Censorship

Journalists Can’t Say Opinions?

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Article in The Guardian by Edward Helmore, 6/8/25

Headline:  “ABC News suspends journalist after calling Trump and adviser ‘world-class haters’ “

Subhead:  “Terry Moran to be evaluated after now deleted post said Stephen Miller is ‘richly endowed with capacity for hatred’ “

“ABC News has suspended its senior national correspondent after he described top White House aide Stephen Miller as “richly endowed with the capacity for hatred” on social media.

“In a now deleted post, Terry Moran, who recently conducted an interview with Donald Trump, said that the president and his deputy chief of staff, Miller, were both ‘world-class’ haters. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/08/abc-news-suspends-journalist-stephen-miller-trump

Cutting Rural America’s . . .

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Article in The Guardian by Margaret Sullivan,6/6/25

Headline:  “If Trump cuts funding to NPR and PBS, rural America will pay a devastating price”

Subhead:  “Much of the country has little access to local news, with public media filling the void – and serving as a lifeline”

“When Hurricane Helene walloped North Carolina last fall, residents were hit by a second threat at the same time: the dire need for accurate information.

“The loss of electric power amid the widespread flooding meant that people – especially those in isolated areas – were deprived of basic news. They needed to know about everything from road closures to the whereabouts of their family and friends to sources of drinkable water.

“Blue Ridge Public Radio stepped into the breach. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/06/trump-funding-cuts-npr-pbs-rural-america

Cancelling Free Radio

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Liam Scott, 6/4/25

Headline:  “Q&A: Tamara Bralo on Fighting to Protect Radio Free Asia’s Journalists”

Subhead:  “ ‘It’s difficult to remain calm when you’re dealing with this much trauma.’ ”

“he veteran journalist Tamara Bralo was at home in the Washington, DC, area when she learned one Saturday morning in March that the Trump administration was trying, via executive order, to terminate funding for Radio Free Asia, an international broadcaster under the US Agency for Global Media—part of a broader attempt to gut USAGM, which also oversees outlets including Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/tamara-bralo-interview-radio-free-asia-rfa-protect-journalists.php

A Threat to Many Broadcasters

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Quilt showing many community radio stations

Article in Poynter by Angela Fu, 6/3/25

Headline:  “Trump asks Congress to revoke $1 billion in already approved funding for public broadcasting”

Subhead:  “Congress has 45 days to consider the request, which would jeopardize operations at NPR, PBS and hundreds of local stations if approved”

“The White House formally asked Congress Tuesday to revoke more than $1 billion in already approved funding for public broadcasting, jeopardizing operations at NPR, PBS and local stations across the country.

“The request specifically targets the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private nonprofit created and funded by Congress. Every year, CPB receives more than half a billion dollars, which it then distributes to NPR, PBS and more than 1,500 local radio and television stations in the form of grants. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2025/what-is-a-rescissions-package-pbs-npr-defunded/

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Article in Free Press by Staff, 6/3/25

Headline:  “Trump Launches Latest Attack on a Free and Independent Press with Bid to Claw Back All Federal Funding for Public Broadcasting”

“On Tuesday, the Trump White House issued a rescission request, which according to press reports calls on Congress to claw back nearly $1.1 billion in already-approved federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the entity that provides federal support for NPR and PBS affiliates across the country. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.freepress.net/news/trump-tells-congress-rescind-funding-public-media

Barriers to Reporting

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Article in Huffpost by Julia Frankel, 6/2/25

Headline: “Israel Bars Media From West Bank Villages On Tour Organized By Oscar Winners”

Subhead:  “The directors of “No Other Land,” a film about Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians in the territory, had invited journalists to interview the area’s residents.”

“Israeli soldiers on Monday barred journalists from entering villages in the West Bank on a planned tour organized by the directors of the Oscar-winning movie “No Other Land.”

“The directors of the film, which focuses on Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied territory, said they had invited the journalists on the tour Monday to interview residents about increasing settler violence in the area.

“In video posted on X by the film’s co-director, Yuval Abraham, an Israeli soldier tells a group of international journalists there is “no passage” in the area because of a military order. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/israel-bars-media-west-bank-palestinian-oscar-winners_n_683db860e4b095a13841143c

Public Media Are Sueing

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Article in The Hill by Dominick Mastrangelo, 5/30/25

Headline: “PBS sues Trump administration in wake of calls to strip funding”

“PBS is suing President Trump’s administration on First Amendment grounds, arguing the president is trying to pull funding the from the broadcaster because of editorial coverage he disagrees with.

