Betting on the News

by

Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Klaudia Jazwinska, 4/3/26

Headline:  “The Problem with Binding News and Prediction Markets”

Subhead:  “Polymarket and Kalshi are quickly making deals with news publishers, with potential implications for the regulation of prediction markets. It’s unclear how journalism wins.”

“Prediction markets—platforms where users can place wagers on the outcomes of future events —are suddenly all over the news. Every day we’re seeing headlines—allegations of insider trading, states accusing prediction markets of violating gambling laws, warnings about the “depravity economy.” We’re also seeing prediction markets’ efforts at becoming part of the news ecosystem. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/tow_center/the-problem-with-binding-news-and-prediction-markets-polymarket-kalshi-regulation-cftc-insider-trading.php

Short-Term Reporting?

by

Article in Media Matters by Ilana Berger, 4/3/26

Headline:  “Right-wing media’s narrative that high gas prices are ‘short-term’ and ‘temporary’ is undermined by reporting from major energy conference”

Subhead:  “CNBC anchor Morgan Brennan: ‘The growing chorus on Wall Street, including JP Morgan, Blackrock, Citadel, those are all warning that the war and ongoing oil shocks are being underpriced’ “

“While many right-wing media personalities continue to parrot claims from the Trump administration that high gas prices are a short-term consequence of the U.S. and Israel’s war in Iran, a few are starting to question that narrative.

“During S&P Global’s CERAWeek, a Houston-based energy industry conference held this year from March 23-27, attendees and other experts expressed concern over the long-term consequences of President Donald Trump’s war constraining energy supply in the Strait of Hormuz, making clear to reporters that the situation is likely worse than the market is showing. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/us-iran-relations/right-wing-medias-narrative-high-gas-prices-are-short-term-and-temporary

MAGA Mega Media Merger?

by

Article in FAIR by Pete Tucker, 4/2/26

Headline:  “Trouble for Nexstar Merger That Would Create Mega-Network for MAGA”

“It’s not exactly breaking news that President Donald Trump endlessly attacks the media, or that his administration lapdogs quickly echo his gripes. But there’s one official who has stood apart, and he’s done so by not only mimicking Trump, but by remaking the US media in his boss’s image, most recently by rushing through local TV broadcast giant Nexstar’s takeover of Tegna.

“ ‘Unlike his predecessors, Carr isn’t just another corporate lawyer,’ Rolling Stone’s Matt Bai (3/17/26) wrote about Brendan Carr, Trump’s Federal Communications Commission chair:

” ‘He is a cultural claims adjuster, a pasty-faced, soft-spoken agent of Trump’s retribution. If you were going to single out the most dangerous functionary in Trump’s little circle of Hell, you’d have plenty of candidates…. But don’t sleep on Brendan Carr. His legacy of awfulness may yet prove more durable’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/trouble-for-nexstar-merger-that-would-create-mega-network-for-maga/

Reporters Enjoy New DOD Press Room

by

Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Ivan L. Nagy, 4/2/26

Headline:  “Pushed Out. Reinstated. Pushed Out Again.”

Subhead:  “Last week, New York Times reporters were supposed to return to the Pentagon’s corridors. Instead, the entire press corps was banished to an annex, and the Times is back in court.”

“Ordered to let journalists back in, the Pentagon instead banished them to an annex on the far side of its parking lot. A Pentagon reporter called that ‘an elaborate troll.’ Another told me it was ‘a bullshit move.’ ‘How weird is that?’ Paul Friedman, a United States District judge, remarked at a hearing on Monday. ‘Is it Catch-22? Is it Kafka?’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/news/new-york-times-pentagon-kicked-removed-reinstated-hegseth-department-war-credentials.php

Watch out for the Judicial Teeth!

by


Article in The New York Times by Erik Wemple, 4/2/26

Headline:  “Trump’s Media-Bashing Is Coming Back to Bite Him in Court”

Subhead:  “Judges have cited attacks on the press by the president and his appointees when ruling against the government in at least three court cases.”

