Broadcasting

FCC Steamrolling Civil Rights?

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2 Articles in Fair by Jamine Jackson, 8/26/25

Headline:  “The FCC Is Trying to Roll Back Protections Won Over the Past 60 Years:”

Subhead: “CounterSpin interview with Joseph Torres on FCC and structural racism”

“Janine Jackson: CounterSpin listeners don’t need to be reminded of how central journalism is to everything we care about. Authoritarian leaders want to silence even half-awake news media, because information is so important to people’s understanding of the world, and how we might change it.

“It’s also important to see, as on many issues, that Donald Trump didn’t invent bad, racist, anti-democracy media, or the legal landscape that allows it to thrive. . .”

Read the full articles at:

https://fair.org/home/the-fcc-is-trying-to-roll-back-protections-won-over-the-past-60-years/

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8/22/25 Headline:  “Joseph Torres on the FCC and Structural Racism”

https://fair.org/home/joseph-torres-on-the-fcc-and-structural-racism/

Grassroots Radio in Trouble?

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Article in The Washington Post by Maddy Butcher, 8/25/25

Headline:  “A reality check for NPR stations in Trump country”

Subhead:  “Will rural affiliates see through the politicization and adopt a more all-embracing approach?”

“. . .People in Montezuma County [Colorado] voted overwhelmingly for Trump in 2016, 2020 and 2024. And yet KSJD — an affiliate of NPR, that longtime target of Republican ire — has grown from an entirely volunteer operation running out of a trailer a few decades ago to a staff with four full-timers, an adjunct performing arts venue and a $580,000 budget. It is the only independently operated radio station or media outlet in the county, and it is one of hundreds of rural radio stations whose budgets will be slashed by the recent White House-requested congressional rescission of $1.1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/08/25/npr-defunded-rural-stations-fundraising/

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Article in AP by Gabriela Aoun Angueira, 8/25/25

Headline: “After Trump and Congress spending cuts, public media stations wait on money for emergency alerts”

“Warning: This may be an actual emergency — as far as emergencies about emergencies go, at least.

“The recently defunded nonprofit corporation that distributed federal money to public media stations across the United States is warning of another casualty when it shuts down next month: the resilience of the nation’s emergency alert systems.

“In 2022, Congress created the Next Generation Warning System grant program, meant to help stations in rural, tribal and otherwise underserved communities repair and improve the warning systems that tell people about evacuation orders, Amber alerts, tornado warnings, and more. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://apnews.com/article/trump-fema-cpb-npr-public-radio-emergency-alerts-warning-systems-99a5a37b6a62e0e01b9ee99b39cfe457

Stomping the Networks

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Article in Common Dreams by Brad Reed, 8/25/25

Headline:  “As Trump Threatens News Outlets, Experts More Concerned About Capitulation of Corporate Owners”

Subhead:  “The commercial news media, which helped elevate Trump to power, have proven repeatedly that they are ill-equipped to withstand such pressures,” warned one scholar.”

“As US President Donald Trump late on Sunday lashed out against the American media and threatened to pull broadcasting licenses from networks for their alleged “biased” coverage of him, media experts said the danger to the news media lies partially in corporate outlets’ potential capitulation to the Trump administration. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-nbc-abc-licenses

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Article in Reuters by David Shepardson, 8/25/25

Headline: “Trump again pushes US agency to revoke NBC, ABC station licenses”

“. . .President Donald Trump reiterated a long-running push for the Federal Communications Commission to revoke station licenses of two major U.S. broadcasters and charge them for using the public airwaves, as he criticized their news programming. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.reuters.com/business/trump-again-pushes-us-agency-revoke-nbc-abc-station-licenses-2025-08-25/

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Article in Newsweek by Robert Birsel, 8/25/25

Headline:  “Trump Calls For ‘Fake News’ Networks To Have Licenses Revoked by FCC”

“U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday called the ABC and NBC networks two of the “most biased” broadcasters ever and said the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) should revoke their licenses. . .”

“Media outlets promote a healthy democracy by providing the public with fact-checked information, particularly on those in power, and offering essential context. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-media-nbc-abc-fcc-license-revoked-fees-2118632

 

Media Comedy and Truth

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Article in Vox by Sean Remeswaram & Gabrielle Berbey, 8/23/25

Headline:  “South Park is doing what the rest of the media won’t”

Subhead:  “The White House says South Park is irrelevant. Its record-breaking ratings tell a different story.”

“. . .By speaking truth to the ultimate power right now. You know, the creators of South Park have always hated bullies, and they seem to believe Trump is the biggest bully of them all. The very premise of the first episode of this new season is about Trump targeting the media. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.vox.com/today-explained-podcast/458775/south-park-trump-media-criticism

Loss of VOA

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Article in On the Media by NPR. 8/22/25

Headline: “The Power of Shortwave Radio. And, What Gets Lost with Voice of America?“

“This month, the director of Voice of America is being forced out in the latest of many moves to dismantle the state broadcasting service. On this week’s On the Media, a history of the Voice of America, and how it’s been politicized. Plus, hear why propagandists in Russia, China, and Iran are celebrating cuts to U.S.-funded foreign reporting. . .”

