Media Threats – Democracy Menace?

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Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 2/2/26

Headline:  “Opinion | This is what it looks like when a government tries to intimidate reporters”

Subhead: “The arrest of journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort signals a dangerous escalation in the Trump administration’s campaign against the press”

“President Donald Trump and his administration, over the past 10 years, have stooped to many low and distressing levels in their all-out assault on the media: lawsuits, threats of lawsuits, bans, funding cuts and insults.

But last week, the administration did what was previously thought of as unthinkable. It reached for an even more ominous attack. It arrested two journalists. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2026/trump-arrest-don-lemon-georgia-fort/

MAGA Media Distorting Minnesota?

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Article in Media Matters by MAtt Gertz, 1/30/26

Headline:  “MAGA media demand Trump put down the Minnesota ‘revolution’ “

“A week after Border Patrol officers gunned down nurse Alex Pretti on the streets of Minneapolis, MAGA media’s biggest stars are portraying locals who oppose immigration enforcement officers’ brutal tactics as China-backed ‘revolutionaries’ seeking ‘the complete overthrow of Western civilization’ which they are urging President Donald Trump to put down at all costs…”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/maga-media-demand-trump-put-down-minnesota-revolution

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Jem Bartholomew, 2/2/26

Headline: ” I Might Get Arrested, People’ “

Subhead: “How MAGA media outlets are fueling Trump’s crackdown on the press.”

“. . .In the immediate aftermath of the church protest, the right-wing, MAGA-aligned mediasphere reacted with fury. ‘Don Lemon storms the church, rushes the altar in the middle of the sermon, harasses and threatens the pastor on a live feed,’ Benny Johnson, the right-wing YouTuber, posted on X, twisting the facts as aggressively as a powerlifter wringing out a wet towel. Johnson called for Lemon to be “frog marched before the cameras” and face “full federal charges with decades of prison time.’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/don-lemon-georgia-fort-arrests-church-st-saint-paul-ice-pastor-dhs-maga-media-benny-johnson-tim-pool.php

Legal Journalist Protections Ignored?

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Article in the New York Times by Charlie Savage, 2/2/26

Headline:  “U.S. Failed to Alert Judge to Press Law in Application to Search Reporter’s Home”

Subhead:  “The Justice Department did not address a 1980 law that generally bars warrants for reporting material when it sought to seize a Washington Post reporter’s devices, an unsealed filing shows”

“The Justice Department failed to tell a magistrate judge about a 1980 law protecting journalists in its application materials for a warrant to search a Washington Post reporter’s home last month as part of a leak investigation, an unsealed court filing shows. . .”

“The 1980 law, the Privacy Protection Act, says ‘it shall be unlawful’ for investigators to search for or seize journalistic work product and documentary materials unless the reporters themselves are suspected of committing certain crimes related to those materials. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/us/politics/doj-press-law-warrant-application-washington-post-journalist.html

Journalists Now, Who’s Next?

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Article in The Guardian by Theodore J. Boutrous Jr & Katie Townsend, 2/2/26

Headline:  “We are witnessing a dangerous escalation in the Trump administration’s attacks on the press and a clear threat to first amendment freedoms”

“. . .It is unprecedented for the justice department to invoke these laws to punish journalistic activity, and there is no basis for doing so that would be consistent with the first amendment. Indeed, before the indictment, a federal magistrate judge in Minnesota had refused to sign an arrest warrant for Lemon. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/02/don-lemon-georgia-fort-arrest-first-amendment

Is Bezos Breaking WaPo?

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Article in The Guardian by Margaret Sullivan 2/2/26

Headline:  “Is Jeff Bezos going to destroy the Washington Post? It sure looks like it”

Subhead:  “He has the chance to be the steward of a national treasure, but he’s blowing it”

“. . .I worked on staff at the Post for six years, until 2022, as its media columnist, after admiring the paper for decades; it was an inspiring place to work, and I got to know its readership and its staff from the inside.

“It breaks my heart to see what’s happening now, and has been happening for more than a year.

As a major round of newsroom layoffs is threatened – losses that would further weaken an already decimated staff – Bezos is doing what should be unthinkable. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/02/jeff-bezos-destroy-washington-post

Violent Death Routine to Mainstream?

