enarcmot

Which Media Capitulated Most?

by

Article in American Crisis by Margaret Sullivan, 7/29/25

Headline:  “American Crisis exclusive: The ‘Media Capitulation Index’ “

Subhead:  “A sweeping report — with rankings — on the decline of independence in our corporatized media”

“If you’ve been paying attention to the news lately, you know that the media has been on a capitulation-and-kowtowing spree.

“To tick off a few cases: The parent company of CBS News paid $16 million to settle a suit brought by Donald Trump over a (routinely edited) ’60 Minutes’ interview of Kamala Harris. Another Trump suit — against ABC News — raked in $15 million, and garnered a note of regret; many legal experts think ABC could have won the case had they tried. The owner of the Washington Post, Jeff Bezos, ordered an editorial endorsing Harris to be killed last fall; and Bezos was front and center at Trump’s inauguration after contributing $1 million to the festivities. Fox News drastically cut back on its coverage of the Jeffrey Epstein story after Trump charged it was a non-story and a hoax. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://margaretsullivan.substack.com/p/american-crisis-exclusive-the-media

Slight of Mouth

by


Article in Media Matters by Noah Dowe & Reed McMaster, 7/28/25

Headline:  “Right-leaning podcasters call out the Trump administration’s 2016 election claims as a ‘distraction’ from Jeffrey Epstein”

Subhead:  “Hosts of right-leaning online shows have called DNI Tulsi Gabbard’s report a “distraction” meant to make Trump supporters “stop paying attention to Epstein”

“Following weeks of outrage from right-wing media over the Trump administration’s handling of files relating to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard recently declassified multiple documents relating to Russian interference in the 2016 election, arguing they prove a ‘treasonous conspiracy’ to interfere with the results by Obama administration officials. However, hosts of right-leaning online shows — including many who helped promote President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign — have argued that Gabbard’s report and Trump’s subsequent rhetoric are a “distraction” meant “to appease the Trump base” and change the narrative away from the Epstein case. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/trumprussia/right-leaning-podcasters-call-out-trump-administrations-2016-election-claims

Propaganda is – Propaganda?

by

Article in The Guardian by Arwa Mahdawi, 7/29/25

Headline:  “Ghislaine Maxwell is not a victim. And if she is pardoned, it won’t be for the sake of justice”

Subhead:  “The Epstein files may never be released, but it’s increasingly likely that Epstein’s right-hand woman could be. The groundwork is already being done”

“. . .The cable news channel, which is to the right of Fox News, is essentially a pro-Trump propaganda outlet with strong financial ties to the president. Earlier this month the outlet announced that it had struck a deal for the Trump Media and Technology Group Corp to stream Newsmax on its platform. Which obviously raises a lot of conflict-of-interest questions. “This is now the Trump network,” one Newsmax insider complained to the Independent last week. ‘Even the most conservative people at Newsmax think it’s a terrible look and they feel like state-run media.’ Also raising questions is the fact that Alex Acosta, the prosecutor who gave Epstein that plea deal in 2008, happens to be on the board of Newsmax.. .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jul/29/ghislaine-maxwell-pardon-epstein-files

Exporting Anti-Journalism

by


Article in Reporters Without Borders by Staff, 7/28/25

Headline:  “Six months of Trump’s war on the press: importing and exporting authoritarian tendencies”

“Six months into US President Donald Trump’s second term, his administration has become increasingly hostile towards the press, both mimicking and inspiring authoritarian and quasi-authoritarian regimes around the world. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) warns of the dangers of a transnational anti-press movement that shares tactics across borders and has found in the American president one of its most powerful proponents yet.

“Donald Trump has grown into a key figure in a global anti-journalism political movement that has contributed to a recent decline in press freedom globally, and is currently on full display in the United States just six months into his second administration. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://rsf.org/en/six-months-trump-s-war-press-importing-and-exporting-authoritarian-tendencies

Use Courts to Punish Media?

by


Article in Vox by Noel King & Avishat Artsy, 7/25/25

Headline:  “Trump’s media war just got a $10 billion twist”

Subhead:  “It’s his latest move in an ongoing effort to silence critical news outlets and control the narrative.”

“President Donald Trump is using the courts to punish media outlets for publishing stories he doesn’t like.

“The latest example is a $10 billion lawsuit filed in federal court in Miami against the Wall Street Journal and its owners, including Rupert Murdoch, for publishing a story that described a sexually suggestive birthday card Trump allegedly sent to the late Jeffrey Epstein in 2003.

