Broadcasting

Negative vs. Biased News

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Article in Daily Kos by Trenz Pruca, 1/20/26

Headline:  “Media Bias, Negative News, and a Persistent Myth”

Subhead:  “You must be a Republican if you believe that: Fox News, MAGA influencers, and professional outrage merchants tell the truth; scientists, judges, journalists, and civil servants are the deep state.”

“Is the media biased? — the Patterson Study. (2018). . .”

“. . .What the study does examine is the long-term trend toward negative news coverage in broadcast media, a shift that began in the early 1960s as television news expanded in length and became increasingly image-driven. Negative events—conflict, scandal, disaster—are simply easier to visualize. This is why automobile accidents receive more coverage than random acts of kindness. The accident happened. Reporting it is neither fake nor biased; it is merely well suited to the medium.

“Patterson explicitly warns against conflating negative news with biased news. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/1/20/2364428/-Media-Bias-Negative-News-and-a-Persistent-Myth?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

Better Late Than. . . With Edits

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Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 1/20/26

Headline:  “Opinion- ‘60 Minutes’ finally aired the story that stirred up a storm inside CBS News”

Subhead: “The delayed report aired after weeks of internal conflict over editorial independence between veteran journalists and new editor-in-chief Bari Weiss”

“Nearly a month ago, new CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss tried her best to break her new toy by making the extraordinary decision to yank a ‘60 Minutes’ story right before it was set to air. Even though the story — about Venezuelan men deported by the U.S. to a notorious prison in El Salvador — went through five internal screenings, Weiss held the story by claiming it wasn’t ready for air.

Those inside CBS News were furious that Weiss, who has no TV news experience, was telling ‘60 Minutes,’ the gold standard of TV news, what’s appropriate to air.  . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2026/60-minutes-cecot-story-aired/

Greenland Not Enough?

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Headline: “Fox News host claims Trump can seize Bermuda too ‘if we need’ it”

“Fox News anchor Jesse Watters casually suggested on Tuesday night that not only could the United States annex Greenland at will, but they could also seize control of the island of Bermuda.

“Watters, a firebrand who has been accused of dropping casual racism and sexual harassment, laughed at the horror from European leaders at President Donald Trump’s escalating threats to seize control of Greenland from Denmark, a critical NATO ally of the United States. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.rawstory.com/jesse-watters-2674914697/

Is FCC Making Money for. . .?

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Article in Free Press by Staff, 1/14/26

Headline:  “Chairman Carr’s Corruption of the FCC Requires Greater Congressional Action and Oversight”

“Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr dodged accountability during a House Commerce Committee oversight hearing on Wednesday.

“Throughout the hearing, Carr refused to answer questions about his efforts to weaponize the agency in service of President Donald Trump. His record includes helping the White House silence the president’s critics in the media, install so-called “bias monitors” inside private media companies and enrich Trump. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.freepress.net/news/chairman-carrs-corruption-fcc-requires-greater-congressional-action-and-oversight

Network News Down the Drain?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Amos Barshad, 1/13/26

Headline: “Unaffiliated”

Subhead: “Some TV news stations are breaking their national network affiliations, and leaning into local programming.”

“. . .Amid mass media-job losses over the past year and increases in network television licensing fees that have been mounting for a while longer, WPLG has, since last spring, made sixty new hires.

“The growth has come as a direct result of WPLG’s decision, in August, to cut ties with ABC, with which it’s been affiliated since going on the air, sixty-nine years ago. . .”

Read the full story at:

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/unaffiliated-local-tv-stations-leaving-national-affiliates.php

CBS Wreck?

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Article in The Guardian by Anna Betts, 1/12/26

Headline:  “David Letterman calls CBS News a ‘wreck’ under newly installed leadership”

Subhead: “Former late-night host makes comments amid merger of CBS’s parent company Paramount with Skydance Media”

“The former CBS late-night host David Letterman has criticized his old network, calling its news division a ‘wreck’ under its newly installed leadership. . .”

