Broadcasting

NPR – Warm, Fuzzy Treatment?

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Article in Fair by Julie Hollar, 5/2/25

Headline: “Hey NPR, Free Speech Isn’t Just a Vibe”

Green Card–holding students are being abducted from the streets by agents of the state for attending protests and writing op-eds. News outlets are being investigated by the FCC for reporting that displeases the president. Federal web pages are being scrubbed of a lengthy list of words, including ‘race,’ ‘transgender,’ ‘women’ and ‘climate.’

“NPR responded to this shocking government attack on free speech with a Morning Edition series on ‘The State of the First Amendment,’ whose introductory episode’s headline (4/7/25) declared freedom of speech to be ‘shifting under the Trump administration’; it promised that the show would be ‘exploring how.’

“The wishy-washy language wasn’t a promising start, and the segment only went downhill from there, taking an ‘on the one hand/on the other hand’ framing to an assault on core democratic rights. . .”

https://fair.org/home/hey-npr-free-speech-isnt-just-a-vibe/

Another Hit to the Media

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Article in The Guardian by Margaret Sullivan, 5/1/25

Headline:  “The loss of editorial freedom at 60 Minutes is a sorry milestone for US media”

Subhead:  “What has happened with 60 Minutes is a high-octane version of what’s happening everywhere in Trump 2.0″

“There have been so many red alerts for press freedom in the United States over the past few months that it can be hard to know which ones really matter.

“The one at CBS’s 60 Minutes really matters.

“It came as a one-two punch. First, Bill Owens, the highly respected executive producer of the venerable news show stepped down, writing in a letter to employees that he no longer felt he had crucial editorial independence. It had become clear, he wrote, “that I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it”.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/may/01/60-minutes-press-freedom

PBS is Subversive?

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Article in Mediaite by Michael Luciano, 4/30/25

Headline:  ” ‘Ok, But Sesame Street?’ Jake Tapper Taken Aback When House Republican Likens PBS to North Korean Media”

“CNN’s Jake Tapper sparred with Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) over funding for PBS, which the lawmaker compared to state-sponsored propaganda à la China and North Korea.

“Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has said he is looking to eliminate funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which administers PBS and NPR, and receives about $500 million a year from Congress. The CPB is also funded by individual donors, grants, and sponsorships. Still, a loss of federal funding would be the biggest hit to PBS since Larry David attacked Elmo on live television last year.. . .”

https://www.mediaite.com/tv/ok-but-sesame-street-jake-tapper-taken-aback-when-house-republican-likens-pbs-to-north-korean-media/

Don’t like News-Channel Polls?

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Article in The Hill by Dominick Mastrangelo, 4/29/25

Headline:  “Stephen Miller tells Fox News anchor on air: Fire your pollster “

“Top White House aide Stephen Miller told Fox News anchor John Roberts that the network should fire its polling team during a live interview on Tuesday.

“After Roberts laid out a Fox News poll for Miller showing President Trump getting higher marks on issues like immigration and the border than on the economy and tariffs, he asked Miller point blank: “A lot of people think he’s spending too much time on tariffs and not enough time on the economy and lowering prices. What do you say?”

“ ‘I don’t want to make things weird for you, John,’ Miller responded. ‘But it is our opinion that Fox News needs to fire its pollster. And I won’t surprise you with that … but the Fox News pollster has always been wrong about President Trump.’ . . .”

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5273148-stephen-miller-fox-news-trump-polls/

Rt. Wing Media Women

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Article in The Guardian by Anna Silman, 4/25/25

Headline:  “Now comes the ‘womanosphere’: the anti-feminist media telling women to be thin, fertile and Republican”

Subhead:  “A crop of conservative personalities such as Brett Cooper and Candace Owens, and outlets like Evie, are convincing young women of a gender-essentialist worldview”

“Analyses of the 2024 election widely heralded the ‘manosphere’ – the coalition of bro podcasters and YouTubers popular with male audiences – as key to delivering Donald Trump’s victory. According to an AP poll, 56% of men under age 30 went for Trump compared with 41% four years prior. . .”

“Now, there are the beginnings of an organized effort to create a similar alternative rightwing media ecosystem targeting young female US audiences – one of the few demographics that has, until now, leaned substantially Democratic.

“This new ‘womanosphere’ includes (Brett) Cooper’s channel as well as lifestyle magazines like the Conservateur and Evie, Candace Owens’s Club Candace, Alex Clark’s Maha (‘Make America Healthy Again’) talkshow Culture Apothecary, conservative Christian influencer Allie Beth Stuckey’s Relatable, and swimmer turned anti-transgender activist Riley Gaines’s podcast Gaines For Girls. . . . the female answer to Tate. . .”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/24/womanosphere-conservative-women

60 Minutes CBS Shame?

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 4/23/25

Headline:  “The Shaming of Shari”

Subhead:  “The public shaming of Shari Redstone has been swift and scathing—but inside CBS News, the fury is even more pronounced, as staffers blame her for undermining the crown jewel of American TV journalism.”

