Broadcasting

Defending the Media

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Liam Scott, 7/30/25

Headline:  “Anna Gomez’s Lonely Fight”

Subhead:  “As the FCC’s sole Democrat, she’s been outspoken about protecting the First Amendment. Getting her way has been tough.”

“. . .Once Trump assumed office, however, Gomez found it hard to ignore the political aspects of the job. Within days, Carr announced on Fox News that he was opening an investigation into KCBS, a San Francisco–area radio station, for its reporting on ICE raids. Gomez was dismayed. “We are supposed to be this technical expert body that calls balls and strikes fairly and independently, but instead we are being weaponized for political retribution and ideological purity,” she told me. . .”

““I was growing increasingly alarmed about what was happening and what that would do to the freedom of the press,” she said. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/anna-gomez-democrat-fcc-paramount-carr.php

Propaganda is – Propaganda?

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Article in The Guardian by Arwa Mahdawi, 7/29/25

Headline:  “Ghislaine Maxwell is not a victim. And if she is pardoned, it won’t be for the sake of justice”

Subhead:  “The Epstein files may never be released, but it’s increasingly likely that Epstein’s right-hand woman could be. The groundwork is already being done”

“. . .The cable news channel, which is to the right of Fox News, is essentially a pro-Trump propaganda outlet with strong financial ties to the president. Earlier this month the outlet announced that it had struck a deal for the Trump Media and Technology Group Corp to stream Newsmax on its platform. Which obviously raises a lot of conflict-of-interest questions. “This is now the Trump network,” one Newsmax insider complained to the Independent last week. ‘Even the most conservative people at Newsmax think it’s a terrible look and they feel like state-run media.’ Also raising questions is the fact that Alex Acosta, the prosecutor who gave Epstein that plea deal in 2008, happens to be on the board of Newsmax.. .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jul/29/ghislaine-maxwell-pardon-epstein-files

The Heat is on FCC Chief Carr

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 7/28/25

Headline: “Chasing the Runaway Carr”

Subhead:  “The Freedom of the Press Foundation is turing the tables on Brendan Carr, filing a complaint to investigate and poteitially disbar the FCC chairman over his moves to punisdh Donalt Trunp’s media critics.”

“For months, Seth Stern had weighed whether to take the extraordinary step of filing a disciplinary complaint against the country’s top communications regulator. As director of advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, Stern had watched with alarm as Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr repeatedly blurred the line between law and politics—reviving baseless investigations into major news networks, threatening companies over their diversity initiatives, and slow-walking approval of Paramount Global’s merger with Skydance Media while Donald Trump pursued an absurd “60 Minutes” lawsuit against the company.

“The tipping point, however, came last week. Just 22 days after Paramount agreed to pay Trump $16 million to settle the case, Carr approved the $8 billion merger. . .”
Read the full article at:

CNN Doesn’t Buy Conspiracy Theories

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Article in Mediaite by Michael Luciano, 7/28/25

Headline: “Jake Tapper Dumbfounded by Trump’s Epstein Files Claim: ‘One of the Most Bizarre Conspiracy Theories I’ve Ever Heard’ “

“CNN’s Jake Tapper isn’t remotely buying President Donald Trump’s claim that files relating to Jeffrey Epstein were doctored in an attempt to implicate Trump, a former friend of the deceased sex trafficker.

“Trump’s Department of Justice is declining to release additional files regarding Epstein after the president was told he was in them. The president denies wrongdoing.

“On Monday’s edition of The Lead, Tapper spoke with former Preet Bharara, a former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and asked if Bharara’s office fielded any accusations against Epstein.

“Not across my desk, no,” Bharara replied before noting the firing of former federal prosecutor Maurene Comey, who worked on the federal case against Epstein in New York. Attorney General Pam Bondi terminated Comey this month for unspecified reasons shortly after Bondi claimed that Epstein did not have the long-rumored client list she once alleged he had. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediaite.com/media/tv/jake-tapper-dumbfounded-by-trumps-epstein-files-claim-one-of-the-most-bizarre-conspiracy-theories-ive-ever-heard/

Journalistic Values Kaput?

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Article in The New Republic by Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Steven Tian, Stephen Henriques, 7/28/25

Headline: “The “Tiffany Network” Shatters as Paramount-CBS Sells Its Soul Cheap”

Subhead: “The new, post-merger head of CBS donated to Biden—but apparently wants to make Bari Weiss a network star. How worried should we be?”

“The sellout of the Columbia Broadcasting System’s journalistic values to commercial interests was foreshadowed in 1976, in Sidney Lumet and Paddy Chayefsky’s dark comedy satire Network; in James Brooks’s 1987 romantic comedy Broadcast News; and in Michael Mann and Eric Roth’s 1999 drama The Insider, explicitly calling out the revered CBS. However, it was insider Shari Redstone who completed the dreaded desecration last week.

“Surely the capitulation to President Trump by Redstone, controlling owner of Paramount-CBS, to secure Federal Communications Commission clearance to sell her dwindling media empire to David Ellison of Skydance and Redbird Capital was a moment of tragic irony. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://newrepublic.com/article/198492/paramount-cbs-sells-soul-trump-cheap

Last Call for Free Media?

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Article in Reuters by David Shepardson, 5/25/25

Headline: “Trump, FCC want to reshape the media landscape starting with CBS”

“President Trump is fundamentally reshaping the media landscape,” FCC Chair Brendan Carr told CNBC Friday. “The media industry across this country needs a course correction.”

