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

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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/

 

Unlikely Free Press Ally?

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Article in The Guardian by Jane Martinson, 7/28/25

Headline:  “Murdoch v Trump: why the flawed media titan could be the final protector of press freedom”

Subhead:  “His companies may have hacked phones and broadcast lies, but Murdoch appears ready to battle the president to uphold editorial freedoms”

“. . .More than two decades later, is the crisis in the US media, one in which everything seems about to be lost, motivating Murdoch to take on the most powerful man in the world? It is as good a reason as many of those given over the past week for the fact that the billionaire whose Fox News channel has acted as a Trump cheerleader throughout is now, alone among US media titans, preparing to do battle in the courts.

“Trump’s onslaught on the US media – withdrawing federal funds, banning reporters and launching multi-billion-dollar lawsuits – has led once-renowned defenders of media freedom such as the Washington Post, ABC News and CBS to crumple, either changing their editorial policies or agreeing to apparently frivolous settlements . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jul/28/rupert-murdoch-donald-trump-press-freedom

Last Call for Free Media?

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Article in Reuters by David Shepardson, 5/25/25

Headline: “Trump, FCC want to reshape the media landscape starting with CBS”

“President Trump is fundamentally reshaping the media landscape,” FCC Chair Brendan Carr told CNBC Friday. “The media industry across this country needs a course correction.”

“On Thursday, the FCC voted 2-1 to approve the $8.4 billion merger between CBS parent Paramount Global and Skydance Media after Skydance agreed to ensure CBS news and entertainment programming is free of bias, hire an ombudsman for at least two years to review complaints and end diversity programs.

“Trump has repeatedly attacked broadcast networks for what he perceives as unbiased news coverage and called on Carr to rescind their licenses. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/trump-fcc-want-reshape-media-landscape-starting-with-cbs-2025-07-25/

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Article in Daily Kos by Walter Einenkel, 7/25/25

Headline: “Media keeps caving to Trump, but FCC goon demands even more”

“Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr was asked about Stephen Colbert, whose show was canceled in what many view as a craven concession to appease President Donald Trump, during an appearance on CNBC Friday.

“ ‘They have such a storied history, and it’s sort of sad to see what’s happening to Colbert. They obviously can’t get it done. They’re not making money over there. But I think they need a course correction. And frankly, I think, you know, the media industry across this country needs a course correction,’ he said. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/7/25/2335172/-Media-keeps-caving-to-Trump-but-FCC-goon-demands-even-more?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_recent_news&pm_medium=web

 

Legal Fight Against Corporate Media?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Kyle Paoletta, 7/25/25

Headline: “The Fight for Free Speech Goes Corporate”

Subhead: “As Paramount prepares for a merger, the Freedom of the Press Foundation stands to challenge the company for capitulating to Trump. Will it work?”

“Early this month, as soon as the news broke of Paramount’s decision to pay President Donald Trump’s foundation sixteen million dollars to settle a lawsuit against CBS News, the Freedom of the Press Foundation moved to take legal action. The FPF, as it’s known, tracks and resists government infringement on the news media. It’s also a Paramount shareholder, prepared to push for those interests with corporate muscle. Trump’s case, and the response of Paramount’s board, immediately set off alarm bells, as the company was in the midst of pursuing an eight-billion-dollar merger with Skydance, a Hollywood studio, that required approval from the Federal Communications Commission. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/feature-2/paramount-trump-lawsuit-settlement-skydance-merger-press-freedom.php

Goal: Bankrupt Opposition Media?

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Article in the New York Times by Kenneth Vogel, Kate Conger, Ryan Mac; 7/25/25

Headline:  “Under Siege From Trump and Musk, a Top Liberal Group Falls Into Crisis”

Subhead:  “Scrambling to pay legal fees, Media Matters has dialed back its criticism, trimmed its staff and contemplated closing entirely.”

“Media Matters, a nonprofit group that has played a key role in liberal politics, is struggling to withstand months of legal assaults by President Trump’s allies, offering a glimpse of what might be in store for even well-funded targets of his retribution campaigns.

“The organization, which is funded by some of the Democratic Party’s biggest donors, has racked up about $15 million in legal fees over the past 20 months to defend itself against lawsuits by Elon Musk, in addition to investigations by Mr. Trump’s Federal Trade Commission and Republican state attorneys general. . .”Read the full article at:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/25/us/politics/media-matters-musk-crisis.html

FCC Slides Major Deal Through

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Article in the New York Times by Benjamin Mullin, 7/24/25

Headline:  “F.C.C. Approves Skydance’s $8 Billion Merger With Paramount”

Subhead:  “The deal, which came under intense scrutiny by the Trump administration, was hailed by the F.C.C. chief, who welcomed “significant changes” at CBS, a unit of Paramount.”

“The Federal Communications Commission said Thursday that it would allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance, clearing the way for one of the most highly scrutinized media deals in the last decade.

