Censorship

FCC Steamrolling Civil Rights?

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2 Articles in Fair by Jamine Jackson, 8/26/25

Headline:  “The FCC Is Trying to Roll Back Protections Won Over the Past 60 Years:”

Subhead: “CounterSpin interview with Joseph Torres on FCC and structural racism”

“Janine Jackson: CounterSpin listeners don’t need to be reminded of how central journalism is to everything we care about. Authoritarian leaders want to silence even half-awake news media, because information is so important to people’s understanding of the world, and how we might change it.

“It’s also important to see, as on many issues, that Donald Trump didn’t invent bad, racist, anti-democracy media, or the legal landscape that allows it to thrive. . .”

Read the full articles at:

https://fair.org/home/the-fcc-is-trying-to-roll-back-protections-won-over-the-past-60-years/

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8/22/25 Headline:  “Joseph Torres on the FCC and Structural Racism”

https://fair.org/home/joseph-torres-on-the-fcc-and-structural-racism/

Loss of VOA

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Article in On the Media by NPR. 8/22/25

Headline: “The Power of Shortwave Radio. And, What Gets Lost with Voice of America?“

“This month, the director of Voice of America is being forced out in the latest of many moves to dismantle the state broadcasting service. On this week’s On the Media, a history of the Voice of America, and how it’s been politicized. Plus, hear why propagandists in Russia, China, and Iran are celebrating cuts to U.S.-funded foreign reporting. . .”

Listen to the podcast at:

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

No Speaking to the Media!

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Article in AlterNet by Carl Gibson, 8/20/25

Headline:  ” ‘They say it’s a felony’; Police yank Dem lawmeker out of bathroom for speaking to media”

“One Democratic state representative in Texas speaking out against the Republican effort to redraw congressional district boundaries was just threatened with a felony charge for speaking to journalists. . .”

“That’s according to a Wednesday article in the Houston Chronicle, which reported that Rep. Nicole Collier (D) had to abruptly end a press conference she joined from a bathroom at the Texas State Capitol. A video of the moment posted to X shows Collier being interrupted mid-speech while on a Democratic National Committee video stream with California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) while speaking to police.

” ‘Sorry, I have to leave. They said it’s a felony for me to do this,’ Collier said. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.alternet.org/police-democratic-lawmaker-bathroom/

First Amendment Wins!

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Article in Media Matters by Staff, 8/15/25

Headline:  “Media Matters wins preliminary injunction against retaliatory FTC investigation”

Subhead:  “Judge writes that the ‘case presents a straightforward First Amendment violation’ “

“. . .Angelo Carusone, Chairman and President of Media Matters, issued the following statement:

“ ‘The court’s ruling demonstrates the importance of fighting over folding, which far too many are doing when confronted with intimidation from the Trump administration. This case is not just about the campaign to punish and silence Media Matters, however. It is a critical test for whether the courts will allow any administration – from any political party – to bully media and non-profit organizations through illegal abuses of power. We will continue to stand up and fight for the First Amendment rights that protect every American.”. . .”

Read the the full article at”

https://www.mediamatters.org/justice-civil-liberties/media-matters-wins-preliminary-injunction-against-retaliatory-ftc

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Article in Raw Story by Matthew Chapman, 8/15/25

Headline:  ” ‘It should alarm all Americans’: Judge blasts Trump’s FTC for retaliating against watchdog”

“A federal judge issued a scathing takedown on Friday of President Donald Trump’s Federal Trade Commission, shutting down their investigation of the liberal watchdog Media Matters for America. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-ftc-media-matters/

Targeting Journalists?

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Update

Article in The Guardian by Lorenzo Tondo, 8/17/25

Headline:  “Israeli media ‘completely ignored’ Gaza starvation – is that finally changing?”

