Censorship

Disappearing Media Freedom

by


Article in Al Jazeera by Mohamad Elmasry, 9/8/25

Headline:  “The capitulation of the US media is not an aberration”

Subhead:  “The Trump administration is bringing to the fore weaknesses that have long plagued US democracy.”

“American democracy is arguably in more peril than at any moment in recent history. Not only are United States President Donald Trump and his Republican allies seeking to guarantee that Americans never again participate in a truly free and fair election, but public officials and Trump-aligned figures in the media industry are also manipulating the information environment at an unprecedented scale. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2025/9/8/the-capitulation-of-the-us-media-is-not-an-aberration

Reporters – Forced to Flee

by


Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Paulina Milewska & Ksenia Mironova, 9/3/25

Headline:  “How to Survive the (Media) Apocalypse”

Subhead:  “Lessons from journalists who have lived through all this”

“The ongoing deterioration of press freedom and independence in the United States is deeply concerning to many journalists who don’t know where their country is heading. That chilling uncertainty is one we have lived through ourselves. We are journalists from Russia and Poland. Ksenia has been forced to leave her home in order to continue working, and has watched countless friends and colleagues do the same. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/russia-poland-media-exile-strategies.php

Attacking Reporters in Gaza

by


Article in The New York Times by the Editorial Board, 8/31/25

Headline:  “Israel’s Gaza Media Ban Is Indefensible”

“All wars are dangerous to cover, but Gaza holds a place of its own among modern conflicts for the peril faced by journalists. Some 200 journalists have been among the estimated 63,000 people killed since the Gaza war began — an overwhelming majority killed by the Israeli military. Those deaths have helped make the past two years the deadliest period for journalists since the Committee to Protect Journalists, a nonprofit organization, started keeping records in 1992. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/31/opinion/israel-gaza-media-journalists-ban.html

FCC Steamrolling Civil Rights?

by


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/

– – – – –

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

by


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!

by


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!

by


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

– – – – –

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?

by

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

– – – – –

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

by

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

by


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