Listen to the podcast at:

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

Some Support for Indigenous Media

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Article in Indian Country Today by Loris Taylor, 8/19/25

Headline:  “Gratitude in crisis: a spark for sustainable Indigenous media resilience”

“On August 4, 2025, Native Public Media and the Public Media Company made an appeal to foundations in support of vulnerable public media stations following the defunding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting by Congress. On August 19, 2025, the Knight Foundation, Pivotal, MacArthur, Ford, Schmidt Family, and Robert Wood Johnson Foundations stepped forward in a powerful display of solidarity, announcing an infusion of $36.5 million in emergency funding to safeguard public media stations, especially those serving rural, Indigenous, and underserved communities, from imminent closure after steep federal cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.. .”

Read the full article at:

https://ictnews.org/opinion/gratitude-in-crisis-a-spark-for-sustainable-indigenous-media-resilience/

Saving Empire With a Deal

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Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 8/20/25

Headline:  “Opinion | Why did CBS settle with Trump? Media mogul Shari Redstone speaks”

Subhead: “Paramount’s controlling shareholder says settling with Trump was in the company’s best interest”

“Trump’s case stood little to no chance in court, but the general narrative was that Paramount settled with Trump to get the required approval from his administration for the merger.

At the center of all this was Shari Redstone, the controlling shareholder of Paramount.

Now, The New York Times’ James B. Stewart has a new major story out — “Why Did Shari Redstone Do It?” — which details the 13 months of negotiations between Paramount and Skydance, as well as the reasoning behind settling the lawsuit with Trump. . .”

Read the full article at:

ttps://www.poynter.org/commentary/2025/why-did-cbs-settle-with-trump-media-mogul-shari-redstone-speaks/

Keeping Public Media From Drowning?

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Article in The Washington Post by Scott Nover, 8/19/25

Headline: “Foundations step in to offer $37 million lifeline to public media”

Subhead:  “The Knight, MacArthur and Ford foundations are among those pledging emergency funding after Trump’s rescission stripped federal funding from PBS and NPR stations.”

“Major philanthropic organizations said Tuesday that they are committing nearly $37 million in emergency funding to keep public media stations afloat after Congress passed President Donald Trump’s rescissions bill, which eliminated $1.1 billion in federal funding from PBS and NPR stations over the next two years. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/08/19/npr-pbs-foundations-funding/

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Steve Waldman, 8/20/25

Headline:  “What Will the Next Era of Public Media Look Like?”

Subhead: “After the demise of CPB, the industry has an opportunity to build more creative models for public support.”

“. . .In response, Knight, MacArthur, and several other foundations announced this week that they were funding a Public Media Bridge Fund to fill the absence of CPB. About a hundred TV and radio stations were receiving more than 30 percent of their revenue from CPB; many of those would be in danger of going dark. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/what-will-the-next-era-of-cpb-public-media-look-like.php

Remember Media Duopoly Rules?

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Article in Poynter by Al Tompkins, 8/19/25

Headline: “Nexstar’s takeover of Tegna would require an overhaul of FCC ownership rules”

Subhead: “The proposed sale would exceed the FCC’s 39% cap, igniting debate among broadcasters, unions and press groups”

“Nexstar announced Tuesday that it intends to buy Tegna for $6.2 billion — a deal that has been rumored for weeks. To pull off what would be the biggest change in TV broadcast ownership history, however, the Federal Communications Commission would have to relax rules limiting how much of the country one company can reach with its over-the-air signal.. . ”

Read the full Article at:

https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2025/nexstar-tegna-fcc-ownership-rules-media-consolidation/

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Article in Freepress by Staff, 8/19/25

Headline: “Nexstar’s Unlawful Acquisition of TEGNA Is a Bad Deal for the Public “

“. . .The newly combined Nexstar entity, if allowed, would have 265 full-power television stations in 44 states and the District of Columbia and 132 of the country’s 210 television Designated Market Areas (or DMAs). The deal would violate the national broadcast-ownership cap, which the FCC lacks authority to increase or eliminate, as Free Press recently discussed in comments opposing the FCC’s proposed reexamination of this law. . .”

Read the full press release at:

https://www.freepress.net/news/nexstars-unlawful-acquisition-tegna-bad-deal-public

Cuts Hurt Public Media

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Article in The Verge by Charles Pulliam-Moore, 8/15/25

Headline:  “PBS is slashing its budget in response to Trump’s attack on public media”

Subhead:  “The broadcaster also plans to reduce its member station dues by $35 million.”

“Now that Congress has passed a bill that will defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS is taking drastic measures to stay alive. . .”

“The Trump administration has made clear that it sees public media outfits like the CPB, NPR, and PBS as bastions for an liberal bias. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theverge.com/news/760026/pbs-is-slashing-its-budget-in-response-to-trumps-attack-on-public-media