Broadcasting

FCC Meddles in Broadcast Content

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Article in Meidasnews by Brett Meiselas, 9/9/26

Headline:  “Kimmel Says Trump FCC Threats Forced Talarico Interview Off TV

Subhead:  “The ABC host says his interview with Texas Senate candidate James Talarico will be relegated to YouTube after threats from Trump’s FCC, months after Stephen Colbert’s Talarico interview was similarly kept off broadcast television.”

“Jimmy Kimmel says his upcoming interview with Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talarico will not air on ABC, pointing the finger directly at President Donald Trump’s Federal Communications Commission and its threats against the network and its affiliates.

“During his Wednesday night monologue, Kimmel announced that Talarico would appear for an interview Thursday, but viewers won’t actually be able to watch it on broadcast television. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://meidasnews.com/news/kimmel-says-trump-fcc-threats-forced-talarico-interview-off-tv

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Article in The Hill by Dominick Mastrangelo, 9/10/26

Headline:  FCC commissioner: Kimmel’s ‘self-censorship’ shows Trump’s bid to ‘control’ media working

“The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) lone Democratic commissioner is pointing to ABC comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s decision not to broadcast an interview with Texas Senate nominee James Talarico (D) as evidence of what she called the Trump administration’s attempts to stifle free press. . .

Read the full article at:

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/6082338-fcc-commissioner-censorship-jimmy-kimmel-abc/

Fox Falling into Iranian Sinkhole?

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Article in Media Matters by Matt Gertz, 9/9/26

Headline:  “Iran coverage collapsed this summer on Fox News’ evening “opinion” shows”

Subhead:  “No war but the culture war: Network stars’ references to socialism, WNBA, Fauci, now swamping Iran”

“Six months into the war Donald Trump launched against Iran, the campaign ‘has deteriorated into a quagmire of the president’s own making with no clear goals, no obvious strategy and no end in sight’. . .”

“But on Fox News — the MAGA propaganda network that urged Trump to attack Iran in the first place — some of his most devoted allies have all but completely stopped talking about it. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/iran-coverage-collapsed-summer-fox-news-evening-opinion-shows

Insulting Women in the Media

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Article in The Wrap by Alyssa Ray, 9/8/26

Headline:  “Trump Launches Back-to-Back Attacks on ‘3rd Rate’ Kaitlan Collins and ‘Unattractive’ Maggie Haberman

Subhead: “’Fake News is getting worse and worse in the U.S.A.,’ the president writes”

“Donald Trump once again publicly criticized CNN’s Kaitlan Collins and the New York Times’ Maggie Haberman, launching back-to-back attacks against the female journalists on social media.

On Tuesday, the president kicked off his renewed attacks on female journalists by zeroing in on Collins on Truth Social, where he blasted her as a “3rd rate” anchor. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.thewrap.com/media-platforms/journalism/trump-attacks-kaitlan-collins-maggie-haberman-truth-social/

Fighting Public Mediacide

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Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 9/8/26

Headline:  “Opinion | As ‘perfect storm’ hits public media, initiative seeks a reimagined system to serve communities”

Subhead:  “Poynter Institute, Public Media Company will guide effort to recommend plans for renewed public media after federal funding cuts”

“A little more than a year ago, the federal government delivered a devastating blow to a critical part of our media landscape: It defunded public media.

“The move, under the direction of President Donald Trump, stripped important funding from public radio and television stations that provide crucial news and information from our biggest cities all the way to our most rural outposts. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2026/as-perfect-storm-hits-public-media-initiative-seeks-a-reimagined-system-to-serve-communities/

Media Consolidation Backfire

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Carolina Abbott Galvão, 9/8/26

Headline:  “What Happened in Lancaster?”

Subhead:  “The saga of a public radio station, a regional newspaper, the Pennsylvania family that funded them, and an NPR host turned nonprofit executive.”

“. . .’To advance their legacy of supporting local journalism and media literacy, the Steinman family sought to pair LNP [daily newspaper] with another locally based media organization—one with a self-perpetuating community board and a track record of strong leadership,’ Krasne told LNP’s digital arm, LancasterOnline. . .”

