A Conversation with Tina Brown and Tom Freston
Moderated by Ken Auletta
Presented by Guild Hall & The Common Good
Series programmed by Ellen Chesler and Patricia Duff
Over the course of just three decades, the media business has been reshaped: newspapers and magazines have shuttered; three broadcast networks gave way to cable television and then fragmented further into a world of digital platforms, streaming, and artificial intelligence. The Changing Media Landscape will feature two media icons who helped drive that transformation, reflecting on where we have been and where we may be headed next.
Tina Brown, the influential editor behind Vanity Fair and The New Yorker and founder of The Daily Beast, has long been at the center of major shifts in journalism. Tom Freston, co-founder of MTV, former CEO of Viacom, and author of the 2025 book Unplugged: Adventures from MTV to Timbuktu, helped build some of the most recognizable global media brands of the past half-century and continues to weigh in on the industry’s future.
Moderating is Ken Auletta, longtime New Yorker writer and one of the country’s most trusted media observers, known for his reporting on the intersection of journalism, business, and power. The discussion will address the rise of social platforms, the erosion of traditional gatekeepers, and the responsibility media leaders carry in an age of misinformation and polarization.
A book signing will follow the program in the lobby.
-
Ken Auletta
Ken Auletta launched the Annals of Communications column for The New Yorker magazine in 1992. He is the author of thirteen books, including five national bestsellers—Three blind Mice: How the TV Networks Lost Their Way; Greed and Glory On Wall Street: The Fall of the House of Lehman; The Highwaymen: Warriors of the Information Super Highway; World War 3.0: Microsoft and Its Enemies; and Googled: The End Of The World As We Know It. His twelfth book, Frenemies: The Epic Disruption of the Ad Business (And Everything Else), was published in June 2018. His thirteenth book, Hollywood Ending: Harvey Weinstein and the Culture of Silence, was published in July 2022. Ken is currently reporting a documentary on Murdoch with acclaimed director Matt Tyrnauer, and is also writing about The Murdoch Puzzle anti-poverty advocacy organization focusing on Africa.
-
Tom Freston
Tom Freston is a cofounder of MTV and the former CEO of Viacom, where he oversaw Paramount Pictures. After launching a successful clothing export company out of Afghanistan and India, Freston transitioned into the media landscape, helping found MTV and bringing it to international fame in more than 150 countries. Before his Viacom roles, he ran MTV Networks for seventeen years, overseeing Nickelodeon, VH1, Comedy Central, and other legendary networks. He is a board member of Imagine Entertainment and a board member emeritus of both the American Museum of Natural History and the think tank New America. He currently serves as Board Chair of The ONE Campaign, an anti-poverty advocacy organization focusing on Africa.
Photo: Carey Lowell
Sponsors
Principal Sponsor: Lisa Rosenblum
Lead Sponsor: Straus Family Foundation
Additional Support: Julie Raynor Gross
Performing Arts programs are supported by 2026 season sponsors Galia Meiri-Stawski and Axel Stawski, with additional lead support from Henry and Peggy Schleiff, The Melville Straus Family Endowment, Monica and Peter Tessler, and Vital Projects Fund.
Guild Hall’s Performing Arts programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
Additional support provided by Friends of the Theater: Natascia Ayers and Jim Ciquera, Bonnie and Joel Bergstein, Gene Bernstein and Kathy Walsh, Amy Cooney and Marty Feinman, John and Joan D’Addario, Suzanne and John Golden, Hilarie and Mitchell Morgan, Steve and Susan Pesner and Peace, in memory of Michéle Pesner, whose entire life was devoted to all aspects of culture, The Schaffner Family Foundation, Lisa Schultz and Ezriel Kornel, Stacey and Oliver Stanton, and Susi and Peter Wunsch.