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Hegseth says, “Who me?”

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Article in the Raw Story by Jennifer Bowers Bahney, 1/14/25

Headline:  “Pete Hegseth gripes that he’s victim of ‘smear campaign’ from ‘liberal media’ “

“Defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth slammed the “liberal media” during his confirmation hearing Tuesday, blaming it for a ‘coordinated smear campaign’ against him.

” ‘What became very evident to us from the beginning, there was a coordinated smear campaign orchestrated in the media against us that was clear from moment one,’ Hegseth said.

“He continued, ‘What we knew is that it wasn’t about me. Most of it was about President Donald Trump, who’s had to endure the very same thing for much longer amounts of time and he endured it in incredibly strong ways. So we, in some ways, knew it was coming.’ ”

https://www.rawstory.com/pete-hegseth-blames-liberal-media/

Don’t Like Reporting? Call it Terrorism

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Article in Committee to Protect Journalists by Staff. 1/14/25

Headline:  “Russia labels news outlets ‘terrorist organizations’ for the first time”

“The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Russian authorities to stop persecuting the regional news site Komi Daily and the independent media outlet Asians of Russia, which the Federal Security Service (FSB) added to its list of “terrorist organizations.” This marks the first time media publications have been labeled as such in Russia, according to news reports.

“Labeling Komi Daily and Asians of Russia terrorist organizations is a serious attack on press freedom and the public’s right to information about the culture and current affairs of Russia’s Komi Republic and Asian peoples of Russia. . .”

https://cpj.org/2025/01/russia-labels-news-outlets-terrorist-organizations-for-the-first-time/

 

Some Leaks to Media OK

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Article in The Intercept by Shawn Musgrave, 1/12/25

Headline:  “The Trump DOJ Loved Leaking, as Long as It Was to Rupert Murdoch’s Newspapers”

Subhead:  “The Trump administration spied on reporters to catch leakers. At the same time, it was leaking to right-wing media.”

“The first Trump administration launched a sprawling campaign to ferret out leakers, which targeted reporters at CNN, the Washington Post, and the New York Times, plus members of Congress and their staff. But a watchdog report released to The Intercept shows that just days before the 2020 presidential election, senior Justice Department officials signed off on leaks to two favored newspapers with conservative reputations, both owned by the biggest name in right-wing media.”

https://theintercept.com/2025/01/12/trump-justice-department-new-york-post-wsj-leak/

Grieving for the Media

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Article in Common Dreams by David Helvarg, 1/13/25

Headline:  “Dying in Broad Daylight: Media Outlets That Self-Censor for Trump”

Subhead: “What we are witnessing is not simply right-wing ascendency in national politics but a long-term decline and corporate consolidation of American journalism.”

“Two billionaire publishers, the Washington Post’s Jeff Bezos and the LA Times Patrick Soon-Shiong, blocked their editorial page editors from endorsing Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election (a Washington Post editorial cartoonist than quit when her cartoon depicting Jeff Bezos, Son-Shiong and other billionaires abasing themselves in front of Trump was killed). If you believe the Washington Post’s slogan that ‘Democracy Dies in Darkness,’ their owner was the first to switch off the light.”

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/media-outlets-pandering-trump

Another Jailed Journalist

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Article in Committee to Project Journalists by Staff, 1/13/25

Headline:  “Tajik journalist Ahmad Ibrohim sentenced to 10 years in prison”

A court in Tajikistan’s southern city of Kulob on January 10 sentenced Ahmad Ibrohim, chief editor of the independent weekly newspaper Payk, to 10 years in prison on charges of bribery, extortion, and extremism.

The closed-door trial was held in the city’s pretrial detention center, with authorities reportedly classifying the case as secret.

“With Tajik authorities having all but obliterated the independent press over the past decade, the hefty sentence meted out to Ahmad Ibrohim shows the lengths they will go to stamp out critical reporting,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator…”

https://cpj.org/2025/01/tajik-journalist-ahmad-ibrohim-sentenced-to-10-years-in-prison/

Lies Win Over Actual Facts

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Article in the Washington Post by Dan Diamond, 1/13/25

Headline:  ” ‘I can’t go toe to toe with social media.’ Top U.S. health official reflects, regrets.”

Subhead:  “Xavier Becerra, who has led the Department of Health and Human Services, says federal agencies are outmatched in a world of “instantaneous information and disinformation.”

