Media Lying About a Lie?

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Article in Daily Kos by whitroth, 7/31/26

Headline: “About Nicaragua and US media”

“Remember the big fuss a week or so ago about Ortega of Nicaragua saying “there would be no more elections”?

“It was all a lie. Literally. Every report that we saw LIED by editing out half the words.

An ex of mine found this link on bluesky. What Ortega actually said was ‘none who promoted a violent anti-government insurrection in 2018 will be allowed to stand for office.’

“Well, gee, that’s not exactly “no more elections. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/7/31/800077977/community/about-nicaragua-and-us-media/

No More Mister Nice Network!

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Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 7/31/26

Headline:  “Opinion | ABC is done playing defense against the FCC”

Subhead:  “The network’s unusually forceful filing accuses the FCC of retaliation and warns of a chilling effect on the media”

“For more than a year, the Federal Communications Commission and its chairman Brendan Carr have repeatedly hassled, threatened and tried to intimidate ABC. . .”

“But now, ABC says it has had enough.

In a fervent filing with the FCC, ABC is accusing the commission of “attempted censorship.” The FCC is targeting the network, ABC claims, simply because the FCC doesn’t like what the network sometimes says. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2026/abc-accuses-fcc-attempted-censorship/

WaPo Slowly Going Under?

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Article in The Guardian by Jeremy Barr, 7/31/26

Headline:  “Washington Post’s opinion editor resigns after just one year in role:

Subhead:  “Adam O’Neal did not give reason for his departure at end of August in another major shakeup at US publication”

“The Washington Post had realized a state of relative calm in the five months since the paper was turned upside down in February, when nearly half the newsroom was laid off and its unpopular publisher, Will Lewis, abruptly resigned.

“But on Friday, staffers were shocked to find out that Adam O’Neal, a millennial hired last year to lead its opinion section, was already leaving. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/jul/31/washington-post-opinion-editor-resigns-adam-oneal

Local Owned Doesn’t Guarantee Local News

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Article in Poynter by Jennifer Nehrer, 7/29/26

Headline:  “A community can have local newspapers and still lack local news”

Subhead:  “California’s local news landscape — from a thriving weekly in Carmel to a one-reporter newsroom in Merced — shows why counting newspapers isn’t enough”

“. . .At first glance, California’s local news landscape seems to be thriving. Even the state’s least populous areas compare favorably to some of the United States’ largest regions by one common measure. . .”

“Matt Pearce, director of policy at Rebuild Local News, prefers to add a second statistic to present a fuller picture of who is bringing local news to California communities: the ‘Local Journalist Index,’ a tool that analyzes the number of ‘Local Journalist Equivalents’ in each U.S. county. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2026/how-to-measure-local-news/

Media Conspiracy Against Diversity?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Miranda Green, 7/30/26

Headline:  “How a Network of Pink-Slime News Sites and Conservative Activists Went After Campus DEI”

Subhead:  “Using FOIA requests and hidden-camera videos, the groups targeted universities, leading to the firing of faculty and staff.”

“In February of 2025, as college students across the country settled into their spring semesters, administrators at four major public universities in the Midwest received public records requests about their policies on diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI. . .”

“The requests, from sites owned by a paid partisan network called Metric Media, were part of a strategic, ongoing effort to expose and castigate public universities for teaching with an eye on diversity. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/tow_center/how-a-network-of-pink-slime-news-sites-and-conservative-activists-went-after-campus-dei-hidden-camera-foia-flood-university-firings-heritage-foundation-project-2025.php

ABC Persecuted?

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Article in The New Republic by Sophie Jager, 7/30/26

Headline:  “ABC Accuses Trump’s FCC of Trying to Censor the Whole Media Industry”

Subhead:  “ABC fired back at the Federal Communications Commission, accusing the agency of “attempted censorship” and “retaliation.”

“ABC accused the Federal Communications Commission Thursday of “attempted censorship” and a clear “retaliation” effort meant to send a message to every other media company in the country.

