Broadcasting

First Amendment and Media?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Sarah Grecy Gotfredsen, 4/10/25

Headline:  “Entry: Denied”

Subhead:  “The “intolerable risk to press freedom” posed by device searches at the border.”

“. . .In 2019, The Intercept documented how journalists covering the so-called migrant caravan faced ‘coordinated harassment’ from US and Mexican authorities. Through a series of interviews, the journalist Ryan Devereaux tells how members of the press were forced to turn over their notes, cameras, and phones while border officers interrogated them for information about activists working with members of the caravan. . .”

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/entry-denied-us-border-customs-device-unlock-search-journalists-detain.php

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Article in Fair by Janine Jackson, 4/10/25

Headline:  ” ‘This Is an All-Out War on the First Amendment’ “

Subhead:  “CounterSpin interview with Jessica González on Trump’s FCC”

“Janine Jackson:  ‘There are reasons that the FCC, the Federal Communications Commission, is an opaque entity for many people. The fact that there is a federal agency setting the terms for media companies’ operations conflicts with many Americans’ understanding of the press corps as a group of brave, independent individuals looking to tell the truth, and let the chips fall where they may.’

“There are, in fact, many community-supported, differently structured news outlets doing just that. . .”

https://fair.org/home/this-is-an-all-out-war-on-the-first-amendment/

Protect Your Sources

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Article in Poynter by Angela Fu, 4/8/25

Headline:  “Legal experts advise journalists to strengthen reporting security in the face of rising press restrictions”

Subhead:  “Journalists can protect their sources by maintaining good digital hygiene and being aware of security vulnerabilities, experts say”

“At a time when President Donald Trump’s administration has accelerated attacks on the press, accessing information and protecting sources might become more difficult for journalists, experts say.

” ‘Concerns about libel law and the protections from landmark Supreme Court case New York Times Co. v Sullivan have been exaggerated’, said New York Times deputy general counsel David McCraw and Center for Investigative Reporting general counsel Victoria Baranetsky. Instead, they advised journalists to take measures to secure their reporting material and be cognizant of the pressures they face in the current political climate. Their remarks came Monday during a Poynter webinar called ‘Safeguarding your journalism against legal threats. . .’

“Trump has already taken measures to curtail press access. His administration has laid off communications staff, reallocated dedicated office space in the Pentagon to conservative outlets, taken over the White House press pool and defunded global radio stations. Most notably, his administration has banned The Associated Press from accessing key White House spaces like the Oval Office. Members of his administration have also threatened to investigate leaks.

“Newsrooms may see more subpoenas seeking their communications and reporting material, McCraw warned. To that end, journalists should be cognizant of the documentation that they generate and keep. An unflattering private message to a colleague, for example, could be unearthed in court — as was the case earlier this year when a jury found CNN guilty of defaming a security contractor. . .”

https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2025/trump-legal-threats-journalists-source-protection/

 

Not in the News? – it Didn’t Happen

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Article in The New Republic by Parker Molloy 4/7/25

Headline:  “Print Media to Mass Protests: ‘Please Turn to Page 18’ ”

Subhead:  “Here’s how newspapers across America minimized one of the largest demonstrations since Trump’s return to power.”

“On Saturday, April 5, hundreds of thousands of Americans took to the streets across the nation to protest the harmful policies of Donald Trump’s second term. The ‘Hands Off!’ demonstrations represented what organizers called ‘the largest single day of protest since Trump entered office’ with more than 1,100 rallies scheduled in all 50 states. From Chicago to Washington, D.C.; Asheville to Boston; Milwaukee to Louisville—people showed up in droves.

“CNN reported that organizers estimated “millions” turned out coast to coast for these protests that united civil rights organizations, veterans, women’s rights groups, labor unions, and LGBTQ advocates. Even with conservative estimates, we’re talking about one of the largest mobilizations in recent American history.

“But if you picked up a major print newspaper the next day? You’d barely know it happened.

