John Malone Helped Create the Modern Media Industry. He’s Not Sure We’re Better Off. NYT | Top Stories By: Benjamin Mullin 29 August 2025 at 22:32 John Malone helped create the modern media industry over the last half century. In a new memoir, “Born to Be Wired,” he looks back on what he has wrought. © Ryan David Brown for The New York TimesJohn Malone, a captain of the media industry over the past several decades, aboard his yacht in the Boothbay region of Maine.