Netflix announced plans on Friday to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio and streaming business, in a deal that would send shock waves through Hollywood.

On Monday, Paramount made a hostile bid for the studio, arguing that the Netflix deal would be “anti-competitive.”

The Times journalists Nicole Sperling, Kyle Buchanan and Lauren Hirsch discuss what it all means for the future of TV and film.

Guest:

• Nicole Sperling, a New York Times reporter in Los Angeles who covers Hollywood and the streaming revolution.
• Kyle Buchanan, a pop culture reporter and the awards-season columnist for The New York Times.
• Lauren Hirsch, a New York Times reporter who covers the biggest stories on Wall Street, including mergers and acquisitions.

Background reading: 

• Netflix planned to buy Warner Bros. Discovery in $83 billion deal to create a streaming giant.
• Paramount made a hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery.

Photo: Aleksey Kondratyev for The New York Times

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

Warning: This episode mentions suicide.

In March, the U.S. government sent more than 200 Venezuelan men to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador. Over four months, the men said they endured physical, mental and sexual abuse.

Julie Turkewitz, the Andes bureau chief at The New York Times, interviewed 40 of these prisoners. She explains what she found out about this part of President Trump’s program of mass deportation.

Guest: Julie Turkewitz, the Andes bureau chief for The New York Times, based in Bogotá, Colombia.

Background reading: 

• “You are all terrorists”: four months in a Salvadoran prison.

Photo: Adriana Loureiro Fernandez for The New York Times

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

The first week of December at The New York Times is known as “Cookie Week.” Every day, for seven days, our cooking team highlights a new holiday cookie recipe. This year’s batch features flavors that aren’t necessarily traditional holiday ones — or even, for that matter, flavors. Instead, they draw inspiration from family night at the movies, drinks like Vietnamese Coffee, and perhaps most surprisingly, an Italian deli meat.

In this edition of the Sunday Special, Gilbert Cruz talks with Melissa Clark and Vaughn Vreeland from New York Times Cooking about this year’s cookies, and they answer questions from readers about how to navigate cooking and baking during the holidays.

Background Reading:

These 7 Cookies Will Be the Life of Every Party

Melissa Clark is a food reporter and columnist for The Times.

Vaughn Vreeland is a supervising video producer for NYT Cooking and writes the “Bake Time” newsletter.

Audio produced by Tina Antolini and Alex Barron with Kate LoPresti. Edited by Wendy Dorr. Engineered by Rowan Niemisto. Original music by Daniel Powell and Diane Wong. 

Photo credit: Rachel Vanni for The New York Times. 

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

The actress and director says the world of filmmaking needs a “full system break.”

• Thoughts? Email us at theinterview@nytimes.com
• Watch our show on YouTube: youtube.com/@TheInterviewPodcast
• For transcripts and more, visit: nytimes.com/theinterview

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

Warning: This episode contains strong language and mentions of suicide.

Over the past year, the federal government has taken a series of actions widely seen as attacks on the First Amendment.

Greg Lukianoff, the head of a legal defense group called the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, speaks to Natalie Kitroeff about what free speech really means and why both the left and the right end up betraying it.

Guest: Greg Lukianoff, the president and chief executive of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.

Background reading: 

• Read Mr. Lukianoff’s guest essay for New York Times Opinion from September.

Photo: Moriah Ratner for The New York Times

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

President Trump on Tuesday delivered blatantly xenophobic public remarks, which included attacking Somali immigrants in Minnesota and calling them “garbage.”

Ernesto Londoño, a reporter based in Minnesota, explains how Somalis became the president’s latest target in his effort to reshape America’s relationship to its immigrant communities.

Guest: Ernesto Londoño, a reporter for The New York Times based in Minnesota.

Background reading: 

• Mr. Trump called Somalis “garbage” that he doesn’t want in the country.
• A new ICE operation is said to target Somali migrants in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn.
• Here’s how fraud swamped Minnesota’s social services system on Gov. Tim Walz’s watch.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

Over the past three months, the U.S. military has been firing on boats from South America, killing more than 80 people and prompting Democrats to raise urgent questions about their legality.

Now, one of these operations, which killed survivors with a second missile, has prompted congressional Republicans to join those calls for accountability.

Charlie Savage, who covers national security for The New York Times, explains the renewed debate and how the administration is justifying its actions.

Guest: Charlie Savage, who covers national security and legal policy for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Lawmakers suggested that a follow-up boat strike could have been a war crime.
• Amid talk of a war crime, the details and precise sequence of a Sept. 2 attack on a boat in the Caribbean are facing more scrutiny.

Photo: Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

Lead is an essential but toxic element of car batteries. The U.S. auto industry promotes the recycling of it as an environmental success story. An investigation by The New York Times and The Examination reveals that the initiative comes at a major human cost, especially abroad.

