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Rt. Wing Media Missing Truth

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Article in Media Matters by John Knefel, 5/22/25

Headline:  “Contrary to right-wing media claims, the GOP’s Medicaid cuts are for far more than ‘able-bodied men’ “

Subhead:  “While right-wing media yell about ‘able-bodied men,’ in truth Medicaid work requirements would hit caregivers the most — and they are disproportionately women”

“Right-wing media figures are telling their audiences that proposed work requirements for Medicaid will be targeted at men who are unwilling to look for a job, when the actual population most likely to be affected is poor, rural women who are taking care of elderly parents or adult children.

“The discussion comes as congressional Republicans negotiate a budget bill that is widely predicted to deliver massive tax cuts to the wealthy and corporations while gutting social safety net programs like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/health-care/contrary-right-wing-media-claims-gops-medicaid-cuts-are-far-more-able-bodied-men

Advertiser Boycott, Free-Speech?

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 5/22/25

Headline:  “Muzzling Media Matters”

Subhead:  “What began as Elon Musk’s personal vendetta against Media Matters has now escalated into a full-blown government-backed campaign, with Donald Trump’s FTC launching a probe into the non-profit group”.

On Wednesday morning, an IT staffer at Media Matters for America received a letter, hand-delivered by a process server. The staffer didn’t panic. These days, being served legal documents has become an almost routine occurrence at the progressive watchdog group, a direct consequence of the litigation unleashed by Elon Musk and other prominent right-wing figures. . .”

“That casual demeanor didn’t last. The moment the executive began to read the document, her tone shifted dramatically. It was not merely another legal missive; it was an official demand letter from the Federal Trade Commission. The federal government, it appeared, was initiating a formal probe into Media Matters. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/ftc-investigates-media-matters-elon-musk

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Article in The Guardian by Staff, 5/22/25

Headline:  “FTC investigates media watchdog over Musk’s X boycott claims, document shows”

Subhead:  “Media Matters faces government inquiry into whether it helped advertisers coordinate to pull ad dollars from X”

“The US Federal Trade Commission has demanded documents from Media Matters about possible coordination with other media watchdogs accused by Elon Musk of helping orchestrate advertiser boycotts of X, according to a document seen by Reuters on Thursday.

“The civil investigative demand seen by Reuters seeks information about Media Matters’ communications with other groups that evaluate misinformation and hate speech in news and social media, including a World Federation of Advertisers initiative called Global Alliance for Responsible Media. X has ongoing lawsuits against both organizations. . .”

“Last year, X sued the World Federation of Advertisers and a group of major brands in federal court in Texas, accusing them of illegally conspiring to curtail ad spending. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/22/ftc-media-matters-x-investigation

RFE Back – for a while. . .

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Article in Al Jazeera by Staff, 5/20/25

Headline:  “EU to sustain Radio Free Europe with emergency funding after Trump cuts”

Subhead:  “Outlet is one of several media services whose funding was cut by the Trump administration amid an aggressive downsizing effort.”

“The European Union plans to step in to help save longtime media outlet Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) after United States President Donald Trump’s administration abruptly stopped funding it.

“The bloc’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, told reporters after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Tuesday that 5.5 million euros ($6.2m) will be provided to “support the vital work of Radio Free Europe’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/20/eu-to-sustain-radio-free-europe-with-emergency-funding-after-trump-cuts

Short Right Wave

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Article in NPR On the Media by Staff, 5/21/25

Headline:  “S2 THE DIVIDED DIAL EPISODE 3: World’s Last Chance Radio”

“. . .The Divided Dial is the untold story of shortwave radio: the way-less-listened to but way-farther-reaching cousin of AM and FM radio. The medium was once heralded as a utopian, international, and instantaneous mass communication tool — a sort of internet-before-the-internet. But like the internet, it also took a turn for the chaotic. And like AM and FM talk radio, it also went hard to the right, with extremists and cults still finding a home on the shortwaves. . .

Read or listen to the full article at:

https://www.npr.org/podcasts/452538775/on-the-media

Read this book. . .Re ths book . . .R th buk. .

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Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 5/21/25

Headline: “Opinion | How two major newspapers published a summer reading list with books that don’t exist”

Subhead: “Of the 15 books in a list published by the Chicago Sun-Times and Philadelphia Inquirer, only five were real. The culprit? AI, of course.”

“A popular feature that you’re likely to see in a major metropolitan newspaper this time of year is a summer reading list. . .”

“And if you are a reader of the Chicago Sun-Times or The Philadelphia Inquirer, you recently saw such a syndicated list of new books by famous authors, including Percival Everett, who won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and Andy Weir, who wrote “The Martian.”

One problem: The authors are real, but the books they supposedly wrote are not. Turns out, the list was generated by artificial intelligence. Of the 15 books, only five are real. The rest? Made up by AI. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2025/chicago-sun-times-summer-reading-list-ai/

 

Journalism or Propaganda?

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 5/21/25

Headline:  “The Right’s Biden Revisionism”

Subhead:  “For years, right-wing media pushed a warped narrative of Joe Biden as a brain-dead puppet controlled by sinister, shadowy forces. Now they’re demanding vindication—but they do not deserve it.”

“. . .Tuesday, Tapper declared that “conservative media was right and conservative media was correct” about Joe Biden’s mental state.

“But that’s not quite true. Or rather, it simplifies a much more nuanced media and political reality. While it’s fair to argue that the press should have covered Biden’s age with greater urgency—and to acknowledge that Biden clearly lost a step during his presidency—that’s a far cry from validating the deeply irresponsible narrative right-wing media spun for years: that the president of the United States was a mentally incapacitated puppet with dementia, unaware of his own surroundings, and propped up by a “shadow government” running the country in his name.

