Morning Wire
Rethinking Gaza: Trump's Bold Middle East Strategy | 2.9.25
and he's overlaying on that the amount of money wasted in gaza and the enormous economic potential of gaza which you know frankly only a guy who's in business who understands what it means to have 25 miles of sunset facing beachfront in this tiny area right so he's looking at both he's looking at the incredible violence and waste and human misery then he's looking at what this could be and i think he's just saying you know what
Morning Wire
Rethinking Gaza: Trump's Bold Middle East Strategy | 2.9.25
These kind of small steps, they're just not working. And I'll tell you, look, when I was working on this, you know, we always had one gating issue when it came to Gaza, which is how are we going to get Hamas out? Like, who's going to rule Gaza who won't threaten not just the people of Gaza, but Israel as well? I mean, who's out there? Hamas didn't just take over Gaza.
Morning Wire
Rethinking Gaza: Trump's Bold Middle East Strategy | 2.9.25
They were elected, you know, and they have a lot of support there. And they're just a brutal, cruel, ruthless, Nazi-like regime. And we just couldn't envision what it would look like in a sort of ground-up, organic restructuring, if you will. Now, what's different now, because in those days, you know, not easy to talk about moving two million people out of their territories.
Morning Wire
Rethinking Gaza: Trump's Bold Middle East Strategy | 2.9.25
That's hard to do, even though, from my perspective, direct conversations with lots of people who come from Gaza. Many people would love to leave. I mean, there are people who will get on the media and say, you know, we're going to fight to stay here, but there aren't a lot of people who really feel that way.
Morning Wire
Rethinking Gaza: Trump's Bold Middle East Strategy | 2.9.25
But notwithstanding that, you know, moving people against their will is much more challenging than today, when today they can't stay. Whatever the legal issues may be, whatever the moral issues may be, they can't stay. There's no place for them to stay. There's not a building there which wouldn't be condemned by any zoning board in the United States. They're all going to fall down.
Morning Wire
Rethinking Gaza: Trump's Bold Middle East Strategy | 2.9.25
And they can't stay there. And so they all want to leave. I mean, much more so than before, even. And so I just think that once you reach the conclusion that the people who are living there now have to leave for their own safety, for their own health, they have to leave. Then it opens up a much wider focus on what could be. And so Trump says, OK, if they're leaving anyway.
Morning Wire
Rethinking Gaza: Trump's Bold Middle East Strategy | 2.9.25
Okay, why not now take this extraordinarily valuable property in the hands of decent people, make it what it could be, maybe use the newly created American sovereign wealth fund to finance some of it. There'll be plenty of money that would come in to do that. And then let's create a permanent monument to the failure of radical Islamism, because that's what this will become.
Morning Wire
Rethinking Gaza: Trump's Bold Middle East Strategy | 2.9.25
Well, I think that's a function of American leverage and President Trump's persuasiveness. But look, starting with Egypt and Jordan, these are countries whose very existence is very much dependent upon America, and to some extent, Israel. Like in Jordan's case, a huge amount of Financial aid comes from America. A huge amount of intelligence cooperation comes from America and Israel.
Morning Wire
Rethinking Gaza: Trump's Bold Middle East Strategy | 2.9.25
The Israeli-Jordanian border is the largest of Israel's borders. And Israel works closely with the Jordanians behind the scenes to make sure that that border remains relatively quiet. So there's a lot of leverage there. And I think the difference with Jordan is that there may not be as much space but there's certainly leverage there.
Morning Wire
Rethinking Gaza: Trump's Bold Middle East Strategy | 2.9.25
Now, in the case of Egypt, the same is also true about financial aid and intelligence cooperation. And there's also Sinai. I mean, the Sinai Peninsula, which Israel returned to Egypt in 1979, is a vast, vast, vast space that can easily be, I would say, ring-fenced if you're worrying about terrorists coming out. I mean, there's a lot that can be done there.
Morning Wire
Rethinking Gaza: Trump's Bold Middle East Strategy | 2.9.25
Sinai has basically been neglected by Egypt since Israel handed it back. So, I think there's opportunities there. And then again, you know, there's 20 Muslim countries, you know, 25 Muslim countries. I mean, there's a lot of countries that can take 20,000, 30,000. And, you know, so I do think it's doable. It'll take some time. There's easy access out of Gaza.