Subhead:  “A growing focus on hunger in Gaza in the global media has led some Israeli outlets to report on it for the first time”

“. . .more than three-quarters of Jewish Israelis – 79% – said they were either ‘not very troubled’ or ‘not troubled at all’ by reports of famine and suffering among Gaza’s Palestinian population.

“According to Anat Saragusti, an expert on the media, the reason is simple: most people in Israel are unaware of those reports because for months they have never seen them.

“ ‘Until a couple of weeks ago, you could count only a handful of reports from Gaza not filtered by the IDF,’ said Saragusti, the head of freedom of the press at the Union of Journalists in Israel. . .”

Read the full story at:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/17/israeli-media-completely-ignored-gaza-starvation-is-that-finally-changing

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Article in The Guardian by Mohamad Bazzi, 8/16/25

Headline:  “Western journalists are failing to stand up for their colleagues in Gaza”

Subhead:  “This hypocrisy of western media has been laid bare by Israel’s targeting of journalists since the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack”

“For nearly two years, Israel has been systemically targeting and killing Palestinian journalists in Gaza. On Sunday night, the Israeli military brazenly killed another six journalists, who had been sheltering in a tent housing media workers in Gaza City. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/aug/16/israel-gaza-war-journalists

Journalist Jailed by ICE

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Mario Guevara Facebook page

Article in Free Press by Staff, 8/14/25

Headline:  “Press-Freedom Groups Call on Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to Immediately Release Journalist Mario Guevara from Prolonged ICE Detention”

Subhead:  “In a powerful letter to Noem, groups including the Committee to Protect Journalists, Free Press, PEN America and Reporters Without Borders mark two months since Guevara’s unjust arrest. ”

“. . .The letter — signed by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Free Press, the Atlanta Press Club, Common Cause Georgia, First Amendment Coalition, Freedom of the Press Foundation, Georgia First Amendment Foundation, Georgia Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, National Association of Hispanic Journalists, PEN America, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Society of Professional Journalists — expresses the groups’ alarm that Guevara has remained in detention for two months despite the fact that he is not facing any charges and was legally in the United States at the time of his arrest. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.freepress.net/news/press-freedom-groups-call-kristi-noem-immediately-release-mario-guevara

Colbert and Liberty

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Article in The Contrarian by Josh Levs. 8/12/25

Headline:  “Two big things the legacy media missed about Colbert”

Subhead:  “In the fight for democracy, there’s something we must dismantle.”

“Among the many problems with the legacy media is the so-called ‘news cycle.’ These days, it often seems that we’re supposed to talk about an issue for only half a day before moving on to the next disaster. As a result, we can easily stay distracted and fail to learn important lessons from the latest developments.”

“. . .I stopped to look at two big things the media missed about CBS’ decision to cancel ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.’ . . .”

“He’ll very likely be better off, and even freer to say whatever he wants. That’s what happens when you get out from under a huge corporation. It’s also why some journalists have left newspapers that are now run by billionaires. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://contrarian.substack.com/p/two-big-things-the-legacy-media-missed

Disappear Reporters – No News

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Article in Common Dreams by John Marks, 8/12/25

Headline:  “Killing the Witness: Gaza’s Journalists and the Global Blueprint of Disappearance”

Subhead:  “The Israeli missile that hit Al Jazeera’s tent targeted more than five people; it struck at the principle that the public has a right to know and at the belief that truth should outlive the men and women who report it.”

“On the night of August 10, 2025, the air over Gaza City hung heavy with dust and the steady thrum of generators. In a modest press tent pitched outside the bomb-scarred shell of al-Shifa Hospital, Al Jazeera’s last reporting team in the city worked with the quiet urgency of people who knew each second could be their last chance to bear witness. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/killing-witness-gaza

Journalists Targeted?