“The suit filed Friday in federal court in Washington, D.C., accused the president of trying to “upend public television” and argues the law “forbids” him from pulling funding to it and other public broadcast outlets.

“PBS’s suit follows a similar lawsuit filed earlier this week by NPR. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5326430-pbs-sues-trump/

Planted Media Falsehoods on Fire?

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Article in Media Matters by Jane Lee & Isabella Corrao, 5/28/25

Headline:  “An intelligence report debunked MAGA media claims about Tren de Aragua and Venezuela. A Trump official is now under fire for reportedly ordering the report be redone.”

“The New York Times reported that Trump intel official Joe Kent ordered the assessment to be edited to protect Donald Trump and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard”

“Intelligence community assessments rejected the Trump administration’s claim that the Venezuela-based gang Tren de Aragua is being directed by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s administration to infiltrate the United States.

“In response, the Trump administration dismissed the head of the National Intelligence Council and his deputy, making claims about the pair that an observer noted are ‘extremely difficult to believe’ given that they served the country ‘faithfully’ for decades. Administration official Joe Kent — a former fixture in far-right media and currently top aide to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard — also ordered analysts to revise the intelligence assessment, reportedly in order to protect President Donald Trump and Gabbard. . .”

Read the full story here:

https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/intelligence-report-debunked-maga-media-claims-about-tren-de-aragua-and-venezuela-trump

Restrict Press, Make Hegseth Safe

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 5/26/25

Headline:  “Hegseth’s Safe Space”

Subhead:  “As backlash brewed over new restrictions on press access, the Pentagon made a second, quieter move—one that sent another troubling signal about how far it’s willing to go to create a safe space for Pete Hegseth”.

“On Friday afternoon, just before the holiday weekend was set to begin, word began to spread among Pentagon reporters: new, even more restrictive press limitations were imminent. Shortly after, the Pentagon Press Association was informed just how sweeping they would be. Pete Hegseth, the embattled Secretary of Defense, announced he would revoke journalists’ long-held ability to navigate the Pentagon’s unclassified hallways freely, cutting off access that has been permitted across Republican and Democratic administrations for decades. . .”

“Hegseth cloaked the decision in the language of national security. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/pete-hegseth-pentagon-press-access

VOA Angst

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Article in Poynter by Liam Scott, 4/23/25

Headline: ” ‘I am angry most of the time’: Inside a small VOA cohort’s return to work”

Subhead: “The bare-bones return has been marked by low morale, confusion and uncertainty, VOA sources say”

“Several weeks after the Trump administration began gutting Voice of America in March, the news agency is back — except, not really.

“A small cohort of Voice of America staffers quietly returned to the Washington office in early May, where they have been tasked with covering the news at a tiny fraction of the agency’s previous capacity.

“Instead of 49 languages, the congressionally funded but editorially independent news network is barely publishing in four. And instead of some 1,300 staffers, only about 30 are working. . .”

read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2025/voice-of-america-staff-back-office-skeleton-crew/

Public & State Media Not the Same!

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Article in FAIR by Ari Paul, 5/6/25

Headline:  “Taibbi Cites Government Attacks on Media to Defend Government Attacks on Media”

Subhead: “Cuts to PBS, NPR Part of Authoritarian Playbook.”

“Going after public broadcasters is part of the neo-fascist playbook authoritarian leaders around the world are using to clamp down on dissent and keep the public in the dark.”

“. . .Taibbi asked, “How nuts do you have to be to think ‘strong state media’ doesn’t have a dark side? . . .”

“Taibbi’s main trick is to pretend that ‘state media’ and ‘public media’ are interchangeable. They’re not. State media consists of government propaganda outlets that answer directly to executive authority, rather than independent editors. Public media are independent outlets that receive taxpayer subsidies. As I wrote in my piece, NPR “only gets 1% of its funding directly from the CPB,” the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. . .”

https://fair.org/home/taibbi-cites-government-attacks-on-media-to-defend-government-attacks-on-media/