Broadcasting

New Media Masters

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Article in FAIR by Caitlan Scialla, 4/17/26

Headline: “Paramount’s Purchase of CNN Heralds a New Trump-Friendly Media Empire”

“The ultra-wealthy have long leveraged their capital to build sprawling media empires that narrow our public range of debate (FAIR.org, 6/1/87). But Paramount Skydance‘s winning bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) marks a major milestone in media monopolization that, if successful, will further expand Trump-allied tech moguls Larry and David Ellison’s burgeoning power over US news and entertainment media. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/paramounts-purchase-of-cnn-heralds-a-new-trump-friendly-media-empire/

CBS – What Me Worry?

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Article in Daily Beast by Janna Brancolini, 4/13/26

Headline:  “MAGA-Curious CBS Boss Accused of Not Caring About Top Show”

Subhead:  “The embattled ‘CBS Mornings’ just experienced its worst quarter ever.”

“CBS News editor in chief Bari Weiss has been accused of dragging her feet in filling a key role at the network’s flailing morning show.

‘Weiss tapped former CBS Mornings host Tony Dokoupil to helm the network’s newly revamped MAGA-friendly CBS Evening News broadcast starting in January.

“Since then, both shows have struggled to attract viewers, with CBS Mornings experiencing its lowest-rated quarter on record. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/maga-curious-cbs-boss-bari-weiss-accused-of-not-caring-about-top-show/

State Media Propaganda Gone?

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Article in Reuters by Krisztina Than, 4/13/26

Headline: “Hungary’s election winner Magyar says to suspend state media news broadcast”

” Hungary’s ​election winner ‌Peter Magyar ​said ​on Monday that ⁠his ​government will ​suspend the news broadcast ​of ​public state media ‌until ⁠unbiased news coverage ​can ​be ⁠ensured.

“Magyar’s Tisza ​party ​scored ⁠a landslide victory ⁠in ​Sunday’s ​elections. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/hungarys-election-winner-magyar-says-suspend-state-media-news-broadcast-2026-04-13/

News Predictions Can be Wrong?

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Article in Media Matters by Zachary Pleat, 4/10/26

Headline:  “Fox promised oil and gas prices would quickly drop once US attacks on Iran ended. Analysts say prices will be elevated well into next year.”

“Analyses from consulting firms, economists, and at least one government agency are contradicting rosy promises by Fox News personalities that oil and gasoline prices would quickly drop toward pre-war levels once U.S. attacks on Iran ceased. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-promised-oil-and-gas-prices-would-quickly-drop-once-us-attacks-iran-ended-analysts-say

Stupid Media People?

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Article in The Hill by Dominick Mastrangelo, 4/9/26

Headline: “Trump slams conservative media figures over splitting with him on Iran “

“President Trump on Thursday tore into several right-wing media figures who had been reliably supportive of him during his second term until the U.S. war in Iran broke out. . .”

“ ‘I know why Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens, and Alex Jones have all been fighting me for years, especially by the fact that they think it is wonderful for Iran, the Number One State Sponsor of Terror, to have a Nuclear Weapon,’ Trump wrote in a lengthy post on his Truth Social platform. ‘Because they have one thing in common, Low IQs. They’re stupid people’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5824607-trump-iran-war-tucker-carlson-megyn-kelly/

Short-Term Reporting?

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Article in Media Matters by Ilana Berger, 4/3/26

Headline:  “Right-wing media’s narrative that high gas prices are ‘short-term’ and ‘temporary’ is undermined by reporting from major energy conference”

Subhead:  “CNBC anchor Morgan Brennan: ‘The growing chorus on Wall Street, including JP Morgan, Blackrock, Citadel, those are all warning that the war and ongoing oil shocks are being underpriced’ “

“While many right-wing media personalities continue to parrot claims from the Trump administration that high gas prices are a short-term consequence of the U.S. and Israel’s war in Iran, a few are starting to question that narrative.