“. . .Sitting in his office at HHS headquarters, America’s top health official identified a culprit: a media climate that he says drowns out reliable information. False claims about vaccines run rampant online; government health experts at news conferences barely make a dent compared with influencers who have huge followings.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/01/12/xavier-becerra-hhs-secretary/

 

Using Disaster for Media

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Article in Media Matters by Allison Fisher, 1/10/25

Headline:  “Right-wing media push Trump’s false claim that California water policies are hurting efforts to suppress LA fires”

Subhead:  “Casting blame on environmental policies in an attempt to distract from increasingly deadly climate impacts is core to right-wing media’s extreme weather playboo”

“Right-wing media are falsely blaming the reports of low water pressure or dry hydrants in Los Angeles on state and local mismanagement – including suggesting that local authorities refused to fill the reservoirs – and conflating the hydrant issue with the false claim that Gov. Gavin Newsom’s water policies are to blame.

“On January 8, the Los Angeles Times reported that “as wildfires raged across Los Angeles on Tuesday, crews battling the Palisades blaze faced an additional burden: Scores of fire hydrants in Pacific Palisades had little to no water flowing out.” Later that day, President-elect Donald Trump in a post on Truth Social falsely claimed that Newsom had deprived Southern California of water in order to protect the smelt fish.”

https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/right-wing-media-push-trumps-false-claim-california-water-policies-are-hurting-

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Article in Huff Post by Lee Moran, 1/10/25

Headline:  “Donald Trump’s Disaster-Hijacking Playbook Exposed By Expert On Right-Wing Media”

Subhead:  “Nicole Hemmer also explored the potent cocktail — involving the president-elect — that means ‘everything just feels worse all the time.’ “

“Nicole Hemmer — an expert on conservative and right-wing media, and the effect they have had on American politics — this week explained Donald Trump’s penchant for whipping up anger and causing division amid tragedies and disasters.

“ ‘It definitely is the case that this is something Trump does, right?’ Hemmer, an associate professor of history at Vanderbilt University, asked The New Republic’s Greg Sargent in the latest episode of his podcast, ‘The Daily Blast,’ which was released Thursday.”

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nicole-hemmer-donald-trump-talent_n_6780e6cde4b01ffef2482ddd

Get the Paddles!

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Article in NPR On the Media by Staff, 10/10/25

Headline:   “Public Broadcasting Is In Danger (Again)”

“NPR and PBS stations are bracing for war with the incoming Trump administration. On this week’s On the Media, the long history of efforts to save—and snuff out—public broadcasting. Plus, the role of public radio across the country, from keeping local governments in check to providing life-saving information during times of crisis. [01:00] Hosts Brooke Gladstone and Micah Loewinger explore the history of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and break down the funding with Karen Everhart, managing editor of Current. [06:59] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts, a member of the Subcommittee on Communications, Media, and Broadband, which oversees the Corporation For Public Broadcasting, on his decades-long fight with Republican lawmakers to keep NPR and PBS alive.”

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

Cartoon Kowtowing

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Jon Alsop, 10/10/25

Headline:  “Moderating Content”

Subhead:  “What the genuflection of billionaires means for the press.”

“Before Christmas, Ann Telnaes, an editorial cartoonist at the Washington Post, submitted a drawing that depicted four billionaire media and tech executives and one mouse genuflecting before Donald Trump, shown standing on a garlanded dais. The cartoon, Telnaes wrote last weekend, was inspired by recent reports of “men with lucrative government contracts and an interest in eliminating regulations making their way to Mar-a-Lago” to visit Trump in the wake of his election win in November.

“. . .Meta is not the news media, but its latest policy change will clearly have ramifications for our industry. (For starters, many newsroom fact-checking initiatives have received financial support from Meta, the withdrawal of which is unlikely to be good for their free speech. . .”

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/bezos_zuckerberg_altman_soon-shiong_billionaires_media_telnaes.php

Fact Checking? Blame Liberal Media

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Article in Mediaite by Phillip Nieto, 10/1//25

Headline:  ” ‘I Was Ill-Prepared’: Zuckerberg Blames Anti-Trump Media For Facebook Fact-Checking Measures in Marathon Joe Rogan Interview”

“Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg claimed he was “ill-prepared” to face anti-Trump media pressuring him to fact-check misinformation on social media.

“During a nearly three-hour-long podcast interview with Joe Rogan, Zuckerberg said he received pressure over the last decade to start censoring material on Facebook based on political ideology. He cited Trump’s 2016 victory and BREXIT for the increase in political censorship.”

https://www.mediaite.com/podcasts/i-was-ill-prepared-zuckerberg-blames-anti-trump-media-for-facebook-fact-checking-measures-in-marathon-joe-rogan-interview/