Cuts Coming Soon?

Article in Common Dreams by Stephen Prager, 7/16/25

Headline: “Senate GOP Set to Eviscerate Public Media Funding, ‘Dismantle’ Outlets Relied on by Millions”

“The bill threatens “emergency alerts that save lives, local journalism that informs communities, and educational tools that support families, job seekers, and teachers,” according to Protect My Public Media

“The Republican-controlled U.S. Senate is on the verge of stripping more than a billion dollars from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which could decimate local news stations.

“On Tuesday, the chamber voted 50-50, with a tie broken by Vice President JD Vance to move forward with debate on the package, which is underway as of Wednesday morning. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.commondreams.org/news/senate-gop-set-to-eviscerate-public-media-funding-dismantle-outlets-relied-on-by-millions

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Article in The Hill by Aris Folley, 7/15/25

Headline:  “Bill to claw back public media, foreign aid funds clears key Senate hurdle with Vance breaking tie”

“Senate Republicans on Tuesday narrowly cleared a key procedural hurdle on the path to clawing back billions of dollars in funding previously authorized by Congress for foreign aid and public broadcasting.

“Vice President Vance had to break the 50-50 tie vote after three Republicans — Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Susan Collins (Maine) and Mitch McConnell (Ky.) — voted against a motion to discharge the rescissions package out of the Senate Appropriations Committee, allowing the full upper chamber to advance to consideration of the package.

“The bill, which passed the House last month, calls for $8.3 billion in cuts to the United States Agency for International Development and foreign aid, and more than $1 billion in cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). . .”

Read the full article at:

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5403141-public-media-foreign-aid-cuts-senate/

Reporters Defeat Themselves


Article in Poynter by Kelly McBride, 7/15/25

Headline:  “Reporters, stop with the double-barreled questions”

Subhead:  “Asking two questions at a time reduces your chances of getting either of them answered”

“The first question from the press pool to President Donald Trump and NATO General Secretary Mark Rutte was a great one: ‘What was the tipping point for you in making this decision, was it a conversation with President Putin, was it a piece of intelligence?’ . . .”

Trump was just about to answer that question when the reporter, Jacqui Heinrich of Fox News, tacked on a second question: ‘And why are you giving them 50 more days?’ she said, referring to the secondary tariffs that Trump is threatening as a punishment if Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn’t broker a peace within 50 days.

They are both good questions. But when reporters ask two questions at the same time, they weaken their chances of getting either of them answered. It gives the respondent the opportunity to choose either or neither question. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2025/reporters-stop-with-the-double-barreled-questions-donald-trump-nato-ukraine/

Tribally-Licensed radio in Jeopardy


Article in Indian Country Today by Kolby KickingWoman, 7/14/25

Headline:  “Impending legislation could gut tribal media funding”

Subhead:  “The Corporation for Public Broadcasting funds more than 1,500 public radio and television stations, and of these, 36 tribally-licensed radio stations would be affected”

“The funding cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting affect the 2026 and 2027 fiscal years that worries many in Indian Country.

“Without the funding, many communities, especially rural communities, could become isolated as public media stations and radio may go off the air. Of the federal funding the Corporation for Public Broadcasting receives, more than 70 percent goes directly to local public media stations, according to its website. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://ictnews.org/news/impending-legislation-could-gut-tribal-media-funding/

Media Make Frank Unhappy


Article in Raw Story by Robert Davis, 7/14/25

Headline:  ” ‘They’re pissed’: CNN hosts slam Trump for losing control of ‘MAGA Frankenstein’ “

CNN host Abby Phillip and reporter Donie O’Sullivan slammed President Donald Trump on Monday night over his inability to speak to his base following the latest scandal.

“Last week, Justice Department officials issued an unsigned memo contradicting many points of the Jeffrey Epstein conspiracy theory that Trump and his surrogates have parroted for multiple years. The move set off a firestorm within the MAGA base and has become a political liability for the Trump administration.

” ‘Perhaps it’s not surprising that his ‘MAGA Frankenstein’ doesn’t believe him,’ Phillip said. . .”

Read the full story at:

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-2673207755/

Mr. Fixit and Wapo


Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 7/14/25

Headline:  WaPo’s Looming Opinion Overhaul”

Subhead:  “Adam O’Neal was appointed last month to lead the Washington Post’s opinion section – on Monday, he officially started and introduced himself to staffers, promising ‘ambitions and thorough’ change on the horizon”

“On Monday morning, just a few minutes past 9 a.m., staffers on The Washington Post’s opinion desk saw an email slip into their inbox. It was from Adam O’Neal, the little-known editor recently named to take over the prestigious and politically influential section. Staffers didn’t know much about him. They didn’t even know when he was supposed to start. So when his note arrived, simply titled ‘Looking forward,’ they opened it with curiosity—and a fair dose of apprehension.

