Broadcasting

CNN Coverage of Cuts Not News?

by

Article in The Hill by Sara Fortinsky, 3/11/25

Headline:  “GOP’s Burchett berates CNN anchor over spending cuts coverage”

“Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) on Tuesday attacked CNN’s coverage of the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) spending cuts and accused the network of trying to rally its viewers against President Trump.

“In an interview on “CNN News Central,” anchor Brianna Keilar asked the Republican lawmaker about nonpartisan estimates suggesting the GOP’s targeted spending cuts would necessitate cuts to entitlement programs, including Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.”

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5189313-tim-burchett-cnn-doge-cuts/

 

Threat to Broadcasters

by

 

CPJ Photo

Article in Committee to Protect Journalists by Staff, 3/11/25

Headline: “CPJ, partners urge FCC to stop threatening press freedom and free speech”

Subhead: “The Committee to Protect Journalists and 16 other organizations, led by the nonprofit group Public Knowledge, sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr on March 7, expressing concern about recent developments that threaten to erode long-established safeguards for editorial independence and free expression.”

“The agency recently launched investigations into public broadcasting for allegedly airing advertising and threatening to investigate the northern California radio station KCBS after it reported on planned U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. FCC investigations can result in fines and license revocations, undermining the ability of news organizations to operate freely and without fear of government retaliation.

The signatories underscored that a free press requires the FCC to uphold journalistic independence with impartiality and without political bias.. .”

https://cpj.org/2025/03/cpj-partners-urge-fcc-to-stop-threatening-press-freedom-and-free-speech/

Social Media Tweeting – Treason?

by


Article in Raw Story by Cark Gibson, 2/29/25

Headline:  ” ‘Treasonous’: Trump investigates public media reporters for criticizing his administration”

“Several journalists employed by an outlet funded by the U.S. government have found themselves in President Donald Trump’s crosshairs, according to a new report.

“In a Friday article, the New York Times reported that one longtime journalist at Voice of America (VOA) — which is funded by Congress through the U.S. Agency for Global Media (AGM) — had been put on an extended ‘excused absence’ pending a human resources investigation following a tweet flagged by Trump advisor Richard Grenell. VOA chief national correspondent Steve Herman said the investigation was meant to determine whether his ‘social media activity has undermined VOA’s audiences’ perceptions of the objectivity and/or credibility of VOA and its news operations.”

“In the tweet, Herman quoted a nonprofit leader who criticized Trump’s cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development as making Americans ‘less safe at home and abroad.’ Grenell called Herman’s tweet ‘treasonous.’ ”

https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trump-2671243816/

“Dice are Rolling, Knives Are Out”

by


Article in FAIR by Ari Paul, 2/26/25

Headline:  “FCC’s Knives Are Out for First Amendment”

“Brendan Carr, newly appointed chair of the Federal Communications Commission, is waging a war on the news media, perhaps the most dangerous front in de jure President Donald Trump and de facto President Elon Musk’s quest to destroy freedom of the press and the First Amendment.

“Trump’s FCC has revived right-wing requests to sanction TV stations over their election coverage—complaints that had previously been dismissed by the FCC as incompatible with the First Amendment’s guarantee of a free press. . .”

https://fair.org/home/fccs-knives-are-out-for-first-amendment/

Burning the Broadcasters

by


Article in The Guardian by Adam Gabbattm 2/24/25

Headline: ” ‘A true free-speech emergency’: alarm over Trump’s ‘chilling’ attacks on media”

Subhead:  “Warning comes as FCC, chaired by Trump ally and Project 2025 author, orders investigations into US media groups”

“The Trump administration is waging a “disturbing” attack on the freedom of the press that amounts to a “true free-speech emergency”, media experts have warned, as the Federal Communications Commission recently launched an investigation into a series of media organizations, including the owner of NBC News.

The FCC, led by Donald Trump appointee and Project 2025 author Brendan Carr, has ordered investigations into NPR and PBS in the first month since Trump took office, while also scrutinizing a CBS News interview and a San Francisco radio station.

In a letter to Comcast, which owns NBC News, Carr said he had asked the FCC’s enforcement bureau to “open an investigation” into the corporation, stating: “I am concerned that Comcast and NBCUniversal may be promoting invidious forms of DEI in a manner that does not comply with FCC regulations.”

It came after Carr, who was appointed as FCC chair by Trump, said he did not “see a reason why Congress should continue sending taxpayer dollars” to PBS and NPR, publicly funded organizations Trump has threatened to defund.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/24/trump-free-speech-media-attack

 

No Ranting by Miller on CNN?

by


Article in Raw Story bu Jennifer Bowers Bahney, 2/20/25

Headline:  “CNN cuts off Stephen Miller as he uses ‘softball’ question to launch into anti-media rant”

“CNN’s Boris Sanchez cut away from a White House press briefing Thursday after a reporter lobbed a “softball question” to Trump aide Stephen Miller that set him up perfectly to begin bashing the ‘liberal’ media and former President Joe Biden.

“The reporter began, ‘So, you spoke about DOGE; you said roughly $50 billion is set to be cut in a year of waste, fraud and abuse by unelected bureaucrats. We’re hearing this ironic narrative from the president’s critics and the left-wing media that Elon Musk is an unelected bureaucrat, and he’s doing all this terrible stuff. Isn’t one of DOGE’s objectives to get rid of the federal bureaucracy, the deep state?’ . . .”

