Article in Media Matters by Staff, 9/25/25
Headline: “On The Joy Reid Show, Angelo Carusone discusses media consolidation and news outlets standing up to threats to free speech”
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Broadcasting
2 Broadcast Monopolies?
Article in Daily Dot by Lindsey Weedston, 9/25/25
Headline: “Who is Sinclair? Behind the TV conglomerate refusing to air Jimmy Kimmel”
Subhead: “They were caught scripting what local news anchors said in 2017. “
“Sinclair Broadcast Group catapulted back into the spotlight following the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel over his Charlie Kirk comments. The U.S. telecommunications conglomerate has steadily bought up a huge share of local news stations and is accused of forcing journalists to cite scripts that promote right-wing talking points.
“Along with Nexstar, Sinclair is now the focus of concerns around broadcast monopolies and the fate of free speech in America. . .”
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https://www.dailydot.com/news/who-is-sinclair-tv-conglomerate-jimmy-kimmel/
Some Media People Don’t Bow
Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 9/25/25
Headline: “Opinion | Jimmy Kimmel came back defiant — and viewers rewarded him”
Subhead: “The late-night host walked back onstage without apology, defended free speech and turned a suspension into record-breaking ratings”
“On Tuesday, ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel returned from his suspension with an empathetic but defiant monologue and included a joke about President Donald Trump. Kimmel said, “You almost have to feel sorry for him. He tried his best to cancel me. Instead, he forced millions of people to watch the show. That backfired bigly. . .”
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https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2025/jimmy-kimmel-monologue-disney-nexstar/
Booted Off the Air?
Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Carolina Abbott Galvao & Riddhi Setty, 9/25/25
Headline: “Local ABC Affiliates Are Getting Slammed”
Subhead: “Brendan Carr, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, promised to bring power to community stations. But it’s their corporate owners who make the big decisions—while regional reporters and station managers take the heat.”
“Fewer and fewer local broadcasters are independently owned: “In the early eighties, it was north of fifty companies that owned or controlled 90 percent of broadcast media. And I think over the last decade or so, it’s become five or six, depending on how you break it down,” Reed Showalter, the former antitrust enforcer now running for Congress in Illinois, said. . .”
“. . .”Louis Wall, the president of Sagamore Hill Broadcasting, a privately owned broadcaster in Georgia . . . who considers himself to be “very supportive” of the First Amendment, has suddenly had to navigate a complex and often contradictory set of political, ideological, and financial concerns. “Broadcast is under attack from so many different mediums and video sources, we don’t need another piece of our armor or another piece of our programming to be lost,” he said.
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https://www.cjr.org/news/local-abc-affiliates-nexstar-sinclair-getting-slammed.php
Flag Flying Over All Media?
Article in The Atlantic by David Karpf, 9/24/25
Headline: “The MAGA Media Takeover”
Subhead: “Trump and his powerful friends are creating a dangerous moment for free speech.”
“American mass media has been transformed in these early months of President Donald Trump’s second administration. We’re about 35 weeks into a term that will last for 173 more, and in that time, we have seen a tech titan gut a once-great newspaper in an apparent act of capitulation to the commander in chief, government accounts gleefully spreading hateful memes on X (the far-right platform owned by a billionaire tech oligarch), a defamation lawsuit filed by Trump against The New York Times (and quickly dismissed by the judge as ‘superfluous’), and, of course, the assault on free speech carried out by Trump’s Federal Communications Commission chairman. Big things can happen very quickly. . .”
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https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2025/09/maga-media-takeover-tiktok/684351/
Standing For Free Speech
Article in The New Republic by Perry Bacon, 9/24/25
Headline: “Jimmy Kimmel Just Showed the Rest of the Media How to Fight Trump”
Subhead: “New York Times writer E.J. Dionne says that the late-night host essentially forced ABC to end his suspension because of the broad, strong coalition that defended him”
“Jimmy Kimmel strongly defended free speech and slammed President Trump in his return to late night after a brief suspension. In the latest edition of Right Now With Perry Bacon, New York Times opinion writer E.J. Dionne and Perry discussed why Kimmel’s fast return was such a coup for pro-democracy voices. . .”
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https://newrepublic.com/article/200871/kimmel-brilliant-anti-trump-campaign
Gotta Catch ‘Em All
Article in The New York Times by Cecelia Kang, 4/24/25
Headline: “Brendan Carr Plans to Keep Going After the Media”
Subhead: “While “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” returned to ABC on Tuesday, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission has promised to continue his campaign against what he sees as liberal bias in broadcasts.”
“. . .Driven by the belief that liberal tech and media companies have unfairly silenced viewpoints on the right, Mr. Carr is working to transform the F.C.C. from a once sleepy agency best known for licensing local TV stations and expanding 5G cellular networks into a protector of conservative speech. . .”
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https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/24/technology/brendan-carr-fcc-kimmel.html
All the Eggs in Someone’s Basket
Article from Poynter by Angela Fu , 9/15/25
Headline: “Media consolidation is shaping who folds under political pressure — and who could be next”
Subhead: “ABC sidelining Jimmy Kimmel and Paramount canceling Stephen Colbert underscore how corporate interests weigh on free speech in the Trump era”
“. . .Media watchers called Kimmel’s sidelining an alarming act of capitulation — one that fit into a larger pattern of media giants self-censoring in anticipatory obedience to President Donald Trump and his administration.
“Kimmel’s show, though popular, was just one cog in the Disney media empire (ABC’s parent company), and its distribution relied in part on two other media behemoths, Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcasting Group. That made it especially vulnerable to political pressure since both Nexstar and Sinclair are exploring acquisitions regulated by Carr’s agency, the Federal Communications Commission. . .”
Rad the full article at:
https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2025/which-media-outlets-could-capitulate-to-trump/
Anarchist Airtime?
Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 9/23/25
Headline: “You Don’t Know Jack”
Subhead: “CNN’s interview with Jack Posobiec prompted internal backlash, while raising larger questions about how mainstream outlets cover far-right figures”
“Earlier this month, in the chaotic aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, CNN correspondent Meena Duerson sat down with far-right media personality Jack Posobiec to discuss his friend’s murder. Posobiec, of course, was no ordinary grieving ally—he has spent years spreading misinformation, promoting conspiracy theories, and inciting harassment against journalists.
“So it was jarring, to say the least, to see him appear on CNN’s air. What was more surprising was that the network, which gave the package prime placement on ‘Erin Burnett OutFront,’ didn’t note any of his long history of pumping toxic waste into the information ecosystem, nor did it confront him with tough questions about his well-documented behavior as an online MAGA troll. . .”
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https://www.status.news/p/cnn-jack-posobiec-interview-backlash
The Media “Enforcer”
Article in The Washington Post by Tom Benner, 9/22/25
Headline: “Brendan Carr, the FCC muscle behind Trump’s anti-media crusade”
Subhead: “FCC chair Brendan Carr has emerged as one of the top lieutenants in President Trump’s war against the media. How much power does he really hold?”
“Hours before the suspension was announced, Carr seemed to threaten FCC action against networks, saying ‘we can do this the easy way or the hard way,’ and advising Disney and other media companies to ‘find ways to change conduct.’ Carr denies playing a direct role in the Kimmel suspension, but critics say Carr has emerged as Trump’s top enforcer in the president’s war against the media. . .”
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