“On Wednesday morning, Shari Redstone found herself at the center of a media firestorm. The unyielding heiress who controls Paramount Global—and, by extension, CBS News – was the target of one of the most brutal headlines in recent memory. The Drudge Report, still an influential force in the world of media, ran a stark image of Redstone above a brutal banner headline: ‘WOMAN WHO DESTROYED CBSNEWS.’ Below it, the accusations piled on: ‘REDSTONE GREED ENDING LEGACY?’  ’60 MINUTES’ SACRIFICED FOR SALE.’ ‘FREE SPEECH BATTLE OVER TRUTH’ ”

“It wasn’t an anomaly. Over the past 24 hours, Redstone has been subjected to a remarkable public shaming. Jake Tapper delivered a stinging on-air report, asserting that in her ‘quest to sell the company,’ it’s clear she will ‘bow to presidential pressure.’. . .”

https://www.status.news/p/shari-redstone-60-minutes-cbs-news

CBS – Hegseth Making It Up

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Article in Mediate by Micheal Luciano, 4/23/25

Headline:  ” ‘Totally Fake Story’: Pete Hegseth Denies Having Pentagon ‘Makeup Studio’ “

“Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth denied a report by CBS News claiming he ordered a room near the Pentagon press briefing room to be equipped with a makeup studio to be used for TV hits.

“The modifications were reportedly set to cost around $40,000, but were scaled back. CBS News reported . . .”

” ‘Totally fake story. No ‘orders’ and no ‘makeup’ — but whatever,’ he tweeted. ‘ We should have installed tampon machines in every men’s bathroom at DoD instead — the leftist “news” media would have loved that.’ ”

https://www.mediaite.com/politics/totally-fake-story-pete-hegseth-denies-having-pentagon-makeup-studio/

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Article in Huffpost by David Moye, 4/23/25

Headline:  “Social Media Brutally Mocks Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon Makeup Studio”

Subhead:  ” ‘Nothing screams warrior culture more than a makeup studio,’ Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu cracked.”

“Social media gave Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth a dressing-down on Wednesday after it was revealed he’d ordered that a room next to the Pentagon press briefing room he turned into a makeup studio/

“Retrofitting the room cost several thousand dollars, according to CBS News which noted the expenditure came at a time when Donald Trump’s administration is engaging in massive funding cuts. . .”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/peth-hegseths-pentagon-makeup-studio-mocked_n_68095354e4b0337d48c3bbab

 

 

Only Unfairness Doctrine Now.

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Article in Poynter by Liam Scott, 4/22/25

Headline:  “The repeal of the fairness doctrine accelerated the polarization of US media”

Subhead:  “When broadcasters no longer had to present diverse viewpoints, conservative radio thrived”

“The walk from his Federal Communications Commission office to the commission meeting room felt particularly long for Dennis Patrick on Aug. 4, 1987.

“That was the day that Patrick, then FCC chairman, and his colleagues unanimously voted to repeal the Fairness Doctrine, a policy that had mandated broadcast networks to fairly present differing viewpoints on controversial issues.

“Patrick remembers how quiet it was as he walked to the meeting that day with one of his aides.

“Finally he said to me, just before I opened the door to enter the commission meeting room, ‘Mr. Chairman, are you sure you really want to do this? You are going to have hell to pay,’ Patrick recalled. ‘And I said to him, “We are going to do the right thing, and I’m sure that we will have hell to pay.’ ”

https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2025/poynter-50-repeal-fairness-doctrine-rush-limbaugh-conservative-talk-radio/

No Journalistic Independence Now

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Article in The Guardian by Leonie Chao-Fong, 4/22/24

Headline:  “60 Minutes executive producer leaves program over journalistic independence”

Subhead:  Bill Owens says in staff memo ‘it has become clear that I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it’ “

“Bill Owens, the executive producer of 60 Minutes, says he is leaving the flagship news program because he lost his journalistic independence.

“In a staff memo obtained by the New York Times, Owens said that ‘over the past months, it has become clear that I would not be allowed to . run the show as I have always run it, to make independent decisions based on what was right for 60 Minutes, right for the audience’ . . .”

“He said the show will continue to cover the new Trump administration, adding: ‘The show is too important to the country. It has to continue, just not with me as the executive producer.’ ”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/22/60-minutes-executive-producer-leaves-bill-owens

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Article in Mediaite by Michael Luciano, 4/22/25

Headline: “Tapper Rips CBS Owner for 60 Minutes Shakeup Amid Trump Pressure: ‘Hope the Money’s Worth It, Shari’ “

“CNN’s Jake Tapper pilloried the controlling owner of CBS’s parent company after the departure of the executive producer of 60 Minutes on Tuesday.

“President Donald Trump is suing CBS over an interview 60 Minutes conducted last year with then-vice president Kamala Harris after she secured the Democratic presidential nomination. CBS aired two different parts of a response Harris gave to a question. One part of the response was in a teaser for the show, and the other was aired on the show itself.

“ ‘The president alleges that editing the 60 Minutes interview and running two different answers to the same question helped Vice President Harris and amounted to electoral fraud,’ Tapper explained on Tuesday’s edition of The Lead. ‘In reality, this is just editorial discretion. Editors do it all the time with recorded interviews, including all the time with taped interviews by Fox [News]’. . .”

https://www.mediaite.com/tv/tapper-rips-cbs-owner-after-60-minutes-shakeup-amid-trump-pressure-hope-the-moneys-worth-it-shari/

 

Ministry of Truth Spokespersons

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Article in Media Matters by Jack Winstanley & Shelby Jamerson, 4/21/25

Hedline:  “Right-leaning online shows claiming to be nonpolitical pushed pro-Trump messaging during the administration’s first 30 days”

“Media Matters reviewed 12 supposedly nonpolitical online shows and found two-thirds of episodes praised Trump or his administration or pushed right-wing misinformation/narratives

“Popular online shows that self-identify as comedy, business, or another supposedly nonpolitical category but have a right-leaning ideological bent — including those of Joe Rogan and Patrick Bet-David — pushed pro-Trump messaging and right-wing misinformation/narratives during the first 30 days of the Trump administration. . .”

https://www.mediamatters.org/google/right-leaning-online-shows-claiming-be-nonpolitical-pushed-pro-trump-messaging-during