 

Rt. Wing Media Attack/Defend AP?

by


Article in Media Matters by Matt Gertz, 2/20/25

Headline:  “After Fox stars defend Trump’s restrictions on the AP, the network signs a letter calling them a 1st Amendment violation”

Subhead:  “Newmax also signed onto the letter, even as its on-air programming attacked the “Fake News AP” as ‘Associated Propaganda’ “

“The stars of Fox News have used their shows to defend President Donald Trump’s banning of Associated Press reporters from the Oval Office and Air Force One because the wire service refuses to adopt the administration’s renaming of the Gulf of Mexico as the ‘Gulf of America.’ They’ve characterized the AP’s actions as ‘deadnaming’ the Gulf and said that ‘the White House is right’ to restrict its access in response.

“But Fox has also reportedly signed on to a letter calling on the Trump White House to restore the AP’s access and characterizing the ban as ‘serious breach’ of the First Amendment’s protections for the press. So has Newsmax, whose on-air talent praised the White House response while attacking the “Fake News AP” as “Associated Propaganda.”

https://www.mediamatters.org/newsmax/after-fox-stars-defend-trumps-restrictions-ap-network-signs-letter-calling-them-1st

– – – – –

Article in Status News by Oliver Darcy, 2/18/25

Headline:  “AP’s Back-Channel Press”

Subhead:  “News outlets across the political spectrum have united behind the AP, signing a WHCA-backed letter urging the White House to reverse its press ban, a copy of which Status has obtained.”

“On Wednesday, Julie Pace boarded a plane to Florida for a high-stakes meeting. The executive editor of the Associated Press had secured an audience with Susie Wiles, Donald Trump’s White House chief of staff, to discuss the administration’s unprecedented decision to bar AP journalists from official events. . .

“One week prior, the White House blocked the AP over its refusal to call the Gulf of Mexico the ‘Gulf of America,’ a manufactured controversy that Trump has used to test his ability to control the media. Since then, all efforts to reverse the White House’s decision have been to no avail, leaving the global wire service in a precarious position. . .”

https://www.status.news/p/associated-press-donald-trump-white-house

 

Some Media Got it Right on Ukraine

by

Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 2/20/25

Headline:  “Opinion | Good on the media for calling out President Trump’s falsehoods on Ukraine”

“Just when you thought our politics couldn’t get any more bizarre and divisive and distressing, something else transpired.

“As happens far too often these days, it was something said by President Donald Trump.

“In a truly stunning post on Truth Social, Trump called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ‘A Dictator without Elections.’ He also called Zelenskyy a ‘modestly successful comedian’ and, just as he did a day earlier, seemingly blamed Zelenskyy for starting the war with Russia even though it was Russia that invaded Ukraine. Trump wrote that Zelenskyy ‘talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, to go into a War that couldn’t be won, that never had to start, but a War that he, without the U.S. and “TRUMP,” will never be able to settle.’ ”

“In a positive sign, the media appropriately and responsibly covered Trump’s comments. . .”

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2025/trump-truth-social-statements-ukraine-zelenskyy-elected-media/

Local Radio Says Job Sunset

by


Article in Tony’s Kansas City, 2/19/25

Headline:  “Kansas City public radio isn’t too optimistic about the future or the local economy . . . In fact, if we are to believe the local NPR affiliate . . .”

LOCAL PUBLIC RADIO IMAGINES EPIC ECONOMIC PERIL THANKS TO MAGA LAYOFFS!!!”

“More serious people remind MANY SIDES that the federal government is the largest employer in the Kansas City metro and the impact of any mass layoffs will be REGIONAL.

“It’s probably worth mentioning that billionaire Elon Musk recently advocating for ‘de-funding’ NPR.”

” . . .’Federal workers in Kansas City whose jobs were eliminated under the Trump administration’s massive budget cuts will have a hard time finding comparable work in the area. Instability in the city’s workforce could lead to a recession.’

“KCUR: Kansas City doesn’t have enough jobs available for all the federal workers getting laid off”

https://www.tonyskansascity.com/2025/02/kcur-predicts-economic-doom-amid-local.html

FCC Carr Crash

by


Article in Status News by Oliver Darcy, 2/12/25

Headline: “A Runaway Carr”

Subhead: “Pressed by Status over text message, FCC boss Brendan Carr defended his actions—including his decision not to go after Rupert Murdoch’s Fox.”

” On Tuesday evening, as I was putting the finishing touches on the previous edition of this newsletter, news broke that Brendan Carr, Donald Trump’s handpicked Federal Communications Commission chairman, had launched yet another investigation into a media company. Carr had already revived petitions filed by pro-MAGA forces against ABC, NBC, and CBS. He had also announced a string of investigations targeting NPR, PBS, and the Soros-backed Audacy. Now, he had written to Comcast boss Brian Roberts, informing him that the FCC would be investigating whether the company—which owns NBC—had violated the law because of its D.E.I. initiatives.

Carr has been aggressive in pursuing media companies with news divisions that have scrutinized Trump, but, as we have pointed out, he has conspicuously given Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Corporation a pass. . .”

https://www.status.news/p/brendan-carr-fcc-fox-interview