Former Chairs of FCC Speak

by


Article in Status News by Oliver Darcy, 2/19/25

Headline:  “Carr Jacked”

Subhead:  “Former FCC chairs, Republican and Democrat alike, are sounding the alarm over Brendan Carr’s crusade against media companies. In a statement to Status, Carr responded with a GIF—and a tirade.”

“Over the weekend, Tom Wheeler, the former Federal Communications Commission chair under Barack Obama, traveled to his local theater to finally see ‘Wicked.’ The Academy Award-nominated film, a Comcast production, features Marissa Bode, an actor who uses a wheelchair, as Nessarose—a casting choice that underscores the company’s commitment to authentic representation.

Afterward, Wheeler praised NBCUniversal’s decision, telling me, ‘Someone is making an inclusive effort, and that is important.’ But then, his tone shifted. He was reluctant to criticize a successor, he admitted, but he felt compelled to speak out after Brendan Carr, the current Donald Trump-appointed FCC commissioner, announced an investigation into Comcast over its D.E.I. initiatives—the very framework that may have helped bring Bode’s casting to life.

” ‘The fact that they’re saying that because you have a corporate philosophy of inclusion, I will launch an investigation that attacks the fact that your website states this is a “core value of our business”—maybe that was my breaking point,’ Wheeler told me.

Wheeler is part of a growing group of former FCC chairs who have decided that they have a responsibility to speak out…

https://www.status.news/p/brendan-carr-fcc-chairs-criticism

 

 

Using Media Company to Coerce

by


Article in The New York Times by Jack Nicas, 2/19/25

Headline:  “Trump Media Group Sues Brazilian Judge Weighing Arrest of Jair Bolsonaro”

SubHead:  “The lawsuit came hours after the justice received an indictment of Brazil’s former president, who is an ally of President Trump.”

“President Trump’s media company sued a Brazilian Supreme Court justice on Wednesday, accusing him of illegally censoring right-wing voices on social media. . .”

“The Trump Media & Technology Group — which is majority owned by Mr. Trump and runs his Truth Social site — sued the Brazilian justice, Alexandre de Moraes, in U.S. federal court in Tampa, Fla., on Wednesday morning. Joining as a plaintiff was Rumble, a Florida-based video platform that, like Truth Social, pitches itself as a home for free speech.

“The lawsuit appeared to represent an astonishing effort by Mr. Trump to pressure a foreign judge as he weighed the fate of a fellow right-wing leader who, like him, was indicted on charges that he tried to overturn his election loss.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/19/world/americas/trump-brazil-bolsonaro-judge.html

– – – – –

Article in Axios by Avery Lotz, 2/19/25

Headline:  “Trump’s media group sues Brazilian judge after Bolsonaro indictment”

“President Trump’s media group on Wednesday sued a Brazilian Supreme Court justice, alleging that he censored right-wing voices on social media platforms. . .”

https://www.axios.com/

 

 

Abnormal Media Are Propaganda

by


Article in The Guardian by Bernie Sanders, 2/19/25

Headline:  “Can Trumpism be defeated? Absolutely. Here’s how”

Subhead:  “What we are fighting for is not ‘utopian’ or unachievable. Trumpism can and must be defeated”

“. . . Trumpism has significant control over large parts of the media from which millions of Americans get their information. Fox and Musk’s platform X, among others, are not normal media outlets. Their basic function is not to cover the ‘news’ but to spread rightwing extremist ideology.

“Trumpism is utilizing the concept of the ‘big lie’ in a way that has never, in this country, been seen. Day after day, blatantly dishonest statements and conspiracy theories are propagated – and repeated over and over and over again.

“While Trump now ‘floods the zone’ and occupies most of the political oxygen, it is imperative that we never lose sight of the progressive vision – a nation and world based on human cooperation and compassion, not greed and a ‘survival of the fittest’ mentality.”

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/19/trumpism-bernie-sanders

Local Radio Says Job Sunset

by


Article in Tony’s Kansas City, 2/19/25

Headline:  “Kansas City public radio isn’t too optimistic about the future or the local economy . . . In fact, if we are to believe the local NPR affiliate . . .”

LOCAL PUBLIC RADIO IMAGINES EPIC ECONOMIC PERIL THANKS TO MAGA LAYOFFS!!!”

“More serious people remind MANY SIDES that the federal government is the largest employer in the Kansas City metro and the impact of any mass layoffs will be REGIONAL.

“It’s probably worth mentioning that billionaire Elon Musk recently advocating for ‘de-funding’ NPR.”

” . . .’Federal workers in Kansas City whose jobs were eliminated under the Trump administration’s massive budget cuts will have a hard time finding comparable work in the area. Instability in the city’s workforce could lead to a recession.’

“KCUR: Kansas City doesn’t have enough jobs available for all the federal workers getting laid off”

https://www.tonyskansascity.com/2025/02/kcur-predicts-economic-doom-amid-local.html

L.A. Times Anxiety

by


Article in Status News by Oliver Darcy, 2/11/25

Headline:  “Soon-Shiong’s La-La Land”

Subhead:  “Billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong is building out a new media venture that has had conversations about partnering with right-wing extremist Candace Owens, Status has learned.”