“He said: ‘CBS News is a wreck – it’s just gone. CBS News, for decades, going back to [the second world war], before [it], Ed Murrow would be broadcasting the blitz of London from the rooftop of buildings in London for CBS Radio, and it was that mentality that drove the integrity of CBS News, that has been trampled on, pissed on, and eviscerated by these idiots that have taken it over.’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/jan/12/david-letterman-cbs-news-bari-weiss

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Jem Bartholomew, 1/12/26

Headline:   “And That’s the Way It Is”

Subhead:  “At CBS News, the suppression of critical reporting and the promotion of appeasement reveal Bari Weiss’s true colors.”

Read the article at:

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/cbs-news-suppression-critical-reporting-appeasement-bari-weiss-tony-dokoupil.php

Did “60 Minutes” Lose Something?

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 1/8/26

Headline: “The Shadow Over ‘60’ “

Subhead:  “As Sharyn Alfonsi’s ’60 Minutes’ report remains shelved, Status has learned that an Anderson Cooper piece is also caught in a prolonged editorial review process, frustrating the veteran producer attached to the story.”

“Earlier this week, on Tuesday, members of the ’60 Minutes’ team gathered for a meeting to discuss the future of Sharyn Alfonsi’s delayed piece on migrants deported by Donald Trump’s administration to a notorious El Salvadorian prison. The segment, which had been slated for broadcast on December 21, was pulled from air at the eleventh hour by the network’s new MAGA friendly editor in chief, Bari Weiss. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/60-minutes-bari-weiss-cbs-news-cecot

R.I.P. CPB

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Public media are not state-controlled media

Article in The Guardian by Lauren Aratani, 1/5/26

Headline:  “Corporation For Public Broadcasting formally dissolves after federal funding cuts”

Subhead:  “Board of directors vote to dissolve organization after nearly 60 years in operation after funding cuts under Trump”

“The nonprofit charged by Congress with allocating funds to NPR, PBS and other US public radio and television stations announced is dissolving after massive federal funding cuts under Donald Trump.

“The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) announced on Monday that its board of directors had voted to dissolve the organization after nearly 60 years in operation. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/05/corporation-for-public-broadcasting-board-dissolves

BBC Questionable Right?

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Article in Slashdot bu Sagepub, 1/2/26

Headline:  A Decade of BBC Question Time Data Reveals Imbalance in Journalist Guests

A new study [PDF] from Cardiff University analyzing a decade of the popular topical debate programme BBC Question Time found that the broadcaster’s flagship political debate show relies disproportionately on journalists and pundits from right-wing media outlets, particularly those connected to The Spectator magazine.

Researcher Matt Walsh examined 391 editions and 1,885 panellist appearances between 2014 and 2024. Journalists from right-leaning publications accounted for 59.59% of media guest slots, compared to just 16.86% for left-leaning outlets. . .”

No equivalent frequency existed for left-wing journalists. . . The BBC maintains that Question Time aims to present a “breadth of viewpoints,” but the data suggests the programme’s construction of impartiality tilts notably in one direction.

Read the full article at:

https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/01/02/1542232/a-decade-of-bbc-question-time-data-reveals-imbalance-in-journalist-guests

Right-Wing Host Says Legacy Media Dead

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Article in Mediaite by Zoe Engels, 1/1/26

Headline:  ” ‘Nothing Will Happen at CBS’: Megyn Kelly Declares Legacy Media ‘Dead”

“SiriusXM host Megyn Kelly pronounced the death of legacy media on Thursday, declaring ‘nothing will happen at CBS’ in a post on X.

“She seized the opportunity to slam the network in her reply to a post featuring incoming CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil instructing viewers to make him ‘earn’ their trust.

“ ‘Nothing will happen at CBS,’ Kelly wrote on X. ‘Nothing. Legacy media is dead and evening news has been totally irrelevant for a long time.’ . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/nothing-will-happen-at-cbs-megyn-kelly-declares-legacy-media-dead/