“President Trump in April 2025 posted some thoughts on Truth Social about public media, in all caps: ‘Republicans must defund and totally disassociate themselves from NPR & PBS, the radical left “monsters” that so badly hurt our country!’

“This was not a watershed moment. In both his social media posts and his off-the-cuff comments to reporters, Mr. Trump’s broadsides against traditional news outlets have become the tap water of his political rhetoric.

“But they’re now haunting him in court. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/02/business/media/trump-media-courts.html

WAPO and Nuclear Option

by

Article in FAIR by Peter Castagno. 4/1/26

Headline:  “Washington Post Promotes Nuclear Agenda Tied to Bezos’ Investments”

“The Washington Post has devoted four editorials to supporting the expansion of nuclear energy in the past three months, relying on factual errors and distortions to make the case for the Trump administration’s unprecedented cuts to nuclear safety regulation. The Post‘s owner, Jeff Bezos, is the chair of Amazon, a company dependent on electricity-guzzling data centers that invested more than $1 billion in nuclear energy last year. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/washington-post-promotes-nuclear-agenda-tied-to-bezos-investments/

Lebanon Invisible to Reporters?

by


Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Zahra Hankir, 3/31/26

Headline:  “Who Is Left to Cover Lebanon?”

Subhead:  “A nation that helped shape modern war reporting is now treated as peripheral. In the wake of journalist killings, the consequences are clear not only for members of the press, but for how the story of Lebanon is being told.”

“. . .Western newsrooms have, thus far, largely framed the story of Lebanon as a sideshow to the war in Iran. Coverage of the bombardment and subsequent invasion has been reactive, relegated to live blogs and breaking news updates; there are few in-depth stories on the political and humanitarian situation. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/feature/who-is-left-to-cover-lebanon.php

Fox News in Sheep’s Clothing?

by


Article in Daily Beast by Tom Latcher,. 3/30/26

Headline:  “MTG Brands Fox News ‘Fake News’ as MAGA Civil War Deepens”

Subhead:  “Ann Coulter also compared the network’s Iran war coverage to its false 2020 election claims.”

“Former Trump loyalist Marjorie Taylor Greene has turned against MAGA’s favorite TV channel as the Republican civil war over Iran goes nuclear.

“Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News has long echoed the American First narrative of the Republican Party’s MAGA wing. But some prominent MAGA supporters are falling out of love with the cable network over its backing for Donald Trump’s war on Iran.

“Trump’s friend-turned-foe MTG accused the network of peddling ‘fake news’ and ‘brainwashing boomers’ over Iran. She wrote on X Sunday, ‘Fox News is now the fake news. Brainwashing boomers to support what we voted against.’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/mtg-brands-fox-news-fake-news-as-maga-iran-civil-war-deepens/

“60 Minutes” Chaos?

by

Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 3/31/26

Headline:  “Bari’s ‘60’ Blow Up Plan”

Subhead:  “Earlier this year, Bari Weiss was talked out of making changes to ’60 Minutes’ midseason, Status has learned—but with the summer break approaching, her eyes are now trained squarely on the famed newsmagazine. . .”

“With Bari Weiss now at the helm of CBS News and taking an unusually hands-on approach to ’60 Minutes,’ a cloud of uncertainty hangs over the show’s future. “No one knows what to expect,” one staffer on the show told Status about the mood internally. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/bari-weiss-cbs-news-60-minutes-changes

Journalists Under Threat

by

Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 3/31/26

Headline:  “Opinion | CNN journalists were detained in what Israel called a ‘serious ethical and professional failure’ “

Subhead:  “The Israeli military suspended a battalion and dismissed a soldier within days after the incident, which CNN reported while covering settler violence”

“Late last week, CNN’s Jeremy Diamond reported that he and his crew were detained and assaulted by members of the Israeli military while reporting from the West Bank. (The link above includes video of the incident.)

“Over the weekend, Diamond wrote that CNN was covering a story about Israeli settlers brutally attacking several Palestinians and establishing a new illegal outpost in the village of Tayasir. While there, Diamond reported, Israeli soldiers pointed guns at the CNN team and ordered them to sit. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2026/cnn-idf-assault-settlers-west-bank/