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Article in FAIR by Janine Jackson, 1/30/26

Headline: “Beyond Corporate Media, Journalists Are Stepping Up and Speaking Up About ICE”

“As millions around the world, fresh off watching real-time footage of federal law enforcement murdering Renee Good, saw federal agents murder Alex Pretti, CBS viewers got a headline (1/24/26): ‘Person Dead After Shooting in Minneapolis Involving Federal Immigration Agents.’

You can check your calendar; it is 2026. And yet corporate media still think we’ll fall for that passive voice business, wherein law enforcement are…there…and people just kinda die. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/beyond-corporate-media-journalists-are-stepping-up-and-speaking-up-about-ice/

Has Concepts of the News?

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Article in The New Republic by Alex Shephard, 1/30/26

Headline: “What Bari Weiss Doesn’t Get About CBS News”

Subhead: “Her plan to focus on ‘scoops of ideas’ will only make the news network’s offerings more like (pretty much) everything else in media.”

“At an all-staff meeting on Tuesday, CBS News’s editor in chief Bari Weiss—perhaps the record-holder for the fastest the word embattled has ever been appended in front of a new job title—laid out her vision for the network she had taken the reins of only a few weeks earlier. . .”

“With her new charges in attendance, Weiss finally revealed her vision board for the future of CBS News, and the watchword is ‘scoops.’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://newrepublic.com/article/205904/bari-weiss-scoops-cbs-news

Broadcast Rule only Affects Some

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Article in Daily Kos by Alix Breeden, 1/30/26

Headline:  “FCC pushes to punish talk shows as Trump-friendly media gets a pass”

“After FCC Chairman Brendan Carr announced an update to a longstanding rule excluding late-night and daytime talk shows from having to interview both opponents of a political party, late-night clapped back. . .”

“Kimmel went on to explain how more conservative outlets aren’t being forced by the White House to abide by the revised rules, but the ABC host is because his show uses public airwaves. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/1/30/2366248/-FCC-pushes-to-punish-talk-shows-as-Trump-friendly-media-gets-a-pass?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_recent_news&pm_medium=web

Reporters Defend Reporting

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Image from Poynter

Article in Poynter by Staff, 1/30/26

Headline: “Journalists should prepare to defend their right to report the news”

Subhead:  “The arrests of journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort on Friday signal an increasing willingness for the federal government to criminalize newsgathering activities.

“While the legal merits of those arrests have yet to be tested, they are a red flag for journalists and newsroom leaders everywhere. Given the speed and unpredictability of recent federal actions — including the seizure of a Washington Post reporter’s equipment earlier this month — every newsroom must prepare now to defend its right to report the news. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2026/journalists-should-prepare-to-defend-their-right-to-report-the-news/

Burning-Down the Media Now?

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Article in Slate by Jill Filipovic, 1/30/26

Headline:  “Don Lemon’s Arrest Is a Five-Alarm Fire Moment”

“Late Thursday night, former CNN anchor Don Lemon was arrested by federal agents at the direction of Attorney General Pam Bondi. Independent journalist Georgia Fort was arrested as well, along with activists Trahern Jeen Crews and Jamael Lydell Lundy. The arrests stem from a protest at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, where the pastor is also an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent. . .”

“Even for an administration that has spent a year violating the First Amendment in all kinds of novel ways, the arrest of a prominent journalist is a shock—a five-alarm fire moment.

“It also shows just how far this administration is willing to go to solidify its control. And it raises the question of just how far Donald Trump’s most loyal followers will follow him. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2026/01/trump-bondi-news-don-lemon-arrest-first-amendment-disaster.html?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_content=jill_don_lemon&utm_campaign=&tpcc=reddit-social–jill_don_lemon

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Article in The Guardian by Richard Luscombe, 1/30/26

Headline: “Press freedom groups denounce arrests of two journalists including Don Lemon after Minnesota anti-ICE protest”

Subhead:  “Groups say arrests of ex-CNN anchor and Georgia Fort are ‘extremely alarming’ and an ‘attack on the first amendment’ “

“Press freedom groups are warning that the arrests of two independent journalists, including the veteran former CNN anchor Don Lemon, signal a chilling new crackdown on US media by the Trump administration. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/law/2026/jan/30/press-freedom-journalist-arrests-ice-don-lemon