Peter S. Goodman, who covers the global economy, explains the dirty business of a supposedly clean technology.

Guest: Peter S. Goodman, who covers the global economy for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• The U.S. auto industry was warned for years that battery recycling was poisoning people, an investigation by The Times and The Examination showed.
• Read more about the investigation.

Photo: Finbarr O'Reilly for The New York Times

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

What began as a horrific shooting of two National Guard members in downtown Washington last week has now led to a set of far-reaching changes to the U.S. immigration system.

The suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, was among the Afghans who came to the United States after the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan. Earlier, he served in a paramilitary unit that worked with U.S. forces.

Hamed Aleaziz discusses Mr. Lakanwal’s journey to the United States, as well as the Trump administration’s wide-ranging response.

Guest: Hamed Aleaziz, a Times correspondent covering the Department of Homeland Security and immigration policy.

Background reading: 

• The suspect in the shooting had traveled a long path of conflict from Afghanistan to America.
• Afghans who assisted the United States during the war underwent rigorous vetting.

Photo: The New York Times

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

The holiday season is here, which means it’s the time to think of great gifts for everyone on your list. While it can feel like a daunting task to choose thoughtful, personalized presents, we’ve got a fix for you: books.

On this edition of The Sunday Special, Gilbert is joined by Joumana Khatib and Sadie Stein, editors at the Book Review, for a conversation about the best books to give your family and friends. Joumana and Sadie will share what excited them most this year and also provide recommendations for giftees in very specific categories.

Books mentioned in this episode:

“The Colony,” Annika Norlin
“Perfection,” Vincenzo Latronico
“Things: A Story of the 60s,” Georges Perec
“The Bee Sting,” Paul Murray
“The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny,” Kiran Desai
“The Director,” Daniel Kehlmann
“Playworld: A Novel,” Adam Ross
“A Marriage at Sea,” Sophie Elmhirst
“Entertaining is Fun!,” Dorothy Draper
“The Thursday Murder Club,” Richard Osman
“The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels,” Janice Hallett
“Roald Dahl’s Revolting Recipes,” Roald Dahl
“Mrs. Manders’ Cook Book,” Sarah Manders, edited by Rumer Godden
“Halleluja! The Welcome Table,” Maya Angelou
“The Pat Conroy Cookbook: Recipes of My Life,” Pat Conroy
“Les diners de Gala,” Salvador Dalí
“Diaghilev’s Empire: How the Ballets Russes Enthralled the World,” Rupert Christiansen
“Finishing the Hat and Look I Made a Hat,” Stephen Sondheim
“Tonight in Jungleland: The Making of Born to Run,” Peter Ames Carlin
“The Uncool: A Memoir,” Cameron Crowe
“The Gales of November,” John U. Bacon
“The Journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson,” Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Cats in Color,” Stevie Smith
“Archie and the Strict Baptists,” John Betjeman
“Stories 1,2,3,4,” Eugène Ionesco
“Trip: A Novel,” Amy Barrodale

On Today’s Episode:

Joumana Khatib is an editor at The New York Times Book Review.

Sadie Stein is an editor at The New York Times Book Review.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

In this subscriber-only episode, the host Rachel Abrams ventures deep into the basement of The New York Times in Manhattan to visit a place affectionately known by staff members as “the morgue.”

There, she meets Jeff Roth, the sole guardian of the vast and eclectic archive that houses the paper’s historical news clippings and photographic prints, along with its large book and periodicals library dating back to the 19th century.

Guest:

• Jeff Roth, archivist at The New York Times

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

The competition-TV judge changed the music industry. Now he says he’s changed too.

• Thoughts? Email us at theinterview@nytimes.com
• Watch our show on YouTube: youtube.com/@TheInterviewPodcast
• For transcripts and more, visit: nytimes.com/theinterview

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

Here at “The Daily,” we take our annual Thanksgiving episode very seriously.

A few years ago, we rang up an expert from the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line, who told us that yes, in a pinch, you can cook a turkey in the microwave. Last year, we invited ourselves over to Ina Garten’s house to learn the timeless art of holiday entertaining (Ina’s tip: flowers that match your napkins complete a table.).

This year, determined to outdo ourselves, we traveled to Montana to hunt our very own food. Our guest, Steven Rinella — perhaps the country’s most famous hunter — is an avid conservationist and a lifelong believer in eating what you kill.

What first drew us to Rinella was the provocative argument he put forth in his best-selling book, “Meat Eater.”

“To abhor hunting,” he wrote, “is to hate the place from which you came, which is akin to hating yourself in some distant, abstract way.”

So, a few weeks ago, we spoke with Rinella at his podcast studio in Bozeman, Mont, about the forces that turned him into what he describes as an “environmentalist with a gun”. The next morning, we hunted ducks with him, and then, inspired by Rinella, we ate what we had killed.

