Actionable media intel: The Brand Brief delivers a daily snapshot of the conservative media ecosystem - FOX News, podcasts, and more. | Brought to you by On Brand Strategies | Written by Carly Moran and Nathan Brand
📣 Driving the Conversation…
1,362 words | 6 minute read | Written to be skimmable (11+ hours of media covered in The Brand Brief)
What Matters: One year of the Brand Brief!
New Media Voices: Cornell, Mark Ruffalo, and Gavin Newsom
Leading FOX: Abdul El-Sayed, Bruce Springsteen, and the Houthis
Trending: Hayley Williams, Natalie Harp, and Keith Ellison
What the Right is Writing: China spies, Russian lab workers, and John Sununu
✍️ WHAT MATTERS AND WHERE WE’RE GOING…
Nathan’s quick take on where we’re headed…
Welcome to one year of the Brand Brief!
What began as an internal tool has grown into a daily read for clients, reporters, and friends. Thank you for reading.
A few updates as we start year two:
New Schedule: To keep the quality high, we’re moving to a Tuesday-Thursday publication schedule.
Top 50 Podcasts: Tomorrow, we’re dropping the inaugural Brand Brief Top 50 Conservative Podcasts.
New Tool: On Thursday, we’re launching a free tool to help you stay up to date on every show.
Thank you for reading! - NRB
What do you think of The Brand Brief? Let us know.
🎙️ NEW MEDIA VOICES
The Megyn Kelly Show - 10/5
Kelly and Heather Mac Donald of the Manhattan Institute dissect whether the Cornell University case was nonconsensual or just immoral
Mac Donald calls the “one in five” campus rape statistic fraudulent, tracing it to surveys that redefine regretted drunken hookups as assault
They argue the 1960s sexual revolution and podcasts like Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy leave women vulnerable
Kelly defends traditional chivalry while arguing Obama-era Title IX policies eliminated traditional due process on campuses
She rips the casting of non-binary actor in a male role in the new Sense and Sensibility as woke pandering in a period drama set in 1811
The Ben Shapiro Show - 10/5
Shapiro calls out Tucker Carlson for pushing revisionist World War II history that portrays Winston Churchill as the villain
He defends the atomic bombing of Japan as morally justified to end WWII quickly, contrasting it with Hitler’s deliberate extermination campaigns
Shapiro rips into Carlson for romanticizing Vladimir Putin’s Russia while ignoring its free speech repression
He traces Carlson’s worldview to a broader “disintegrationist” movement spanning across parties from Patrick Deneen to Sen. Bernie Sanders
The Michael Knowles Show - 10/5
Knowles mocks media coverage of Christa Pike’s botched execution, arguing the absurdity of worrying whether a convicted murderer can “fully recover” before being re-executed
He defends capital punishment using Catholic doctrine, citing St. Thomas Aquinas and Blessed Pius IX, while criticizing Pope Francis’ use of the Catechism to condemn it as anti-life
Knowles slams NY Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposed law reclassifying voluntary intoxicated sex as rape, tying it to the Cornell 7 case
He excoriates CA Gov. Gavin Newsom’s slavery reparations law requiring companies to disclose historic slavery ties, despite entering the Union as a free state
Knowles reacts to an undercover video showing Texas Majority PAC paying people $25 to attend voting education Zoom calls, and criticizes Democrat candidate James Talarico for invoking the Virgin Mary to defend abortion
Sara Gonzales Unfiltered - 10/5
Gonzales rips singer Hayley Williams for declaring Christian nationalism the greatest threat to American democracy
She defends Christian nationalism, stating morality and religion are essential for rooting the Republic in virtue
Gonzales celebrates Dr. Mehmet Oz launching a Medicaid and Medicare fraud war room targeting $100 billion in annual fraud
She blasts government waste, like California’s high-speed rail ballooning from $10-15 billion to $150-200 billion
Gonzales criticizes Michigan for removing names from sex offender registries and laments prosecutorial discretion failures
She makes fun of actors Mark Ruffalo and Robert De Niro raging at a “hands off our vote” anti-Trump rally
Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - 10/5
Stuckey argues the Cornell case shows social media acting as judge and executioner, despite the district attorney finding insufficient evidence
She details how Jane Doe’s account evolved dramatically, from 2024 texts showing initial willingness
Stuckey slams the college newspaper for publishing the accused men’s names while granting Jane Doe anonymity, leading to a mistaken identity case where the wrong Matthew Van Houten was harassed
She argues consent-only sexual ethics fail, arguing sex outside marriage creates chaos including unwanted pregnancies, assault, and trafficking
📺 LEADING FOX NEWS
The Five
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries falls for the DSA, saying it’s time for “regime change,” as President Trump arrives in Nebraska for his fifth rally in five days
Liberals are hosting anti-Trump “rage fests” in DC and NYC, with actor Robert De Niro and singer Bruce Springsteen going on tour
Socialist candidate Abdul El-Sayed gets a lesson from FOX anchor Martha MacCallum
Comedian Chris Rock compares wokeness to the Salem Witch Trials
FOX & Friends
Trump approves a firing squad for convicted Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan
Former Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel claims he’s distancing himself from socialism
Student protests break out across France
Gatorade recalls more than 122,000 cases of Orange and Lemon Lime drinks over undeclared food dyes
Cornell students and faculty wear purple in Ithaca to protest the school’s handling of rape allegations
A DOJ report shows Biden-era officials warned the memo on students’ parents would look like an “Anti-MAGA Task Force”
The Friends react to an earlier interview with Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed on Soros cash and his Hasan Piker ties
Houthis are now threatening to shoot down civilian planes
Sec. Marco Rubio says there is “no cause for alarm” as Russia plays down pneumonic plague fears
Synthetic kratom is to blame for the death of Ole Miss students
The average Social Security check tops $2,000 by 2027, per the Senior Citizens League
FOX News marks its 30th anniversary with a Sean Hannity lookback, Lauren Green joins Steve Doocy to walk through FOX News headquarters
🍿 TRENDING AND POUNCING
Tomorrow’s news today…
By stroke of pen, President Trump just signed an executive order on stage brought to him by Natalie Harp to greenlight virtually tax-free diesel fuel for truckers, farmers and other Americans. [X, Daugherty]
President Trump announces a new bill to permanently lock down our borders. “We will pass the No Invasion of Our Country Act, prohibiting any future president from ever opening our borders to illegal immigrants ever again.” [X, Sortor]
Keith Ellison was just exposed by CNN for taking lavish overseas trips paid for by corporate lobbyists. Five-star hotels, first-class flights, African safari tours, and more. [X, Grage]
🗞️ WHAT THE RIGHT IS WRITING
FOX News Digital
Senate puts fate of Daylight Saving Time bill in jeopardy [FOX News]
Trump points finger at Iran over attempted FlyDubai attack [FOX News]
AI giants pressed under oath to make key safety guarantee [FOX News]
Breitbart
Breitbart policy event with DHS Sec. Markwayne Mullin, 2,220 Terrorists Arrested During Trump’s 2nd Term [Breitbart]
Russian Lab Worker Dead, 200 Under Observation After Suspected Leak [Breitbart]
Wall Street Journal Editorials
Permitting Reform at Last, Really? [WSJ Ed]
China Spies on Taiwan on U.S. Soil [WSJ Ed]
Brazil Starts to Move Right [WSJ Ed]
Whitmer Lobbies Germany for the UAW [WSJ Ed]
New York Post
Apple News hid stories about how broke the DNC is ahead of the midterms, watchdog alleges [NYP]
Nithya Raman drank margaritas as ICE protests ignited LA — now she wants LAPD chief fired over his response [NYP]
Washington Free Beacon
Video Shows Abdul El-Sayed Stating He Has ‘Dual Citizenship’ in Egypt and US [WFB]
Washington Reporter
SCOOP: Why Sen. John Sununu wants to return to Washington., D.C.[Reporter]
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