“Indeed, staffers have been on edge ever since O’Neal was abruptly introduced as their new editor in an unconventional, selfie-style video posted to The Post’s communications account on X. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/adam-oneal-washington-post-introduction-memo-opinion

Foreign Journalists Scared


rticle in Poynter by Angela Fu, 7/14/25

Headline:  “Foreign journalists in the U.S. are self-censoring to protect themselves from the Trump administration”

Subhead:  “Non-citizen journalists working in the U.S. report wiping their social media accounts, canceling travel plans and pulling bylines”

“In 2021, Venezuelan journalist Luz Mely Reyes moved to the United States because she didn’t want to be silenced. As an outspoken advocate for the freedom of expression, Reyes no longer felt safe in Venezuela, where reporters have been threatened, arrested and beaten.

“Now in the U.S., however, she finds that she must often silence herself.

“ ‘In my country (Venezuela), I never self-censored. Here, I have to avoid some topics because I feel that it’s dangerous for my status,’ said Reyes, who as a green card holder is a permanent legal resident of the U.S. but not a citizen. . .

Read the full story at:

https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2025/foreign-journalists-in-the-u-s-are-self-censoring-to-protect-themselves-from-the-trump-administration/

Press Secretary in a Huff

Article in The New Republic by Greg Sargent, 7/9/25

Headline:  “Trump Press Sec’s Fury at Media Over Texas Flood Exposes Worst of MAGA”

Subhead:  “As Karoline Leavitt rages at the media and Democrats for probing whether Trump policies made the Texas disaster worse, a writer on climate change argues that this absolutely is the time for such hard questions.”

“At least 109 people have died amid devastating flooding in Texas. Distressingly, 27 deaths occurred at a summer camp for girls, and the toll continues to rise. This week, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt angrily lashed out at the news media and Democrats for asking whether Trump administration policies bear any blame for the disaster’s impact. What struck us, though, is her demand that we all treat this as a ‘national’ tragedy. She’s right that we should do this. But that solicitude is precisely what Donald Trump and MAGA deny to non-MAGA America at other urgent moments. And that’s the true MAGA ethic at its ugliest. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://newrepublic.com/article/197723/trump-press-sec-fury-media-texas-flood-exposes-worst-maga

Objectivity or Propaganda?


Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Julie Gerstein & MArgaret Sullivan, 7/10/25

Headline:  “Is Objectivity Still Worth Pursuing?”

Subhead:  “A generation of journalists is challenging traditional standards.”

“Objectivity hasn’t always been a cornerstone of journalism. American publishers first turned to objectivity in the early twentieth century, in response to the freewheeling ‘yellow journalism’ common at the time. Readers embraced it, grateful for a withdrawal from sensationalism and opinionated coverage.

“American journalist Walter Lippmann, one of the early champions of objectivity, saw the dangers posed by propaganda masquerading as news and argued in 1920 that the ‘sensible procedure in matters affecting the liberty of opinion would be to ensure as impartial an investigation of the facts as is humanly possible.’ . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/is-objectivity-in-journalism-still-worth-pursuing.php

Spreading the Right Word

Article in The Washington Post by Sarah Ellison, 7/9/25

Headline:  “Trump’s social media company strikes deal with friendly news outlet”

Subhead:  Truth+, a new streaming service attached to the Truth Social platform, will expand globally, featuring Trump-friendly Newsmax.

“The company that owns the social media platform Truth Social and counts President Donald Trump as its largest shareholder said Monday that it had reached a deal with Newsmax, which its founder has described as “supportive of the President and his policies,” to stream Newsmax content globally.

“The unprecedented deal links a company whose largest shareholder is the sitting president with a conservative media ally, in a deal that could benefit both parties financially. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/07/09/trump-truth-social-newsmax-streaming-deal/

Selective News Coverage?


Article in FAIR by Belen Fernandez, 7/9/25

Headline:  “Massive Expansion of Trump’s Deportation Machine Passes With Little Press Notice”

“And so it has come to pass: US President Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ has set the stage for tax cuts for the rich, slashed services for the poor, and a host of other things that qualify as ‘beautiful’ in the present dystopia. Some cuts, like those to Medicaid, have been heavily covered by the corporate media. But one key piece of the bill has gotten much less media scrutiny: The preposterous sum of $175 billion has been allocated to fund Trump’s signature mass deportation campaign, which, as a Salon article (7/3/25) points out, exceeds the military budget for every single country in the world aside from the US and China. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/massive-expansion-of-trumps-deportation-machine-passes-with-little-press-notice/