“The New York Times relegated the protests to an image below the fold with a caption instructing readers to turn to page 18 for more information.”

https://newrepublic.com/article/193683/print-media-downplay-mass-protests

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Article in Fair by Miranda C. Spencer, 4/4/25

Headline: “The Resistance Will Not Be Televised ”

“. . . Their common thread is opposition to Trump’s fascistic ideology and rapid rash of likely unconstitutional executive orders, such as freezing federal budget outlays approved by Congress, the mass firing of government workers and the dismantling of institutions by the ‘Department’ of Government Efficiency by unelected ‘adviser’ Elon Musk.

But if you relied on articles and broadcasts from the legacy national news media during early 2025, you wouldn’t know the extent of grassroots action prompted by this discontent. A FAIR examination of five major outlets found that coverage of anti-Trump/pro-democracy protests . . . (January 22 to February 26) was minimal, and downplayed the significance of this opposition, especially around the inauguration. . . Mostly tepid coverage

“Broadcast coverage was abysmal. None of the four network shows in our study ran any reports focused on any of the three protest events. ABC World News Tonight mentioned none of the events, and GMA referred to only one of them in passing. In their coverage of the January 18 protests, CBS Evening News and Mornings gave more coverage to speculation about violent protest than they did to actual (nonviolent) protest. . .”

https://fair.org/home/the-resistance-will-not-be-televised/

 

Tariffs in the Media

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Article in The New Republic by Greg Sargent. 4/4/25

Headline:  ” ‘Horrifying’: Trump’s Weird, Confused Rant to Media as Markets Tanked”

Subhead:  “As Trump’s shockingly destructive global tariffs cause the markets to crater and he rambles bizarrely about it to reporters, congressional scholar Norm Ornstein walks through how this madness can be stopped.”

“After President Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on imports from all over the globe, prompting the markets to implode, he took a question about it on Thursday. He ranted and rambled delusionally about how everything is just great. He bizarrely likened the country to a patient that had just undergone advanced surgery without grasping why this metaphor is the opposite of reassuring. . .”

https://newrepublic.com/article/193604/horrifying-trump-weird-confused-rant-media-markets-tanked

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

Headline:  “Jim Cramer: Trump tariff numbers ‘do not make any sense’  “

Subhead:  “CNBC host Jim Cramer tore into President Trump over the sweeping new tariffs his administration announced this week on nearly all foreign trading partners.”

“ ‘The numbers do not make any sense,’ Cramer said Thursday on CNN.  He claimed the president’s economic advisers and aides on trade ‘really screwed up’ and constructed the tariffs ‘in an ill-advised way.’

“ ‘And I was very let down as someone who really, truly believes that free trade is awful for the American working person,’ Cramer continued in the comments, first highlighted by Mediaite. ‘This is what they came up with? Jeez, come on. Have some gumption. Have some math.’ . . .”

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5232027-jim-cramer-cnbc-donald-trump-tariff-numbers/

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Article in The Washington Post by Jeremy Barr, 4/4/25

Headline:  “Some corners of conservative media aren’t thrilled with Trump’s tariffs”

Subhead:  “The Wall Street Journal editorial board, the Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro and some voices on Fox News have expressed concern about higher prices for Americans. . .”

“President Donald Trump’s global tariff plan, which has unsettled financial markets around the world since it was announced Wednesday, has so far received the backing of many of his most reliable supporters in conservative media. ‘The world’s free ride is now over,’ Fox News host Sean Hannity said in his monologue that night, and borrowed the president’s branding by calling the tariffs a ‘liberation day shake-up’ on Thursday. . .”

“Still, several prominent conservatives in media notably came out against the tariffs, citing the potential for higher prices for the American people and hits to businesses.

“Ben Shapiro, co-founder of the Daily Wire, called Trump’s tariffs ‘probably unconstitutional” and also illogical. ‘The president’s vision of international trade is, I’m sorry to say, mistaken,’ he said on his Thursday streaming show. ‘This is a massive tax increase on American consumers. That’s what it is.’

https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2025/04/04/fox-news-tariffs-ben-shapiro-conservative-media-trump/

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Article in Media Matters by Gideon Taaffe & Noah Dowe, 4/4/25

Headline:  “Right-wing media tell Americans to embrace the tariff pain, wait for a ‘golden age’ “

“Right-wing media are predicting a ‘golden age’ as President Donald Trump’s so-called ‘Liberation Day’ hits some of the United States’ closest trading partners with sweeping tariffs.