“On Thursday, the FCC voted 2-1 to approve the $8.4 billion merger between CBS parent Paramount Global and Skydance Media after Skydance agreed to ensure CBS news and entertainment programming is free of bias, hire an ombudsman for at least two years to review complaints and end diversity programs.

“Trump has repeatedly attacked broadcast networks for what he perceives as unbiased news coverage and called on Carr to rescind their licenses. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/trump-fcc-want-reshape-media-landscape-starting-with-cbs-2025-07-25/

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Article in Daily Kos by Walter Einenkel, 7/25/25

Headline: “Media keeps caving to Trump, but FCC goon demands even more”

“Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr was asked about Stephen Colbert, whose show was canceled in what many view as a craven concession to appease President Donald Trump, during an appearance on CNBC Friday.

“ ‘They have such a storied history, and it’s sort of sad to see what’s happening to Colbert. They obviously can’t get it done. They’re not making money over there. But I think they need a course correction. And frankly, I think, you know, the media industry across this country needs a course correction,’ he said. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/7/25/2335172/-Media-keeps-caving-to-Trump-but-FCC-goon-demands-even-more?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_recent_news&pm_medium=web

 

Legal Fight Against Corporate Media?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Kyle Paoletta, 7/25/25

Headline: “The Fight for Free Speech Goes Corporate”

Subhead: “As Paramount prepares for a merger, the Freedom of the Press Foundation stands to challenge the company for capitulating to Trump. Will it work?”

“Early this month, as soon as the news broke of Paramount’s decision to pay President Donald Trump’s foundation sixteen million dollars to settle a lawsuit against CBS News, the Freedom of the Press Foundation moved to take legal action. The FPF, as it’s known, tracks and resists government infringement on the news media. It’s also a Paramount shareholder, prepared to push for those interests with corporate muscle. Trump’s case, and the response of Paramount’s board, immediately set off alarm bells, as the company was in the midst of pursuing an eight-billion-dollar merger with Skydance, a Hollywood studio, that required approval from the Federal Communications Commission. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/feature-2/paramount-trump-lawsuit-settlement-skydance-merger-press-freedom.php

Media Deal or Bribe?

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Article in Democracy Now by Jeff Cohen, 7/23/25

Headline: “Big Fat Bribe: Stephen Colbert’s Show Canceled After He Slams Trump & Paramount/Skydance Merger”

The top-ranked show on late-night television, CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, has been canceled, just days after Colbert skewered Paramount, the parent company of CBS, for settling a lawsuit brought by President Donald Trump. The lawsuit accused another CBS show, 60 Minutes, of biased editing in an interview with Kamala Harris during the 2024 election. Its settlement comes as Paramount works to finalize a lucrative merger with Skydance Media that must be approved by the Federal Communications Commission. On his show, Colbert called the settlement ‘a big fat bribe.’

“So many media conglomerates had already given thinly disguised bribes to Trump to settle lawsuits they could not possibly lose in court,” explains Jeff Cohen, co-founder of the online action group RootsAction and the media watch group FAIR, Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting. Cohen says he suspects Paramount agreed to cancel Colbert’s show — and will likely remove other programming critical of Trump — as part of a deal with the administration to win favorable conditions for its merger. . . It’s profit maximization. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.democracynow.org/2025/7/23/stephen_colbert

Rural Public-Media Freefall

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PUBLIC MEDIA ARE NOT STATE-CONTROLLED MEDIA

Article in The Daily Beast by Ben Sheehan, 7/23/25

Headline:  “What Trump’s PBS and NPR Funding Cuts Really Mean For America”

Subhead:  “Millions of Americans understand the value of public media—it makes us more informed and keeps us safe.”

“. . .American public media, as we know it today, has been a decades-long project. The government began funding it in 1967 through the nonprofit Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which then gave money to the Public Broadcasting Service (founded in 1969), National Public Radio (founded in 1970), and other nonprofits.  Until now.

“Last week, Congress voted to kill CPB’s funding for 2026 and 2027. Every Democratic representative and senator voted to maintain the funding as did Republicans Brian Fitzpatrick and Mike Turner in the House, and Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins in the Senate. Every other Republican voted to cut it. . .”

“Then what happens?

“For starters, local news coverage would decline further. (To be clear, it’s already in a state of freefall.) PBS and NPR affiliates, in many cases, are the best local news option. It’s not ‘woke’ programming that will die from these cuts, but oversight of your county, city, town, and neighborhood. Of your sheriff, district attorney, county executive, mayor, city council and school board—the people with the most impact on your day-to-day life. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/what-trumps-pbs-and-npr-funding-cuts-really-mean-for-america/

Can Journalism Survive Alone?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Hamilton Nolan, 7/22/25

Headline:  “Journalism Needs Government Funding to Survive”

Subhead:  “The recent cuts to public media are part of a broader attack on public welfare.”

“Last week’s decision by Republicans in Congress to eliminate government funding for public media blows a billion-dollar hole in the budgets of local news stations across America. While NPR and PBS will survive, the existence of small broadcasters in rural, red-state news deserts is now endangered. In at least one sense, however, this attack on the public’s right to news will have a unifying function. Journalists, citizens, and civil society as a whole—red, blue, or striped—can be assured that we are all riding a pendulum swinging at terrifying speed in the wrong direction.

“If we want to see a robust level of news reporting exist in this nation—comparable to what we had in the twentieth century—we will need public funding for journalism. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/journalism-needs-government-funding-to-survive.php