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Article in The New Republic by Edith Olmstead, 10/6/26

Headline:  “Why the Hell Is Kash Patel’s FBI Making Campaign Ads?”

Subhead:  “Patel has turned the bureau into a P.R. agency for Donald Trump.”

“Kash Patel’s FBI slammed Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed in a wildly partisan, and likely illegal, propaganda video Tuesday.

“In a two-minute video posted on social media, the supposedly nonpartisan agency decried “democratic socialist leaders” for calling to defund the police. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://newrepublic.com/post/216292/kash-patel-fbi-campaign-ads-donald-trump11:34 PM 10/6/2026

Steaks, University, Watches, and Trump

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Article in The New York Times by By Maggie HabermanHamed AleazizShane Goldmacher and Jonathan Swan, 10/2/26

Headline: “Trump Directed Use of Taxpayer Money for Ads Praising His Presidency”

Subhead: “The government-funded ads show just how much President Trump has been able to use federal money for his own aims.”

“President Trump personally instructed his budget director to use taxpayer money for TV ads praising him and his presidency, setting in motion a $20 million contract that used funds from the Department of Homeland Security, according to people familiar with the matter.

“The ads have run across cable and network television — on Fox News, CNN and MS Now, with football games on Fox and with national newscasts on CBS, ABC and NBC, including ‘Meet the Press,’ which Mr. Trump is known to watch. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/02/us/politics/trump-ads.html

Something Was “Hatched” in the Media

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Article in Common Dreams by Stephen Prager, 9/24/26

Headline:  “White House Airs ‘Illegal’ Trump Propaganda Ad ‘Paid For By the US Government’ Weirdest way to violate the Hatch Act, ever.”

“The White House is being accused of violating federal law after it aired an ad glorifying President Donald Trump, which it explicitly said was ‘paid for by the US government.’

“The ad was first reported by CBS News Miami investigative reporter Jim DeFede, who saw it airing on Fox News Wednesday night. . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-government-funded-ad

Circling Paramount Oscars

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Article in Free Press by Staff, 3/13/26

Headline:  “Free Press Circles the Oscars With a Mobile Billboard Protesting Paramount’s Terrible Takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery”

Subhead:  “Protest sign mockingly urges the Academy to consider David Ellison for ‘Best Performance in a Puppet Show’ — with President Trump holding the strings”

“. . . a mobile billboard parodying Paramount Skydance owner David Ellison will be circling the Dolby Theater, site of Sunday’s Academy Awards. The billboard is a roving protest of Ellison’s plans to take over Warner Bros. Discovery and transform the resulting media colossus into a mouthpiece for Donald Trump’s authoritarian agenda.

“The billboard urges members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to consider Ellison’s performance for the imaginary “Best Performance in a Puppet Show” category.. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.freepress.net/news/free-press-circles-oscars-mobile-billboard-protesting-paramounts-terrible-takeover-warner-bros

What Should Media Call Things

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Jon Allsop, 9/9/25

Headline: “War Games”

Subhead:  “Should the press follow Trump in calling the Pentagon the ‘Department of War’?”

“. . .Pete Hegseth, the Fox & Friends host turned defense (sorry, war) secretary, returned to his old stomping ground to roll the pitch. (‘We think words and names and titles matter,’ he said, before attempting to tease an upcoming change to the signage behind him by pointing over the wrong shoulder.) . . .”

“. . .The rebrand may sound—and, on some level, absolutely is—very silly: a predictable move for a military apparatus that is ultimately led by a pair of TV stars obsessed with looking and sounding cool. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/war-games-defense-department-hegseth-trump-name-change.php

Declining Newspapers Ads?

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Article in Poynter by Rick Edmonds, 7/31/25

Headline:  “Did Craigslist decimate newspapers? Legend meets reality.”

Subhead:  “Craig Newmark’s simple site was hailed as a disruptor and blamed for the collapse of classifieds. But journalism’s business failures ran deeper.”

“The decline of newspaper print classifieds and the ripple effects that gutted newsrooms began, by many accounts, in 1995. That’s when Craig Newmark invented Craigslist, the homely but oh-so-successful site that matches buyers and sellers, mostly for free, with only a few listings carrying a modest charge.

“Did Craigslist drive the downfall of print classifieds?

“ ‘I’ve always wondered about that,’ Newmark said in a Zoom interview July 1. ‘I think it had an effect.’

“But portraying him and the list as torpedoing an otherwise great business model is way overblown, he still believes. Citing an influential essay by Thomas Baekdal, Newmark contends that the root of newspapers’ trouble was the loss of readers. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2025/did-craigslist-kill-newspapers-poynter-50/

No Prescription for TV Ads

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Article in the Daily Caller by Robert McGreevy, 6/18/25

Headline:  “CNN Acknowledges RFK’s Drug Ad Ban Could ‘Cripple’ Broadcasting Giants “

“CNN admitted Wednesday policies to limit pharmaceutical TV advertising that are being considered by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could cripple the TV news business.

The policies, which include a plan to remove a loophole allowing pharmaceutical companies to write off advertising as a tax deduction, could ‘leave broadcasters in financial straits,’ CNN reported in a Wednesday article.

“While Kennedy Jr. has long advocated to end the practice of pharmaceutical direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising — a practice banned in almost every other nation globally — experts believe that pharmaceutical giants would challenge an outright ban on First Amendment grounds. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://dailycaller.com/2025/06/18/cnn-rfk-drug-ad-ban-cripple-broadcasting-giants-pharmaceuticals/

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

Buy the Media, Buy an Election

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Article in The Hill by Sarah Fortinsky, 3/30/25

Headline:  “Musk says he is giving out two $1 million checks to ‘get attention’ from ‘legacy media’ “

“Tech billionaire Elon Musk handed out oversized $1 million checks to two attendees of his town hall in Wisconsin on Sunday evening, saying the stunt is cheaper and more effective than paying for the same amount of media coverage.

“ ‘The reason for the checks is that it’s really just to get attention. It’s like, we need to get attention. And it’s somewhat inevitably, when I do this, these things. . . it causes the legacy media to, like, kind of lose their minds, and then they’ll run it on every news channel,’ Musk said on stage at the town hall, before giving out the large checks.”

“ ‘And I’m like, I couldn’t pay them to, it would cost, like, 10 times more… to get the kind of coverage that we get’  without distributing the checks, Musk said.”

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5222859-musk-says-he-is-giving-out-two-1-million-checks-to-get-attention-from-legacy-media/

LA Times Masks Phony News?

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 3/13/25

Headline:  “Paper-Thin Ethics”

Subhead:  “The Los Angeles Times is facing ethical questions after one of its shows aired what looked like a news story—but was actually an undisclosed promotion for billionaire owner Patrick Soon-Shiong’s drug company.”

“Earlier this week, Angelica Coronado, a host for the Los Angeles Times’ daily podcast and web show that highlights the day’s biggest headlines, was going through the program’s rundown when she landed on a story that caught the attention of some newsroom staffers. Unlike the other stories that Coronado was spotlighting on the show, this one was rather peculiar. It wasn’t a top story at the national or local level, or a viral feel-good piece you might see on ABC’s ‘World News Tonight.’ Instead, it was an advertisement for billionaire Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong’s drug company masquerading as a news story. . . ”

https://www.status.news/p/patrick-soon-shiong-la-times-companies-coverage