“The Administration has openly and repeatedly called for the revocation of ABC’s licenses, because it dislikes the content and viewpoints expressed on ABC network programs,” ABC wrote in a fiery 119-page regulatory filing to the agency. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://newrepublic.com/post/213787/abc-trump-fcc-censorship-media-industry

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Article in Reuters by David Shepardson, 7/30/26

Headline: “ABC says FCC seeks to intimidate network over news coverage”

“. . .Walt Disney-owned, ​ABC said on Thursday that the Federal Communications Commission’s threat to revoke the network’s broadcast licenses is ‌part of an unprecedented campaign of intimidation over broadcast content the Trump administration dislikes.

“ABC said that the Trump administration agency’s nearly unprecedented decision to order an early license review of the eight Disney-owned ABC stations is a warning from the government to other media companies. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.reuters.com/world/abc-says-fcc-seeks-intimidate-network-over-coverage-2026-07-30/

Unhinged Journalist-Harassment?

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Article in Ars Technica by Jon Brodkin, 7/28/26

Headline:  “eBay pays $46M to journalists it targeted in bizarre harassment campaign”

Subhead:  “eBay sent bloody pig mask and other macabre deliveries to journalists’ home.”

“eBay and three former executives agreed to pay nearly $56 million in a settlement over a macabre campaign of cyberstalking and harassment that targeted two journalists in 2019.

“As we’ve previously written, the case involved deliveries of live cockroaches, a funeral wreath, a book about surviving the loss of a spouse, and a bloody pig mask to the home of a couple who run a news website. There were also harassing messages sent via email and Twitter, and an attempt to install a GPS tracking device on the victims’ car. Criminal charges resulted in guilty pleas and prison terms for former eBay employees. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/07/ebay-former-execs-pay-56m-to-settle-bloody-pig-mask-harassment-case/

Rt. Media Rebrand War?

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Article in Media Matters by John Knefel, 7/29/26

Headline:  “The growing MAGA media despondency over the Iran war quagmire”

Subhead:  “Benny Johnson once called to rebrand the Strait of Hormuz in the US’s image, but now he has acquiesced to Iranian control over the crucial waterway”

“As President Donald Trump’s war on Iran extends into its sixth month, some figures on the right are recalibrating their messaging from an original demand for maximalist victory to something much more modest.

“Although the war has created some fractures in right-wing media, at the outset of the conflict it had no shortage of boosters — either Iran hawks or MAGA hacks. Now, as the Iranian government has survived months of bombing and operationalized its previously unrealized control of the Strait of Hormuz, some of those pundits are scaling back their ambitions. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/us-iran-relations/growing-maga-media-despondency-over-iran-war-quagmire

Media White Flag?

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Article in The Bulwark by Jonathan V. Last 7/27/26

Headline:  “Trump Was Right About the Corporate Media”

Subhead:  “The White House Correspondents’ Association surrenders.”

“On Friday night the White House Correspondents’ Association hosted the re-do of its annual dinner. It was a stunning display of weakness. A sham in which serious journalists chose to pretend that Donald Trump is a normal political figure. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-was-right-about-the-corporate

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Article in The Nation by Jeet Heer, 7/27/26

Headline:  “Submissive Mainstream Media at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner”

Subhead:  “His speech was racist, homophobic, vindictive, and soul-crushingly unfunny—and the journalists in the crowd didn’t seem to care. “

“Fittingly, the disgraceful second edition of the 2026 White House Correspondents’ Dinner (WHCD) was celebrated in a venue that embodies Donald Trump’s corruption and impunity. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/trump-whcd-speech-media-humiliation/

McCarthy Ghost Pursues Media

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Article in Democracy Now! by Staff, 7/28/26

Headline: “A New McCarthyism? House GOP Subpoenas BreakThrough News in Escalating War on Progressive Groups”

“The Republican-led House Ways and Means Committee subpoenaed BreakThrough News last week, demanding the independent online news outlet hand over internal communications and financial records. BreakThrough News says it’s being targeted over its coverage of U.S. mass deportations, ICE abuses, Cuba and Palestine solidarity and U.S. foreign policy. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/28/rania_khalek_breakthrough_news_subpoena