“Inside the Los Angeles Times, anxiety is running high as demoralized staffers worry about buyouts and the looming threat of layoffs — all while cringing as red-pilled owner Patrick Soon-Shiong embodies the personality of a MAGA clown on social media. But while Soon-Shiong’s attention in the immediate wake of the election was focused on remaking the Times, lately it has been somewhere else entirely. While forcing cost cuts at the newspaper he once promised to breathe new life into, the pharmaceutical billionaire, I’m told, has been directing his focus — and his resources — toward a new media venture.

“Indeed, I’m told that Soon-Shiong has been working over the last few weeks in concert with Republican consultant Eric Beach on building out a new entity that will prominently feature digital-first personalities, many of whom will appeal to the MAGA base”

https://www.status.news/p/patrick-soon-shiong-lat-next

 

Associated Press in Cross-Hairs

by

Article in Axios by Marc Caputo, 2/17/25

Headline:  “Scoop: Why Trump targets AP“

“One of the big reasons President Trump is limiting AP reporters’ White House access is to protest what aides see as years of liberal word choices that the wire service’s influential stylebook spread across mainstream media, according to top White House officials.

“Why it matters: The trigger was the announcement by The Associated Press that it would continue using the 400-year-old “Gulf of Mexico” rather than switch to “Gulf of America,” as declared by Trump in a Day 1 executive order. But it turns out that broader underlying grievances made AP a target.

“The big picture: By spotlighting AP, Trump is amplifying Republican and conservative criticisms that the AP Stylebook, a first reference for most U.S. news organizations, shapes political dialogue by favoring liberal words and phrases concerning gender, immigration, race and law enforcement.”

“. . . Axios said in a statement Friday, ‘the government should never dictate how any news organization makes editorial decisions. The AP and all news organizations should be free to report as they see fit. This is a bedrock of a free press and durable democracy.’ ”

https://www.axios.com/2025/02/17/trump-ap-gulf-america-mexico

Why No Working Class Media?

by

Picture from Aeon

Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Alissa Quartm=, 2/18/25

Headline:  “America Needs a Working-Class Media”

Subhead:  “Catering to rich audiences is not serving us.”

“n the seven years Kaia Sand edited Street Roots, a publication that serves unhoused people in Portland, Oregon, she would often find herself unsettled by how more mainstream publications covered the lives of poorer Americans. She’d find herself wondering, for instance, what the ‘real estate’ beat—whose very name offended her—had to do with the daily struggles of those she worked with. The 2024 presidential election underscored for her the need for a more class-aware and class-diverse media.

“Freelance reporter Joshua Hunt also looked at media through the lens of his lived experience of economic insecurity—he grew up working-class and Tlingit in Alaska but has recently moved abroad to Japan. Long frustrated with what he perceived as an industry inhospitable to journalists from poorer backgrounds, he recently fired off a tweetstorm about how few ‘editors go looking for working-class journalists.’ . . .”

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/america-needs-working-class-media-end-catering-rich-audiences.php

Upside Down Media

by


Article in Raw Story by David Edwards, 2/17/25

Headline:  ” ‘Maybe there is a DEI situation’: Right-wing media hosts speculate on upside-down plane”

“Two right-wing anchors quickly speculated former President Joe Biden’s diversity, equity, and inclusion policies could be to blame after a Delta Airlines flight flipped upside down while landing Monday afternoon in Toronto.

” ‘Yeah, breaking news that just happened within the hour: a plane again going from Minneapolis to Toronto — to Toronto Pearson Airport, CP24, a local affiliate, saying about eight people injured,’ Matthew Alvarez announced on Right Side Broadcasting Network.

” ‘. . . [Maybe] it was a situation where the flight should have been diverted and somebody with maybe they’re overworked, maybe too much, you know, maybe there is a DEI situation again,’ Alvarez opined. ‘And I’m not — this is not really against people that are of any kind of look or way they are, right?’ ”

https://www.rawstory.com/plane-crash-2671169829/

Anti-Musk Ads Not Allowed?

by


Article in The Hill by Alexaner Bolton, 2/17/25

Headline:  “Washington Post backs out of ‘Fire Elon Musk’ ad order”

“The Washington Post this week backed out of a ‘Fire Elon Musk’ advertising order that was to run as a wrap on some of its Tuesday editions, according to the advocacy group Common Cause.

“The group said it signed a $115,000 agreement with the Post to run the ad that would have covered the front and back page of the Tuesday paper, as well as a full-page ad with the same theme inside the paper. It said it planned to purchase the ad in collaboration with the Southern Poverty Law Center Action Fund.”

https://thehill.com/media/5148497-washington-post-backs-out-of-fire-elon-musk-ad-order/

Absolutely No Media Conflict!

by


Article in Daily Kos by Alix Breeden, 2/17/25

Headline:  “How Trump is paving the way for his failing media company to thrive”

After President Donald Trump’s media company reported major losses in 2024, he now appears to be clearing the way for his business—and bottom line—to succeed.

The Trump Media & Technology Group Corp’s recent 10-K filing listed multiple risk factors for why its platforms—such as Truth Social or the new Truth.Fi—might fail.

One such factor is the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which Trump temporarily paused with a Feb. 10 executive order. The FCPA makes it illegal for U.S. companies to bribe foreign officials for government contracts.

Per Trump’s executive order, Attorney General Pam Bondi will revise the FCPA to “promote American competitiveness.”

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/2/17/2304349/-How-Trump-is-paving-the-way-for-his-failing-media-company-to-thrive?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=top_news_slot_2&pm_medium=web