“Economists are warning about recession, inflation, and job loss as a result of Trump’s tariffs, but right-wing media are largely ignoring these predictions as they endorse the White House’s economic agenda, downplaying the negative stock market and telling their audiences to anticipate a return of American manufacturing.

“While some right-wing personalities have voiced concern over the tariffs’ potential harms, much of the commentary has held that the U.S. must embrace ‘short-term’ pain in order to get long-term benefits, that tariffs will bolster the U.S. economy and raise revenue, or that the tariffs are just a ‘negotiation weapon.’ ”

https://www.mediamatters.org/tariffs-trade/right-wing-media-tell-americans-embrace-tariff-pain-wait-golden-age

Media Overload

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Article in The Guardian by Michael Savage. 4/1/25

Headline:  “‘I can’t cope with it any more’: newsrooms scramble to retain audiences amid the big switch-off”

Subhead:  “In an international survey last year, 39% of respondents said they selectively avoid news to some degree”

“When Deborah Turness, the head of BBC News, informed her staff recently that she was shaking up how they worked as part of a drive to combat “the growing trend of news avoidance”, she had in mind the likes of Dave Ayres, a handyman from Leeds.

“ ‘I used to have the news on the TV every morning for an hour or so as I got the children ready for school and completed my household tasks,’ he said. ‘Now it has literally been switched off and unplugged. I can’t cope with it any more. It’s just too much and there’s nothing I can do about it.’

“Though he dips into his favourite news apps occasionally in the evening, he now strictly limits his news consumption. He’s not alone. The Guardian has been contacted by a series of one-time news junkies who are now seeking to restrict their news intake after suffering from disturbed sleep or a downturn in their mood.”

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/apr/01/i-cant-cope-with-it-any-more-newsrooms-scramble-to-retain-audiences-amid-the-big-switch-off

PBS Indoctrinating Our Kids?

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Article in New York Times by Benjamin Mullin and Michael M. Grynbaum, 3/26/25

Headline:  “Elmo and Elon Musk Are Cited as G.O.P. Lawmakers Grill PBS and NPR“

Subhead:  “Dark pronouncements by Republicans about a ‘communist agenda’ espoused by public media were intercut with lighter references to “Sesame Street” and ‘Curious George.’ “

“Congressional Republicans laced into PBS and NPR on Wednesday, accusing the country’s biggest public media networks of institutional bias in a fiery hearing that represented the latest salvo against the American press by close allies of the Trump administration.

“Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia Republican who organized the hearing — which she called ‘Anti-American Airwaves’ — opened her remarks by deriding PBS and NPR as ‘radical left-wing echo chambers’ that published skewed news reports and indoctrinated children with L.G.B.T.Q. programming.

“The leaders of both PBS and NPR testified that those claims were untrue, arguing that their stations served as a crucial source of accurate information and educational programming for millions of Americans, even as the NPR chief executive acknowledged regrets for posting critical remarks about President Trump before she joined the broadcaster. . .”

“Representative Stephen Lynch, Democrat of Massachusetts, said that Republican lawmakers would rather go after Big Bird than President Trump. “If shame was still a thing, this hearing would be shameful,” he said.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/26/business/media/pbs-npr-congress-hearing-republicans.html

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Liam Scott, 3/26/25

Headline:  “NPR and PBS Leaders Face Grilling Before House DOGE Subcommittee”

Subhead:  “We are essential, especially in remote and rural places,” the head of Alaska Public Media testified.”

“It was standing room only at Wednesday’s House subcommittee hearing on the public broadcasters NPR and PBS.

“Titled ‘Anti-American Airwaves: Holding the Heads of NPR and PBS Accountable,’ the hearing, held by the DOGE subcommittee of the House Oversight Committee, comes as various Republican lawmakers have spent the past few weeks making a rallying cry out of their calls to pull federal funding from the broadcasters over perceived liberal bias. . .”

“Press freedom groups, meanwhile, say the hearing is taking place in the context of a broader campaign against the media in the United States in the form of lawsuits, government investigations, and hostile rhetoric from officials.