Photo: Will Warasila for The New York Times

Audio Produced by Tina Antolini. Edited by Wendy Dorr. Engineered by Efim Shapiro and Alyssa Moxley. Fact-checking by Susan Lee. Original music by Daniel Powell and Marion Lozano. 

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

When President Trump’s peace plan to end the war in Ukraine was leaked last week, many felt as though Russia had written the proposal, and to a large degree, it reflected the Kremlin’s demands. The plan set off a global outcry that has forced American officials to revise their approach in the days since.

Kim Barker and David E. Sanger explain the process that led to the contentious plan and why it comes at a vulnerable moment for Ukrainian leadership.

Guest: 

• Kim Barker, a reporter for The New York Times covering the war in Ukraine.
• David E. Sanger, the White House and national security correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Analysis: Mr. Trump offers a Ukraine peace plan the Kremlin can love.
• To many Ukrainians, the U.S. proposal looks like “capitulation.”

Photo: Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

A federal judge on Monday tossed out separate criminal charges against the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey and New York’s attorney general, Letitia James.

The manner in which the judge dismissed the Comey indictment could now lead to a legal fight over whether the government can try to refile the charges with another grand jury.

Devlin Barrett, who covers the Justice Department and the F.B.I. for The New York Times, discusses President Trump’s campaign of retribution against his perceived enemies and walks us through the judge’s rulings

Guest: Devlin Barrett, a New York Times reporter covering the Justice Department and the F.B.I..

Background reading: The cases against Mr. Comey and Ms. James are dismissed.

Photo: Drew Angerer for The New York Times

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

Once primarily limited to severely disabled people, autism began to be viewed as a spectrum that included children and adults far less impaired. Along the way, the disorder also became an identity, embraced by college graduates and even by some of the world’s most successful people, like Elon Musk and Bill Gates.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has called the steep rise in autism cases “an epidemic.” He blames theories of causality that mainstream scientists reject — like vaccines and, more recently, Tylenol — and has instructed the C.D.C. to abandon its longstanding position that vaccines do not cause autism.

Today, Azeen Ghorayshi explains what’s really driving the increase in diagnoses.

Guest: Azeen Ghorayshi, a science reporter for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Should the autism spectrum be split apart?
• There are no easy answers for parents of children with autism.

Photo: Eric Gay/Associated Press

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

“Wicked” was one of the biggest movies of 2024. It was culturally ubiquitous, a box office smash and an Oscar nominee for Best Picture. Now, a year later, “Wicked: For Good” arrives in theaters to finish the tale of the complicated friendship between Glinda the Good Witch and Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. Can “Wicked: For Good” be the sensation that its predecessor was? Will it inject new life into a movie business that has suffered a historically bad business year? Will it satisfy the legions of “Wicked” fans who have been waiting to see their favorite musical brought to the big screen?

Gilbert Cruz is joined by Kyle Buchanan, a pop culture reporter for The New York Times who profiled the stars of “Wicked,” and Madison Malone Kircher, a reporter for the Styles desk and affirmed “Wicked” fanatic, to discuss what “Wicked: For Good” means for the movies.

On Today’s Episode

Madison Malone Kircher is a reporter covering internet culture for The Times.

Kyle Buchanan is a pop culture reporter and serves as The Projectionist, the awards season columnist for The New York Times.

Photo: Universal Pictures

Additional Reading

Ariana Grande Still Has Surprises in Store

There Have Been Dozens of “Wicked” Interviews. Why Did This One Go Viral?

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

The writer and YouTube star on trying to get back to the experiences that make us feel alive.

• Thoughts? Email us at theinterview@nytimes.com
• Watch our show on YouTube: youtube.com/@TheInterviewPodcast
• For transcripts and more, visit: nytimes.com/theinterview

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

Since starting his second term, President Trump has thrown the full weight of the federal government behind the denying the idea of transgender identity, and pushing to prevent trans minors from getting gender-affirming medical care.

Two parents of a trans child discuss facing the scramble of supporting their child, and their fears of becoming targets of the government.

Guest: The parents of Allie, who is trans.

Background reading: 

• Hospitals are limiting gender treatment for trans minors, even in blue states.
• States have sued over Mr. Trump’s efforts to end pediatric transgender medical care.
• Trans youth are rattled by efforts to ban gender care. So are hospitals.

Photo: Christopher Capozziello for The New York Times

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

After years of soaring optimism and colossal investment, Wall Street has begun to seriously question whether the frenzy for A.I. is justified.

Cade Metz, who covers technology for The New York Times, explains why Silicon Valley companies believe so fervently in A.I. and why they’re willing to take enormous risks to deliver on its promise.

Guest: Cade Metz, a technology reporter for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Why debt funding is ratcheting up the risks of the A.I. boom.
• Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft and OpenAI plan to spend at least $325 billion by the end of the year in pursuit of A.I.

Photo: Scott Ball for The New York Times

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.