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Article in Raw Story by Matthew Chapman, 8/11/26
Headline: ” ‘Be prepared’: MAGA-friendly media giant warned over sketchy merger”
“Democrats are gearing up to grill Paramount Skydance over its blockbuster $110 billion bid to swallow Warner Bros. Discovery — a merger that would put CNN under the thumb of the same MAGA-friendly executive who has overseen the controversial hollowing out of CBS. . .”
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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 8/10/26
Headline: “The Peacock’s Paywall”
Subhead: “NBC News once vowed to keep its journalism free, but the news outlet is now putting its exclusive and enterprise reporting behind a digitral paywall — and not everyone inside the company is thrilled, Status has learned
“Last February, NBC News Group boss Cesar Conde announced a major initiative in an internal meeting: a subscription service for NBC News. Until then, NBC News had proudly championed the fact that it made its reporting free. . . ”
Read the full article at:
https://www.status.news/p/nbc-news-paywall-subscription-service
Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 8/11/26
Headline: “Opinion | Trump’s FCC is poised for a further shift to the right”
Subhead: “Trump’s latest nominee could give Republicans enough votes to conduct business without the commission’s lone Democrat”
“In a move that could further politicize the Federal Communications Commission, President Donald Trump has nominated Danielle Thumann Severs, a longtime aide to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, to fill one of the agency’s two vacant seats.
“Axios’ Sara Fischer writes, ‘If confirmed by the Senate, Thumann Severs would make it much easier for the Republican-led FCC to hold and pass votes unilaterally without any Democratic friction’. . .”
Read the full article at:
https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2026/trump-nominated-danielle-thumann-severs-fcc/
Article in Media Matters by Jack Winstanley, Gideon Taaffe & Hanne MacDonald, 8/11/26
Headline: “Right-wing media’s affordability burrito brawl”
Subhead: “After a post complaining about a $20 burrito went viral, some right-wing figures accused those dismissing concerns about affordability of “giving the finger to voters” and driving them ‘into the arms of the socialists’ ”
“Last week, Turning Point USA’s Andrew Kolvet’s post about a college student noting the high price of a burrito sparked a debate among conservative commentators over whether food affordability is a real issue for voters.
“While some dismissed concerns over an expensive burrito, advising those complaining to ‘cry me a river’ and cook food at home, other right-wing personalities noted such responses were equivalent to ‘giving the finger to voters’ and accused those commentators of “trying to gaslight us into being happy that it’s unaffordable.”
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Article in Common Dreams by Russell Mokhiber, 6/10/26
Headline: “Why Print: On Newspapers, Democracy, and the Things a Screen Cannot Replace”
Subhead: “We strive for a world in which we are informed with the paper in our hands—a world in which we run with that paper to our elected representatives and demand, ‘What the hell are you doing?'”
“Politics has become strangely empty. We sign petitions with a click, make five-dollar donations with a tap, and mistake engagement for participation.
“Capitol Hill Citizen believes that democracy requires something more substantial than that. It requires attention, presence, and involvement. It requires something tangible.
“That is why we print a newspaper.
“In the absence of tangibility, we are each reduced to data, data that corporations use to manipulate us, predict us, and sell us back to ourselves. In a world where corporations are treated as people under the law, Capitol Hill Citizen calls upon its readers to do something that a corporation cannot do: hold a newspaper. Better yet, do democracy. . .”
Read the full article at:
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/newspapers-better-than-print
Article in The Wrap by A. J. Katz, 8/10/26
Headline: “Where the Media Business Is Going”
Subhead: “In this week’s installment of The Media Front, we unpack what happens next as the streaming wars end and AI rises in newsrooms across the country”
“. . .For much of the past decade, Hollywood’s biggest media companies were chasing versions of the same goal: Build a streaming service, add subscribers and reach enough scale to compete with Netflix.
“This week’s earnings season offered perhaps the clearest evidence yet that the industry has moved on. . .”
“What the industry no longer agrees on is what comes next. . .”
Read the full article at:
https://www.thewrap.com/media-platforms/journalism/future-of-media-business-streaming-ai-news/
Article in Poynter by Angela Fu, 8/10/26
Headline: “What 100-plus federal actions reveal about the Trump administration’s campaign against the press”
Subhead: “For 18 months, Poynter has tracked federal actions affecting journalists and news access, revealing a rapid, sweeping change in the media landscape”
“Since taking office, President Donald Trump has reshaped much of American political and civil life, and in doing so, indelibly altered the country’s media landscape. Over the past year, Poynter has documented more than 100 federal actions affecting journalists and access to the news through its Press Freedom Watch project.
“Some have targeted individual reporters, resulting in raids, assaults and detentions. Others have taken aim at outlets, subjecting disfavored newsrooms to investigations, lawsuits and funding cuts. . .”
Read the full article at:
https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2026/trump-press-freedom/
Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Liz Skalka, 8/10/26
Headline: “Revising the Ethics Code”
Subhead: “The Society of Professional Journalists is taking a red pencil to its ethics guidelines—the first update since 2014.”
“The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), a more than century-old industry organization. . . might be best known for its code of ethics, a set of bullet-pointed precepts that can fit on a poster designed to hang in journalism classrooms and newsrooms: ‘Seek Truth and Report It’; ‘Minimize Harm’; ‘Act Independently’; ‘Be Accountable and Transparent.’ . . .”
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Article in Media Matters by Jack Winstanley & Zachary Pleat, 8/10/26
Headline: “Right-wing media have been arguing for decades that fewer Americans should have the right to vote”
Subhead: “Repealing the 19th Amendment, disenfranchising welfare recipients, and requiring a civics test — right-wing media are full of ideas about how to restrict voting “
“. . .President Donald Trump’s efforts to suppress the vote have a significant ideological precedent. For decades, right-wing media have advocated restrictions on voter eligibility, laying the groundwork for Trump and his allies to undermine the upcoming midterms and push for policies that would make it harder for some Americans to vote. . .”
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Article in The Guardian by Mehdi Hassan, 8/10/26
Headline: “The media is infatuated with Gadi Eisenkot, the ‘anti-Netanyahu’. Why?”
Subhead: “The challenger to Netanyahu is more of the same. His record makes that abundantly clear”
“Western media outlets cannot seem to get enough of Gadi Eisenkot.
“Israel’s former military chief and the leader of the newly formed Yashar party has been embraced by the international press as he and his party take the lead in the polls in the run-up to October’s elections.
“Will Israel embrace the ‘anti-Netanyahu’ who lost a son in Gaza?” asked the Times of London. . .”
Read the full article at:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/aug/10/media-gadi-eisenkot-anti-netanyahu