“This fits into the broader pattern that we’ve been observing since Trump became president of using the government as a tool to harm the media in any way,” said Clayton Weimers, the head of the US office of Reporters Without Borders.

“Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican and the subcommittee’s chair, began the hearing by recounting how she—and her three children—grew up watching PBS. Her tone quickly shifted.

“ ‘NPR and PBS have increasingly become radical, left-wing echo chambers for a narrow audience of mostly wealthy, white, urban liberals and progressives who generally look down on and judge rural America,’ Greene said in her opening statement, claiming that the broadcasters are ‘brainwashing and trans-ing’ children. . .”

“Maher (NPR CEO) and Kerger (PBS CEO) defended the broadcasters. ‘I do not believe we are politically biased,’ Maher said at one point. ‘We are a nonpartisan organization.’

“Kerger highlighted PBS’s educational programming for kids, which she said especially benefits children whose families cannot afford pre-kindergarten. ‘I strongly believe that the programming we offer to prepare children for the future is the most essential work that we do today,’ she said.

“Public media has enjoyed bipartisan support for decades. A 2017 national survey from Rasmussen Reports found that just 21 percent of Americans—including less than a third of Republicans—supported cutting federal support of public broadcasting”.

https://www.cjr.org/news/npr-and-pbs-leaders-face-grilling-before-house-doge-subcommittee.php

VOA Burners Being Sued?

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Updates:

Article in Poynter by Tom Jones

Headline:  “Opinion | Trump gutted Voice of America. Six staff members are fighting back.”

Subhead:  “Kari Lake and the Trump administration cut hundreds of journalists at the global news outlet. A lawsuit says that’s not just wrong — it’s illegal.”

“Even before Donald Trump returned to the White House, he set his sights on dismantling the U.S. Agency for Global Media — the agency that oversees Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Office of Cuba Broadcasting and Radio Free Asia.

He hand-picked two-time election loser Kari Lake, the Arizona Republican, to be his hatchet, most notably taking a whack at the Voice of America, the longstanding and well-respected media outlet that has promoted democracy and transparency across the globe since World War II. . . ”

“Behind these cuts at the federally-funded VOA are real journalists, real people. More than 900 full-time employees were placed on indefinite leave. Another 500 contractors were fired.

“But here’s another number: six. That’s how many VOA staff members are suing the Trump administration, arguing that shutting down the outlet is unlawful and unconstitutional. . . ”

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2025/voice-of-america-lawsuit-unlawful-unconstitutional/

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Article in The Guardian by Michael Sinato, 3/24/25

Headline:  “Trump’s shuttering of global media agency endangers reporters, staff say”

Subhead:  “Employees who may have to return home risk death or imprisonment at hands of authoritarian governments”

“Foreign workers at US government-backed media outlets being cut by the Trump administration say they face deportation to their home countries, where some risk imprisonment or death at the hands of authoritarian governments. . . .”

“. . . We have many coworkers in different services, several of whom came here and sought asylum visas. If their own government knew they worked for RFA [Radio Free Asia] and they went back to their own country, their lives would be at risk,” Jaewoo Park, a journalist for RFA, who was placed on administrative leave along with all of his coworkers, told the Guardian. . .”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/24/trump-shuttering-global-media-agency-endangers-reporters

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Podcast Article in NPR by Staff, 3/21/25

Headline:  “Voice of America Goes Quiet. And, Apocalypse Now?”

“The Trump administration has cut funding for Voice of America, the 80-year-old state media network. On this week’s On the Media, how pulling federal funds from VOA’s parent organization will imperil press freedom abroad. Plus, a Radio Free Europe journalist describes being detained for nine months in Russia until she was released alongside Evan Gershkovich.  . . Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Nicole Hemmer, political historian and co-host of the podcast “This Day.” They discuss the complicated history of Voice of America, which was founded in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda. . .”

“Host Micah Loewinger sits down with Alsu Kurmasheva, press freedom advocate and veteran journalist of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Tatar-Bashkir service, on what the network provides in countries lacking a free press and her own nine month detention in Russia. Plus, Bay Fang, president of Radio Free Asia, or RFA, on why authoritarians are celebrating Trump’s shutdown and how RFA’s closure will further diminish press freedom in Asia. . . ”

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

Media Diversity Not Politically Correct?

