Censorship at WaPo

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Article in The Nation by Nathan Robinson, 4/21/26

Headline:  “The Bezos Post Editorial Page Has Become a Mouthpiece for Pro-Billionaire Propaganda”

Subhead:  “Jeff Bezos said The Washington Post would no longer publish opinion pieces critical of free markets. Recent editorials show just how seriously the paper has taken this mandate.”

“During his first 10 years as the owner of The Washington Post, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos reportedly took a fairly hands-off approach to managing the paper, with the Columbia Journalism Review observing that he was ‘not inclined to spend his time on the phone haranguing Post editors about coverage decisions.’ But that was then. Last year, Bezos publicly announced that there would be ‘a change coming to our opinion pages,’ and that henceforth ‘we are going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets.’ Viewpoints critical of these ‘pillars,’ he said, would no longer be appearing in the Post. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/washington-post-editorial-shift-bezos-pro-billionaire-propaganda/

Media Circus April 25th

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Article in Daily Kos by Staff, 4/21/26

Headline:  “Trump’s media hitman to rub elbows with his victims”

“Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr, known for using his power to suppress free speech, will be a guest at this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner on April 25.

“Carr was asked to attend the event by Paramount, the parent company of CBS, which is headed by Republican donor David Ellison.

“CBS News also reportedly invited Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and senior White House adviser Stephen Miller. All three have frequently attacked dissenting speech throughout their careers, particularly since joining the Trump administration. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/4/21/800024865/whitehouse/trump-media-hitman-rub-elbows-with-victims/

 

Nunes’ Cow Returning to Barn?

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Article in AP by Bernard Condon, 3/21/26

Headline:  “Trump media company replaces CEO, ex-congressman Nunes after stock plunge that wiped out billions”

“NEW YORK (AP) — The Trump business behind Truth Social is replacing a former congressman and big supporter of the U.S. president as leader of the social media platform after a stock collapse that wiped out billions in investor wealth.

Devin Nunes, a former California congressmen in Donald Trump’s first term, is being replaced temporarily by digital media executive Kevin McGurn as chief executive officer. The company, Trump Media & Technology, didn’t give a reason for Nunes leaving or provide a timeline for his permanent replacement. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://apnews.com/article/trump-media-truth-social-nunes-ceo-don-jr-f528dc294683c7f132c063b4a21dd68e

Mega Media Money Melting?

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Headline:  “Trump Library Saga Takes Dark Turn: Where Did Millions in Funding Go?”

Subhead:  “Four huge media conglomerates forked over $63 million in ‘settlements’ earmarked for Trump’s presidential library. Democrats are trying to track that money—and the latest developments don’t inspire confidence.”

“Last year, four huge companies pledged tens of millions of dollars to help fund the creation of Donald Trump’s presidential library, a planned monstrosity in Miami that—in a perfect Trumpian twist—may also double as a hotel. The companies—ABC; Paramount; Meta; and X, formerly Twitter—entered into the agreements with Trump to settle legal cases he’d brought against them which experts had dismissed as dubious.

“After the companies agreed to these shakedowns—sorry, settlements—the fund created to receive donations was dissolved last September. Since then, Senate Democrats have been asking: What happened to the money?. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://newrepublic.com/article/209254/trump-library-funding-millions-media-companies

Critical Reporting Survives

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Jem Bartholomew, 4/20/26

Headline:  “Lawfare”

Subhead:  “A string of court decisions have gone against Donald Trump and his administration, blocking efforts to shut down critical reporting.”

“. . .here is what we do know: In a string of court cases, judges have ruled against Trump and his administration’s efforts to shut down critical journalism. These decisions have revealed that many of Trump’s executive actions and legal threats against the press are hollow—and exposed the capitulation by some prominent outlets as needless, cowardly, and self-defeating.