“That was never journalism. It was propaganda. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/biden-health-media-journalists

Media Ignore Charges

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Article in The Intercept by Natasha Lennard, 5/20/25

Headline: “Trump is Prosecuting a Congressional Democrat for Doing Her Job. The Media’s Response: No Big Deal”

Subhead:  “You’d never know reading the New York Times that charges against Rep. LaMonica McIver are nothing but an authoritarian attack.”

“You may have come across a common thought experiment that asks how the establishment U.S. media might cover a given domestic news event were it to occur in a maligned foreign country. The latest disturbing news from Donald Trump’s Justice Department, for example, might be framed as something like: ‘Trumpist regime targets opposition politician with fabricated charges for carrying out oversight.’

“Instead, the typical mainstream reports were muted on the Justice Department’s obscene decision Monday night to charge New Jersey Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver with ‘assaulting’ a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer when the member of Congress attempted to conduct an oversight visit earlier this month at a massive, new ICE detention facility in her hometown of Newark . . .”

Read the full article at: 

https://theintercept.com/2025/05/20/trump-prosecuting-democrat-mciver-ice-media/

Media Bribery?

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 5/20/25

Headline:  “Shari and the Senators”

Subhead:  “A new letter from three top Democratic senators warns Shari Redstone that settling Trump’s lawsuit could be more than a capitulation—it could be a crime.”

“On Tuesday morning, three senators dispatched a letter to Paramount Global boss Shari Redstone, the culmination of growing worry among Democrats on Capitol Hill that the media conglomerate could be on the brink of engaging in an unlawful quid pro quo with Donald Trump. In the letter—signed by Elizabeth Warren, Ron Wyden, and Bernie Sanders—the lawmakers warned that if Paramount settles Trump’s $20 billion lawsuit over a ’60 Minutes’ segment to win favor with the Trump administration, it could constitute criminal bribery—something that I’m told has also been cause for concern among the company’s three co-chief executives. . .”

Read the full story at:

https://www.status.news/p/senators-warn-paramount-trump-lawsuit

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Article in Poynter by Angela Fu, 5/20/25

Headline:  “For CBS News, Wendy McMahon’s resignation marks more than just a leadership change”

Subhead:  “CBS is caught in the crosshairs of a Trump lawsuit, an FCC probe and a looming merger. And its top news executive just stepped down.”

“McMahon, the president and CEO of CBS News and Stations as well as CBS Media Ventures, told staff in a memo that the past few months have been “challenging.”

“It’s become clear that the company and I do not agree on the path forward,” McMahon wrote. “It’s time for me to move on and for this organization to move forward with new leadership.”

“McMahon’s resignation comes as CBS faces a $20 billion lawsuit from Trump over its editing of a ’60 Minutes’ interview last October with then-Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2025/cbs-news-wendy-mcmahon-resign-why-trump-60-minutes-shari-redstone/

End Diversity, Get License

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Article in Ars Technica by John Brodkin, 5/20/25

Headline:  “FCC Chair Brendan Carr is letting ISPs merge—as long as they end DEI programs”

It’s shaping up to be a big year for telecom mergers, and it appears the Federal Communications Commission is eager to approve the deals—as long as companies involved drop any DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) policies criticized by FCC Chairman Brendan Carr. Verizon just got a big merger approved, and cable giant Charter is seeking permission to buy Cox.

The FCC on Friday announced approval of Verizon’s purchase of Frontier, one day after Verizon committed to end DEI policies in a filing with the commission. Carr previously sent letters to Verizon and other companies alleging that their diversity policies are “invidious forms of discrimination” that violate federal law and threatened to block mergers pursued by firms that enforce such policies. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/05/fcc-chair-brendan-carr-is-letting-isps-merge-as-long-as-they-end-dei-programs/

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Article in The Washington Post by Will Oremus and Andrea Jimenez, 5/20/25

Headline: “Carr’s FCC puts the political squeeze on media mergers”

“Now companies looking to close deals are also ditching diversity policies and, reportedly, responding to pressure to settle lawsuits with President Donald Trump.

“On Friday, Verizon won FCC approval to buy broadband internet provider Frontier for about $10 billion. The approval came the day after the company said in a letter to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr that it would end its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs “effective immediately,” as the Intercept first reported.

“The agency cited that shift as a factor in its approval .  .  .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/05/20/verizon-dei-carr-fcc-merger-cbs/

“60 Minutes” Fallout

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 5/19/25

Headline:  “The Showdown Over ’60’ “

Subhead: “For months, CBS News boss Wendy McMahon faced mounting pressure over the network’s coverage of Donald Trump—and over the weekend, it hit a crescendo.”

“On Monday morning, Wendy McMahon walked into the CBS News offices on the west side of Manhattan and led the network’s daily editorial meeting as she always did. She congratulated “60 Minutes” on a standout season, acknowledged the unusual circumstances the newsmagazine had navigated, and went over programming plans. What she didn’t mention was that it would be one of her final days at the network. That came soon after, in a memo that stunned staffers across CBS News and sent a jolt through the broader media industry.

McMahon told staffers she was resigning from her role as president and chief executive of CBS News and Stations—a decision she’d quietly finalized over the weekend after a bruising, weeks-long battle with the company’s top brass. . .”

Read the fullarticle at:

https://www.status.news/p/cbs-news-60-minutes-wendy-mcmahon