Morning Wire
Rethinking Gaza: Trump's Bold Middle East Strategy | 2.9.25
You know, it's not like it's landlocked. So you don't need to bring in these, you know, C-130s To fly people out, you know, in terms of Northern Africa, you got the whole Mediterranean Sea and it's right on the Mediterranean. You can send people right off a dock on a ship, which carries a lot more people than an airplane. So I think it's logistically possible.
Morning Wire
Rethinking Gaza: Trump's Bold Middle East Strategy | 2.9.25
So before we were ever talking about October 7th, you know, when I was the U.S. ambassador to Israel and I had as part of my marching orders to deal with the Palestinian populations as well in the West Bank and Gaza, I got a pretty good sense from people living in Gaza how desperate they were to get out. It's a terrible place to live.
Morning Wire
Rethinking Gaza: Trump's Bold Middle East Strategy | 2.9.25
I mean, it's under the most repressive radical Islamic regime, Sharia law regime, that people want to get out. And there's a lot of educated people in Gaza because, you know, oddly enough, there's so little to do there. There's actually a lot of people reading books. And so it's not completely an uneducated place and they want to get out and they want to move on with their lives.
Morning Wire
Rethinking Gaza: Trump's Bold Middle East Strategy | 2.9.25
So I would have said easily north of 50%. when Gaza was standing, when you had a place to live where you could cook yourself breakfast in the morning and, you know, walk on the streets.
Morning Wire
Rethinking Gaza: Trump's Bold Middle East Strategy | 2.9.25
Today, post-October 7th, after both the devastation that's been resulting from the war and the, I think, the hopelessness that the people have, that they'll ever have leadership that can bring them a better future, I think the number... is well north of 90% in terms of the non-Hamas terrorist sympathizers who would want to leave.
Morning Wire
Rethinking Gaza: Trump's Bold Middle East Strategy | 2.9.25
I would say we're talking about probably a million and a half people at least who would gladly get on a boat and go someplace else.
Morning Wire
Rethinking Gaza: Trump's Bold Middle East Strategy | 2.9.25
Well, it's always a fear, and it's a question of where they go and what their lives look like. They've learned, unfortunately, a very painful lesson, which is that radical Islamism leads to misery. They've experienced that firsthand. Maybe before October 7th, they thought there was a way to be both a radical terrorist and perhaps have a roof over your head and food on your table.
Morning Wire
Rethinking Gaza: Trump's Bold Middle East Strategy | 2.9.25
But I think they understand these things can't live side by side. They've learned that lesson. And it was a painful way to learn it, but there was no other way. You can't unring the bell of October 7th. You can't unsee what you've seen. And what people have seen the whole world over is just how vicious and cruel these radical Islamists are and how they need to be eradicated.
Morning Wire
Rethinking Gaza: Trump's Bold Middle East Strategy | 2.9.25
I don't know. I don't know. I mean, the actual, you know, who's holding title? I mean, if I were guessing, and this is just a guess, I would guess that the ownership of
Morning Wire
Rethinking Gaza: Trump's Bold Middle East Strategy | 2.9.25
Of the economics of the rebuilt Gaza, meaning if the United States comes in with partners and builds hotels or condos or shopping malls, the things that prosperous societies have, I would think the economics of that will belong to whoever puts up the capital. I assume that's mostly going to be America, probably with some partners.
Morning Wire
Rethinking Gaza: Trump's Bold Middle East Strategy | 2.9.25
In terms of which nation will have sovereignty over it, I would assume it'll be Israel, because I think Israel's the only one that can actually just... It's a country. It's an existing country with the kind of infrastructure and means by which to protect and defend that area, and frankly, to engage in some of the building. I'm sure Israel will probably want to invest some capital in this as well.
Morning Wire
Rethinking Gaza: Trump's Bold Middle East Strategy | 2.9.25
Well, the first thing is, you know, because I know them well and I've been in the room many times when they've spoken, I have a pretty good feel for the body language. And so as I'm watching, and I wasn't part of this particular gathering, but as I'm watching, I'm seeing between both of them, you can tell there's like fundamental agreement. This is not just for public consumption. It's real.
Morning Wire
Rethinking Gaza: Trump's Bold Middle East Strategy | 2.9.25
But I think what the president said is this will be owned by America. And I assume what he's talking about is not the sovereign ownership necessarily, but I'm talking about more of the, you know, owning the projects and owning the economics.
Morning Wire
Rethinking Gaza: Trump's Bold Middle East Strategy | 2.9.25
My pleasure. It was a good conversation. Thanks for doing it.
