Broadcasting

Slow News Week on El Salvador

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Article in The Hill by Sarah Fortinsky, 12/25/25

Headline:  “Bari Weiss defends 60 Minutes decision in memo to CBS News staff”

: . . .The new top editor’s decision to pull the segment — which was set to highlight conditions inside the notorious Salvadoran prison where the Trump administration has deported Venezuelan migrants — drew sharp backlash this week, including from the segment’s own correspondent, who called the move ‘political.’

“But Weiss, in her message to the news staff, attributed the widespread blowback to a ‘slow news week.’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5663141-bari-weiss-60-minutes-segment/

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Article in Raw Story by John Stoehr, 12/25/25

Headline:  “The Bari Weiss 60 Minutes scandal is just one sign of drastic media rot”

“In light of the scandal at 60 Minutes, it bears repeating that the primary crisis facing American democracy is about information. There are just too many ways for the rich and powerful to control the truth. . .”

Read the full story at:

https://www.rawstory.com/raw-investigates/2674824432/

Media 2025, What happened?

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Article in Statusnews by Oliver Darcy, 12/23/25

Headline:  “Status Check: The Winners and Losers of 2025:”

Subhead:  “In a year defined by consolidation, political pressure, and audience upheaval, these are the media figures who finished 2025 on top—and those who watched their influence fade.”

“2025 was a bruising year for the media industry. Established giants from New York to Hollywood were pushed deeper into upheaval by relentless consolidation, fleeing audiences, and mounting political pressure. At the same time, artificial intelligence posed a growing dilemma for newsrooms, audience trust continued to fray, and Donald Trump’s return to power once again warped executive decisions. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/media-winners-losers-2025

From White House to TV Host?

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Article in Raw Story by Alexander Willis, 12/23/25

Headline:  ” ‘Would you like me to leave?’ Trump floats ditching White House for TV hosting gig”

“President Donald Trump floated the idea of ditching the Oval Office Tuesday to instead pursue a career as a television host, asking his followers whether they supported the idea of an abrupt career change.

“Whether serious or in jest, Trump made the remarks after announcing that he would be hosting the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony scheduled for Tuesday evening, which he said he’d be doing ‘at the request of the board, and just about everybody else in America.’ . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-2674824636/

Grave News?

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Article in Status by Natalie Korach, 12/22/25

Headline:  “Bari’ing The News”

Subhead:  “The decision to spike a ready-to-air ’60 Minutes’ segment has frayed trust at CBS News and renewed fears of interference by Paramount management amid its WBD bid.”

“In August, David Ellison and the new executive team for Paramount held a press conference with media reporters as the Skydance acquisition closed, where Status’ own Oliver Darcy pointedly asked whether executives would ;commit to not meddling or interfering in any way with ‘60 Minutes.’  Ellison refused to directly answer his inquiries about the editorial independence of CBS News, though investor Gerry Cardinale insisted that interference in editorial programming would be ‘bad business.’

“On Sunday, those concerns regarding CBS News’ editorial direction became tangible, as Bari Weiss, Ellison’s hand-picked editor-in-chief, pulled a ’60 Minutes’ investigation into conditions at El Salvador’s CECOT prison. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/bari-weiss-60-minutes-segment-cbs-news

Are Media Sick?

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Article in The Guardian by Margaret Sullivan, 12/20/25

Headline:  “The tug-of-war over CNN shows how dysfunctional US media has become”

Subhead:  “The network’s fate has become a battle of corporate ownership, not a question of what benefits Americans”

“. . .Whatever the outcome, the fate of CNN has become part of a high-stakes game of corporate ownership, not as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.

“America’s media system isn’t set up for that lofty goal. It’s set up for corporate profitability, for shareholder gain, for ever-increasing size and ever-decreasing competition. . .”

“Policies that strengthen independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the concentration of media power in too few hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a functioning democracy.”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/dec/20/cnn-us-news-media-corporate-ownership

Unlimited Coverage?

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Article in AP by Bill L Barrow, 12/19/25

Headline:  “Trump gave an unusually partisan White House address. Should networks have given him the TV time?”

“ATLANTA (AP) — When Donald Trump delivered the first White House address of his second presidency Wednesday night, all major U.S. networks beamed his image and voice onto their airwaves, cable feeds and online platforms.

Americans ended up watching the Republican president stand in the Diplomatic Reception Room and deliver 18 minutes of aggressive, politically motivated arguments that misstated facts, blamed the nation’s ills on his predecessor, exaggerated the results of his nearly 11 months in office and amplified his characteristically gargantuan, immeasurable promises about what’s to come. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-address-tv-networks-c9704130f09f607f82f9e0054dfc3c02

Stop Media Mergers?

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News Release in Free Press by Staff, 12/18/25

Headline:  “Free Press Urges the Carr FCC to Abandon Plans to Let Big Broadcast Conglomerates Become Even Bigger”

“On Wednesday, Free Press called on the Federal Communications Commission to reject further local-media consolidation, stating that any move to weaken the agency’s ownership rules would harm the public interest and undermine efforts to preserve quality local news.

“The comments, made in a filing in the agency’s Quadrennial Regulatory Review, address the FCC’s broadcast-ownership limits, which were originally designed to promote diversity, competition and localism in the licensing of broadcasters’ access to the public airwaves. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.freepress.net/news/free-press-urges-carr-fcc-abandon-plans-let-big-broadcast-conglomerates-become-even-bigger

Media Now Ashamed?

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Article in Daily Kos by News Corpse, 12/18/25

Headline:  “ENOUGH! American Media Disgraced Itself Again By Airing Trump’s Lie-Riddled Harangue-a-Thon”

“Wednesday night Donald Trump delivered a primetime address from the White House that was billed as an important communication to the American people concerning matters that would be of great interest to them. And every major national network carried the speech live. Ordinarily those networks don’t give up that valuable airtime unless they have been assured that there is a valid justification for it.

“However, on this occasion, the networks don’t appear to have done even a perfunctory review of what the content of Trump’s speech would be. Consequently, they greenlit his speech. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/12/18/2359078/-ENOUGH-American-Media-Disgraced-Itself-Again-By-Airing-Trump-s-Lie-Riddled-Harangue-a-Thon?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

NBC Getting Away With It?

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Article in Raw Story by David Edwards, 12/17/25

Headline: “Trump vows NBC won’t ‘get away’ with Dem interview in threat to broadcast license”

“President Donald Trump threatened NBC’s broadcast license days after the network aired an interview with Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA). . .”

“Trump then suggested that the Federal Communications Commission, or FCC, should investigate NBC.

“The Public airwaves, which these Networks are using at no charge, should not be allowed to get away with this any longer!’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-abc-nbc-license/

CBS’s Bari Weiss – Waking-up?

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Article in Status by Natalie Korach, 12/17/25

Headline:  “Weiss’ Wake-Up Call”

Subhead: “As her first major CBS News town hall draws underwhelming ratings, Bari Weiss gets a public crash course in the metrics of television success. Now, Status has learned she’s delayed a planned address to staffers about the network’s future.”

“In the days leading up to the holidays, Bari Weiss had planned to address CBS News staffers with a broader vision of where she sees the network heading under her new leadership. But by Tuesday, as early Nielsen numbers for her high-profile Erika Kirk town hall circulated—and headlines began using words like “flop”—those plans quietly changed. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/bari-weiss-cbs-news-erika-kirk-town-hall-ratings