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Article in Washington Post by Taylor Tilfordm 3/21/25

Headline:  “FCC chair threatens to block mergers of media companies engaged in DEI”

Subhead:  “The agency is already investigating Comcast and NBCUniversal over their diversity, equity and inclusion policies.”

“The Federal Communications Commission is prepared to block mergers and acquisitions involving companies that continue promoting diversity, equity and inclusion policies, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said Friday.

“President Donald Trump has ordered federal agencies such as the Justice Department to draw up lists of companies, nonprofits and other organizations to target over ‘illegal DEI efforts,’ which the administration has defined broadly. Now Carr is signaling that persisting with DEI could negatively affect media and communications companies’ dealmaking prospects.

“Any businesses that are looking for FCC approval, I would encourage them to get busy ending any sort of their invidious forms of DEI discrimination,” Carr said in an interview with Bloomberg News on Friday. . .”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/03/21/fcc-dei-diversity-mergers-acquisitions-ma/

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Article in Free Press by Timothy Karr, 3/21/25

Headline:  “FCC Chairman Carr’s Egregious Attacks on Diversity Reach New Low With Merger Threats”

“FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s racist attacks on U.S. businesses ramped up on Friday, when he announced, according to Bloomberg, that he would block mergers from companies that promote diversity, equity and inclusion. Carr’s latest tirade follows earlier threats against Comcast and Verizon.

Free Press Co-CEO Craig Aaron said, “There are many good reasons to block a media merger: for example, preserving competition, or preventing higher prices and job cuts. A company’s programs designed to promote diversity, equity and inclusion obviously don’t make that list. Carr’s crusade against so-called DEI programs is a blatant attempt to legitimize discrimination against people of color, women, people with disabilities, religious minorities and LGBTQIA+ people. It’s shameful and wrong.

“Corporate America needs to stand up against Carr’s bigotry and reject his offensive claims that programs designed to address discrimination are themselves discriminatory. . .”

https://www.freepress.net/news/press-releases/fcc-chairman-carr-attacks-dei-mergers

 

More Shrinking Media

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Article in Poynter by Tom Hones, et al, 3/20/25

Headline:  “Opinion | Buyouts at the Sun-Times shrink the newsroom — and the dream”

Subhead:  “Big-name journalists are out as Chicago Public Media tightens its belt. The high-profile merger was supposed to be different.”

“. . . The financially troubled Chicago Sun-Times announced Tuesday that it is shedding 23 newsroom employees through buyouts, more than 20% of staff.  . .”

“Chicago Public Media, which also operates the city’s NPR station, acquired the Sun-Times (it was donated for free) in January 2022. It was hailed as an exciting venture that could be a model elsewhere. But even merging the two operations took longer than expected, and it undershot business targets.

“In a commendably candid and detailed story, Sun-Times reporter David Roeder explained the seriousness of the problem and the consequences of the reductions. . . ”

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2025/chicago-sun-times-richard-roeper-rick-telander-buyouts/

Media Deja Vu

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 3/19/25

Headline:  “MAGA Media’s Musk-querade”

Subhead:  “Right-wing media stars once raged against ‘unelected elites’ wielding government power—now, they’re fawning as Donald Trump hands Elon Musk the keys to federal agencies, despite glaring conflicts of interest.”

” It’s prime time on cable news, and beneath the glow of the studio lights, a monologue erupts. The anchor excoriates the president for having ‘skirted the Senate confirmation process’ and ’empowered’ unelected individuals ‘to oversee major offices within the federal government,’ railing against a system where they ‘operate only under the supervision of the White House.’ The words are dripping with indignation, warning of a government where power is handed to unvetted individuals, accountability is nonexistent, and a radical reshaping of the U.S. government is underway.

“ ‘In essence, a select group of unconfirmed, unvetted individuals are now at the helm of a shadow government right here in the U.S.,’ the anchor warns.”

“. . . But the clip isn’t from 2025. It’s from Sean Hannity on Fox News in the summer of 2009, raging against Barack Obama’s appointment of so-called ‘czars.’. . .”

https://www.status.news/p/right-wing-media-elon-musk-hypocrisy