Morning Wire
Rethinking Gaza: Trump's Bold Middle East Strategy | 2.9.25
There's fundamental agreement. I think on a few things. Number one, I think both Netanyahu and Trump agree that Hamas has to go. There's just nothing left to talk about regarding the future of that region with Hamas remaining in power. I think there's also fundamental recognition that Iran can't get a nuclear weapon.
Morning Wire
Wall Street’s Rollercoaster Ride & Trump’s Title IX Task Force | Afternoon Update | 4.7.25
The Florida Gators will take on the Houston Cougars tonight for the NCAA Men's Basketball National Championship. Florida advanced in the Final Four by defeating Auburn 79-73, while Houston came from behind in an upset win over the Duke Blue Devils. The Cougars erased a 14-point deficit in the final eight minutes to win 70-67.
Morning Wire
Wall Street’s Rollercoaster Ride & Trump’s Title IX Task Force | Afternoon Update | 4.7.25
To Major League Baseball, the Los Angeles Dodgers met with President Trump at the White House today to celebrate their World Series championship over the New York Yankees last October. The president singled out several players, including Shohei Ohtani, for becoming the first major leaguer to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a single season.
Morning Wire
Trump’s Good and Bad Economy & Canada In Crisis | 5.5.25
If you think PBS is biased, Compared to who? Name one news organization in America, and I shouldn't be defending this, I get paid by PBS, but I'm going to do it, who's more straight down the line than we are.
Morning Wire
Le Pen Barred from Election & Wyoming’s Strict Voter ID Law | Afternoon Update | 3.31.25
After an exhilarating weekend of Sweet 16 and Elite 8 matchups, the final four is set for the 2025 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. Auburn will face Florida Saturday, April 5th at 6.09 Eastern Time, and Duke will take on Houston at 8.49 Eastern.
Morning Wire
Le Pen Barred from Election & Wyoming’s Strict Voter ID Law | Afternoon Update | 3.31.25
All four number one seeds reach the final weekend for only the second time ever, the previous season being 2008 when Kansas, Memphis, North Carolina, and UCLA all advanced. The two winners from Saturday will play for the national championship on Monday, April 7th in San Antonio, Texas.
Morning Wire
USAID Cuts & Superbowl Preview | Afternoon Update | 2.7.25
The Kansas City Chiefs will take on the Philadelphia Eagles this Sunday in Super Bowl 59. This is a rematch of Super Bowl 57 in which the Chiefs won 38-35. Chiefs head coach Andy Reid is once again facing off against his former team. He served as the coach in Philadelphia from 1999-2012.
Morning Wire
USAID Cuts & Superbowl Preview | Afternoon Update | 2.7.25
He and quarterback Patrick Mahomes are attempting to lead Kansas City to its third consecutive Super Bowl victory, which has never been achieved in NFL history, and its fourth in six years. The Eagles, who went 14-3 during the regular season, feature running back Saquon Barkley. Barkley became the ninth back in NFL history to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a single season.
Morning Wire
USAID Cuts & Superbowl Preview | Afternoon Update | 2.7.25
The Chiefs are currently favored by a point and a half.
Morning Wire
Vance Visits Greenland & Tesla Vandal Arrested | Afternoon Update | 3.28.25
Major League Baseball is underway. Teams that began the season with victories include the Yankees, Dodgers, Red Sox, and White Sox. The Baltimore Orioles also won, defeating the Blue Jays 12-2, thanks in part to outfielder Tyler O'Neal's three-run home run in the third inning. O'Neal's homer extended his Major League record of homering for a sixth straight opening day.
Morning Wire
Vance Visits Greenland & Tesla Vandal Arrested | Afternoon Update | 3.28.25
The NCAA Basketball Tournament has entered its second weekend with Sweet 16 action. Duke, Alabama, Florida, and Texas Tech all won last night, while tonight's matchups include Michigan State versus Ole Miss, Auburn versus Michigan, Tennessee versus Kentucky, and Houston versus Purdue.
Morning Wire
Iran Nuclear Deal? & Birthright Citizenship | 5.16.25
Certainly, as you and many of your listeners know, college athletics has experienced a bit of turmoil over the last few years. And it's not just with college athletes being able to participate in their own name, image, and likeness, what we call NIL, but direct compensation from the universities in some of these collectives.
Morning Wire
Iran Nuclear Deal? & Birthright Citizenship | 5.16.25
Well, President Trump gave a commencement address week before last at the University of Alabama, and he was introduced by legendary head coach Nick Saban. Trump went on to deliver this instantly viral line.
