John Malone says the current state of media ‘is not good for democracy’

Cable TV titan John Malone joins Margaret Hoover to talk about his new memoir, “Born to Be Wired,” and current challenges in media and politics.

Malone, who played a key role in the development of the cable industry at Tele-Communications Inc. and Liberty Media Corp., explains why he opposed efforts to regulate his industry like net neutrality–and why he now believes more aggressive regulation is necessary for Big Tech today. Still, he also defends the CEOs of major tech companies like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk as “heroes of a capitalistic society.”

Malone–the chairman emeritus of CNN’s parent company Warner Bros. Discovery–reflects on the state of the news media today, the need for objective reporting, and the consequences of a fractured media landscape.

He also discusses the dysfunction of Congress and expansion of executive power and comments on President Trump’s second term, saying “I like his policies, but his style is so disruptive and divisive that I'm not sure at the end of the day the country can survive it.”

Support for Firing Line with Margaret Hoover is provided by Robert Granieri, The Tepper Foundation, Vanessa and Henry Cornell, The Fairweather Foundation, and Pritzker Military Foundation.