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Article in The Guardian by Jason Burke, 8/11/25

Headline: ” ‘I risked everything’: remembering six media workers killed by Israel in Gaza”

Subhead: “CJP says the period since 7 October 2023 has been the most deadly for journalists since it began gathering data in 1992”

“Journalists have been prominent among casualties since the war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas’s incursion into Israel in October 2023. . . ”

The Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent non-profit organisation based in the US that promotes press freedom worldwide, says at least 186 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/11/i-risked-everything-remembering-six-media-workers-killed-by-israel-in-gaza

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Article in Al Jazeera by Mat Hashed and Abdelhakim Abu Riash, 8/11/25

Headline:  “Anas and Mohammed, journalists slain by Israel, remembered as role models”

Subhead:  “Colleagues pay tribute to assassinated Gaza journalists, vowing to continue their work.”

“Late Sunday evening, Israel’s military targeted Al Jazeera Arabic’s Gaza correspondents Anas al-Sharif, Mohammed Qreiqeh and three others, killing them in a drone strike against their media tent at the gate of al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/8/11/anas-and-mohammed-journalists-slain-by-israel-remembered-as-role-models

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Article in Mother Jones by Julianne Mcshane, 8/11/25

Headline: “Israel Has Killed Nearly 200 Palestinian Journalists in Gaza”

Subhead: “The latest killings were targeted attacks on reporters covering the war in Gaza, according to the news network that employed them.”

Read the article at:

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/08/israel-gaza-palestinian-war-journalists-killed/

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Story in Democracy Now by Mohamed Moawad, 8/11/25

Headline:  “Silencing the Coverage”: Israel Assassinates 5 Al Jazeera Journalists in Targeted Strike in Gaza”

Read the story at:

https://www.democracynow.org/2025/8/11/al_jazeera

Who Monitors the Monitor?

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Article in The Guardian by Margaret Sullivan. 8/9/25

Headline: “A ‘bias monitor’ for CBS News is a bad idea. Here’s why”

Subhead: “I was a public editor at the New York Times, handling complaints from the public. That is a better path than CBS’s one”

“For years before I became the public editor at the New York Times, I admired the work of journalists doing the job of holding their own newsrooms accountable to high standards.

“And when I heard that CBS News would get a position something like that, I thought – briefly – that this could be a positive development. After all, the network’s credibility and independence has come under fire after its parent company settled a frivolous lawsuit brought by Donald Trump. . .”

“I quickly changed my mind once I learned the details. This is not a traditional ombudsman but what some have dubbed a ‘bias monitor’ who will receive and evaluate claims of bias in the network’s journalism and report on them to the corporation’s president. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/aug/09/bias-monitor-cbs-news

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Article in Poynter by Rick Edmonds, et al., 8/8/25

Headline:  “Opinion | Skydance and Paramount complete their merger – whither CBS News?”

Subhead: “New chairman talks about ‘empowered’ journalists; critic assails trading principles for profit”

“The headline-chewing Skydance Media takeover of Paramount Global was formally concluded Thursday. . .

Red the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2025/skydance-and-paramount-complete-their-merger-whither-cbs-news/

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 8/7/25

Headline: “The Skydance Sidestep”

Subhead: “David Ellison admirably showed up to take tough, unscreened questions from a room full of reporters – but he danced around the biggest ones about Donald Trump. ’60 Minutes’, and more”

“Naturally, the assembled group of journalists didn’t ignore the elephant in the room, and the first was about Donald Trump. Specifically, whether Ellison, the Silicon Valley tech scion, had cut a secret side deal to air upwards of $20 million worth of public service announcements for causes Trump supports. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/david-ellison-paramount-trump-side-deal-60-minutes

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Article in Reuters by Deborah May and David Shepardson, 8/7/25

Headline:  “Paramount closes $8 billion merger with Skydance after settling ’60 Minutes’ lawsuit”

“. . .The merger was approved after Skydance agreed to ensure CBS news and entertainment programming would be free of bias, hire an ombudsman for at least two years to review complaints, and end diversity programs. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/paramount-closes-8-billion-merger-with-skydance-after-settling-60-minutes-2025-08-07/