“Trump has made no secret of his disdain for the press. Even before taking office for his first term, he began dismissing the mainstream media as ‘fake news,’ and soon after assuming office he tweeted that the ‘FAKE NEWS media’ is ‘the enemy of the American people’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.vox.com/today-explained-podcast/421116/trump-sues-murdoch-wall-street-ournal

The Heat is on FCC Chief Carr

by

Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 7/28/25

Headline: “Chasing the Runaway Carr”

Subhead:  “The Freedom of the Press Foundation is turing the tables on Brendan Carr, filing a complaint to investigate and poteitially disbar the FCC chairman over his moves to punisdh Donalt Trunp’s media critics.”

“For months, Seth Stern had weighed whether to take the extraordinary step of filing a disciplinary complaint against the country’s top communications regulator. As director of advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, Stern had watched with alarm as Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr repeatedly blurred the line between law and politics—reviving baseless investigations into major news networks, threatening companies over their diversity initiatives, and slow-walking approval of Paramount Global’s merger with Skydance Media while Donald Trump pursued an absurd “60 Minutes” lawsuit against the company.

“The tipping point, however, came last week. Just 22 days after Paramount agreed to pay Trump $16 million to settle the case, Carr approved the $8 billion merger. . .”
Read the full article at:

CNN Doesn’t Buy Conspiracy Theories

by


Article in Mediaite by Michael Luciano, 7/28/25

Headline: “Jake Tapper Dumbfounded by Trump’s Epstein Files Claim: ‘One of the Most Bizarre Conspiracy Theories I’ve Ever Heard’ “

“CNN’s Jake Tapper isn’t remotely buying President Donald Trump’s claim that files relating to Jeffrey Epstein were doctored in an attempt to implicate Trump, a former friend of the deceased sex trafficker.

“Trump’s Department of Justice is declining to release additional files regarding Epstein after the president was told he was in them. The president denies wrongdoing.

“On Monday’s edition of The Lead, Tapper spoke with former Preet Bharara, a former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and asked if Bharara’s office fielded any accusations against Epstein.

“Not across my desk, no,” Bharara replied before noting the firing of former federal prosecutor Maurene Comey, who worked on the federal case against Epstein in New York. Attorney General Pam Bondi terminated Comey this month for unspecified reasons shortly after Bondi claimed that Epstein did not have the long-rumored client list she once alleged he had. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediaite.com/media/tv/jake-tapper-dumbfounded-by-trumps-epstein-files-claim-one-of-the-most-bizarre-conspiracy-theories-ive-ever-heard/

Journalistic Values Kaput?

by

Article in The New Republic by Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Steven Tian, Stephen Henriques, 7/28/25

Headline: “The “Tiffany Network” Shatters as Paramount-CBS Sells Its Soul Cheap”

Subhead: “The new, post-merger head of CBS donated to Biden—but apparently wants to make Bari Weiss a network star. How worried should we be?”

“The sellout of the Columbia Broadcasting System’s journalistic values to commercial interests was foreshadowed in 1976, in Sidney Lumet and Paddy Chayefsky’s dark comedy satire Network; in James Brooks’s 1987 romantic comedy Broadcast News; and in Michael Mann and Eric Roth’s 1999 drama The Insider, explicitly calling out the revered CBS. However, it was insider Shari Redstone who completed the dreaded desecration last week.

“Surely the capitulation to President Trump by Redstone, controlling owner of Paramount-CBS, to secure Federal Communications Commission clearance to sell her dwindling media empire to David Ellison of Skydance and Redbird Capital was a moment of tragic irony. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://newrepublic.com/article/198492/paramount-cbs-sells-soul-trump-cheap

Satirical Look at Epstein Media Fallout

by


Article in Mediaize by Lawrence Rudmann, 7/26/25

“tRump orders Mattel Corp to cease making woke American Girl dolls depicting negative periods in U.S. history. ‘Our little precious American girls should only be allowed to have dolls representing the classic “all-American, girl next door” image, said tRump. To pacify tRump, Mattel might issue a special Ghislaine Maxwell American Doll.’ ”

Read the full article at:

https://mediaize.com/

Last One to Leave News Room, Turn Out the Light.

by


Article in Poynter by Sophie Endrud, 7/28/25

Headline:  “The tragedy of local news hits the stage in ‘The Last American Newspaper’”

Subhead:  “Ken Tingley, former managing editor of The Post-Star in Glens Falls, N.Y., adapted his memoir into a two-hour play for Adirondack Theatre Festival”

“Over the weekend, the plea to save local news entered a new stage — the theatre.

“In four sold-out staged readings at the Adirondack Theatre Festival from July 25-27, Ken Tingley presented “The Last American Newspaper,” a play adapted from his memoir about The Post-Star in Glens Falls, New York.

“I think it’s a great message, and I think a lot of people believe in newspapers, love their newspapers and miss their newspapers,” he said. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2025/last-american-newspaper-local-news-theater-play/