Challenge: Keeping-up With the Lies

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Article in Poynter by Angie Drobnic Holan, 10/28/26

Headline:  “Fact-checking changed journalism. Then the falsehoods changed, too.”

Subhead:  “Twenty years after PolitiFact launched, fact-checkers face an information environment more chaotic than the one they set out to fix”

“PolitiFact started out of discontent with our own field of political journalism. We thought journalists parroted far too many talking points and messages they knew were not true, primarily out of deference to authority. . .”

“Today, whenever a candidate repeats a well-worn lie, it’s standard practice for a story to point out that the claim is false or unsupported by evidence. I think that is the most important accomplishment of the past 20 years. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2026/history-fact-checking-challenges-future-ai/

Rt. Media Have Gas Problem

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Article in Media Matters by Zachary Pleat, `10/28/26

Headline:  “The prominent pro-Trump pundits who admit that the Iran war drove up gas prices — and have no regrets”

“Gasoline and diesel prices remain elevated eight months into President Donald Trump’s unauthorized war against Iran. Right-wing media commentators, in the weeks leading up to the midterm elections, have returned to defending high gas prices as a worthwhile sacrifice to stop an Iranian nuclear program that they claimed in 2025 had been “obliterated” by U.S. airstrikes that June. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/prominent-pro-trump-pundits-who-admit-iran-war-drove-gas-prices-and-have-no-regrets

“60 Minutes” Sinking Lower

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Article in The Guardian by Jeremy Barr, 10/28/26

Headline: “Embattled CBS leader Bari Weiss downplays concerns about weak 60 Minutes ratings”

Subhead: “CBS News editor-in-chief sidesteps viewership concerns and says flagship show doing ‘tremendously well’”

“. . .Weiss completely overhauled 60 Minutes in late May, ousting the show’s executive producer and parting ways with three top correspondents, including Scott Pelley. But the show has struggled to even match last season’s viewership, which averaged 9.1 million viewers per episode.

“The show’s most recent episode drew just 5.64 million viewers, ‘one of the smallest audiences for the program in years’, Variety reported. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/oct/28/bari-weiss-cbs-news-60-minutes

New WH Press-Pool Room Use?

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Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 10/20/26

Headline:  “Opinion | Buried in Trump’s 1,300-word Bill Maher rant was some news about the press”

Subhead:  “In his record-long post, the president said he isn’t bringing back the White House pool. Moving the press, however, is apparently on the table.”

“. . .There were rumors recently that Trump was thinking of turning the White House briefing room into an indoor swimming pool.

“Trump wrote in his Truth Social post, “I am not building a swimming pool in the White House Briefing Room, and never had any intention of doing so.”

“But then Trump added, “I am thinking about moving the Press, and putting them in a different location, but I will use that location for very badly needed space. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2026/trump-bill-maher-truth-social-post/

Time to Run Away From CBS?

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Article in the Daily Beast by Laura Esposito, 10/26/26

Headline:  “CBS News Staff Eye Escape From Trumpy Boss: ‘It’s Ugly’”

Subhead:  “’Folks are tired,’ a CBS News source told the Post.”

“David Ellison is offering buyouts to employees at CBS News and other Skydance properties. . .”

“The shake-up comes as Ellison, the son of Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison, succeeded in his bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery under the Skydance Paramount umbrella. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/cbs-news-staff-eye-escape-from-trumpy-boss-david-ellison

White House Media Attacks

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Article in The Washington Sun by Ayah Ali-Ahmad, 10/26/26

Headline:  “Trump’s Battle With the Media Ramps Up”

Subhead: “This week brought a retraction demand to Politico, a reporter blocked from Air Force One, an FCC warning to broadcasters and a reported plan to evict the press corps from the White House.”

“As President Donald Trump barnstorms the country ahead of the midterms, on top of his usual White House events this week, he’s had some pointed exchanges with journalists in his path. He called one reporter a “dummy,” another “a stupid person” and a third “a sick person.”

“The angry name-calling comes as tensions between the White House and the media have ratcheted up. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.washingtonsun.com/whitehouse/trump-battle-with-media

Will Media Owner Cut Critical Film?

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Article in The Wrap by A.J. Katz, 10/26/26

Headline:  “What Elon Musk’s Skydance Bet Really Means”

Subhead:  “In this week’s The Media Front, we unpack Musk’s $1 billion investment into the media company”

“. . .The bigger question is what Musk gets out of the investment — and what it means for a company that now controls CBS News, CNN, Warner Bros., HBO and Paramount.

“There’s already one particularly awkward example: Alex Gibney’s documentary ‘Musk,’ a critical examination of the billionaire’s business and political influence, is expected to stream on HBO in early 2027. HBO is now part of Skydance, the company Musk has reportedly invested in. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.thewrap.com/industry-news/business/elon-musk-skydance-investment-impact/

Empty Office or Reduced Media Staff?

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy 10/26/26

Headline: “Ellison’s CBS-CNN Split-Screen”

Subhead: “As Skydance looks to eventually marry CNN and CBS News, the company is taking very different approaches to return-to-office mandates and employee buyouts, Status has learned—which may offer hints about their futures.”

“. . .delivered two significant pieces of news to the workforce. First, Ellison and Kreiz championed ‘in-person collaboration,’ declaring it ‘vital to our culture and to the success of our business,’ and thus mandating that employees report to the office five days a week. Of course, such return-to-office mandates are really just thinly veiled efforts to thin the ranks, and it was then predictably followed by a second announcement: buyouts. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/david-ellison-skydance-cnn-cbs-news-buyouts-return-office

CBS Slowly Sinking?

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Article in Huffpost by Ben Blanchet, 10/26/26

Headline:  “Dan Rather Spent Much Of His Iconic Career At CBS News — Now, He Says, It’s A ‘Disaster'”

Subhead: “The 94-year-old former news anchor delivered a brutal assessment of how the network is looking under Bari Weiss.”

“. . . Rather — in an interview with Variety published on Monday — said it’s been “in many ways a disaster” since Skydance acquired CBS News as part of its merger with Paramount Global in 2025. Skydance CEO David Ellison then handpicked Bari Weiss to serve as CBS News’ editor-in-chief, ushering in a rightward shift at the network along with major shakeups at its ’60 Minutes’ news magazine. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dan-rather-cbs-news-bari-weiss-trump_n_6adf9267e4b059999c6128a6?origin=home-latest-news-unit

Citizens Fight Media Supression

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Article in AP by Jocelyn Noveck, 10/26/26

Headline:  “6 citizens sue Trump, saying media ban deprives them of news as audience stakeholders”

“In the increasingly bitter legal standoff between President Donald Trump and media outlets whose reporting he dislikes, a new and crucial third party has emerged: citizens who watch and read the news and need it to do their jobs.

“A lawsuit filed Monday on behalf of six such citizens — essentially representing the wider public audience — argues that it’s not only the rights of news organizations that are violated when Trump bans them from White House premises. Even more fundamentally, the lawsuit argues, such bans violate the public’s right to independent reporting about its president and government. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://apnews.com/article/trump-media-ban-citizens-lawsuit-f5a70baaa97dba1bdd4cda365b5f635d