Twitter

NBC News and MSNBC have hired Dylan Byers away from CNN to serve as a senior media reporter for the network. His beat for NBC will focus on many of the same topics he covered for CNN — Hollywood and Silicon Valley — and he will remain based out of Los Angeles.

“In this new role, Dylan will cover the meeting point of media, entertainment and technology — from his perch in Los Angeles — and bring insight and context to this transformative moment. The impact of big tech is far-reaching — changing our culture, politics, commerce and much more,” say network heads Noah Oppenheim and Phil Griffin.

“Dylan will focus on Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, and Netflix, but he’ll also keep a sharp eye on emerging players. His work will appear across all our television and digital platforms, including the newly redesigned Tech & Media vertical on NBCNews.com, and he will of course continue his essential newsletter.”

Also Read: Fox News' Sean Hannity Denies Pointing Gun at Colleague Despite CNN Report

The decision by NBC is a significant move to beef up their in-house media team. CNN and Fox News has long devoted considerable resources to covering the media with its beat lead by the always camera-ready Brian Stelter. His evening newsletter is essential reading for fellow journalists, media reporters and beyond. Fox News meanwhile added former Wrap reporter Brian Flood to their roster last year to augment the network’s longtime media analyst Howard Kurtz.

Before Byers, the most prominent media watcher at NBC/MSNBC was Claire Atkinson, who is most known for nuts and bolts coverage of the media business on the NBC News media blog “The Query.”

Byers led a mostly scandal free existence while at CNN, with the exception of this moment when he lamented the loss of talent the #MeToo movement was bringing to the industry.

“Beyond the pain/humiliation women have endured (which is of course the paramount issue), it’s worth taking stock of the incredible drain of talent from media/entertainment taking place right now,” he wrote in November, 2017. “Never has so much talent left the industry all at once.”

An outrage mob and apology came in swift succession.

I've deleted my previous tweet. It was poorly worded and didn't properly convey my intended observation.

— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) November 22, 2017

Mike Cernovich, a Timeline: From Choking Advice to Pizzagate to Firings (Photos)

Maybe you'd never heard of right-wing provocateur Mike Cernovich before last week, when he helped get James Gunn fired from the next "Guardians of the Galaxy" film by highlighting Gunn's old Twitter jokes about rape and pedophilia. But Cernovich himself has a long history online, filled with both successes and statements he has since distanced himself from -- for reasons that will be obvious.
Advice on Choking Women

Before gaining fame as a Trump superfan, Cernovich got his start in the men's rights and pick-up artist community. His advice column, published on his blog "Danger and Play," included suggestions on the proper way to "choke" women during sex. This entry from December 2011 has since been deleted: "Choking works because it’s a show of dominance. Women only want to have consensual sex with men they know could rape them."
Pizzagate

Cernovich first came to wide public attention over his promotion of a conspiracy theory during the 2016 election that suggested that a pedophile ring was being run out of the basement of a Washington, D.C. pizzeria. The story was bunk, and Cernovich has moved to distance himself from Pizzagate.
Will Sommer/Twitter
John Conyers

Cernovich's biggest score of all probably wasn't James Gunn, but John Conyers. A tip provided by Cernovich to BuzzFeed about accusations of sexual misconduct forced the Democrat to resign his seat in disgrace in December 2017.
Getty Images
Sam Seder

Mike Cernovich targeted the MSNBC contributor over a years-old joke about his daughter being raped. MSNBC dropped Seder in December 2017, but reinstated him after a public backlash.
MSNBC
Sopan Deb

Cernovich went after New York Times reporter Sopan Deb in March 2017 over a tweeted pun about the rapper Bow Wow. The incident earned Deb an official rebuke from the Times' then-public editor, Liz Spayd.
Josh Barro

In November 2017, Cernovich demanded an apology from Josh Barro after the Business Insider Senior Editor made fun of his lisp. Barro swiftly retreated.
Twitter
Perry Fein

In June 2018, Los Angeles Times freelancer Perry Fein slipped into Cernovich's DMs and wished harm upon him. His relationship with the newspaper was over just hours later.
Los Angeles Times Media Group
James Gunn

Last week, Cernovich helped lead an online campaign highlighting old tweets in which Gunn joked about rape about pedophilia. Gunn offered an apology, but was dropped by Disney from the "Guardians of the Galaxy" franchise.
Getty Images
Cheri Jacobus

Before the James Gunn situation, Cernovich also led a brief and successful campaign to pressure USA Today to drop columnist Cheri Jacobus. The decision from the paper came after Jacobus' bizarre comments about convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Michael Ian Black

Cernovich has trained his fire on comedian Michael Ian Black, who has said several times on Twitter that his tweets about pedophilia were only jokes.
YouTube
Dan Harmon

Fresh off his victory in ousting Gunn from "Guardians of the Galaxy," Cernovich forced "Rick and Morty" co-creator Dan Harmon and his employers at Adult Swim to apologize over an old sketch that featured Harmon graphically simulating the rape of a baby. (The sketch used a doll, not an actual baby.)
Getty Images

1 of 12

The right-wing provocateur has become a thorn to liberals online

Maybe you'd never heard of right-wing provocateur Mike Cernovich before last week, when he helped get James Gunn fired from the next "Guardians of the Galaxy" film by highlighting Gunn's old Twitter jokes about rape and pedophilia. But Cernovich himself has a long history online, filled with both successes and statements he has since distanced himself from -- for reasons that will be obvious.

View In Gallery