“During S&P Global’s CERAWeek, a Houston-based energy industry conference held this year from March 23-27, attendees and other experts expressed concern over the long-term consequences of President Donald Trump’s war constraining energy supply in the Strait of Hormuz, making clear to reporters that the situation is likely worse than the market is showing. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/us-iran-relations/right-wing-medias-narrative-high-gas-prices-are-short-term-and-temporary

MAGA Mega Media Merger?

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Article in FAIR by Pete Tucker, 4/2/26

Headline:  “Trouble for Nexstar Merger That Would Create Mega-Network for MAGA”

“It’s not exactly breaking news that President Donald Trump endlessly attacks the media, or that his administration lapdogs quickly echo his gripes. But there’s one official who has stood apart, and he’s done so by not only mimicking Trump, but by remaking the US media in his boss’s image, most recently by rushing through local TV broadcast giant Nexstar’s takeover of Tegna.

“ ‘Unlike his predecessors, Carr isn’t just another corporate lawyer,’ Rolling Stone’s Matt Bai (3/17/26) wrote about Brendan Carr, Trump’s Federal Communications Commission chair:

” ‘He is a cultural claims adjuster, a pasty-faced, soft-spoken agent of Trump’s retribution. If you were going to single out the most dangerous functionary in Trump’s little circle of Hell, you’d have plenty of candidates…. But don’t sleep on Brendan Carr. His legacy of awfulness may yet prove more durable’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/trouble-for-nexstar-merger-that-would-create-mega-network-for-maga/

Watch out for the Judicial Teeth!

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Article in The New York Times by Erik Wemple, 4/2/26

Headline:  “Trump’s Media-Bashing Is Coming Back to Bite Him in Court”

Subhead:  “Judges have cited attacks on the press by the president and his appointees when ruling against the government in at least three court cases.”

“President Trump in April 2025 posted some thoughts on Truth Social about public media, in all caps: ‘Republicans must defund and totally disassociate themselves from NPR & PBS, the radical left “monsters” that so badly hurt our country!’

“This was not a watershed moment. In both his social media posts and his off-the-cuff comments to reporters, Mr. Trump’s broadsides against traditional news outlets have become the tap water of his political rhetoric.

“But they’re now haunting him in court. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/02/business/media/trump-media-courts.html

Fox News in Sheep’s Clothing?

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Article in Daily Beast by Tom Latcher,. 3/30/26

Headline:  “MTG Brands Fox News ‘Fake News’ as MAGA Civil War Deepens”

Subhead:  “Ann Coulter also compared the network’s Iran war coverage to its false 2020 election claims.”

“Former Trump loyalist Marjorie Taylor Greene has turned against MAGA’s favorite TV channel as the Republican civil war over Iran goes nuclear.

“Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News has long echoed the American First narrative of the Republican Party’s MAGA wing. But some prominent MAGA supporters are falling out of love with the cable network over its backing for Donald Trump’s war on Iran.

“Trump’s friend-turned-foe MTG accused the network of peddling ‘fake news’ and ‘brainwashing boomers’ over Iran. She wrote on X Sunday, ‘Fox News is now the fake news. Brainwashing boomers to support what we voted against.’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/mtg-brands-fox-news-fake-news-as-maga-iran-civil-war-deepens/

“60 Minutes” Chaos?

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 3/31/26

Headline:  “Bari’s ‘60’ Blow Up Plan”

Subhead:  “Earlier this year, Bari Weiss was talked out of making changes to ’60 Minutes’ midseason, Status has learned—but with the summer break approaching, her eyes are now trained squarely on the famed newsmagazine. . .”

“With Bari Weiss now at the helm of CBS News and taking an unusually hands-on approach to ’60 Minutes,’ a cloud of uncertainty hangs over the show’s future. “No one knows what to expect,” one staffer on the show told Status about the mood internally. . .”

Read the full article at:

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