“Brendan Carr, the chairman of the F.C.C., said in a statement that the agency had approved the deal after receiving assurances from Skydance that the new company would be committed to unbiased journalism and would not establish programs related to diversity, equity and inclusion. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/24/business/media/fcc-skydance-merger-paramount.html

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Article in The Washington Post by Jeremy Barr, 7/24/25

Headline: “FCC approves $8 billion Paramount-Skydance merger after lengthy review”

Subhead:  “The commission voted 2-1 in favor of the transaction amid accusations of political pressure on Paramount and Skydance, with Biden-appointed Commissioner Anna M. Gomez in opposition.”

“. . .Gomez, who has expressed concern that the administration was unduly pressuring Skydance and Paramount to make concessions to secure approval of the merger, blasted the outcome in a statement. ‘After months of cowardly capitulation to this administration, Paramount finally got what it wanted,’ she said. ‘Unfortunately, it is the American public who will ultimately pay the price for its actions.’ . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/07/24/fcc-approves-8-billion-paramount-skydance-merger-after-lengthy-review/

Media Deal or Bribe?

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Article in Democracy Now by Jeff Cohen, 7/23/25

Headline: “Big Fat Bribe: Stephen Colbert’s Show Canceled After He Slams Trump & Paramount/Skydance Merger”

The top-ranked show on late-night television, CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, has been canceled, just days after Colbert skewered Paramount, the parent company of CBS, for settling a lawsuit brought by President Donald Trump. The lawsuit accused another CBS show, 60 Minutes, of biased editing in an interview with Kamala Harris during the 2024 election. Its settlement comes as Paramount works to finalize a lucrative merger with Skydance Media that must be approved by the Federal Communications Commission. On his show, Colbert called the settlement ‘a big fat bribe.’

“So many media conglomerates had already given thinly disguised bribes to Trump to settle lawsuits they could not possibly lose in court,” explains Jeff Cohen, co-founder of the online action group RootsAction and the media watch group FAIR, Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting. Cohen says he suspects Paramount agreed to cancel Colbert’s show — and will likely remove other programming critical of Trump — as part of a deal with the administration to win favorable conditions for its merger. . . It’s profit maximization. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.democracynow.org/2025/7/23/stephen_colbert

Rural Public-Media Freefall

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PUBLIC MEDIA ARE NOT STATE-CONTROLLED MEDIA

Article in The Daily Beast by Ben Sheehan, 7/23/25

Headline:  “What Trump’s PBS and NPR Funding Cuts Really Mean For America”

Subhead:  “Millions of Americans understand the value of public media—it makes us more informed and keeps us safe.”

“. . .American public media, as we know it today, has been a decades-long project. The government began funding it in 1967 through the nonprofit Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which then gave money to the Public Broadcasting Service (founded in 1969), National Public Radio (founded in 1970), and other nonprofits.  Until now.

“Last week, Congress voted to kill CPB’s funding for 2026 and 2027. Every Democratic representative and senator voted to maintain the funding as did Republicans Brian Fitzpatrick and Mike Turner in the House, and Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins in the Senate. Every other Republican voted to cut it. . .”

“Then what happens?

“For starters, local news coverage would decline further. (To be clear, it’s already in a state of freefall.) PBS and NPR affiliates, in many cases, are the best local news option. It’s not ‘woke’ programming that will die from these cuts, but oversight of your county, city, town, and neighborhood. Of your sheriff, district attorney, county executive, mayor, city council and school board—the people with the most impact on your day-to-day life. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/what-trumps-pbs-and-npr-funding-cuts-really-mean-for-america/

Probing Questions? Hang Up!

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Article in AlterNet by Carl Gibson, 7/22/25

Headline:  “ ‘Got to be kidding’: Trump abruptly hangs up on CNN when asked about new Epstein photos”

“Previously unseen photos of President Donald Trump and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein were released by CNN on Tuesday night, and he has yet to answer the network’s questions about them. . . ”

“According to CNN reporters Andrew Kaczynski and Em Steck, the president put a quick end to a phone call the moment he was asked about the photos of him and Epstein at Trump’s wedding to Marla Maples in 1993 at New York’s Plaza Hotel. The network also published footage of Trump and Epstein smiling and laughing with each other during a 1999 Victoria’s Secret fashion show. The new photos and video took place several years before Epstein’s first conviction.

“In a brief call with CNN on Tuesday, President Trump, asked about the wedding photos, responded, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’ before repeatedly calling CNN ‘fake news’ and hanging up,” Kaczynski and Steck wrote. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.alternet.org/trump-epstein-photos-2673663251/

Can Journalism Survive Alone?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Hamilton Nolan, 7/22/25

Headline:  “Journalism Needs Government Funding to Survive”

Subhead:  “The recent cuts to public media are part of a broader attack on public welfare.”

“Last week’s decision by Republicans in Congress to eliminate government funding for public media blows a billion-dollar hole in the budgets of local news stations across America. While NPR and PBS will survive, the existence of small broadcasters in rural, red-state news deserts is now endangered. In at least one sense, however, this attack on the public’s right to news will have a unifying function. Journalists, citizens, and civil society as a whole—red, blue, or striped—can be assured that we are all riding a pendulum swinging at terrifying speed in the wrong direction.

“If we want to see a robust level of news reporting exist in this nation—comparable to what we had in the twentieth century—we will need public funding for journalism. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/journalism-needs-government-funding-to-survive.php