Trump has sought to use defamation suits to intimidate the press, only to see a number of them shatter on impact with the court system. . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/lawfare-trump-court-decisions-first-amendment-new-york-times-wall-street-journal-whca-correspondents-dinner.php

Godful Media

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Article in Media Matters by Payton Armstrong, 4/15/26

Headline: “Right-wing Christian media double down on supporting Trump’s Iran war: ‘King David himself did this when he found himself dealing with a nation that was barbaric’ “

Subhead: “Trump and Pete Hegseth have framed the war in religious terms, including Hegseth claiming that military operations are being ‘carried out under the protection of divine providence’ “

“Some right-wing Christian media figures are continuing their support for President Donald Trump’s war with Iran even as some within the broader right-wing media ecosystem have split with the administration.

“These right-wing Christian media personalities — including several prophetic figures who claim to share prophecies, or messages from God, with their audiences — have celebrated that ‘God was brought in’ by Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in public messaging of the war, and claimed that ‘we are on God’s side’ so ‘whatever we do would have His blessing.’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/us-iran-relations/right-wing-christian-media-double-down-supporting-trumps-iran-war-king-david

Infowars Joins Comic Section

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Article in Variety by Todd Spangler, 4/20/26

Headline:  “The Onion Says It Has a Deal to Take Over Alex Jones’ Infowars, Plans to Relaunch Right-Wing Site as Parody of Itself”

“Satire site the Onion says that it has — after 17 months legal wrangling — successfully landed a deal allowing it take over Infowars, the right-wing conspiracy-fueled site run by Alex Jones. . .”

“In November 2024, the Onion gleefully revealed its winning bankruptcy-auction bid for Infowars. Jones and his company filed for bankruptcy amid defamation suits the families of victims in the Sandy Hook mass shooting in Connecticut filed against him. The families won judgments in 2022 against Jones totaling $1.4 billion; last fall the Supreme Court rejected his appeal of the verdicts. Jones had repeatedly lied and posited baseless conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook massacre. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://variety.com/2026/digital/news/the-onion-deal-taking-over-alex-jones-infowars-1236726130/

Who Benefits from Erasing History?

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Article in Gadget Review by A1 Landes, 4/13/26

Headline:  “23 Major News Sites Have Blocked the Wayback Machine – Digital History In Danger”

Subhead:  “Major news organizations including New York Times and USA Today block Wayback Machine amid AI training concerns”

“Major news outlets block Wayback Machine, preventing public access to archived content

“Twenty-three sites including New York Times cite AI training fears as justification

“Journalists lose critical fact-checking tool that exposed editorial changes and accountability issues . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.gadgetreview.com/23-major-news-sites-have-blocked-the-wayback-machine-digital-history-in-danger

Demons in the Media?

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Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 4/17/26

Headline:  “Opinion | Pete Hegseth uses the Bible to demonize the press”

Subhead:  “In a Pentagon press briefing, defense secretary called the press ‘unpatriotic’ and lashed out about ‘endlessly negative coverage’ of the war in Iran”

“. . .After calling the coverage ‘unpatriotic,’ Hegseth then launched into a bizarre attack of the press by invoking the Bible . .”

“Then he added, ‘As the passage ends, the Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel against him, how to destroy him. I sat there in church and I thought, Our press are just like these Pharisees, not all of you, not all of you, but the legacy Trump-hating press.’ ”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2026/hegseth-compares-press-biblical-pharisees/

New Media Masters

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Article in FAIR by Caitlan Scialla, 4/17/26

Headline: “Paramount’s Purchase of CNN Heralds a New Trump-Friendly Media Empire”

“The ultra-wealthy have long leveraged their capital to build sprawling media empires that narrow our public range of debate (FAIR.org, 6/1/87). But Paramount Skydance‘s winning bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) marks a major milestone in media monopolization that, if successful, will further expand Trump-allied tech moguls Larry and David Ellison’s burgeoning power over US news and entertainment media. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/paramounts-purchase-of-cnn-heralds-a-new-trump-friendly-media-empire/