Mostly what I do is just read the trades, and read in between the lines because every article has a spin. Not a coincidence there wasn't a shred of positive Netflix coverage for like 8 weeks earlier this year across THR, Variety, Deadline, etc. Gossy headlines get clicks. When Netflix was in a tailspin, suddenly everyone couldn't wait to weigh-in with their armchair Wall Street takes.
Same is happening with WBD right now.
They cancelled Batgirl and took 6 movies off HBO Max. And I guess there was a PowerPoint slide breaking down gender cohorts that everyone is suddenly an expert on?
That's pretty much it for objectively bad press. If you look at the direction being taken, I think it's actually very sensible.
Use theaters to hype big movies. Make more movies for theaters. Preserve HBO. Merge HBO Max and Discovery+. Use the best tech between the two. Spend more on content. Milk linear TV for all its worth. Restore CNN's brand. Restore DC's theatrical reputation.
It's dumb but sometimes I imagine myself in these guys' shoes. I don't think I would have had a problem cancelling Batgirl personally, especially being privy to the internal deals and machinations involved. But even if I could have explained my reasoning, I still would be eaten alive by the Twitterati. The idea of that does kinda rankle me, most hot takes are so bad on their face but they still seem to keep getting traction.
Social media is a scourge. Independent thought is very close to being dead.