Morning Wire
Iran Nuclear Deal? & Birthright Citizenship | 5.16.25
Now, shortly after this interaction with Coach Saban, the president announced he was creating a commission. And that commission is going to, and I'm reading here verbatim, deeply examine the unwieldy landscape of college sports, including the frequency of player movement in the transfer portal, the unregulated booster compensation to paid athletes, the debate of college athlete employment.
Morning Wire
Iran Nuclear Deal? & Birthright Citizenship | 5.16.25
the application of Title IX specifically in regards to revenue sharing, and even conference membership makeup and conference television contracts. There's a lot going on there. Now, Coach Saban has a seat at this table, correct? President Trump has named Nick Saban the co-chair of this commission, with the other co-chair being Cody Campbell.
Morning Wire
Iran Nuclear Deal? & Birthright Citizenship | 5.16.25
He is the chairman of Texas Tech's Board of Regents, and he created Texas Tech's NIL Collective. Now, Coach Saban had not given any public comments on this before the day before yesterday. Here's a bit of what he had to say.
Morning Wire
Iran Nuclear Deal? & Birthright Citizenship | 5.16.25
Now, Coach Saban has long called for more guardrails in the system. And here's a little bit more of what he had to say to Paul Feinbaum this week.
Morning Wire
Iran Nuclear Deal? & Birthright Citizenship | 5.16.25
Many people believe Nick Saban is the best person to lead this initiative given his on-field success with seven national championships over the years with Alabama and LSU and the fact that he has recently retired as of last year. Other people, though, see this as being a bit hypocritical, given the amount of money Coach Saban himself made from college sports. Yeah, and Affleck commercials as well.
Morning Wire
Iran Nuclear Deal? & Birthright Citizenship | 5.16.25
That's a really great question. So House versus the NCAA is a class action antitrust lawsuit that, in effect, would allow college athletes to participate in revenue sharing from the TV deals via the universities, basically, and not just from booster collectives and the sort. There is a settlement that is expected within the coming weeks or really even within the coming days.
Morning Wire
Iran Nuclear Deal? & Birthright Citizenship | 5.16.25
So it's quite likely that this new endeavor would not interfere with that at all. But that didn't stop the plaintiff's attorney in this case, and his name is Steve Berman, from blasting Sabin and Trump and the discussions they're having. I want to read this quote here from Berman. College athletes are spearheading historic changes and benefiting massively from NIL deals.
Morning Wire
Iran Nuclear Deal? & Birthright Citizenship | 5.16.25
They don't need this unmerited interference from a coach only seeking to protect the system that made him tens of millions of dollars. On the other hand, though, the NCAA would love the involvement from the government. Now, you know, we have talked ad nauseum with Senators Tommy Tupperville and Ted Cruz on our show, Craning Company.
Morning Wire
Iran Nuclear Deal? & Birthright Citizenship | 5.16.25
There have been no bills put forward that have gained traction in Congress. So I think President Trump is now saying, well, I'll take matters into my own hands. Massive settlement on the horizon. Fascinating stuff happening. It is fascinating. Thanks so much for joining us. Thanks for having me.
Morning Wire
Education Department Exposed & NIL Guidance Changes | Afternoon Update | 2.14.25
This decision from the Trump administration reverses a Biden-era guidance that required equal distribution of name, image, and likeness funds between male and female athletes. This move comes a week after President Trump's executive order banning transgender athletes from women's sports.
Morning Wire
Education Department Exposed & NIL Guidance Changes | Afternoon Update | 2.14.25
Critics argue the decision undermines gender equity, while supporters say NIL deals are market-driven and should in fact be separate from Title IX. Still, experts expect legal challenges as female athletes and advocacy groups push back against the policy shift.
Morning Wire
Trade War Escalates & Coal's Comeback | Afternoon Update | 4.11.25
The 2025 Masters open play Thursday at Augusta National. 95 of the world's best golfers are chasing the season's first major title. World No. 1 and defending champion Scotty Scheffler looks to add a third green jacket while Roy McIlroy enters with momentum...
Morning Wire
Trade War Escalates & Coal's Comeback | Afternoon Update | 4.11.25
and hopes to finally complete the career grand slam tiger woods will sit this one out but the field remains stacked with elite names including bryson d chambeau and rising star ludwig a berg fans can catch wall-to-wall coverage all weekend including live streaming