“. . .On October 3, 2024, three out of the seven people working in the station’s newsroom were laid off, and a fourth was reassigned. McDevitt, Long, and Jordan Wilkie, a democracy reporter, were the only three people left on the editorial staff. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/feature/what-happened-in-lancaster-lnp-witf-steinman-family-npr-all-things-considered.php

No WH Talking Points? Get Fired.

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Article in The Guardian by Victoria Bekiempis and Jeremy Barr, 9/8/26

Headline: “Ex-60 Minutes managing editor says fired staffers ‘refused to be accomplices’ in show’s ‘destruction’

Subhead: “Guy Campanile addresses ouster in Facebook post and says ‘we were told to leave because we insisted on doing our jobs’”

“The former managing editor at 60 Minutes, who was fired in May with several other top correspondents, has spoken out about the ouster, saying he and his colleagues, were dismissed because they ‘would not compromise our principles or reputations by jamming unverifiable notions or White House talking points into our reporting’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/sep/08/60-minutes-managing-editor-facebook-post

Radio Active Magazine 9/8/26

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Headline:  “Today’s Radio Active Magazine & Media & Democracy for Sept. 19: ‘The impact of news media on the Japanese political economy’

Tune in to http://KKFI.ORG for thelive episode 6:00 PM CST.

“The impact of news media on the Japanese political economy is the theme of to night’s Radio Active Magazine, to be released a week from Saturday, Sept. 19, as ‘Media & Democracy’ on Audioport for Pacifica.

This features a presentation by Rachel Clark about news media in the US and Japan and their impact on the political economy.

The podcast with a video and highlights is available in the article on “The impact of news media on the Japanese political economy” on Wikiversity:

Report Weapons Use – Treason?

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Article in Al Jezerra by Staff, 9/3/26

Headline:  “Trump calls media ‘treasonous scum’ over reports of low Iran war munitions”

“US President Trump has again pushed back on media reports detailing dangerously low munitions stockpiles as the US-Israel war on Iran stretches into its seventh month.

“In a post on his Truth Social account, Trump said the military was producing munitions at ‘levels never seen before” and has “far more than we could ever use’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2026/9/4/iran-war-live-us-rules-out-iran-talks-until-ship-attacks-stop?update=4915298

Rt. Media Eating Their Own

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 9/3/26

Headline: “Bartiromo’s Fox Betrayal”

Subhead: “Fox News offered no explanation for Maria Bartiromo’s abrupt firing. But Status has learned what happened behind the scenes, and why it put the longtime host at odds with her own network.”

“On Thursday afternoon, Fox News issued a press release that reverberated through the media and political worlds. In a terse statement, the network announced that it had severed ties with Maria Bartiromo, the once-respected business journalist who in recent years became consumed by right-wing conspiracy theories. . .”

“Status has learned that Bartiromo’s termination stems from an incident, which has not previously been reported, that occurred in July. After Trump delivered his unhinged prime time speech. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/maria-bartiromo-fox-news-announcement-departure

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Article in The Guardian by Jeremy Barr, 9/3/26

Headline: “Fox News Media abruptly ousts longtime anchor Maria Bartiromo”

Subhead: “Bartiromo had been a host at the network for more than a decade and Fox gave no explanation for the decision”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/sep/03/maria-bartiromo-fox-news-departure

ABC Se-f Censorship

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Joel Simon, 9/2/26

Headline: “Why ABC Self-Censored”

Subhead:  “In a lawsuit, the network cops to making coverage decisions based on government pressure. It’s a striking admission—and an untested legal strategy.”

“A cardinal rule of journalism: never back down in the face of intimidation. And yet, in a lawsuit filed in August by ABC and its parent, Disney, in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, lawyers argued that for months, as the Trump administration “steadily increased the pressure on ABC,” the actions of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) effectively undermined the network’s First Amendment rights. In the filing, ABC says that led to self-censorship—a seemingly unprecedented admission, and an untested legal strategy for a media organization. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/why-abc-self-censored-disney-lawsuit-government-pressure-fcc-carr-kimmel-untested-legal-strategy.php