Corporate Media

Media in Crisis?

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Interview in The New Republic by Perry Bacon, 12/17/25

Headline:  “Transcript: America’s Three Media Crises and How to Fix Them”

Subhead:  “University of Pennsylvania media scholar Victor Pickard says that a robust system of public-funded media is essential for America democracy. “

“Victor Pickard: . . .’So I would identify the three major problems facing the U.S. today in terms of our media system and how it functions within a democratic society would be the collapse of local journalism, the defunding of our public media, and the what we might think of as runaway consolidation of our news media’. . .”

Read the full interview at:

https://newrepublic.com/article/204495/transcript-america-three-media-crises-fix

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

Media Health Coverage Adequate?

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Article in Mediaite by Charlie Nash, 12/15/25

Headline:  “Jake Tapper Says He’s Covering Trump’s Health ‘All the Time’ Now Because He ‘Didn’t Ask as Many Questions as We Should Have’ About Biden”

“. . .During an interview with Tapper on Pod Save America, host and former Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor asked, ‘How do you think the media is handling, kind of, these growing instances of Trump falling asleep in meetings or maybe seeming like he’s losing a step? Like, when is it a critical mass that it becomes book-worthy’? ”

“It’s a great question,” replied Tapper. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediaite.com/media/tv/jake-tapper-says-hes-covering-trumps-health-all-the-time-now-because-he-didnt-ask-as-many-questions-as-we-should-have-about-biden/

Where Are Media Mergers Heading?

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Article in Electronic Frontier Foundation by Katherine Trendacosta, 12/10/25

Headline: “The Best Big Media Merger Is No Merger at All”

“. . .It’s important to recognize this as we see more and more media mergers. These mergers are not about quality, they’re about control. . .”

“. . .Media companies keep announcing mergers and acquisitions. They’ve been doing it for a long time, but it’s really ramped up in the last few years. And these mergers are bad for all the obvious reasons. There are the speech and censorship reasons that came to a head in, of all places, late night television. There are the labor issues. There are the concentration of power issues. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/12/best-big-media-merger-no-merger-all

Pressure on Broadcast News

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Article in Poynter, by Tom Jones, 12/12/25

Headline:  “Donald Trump’s mission to get CNN sold”

Subhead: “It’s one thing for the president of the United States to dislike a network. It’s quite another to get personally involved in the network’s sale.”

“There’s no doubt about it at this point. President Donald Trump has great interest in what happens to CNN.

“CNN is a part of Warner Bros. Discovery. And, at the moment, WBD is in a tug-of-war between being sold to Netflix or being taken over in a hostile bid by Paramount.

“That sets up this interesting equation. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2025/donald-trumps-mission-to-get-cnn-sold/

Criticizing – Part of Journalism

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Emily Bell and Heather Chaplin, 12/11/25

Headline:  “The Future of Journalism After Gaza”

Subhead:  “Examining an ongoing crisis for press freedom—and how to manage security risks going forward.”

“. . .According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, it took only ten weeks at the end of 2022 for Israel to kill more journalists in Gaza than had previously been killed in any one country over an entire year. The attacks have not relented in the three years since: while barring international journalists from entry, the Israeli military has treated journalists inside Gaza as acceptable collateral damage and even, at times, explicit targets. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/kicker/future-journalism-gaza-committee-to-protect-journalists-idf-israeli-military-deadliest-year.php

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Article in Common Dreams by James Zogby, 12/10/25

Headline:  “The Media Is Behind the Times: Criticizing Israel Is No Longer a Political Liability”

Subhead:  “Israel’s war on Palestinians has taken a toll, both on that state’s favorable ratings with US voters and on the policies these voters want their government to take to rein in Israeli behaviors.”

“US voters’ attitudes towards the Israeli Palestinian conflict have changed, but media commentators and political consultants haven’t figured that out. They are stuck in the past with outdated assumptions about the electorate and as a result continue to operate from an old playbook. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/criticize-israel-us-politics

Saudis and American Media

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Article in Status by Brian Lowry, 12/12/25

Headline:  “Hollywood’s Saudi Serenade”

Subhead:  “With its backing of Paramount’s WBD bid and Vision 2030 plan, Saudi Arabia wants to establish a major foothold in media. But in Hollywood, buyer and seller should beware.”

“On Tuesday, a downpour temporarily shut down Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah, as famous Hollywood faces huddled in the coastal city. That felt like an apt metaphor for a week that saw David Ellison-led Paramount launch a hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery with assistance from ‘petrostate’ money, reflecting the Saudi focus on media and the unpredictable risks that come with it. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/hollywood-s-saudi-serenade

Bannon – Epstein – Mainstream Media?

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Article in Media Matters by John Knefel & Sophie Lawton, 12/11/25

Headline: “Mainstream news coverage almost totally ignored Bannon’s extensive ties to Epstein”

Subhead: “Bannon and Epstein exchanged hundreds of emails and texts. Most leading newspaper articles didn’t mention their history, and broadcast news ignored it entirely.”

“Media Matters reviewed print and online articles from the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post, as well as weekday episodes of ABC’s Good Morning America and World News Tonight, CBS’ Mornings and Evening News, and NBC’s Today and Nightly News and the networks’ Sunday morning political talk shows (ABC’s This Week, CBS’ Face the Nation, and NBC’s Meet the Press) from November 12 through December 8 for articles and segments about Jeffery Epstein. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/steve-bannon/mainstream-news-coverage-almost-totally-ignored-bannons-extensive-ties-epstein

Not Only Media . . .

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From Political Dictionary

Article in FAIR by Jim Naureckas, 12/10/25

Headline:  “FBI Is Making an Enemies List—and Most Corporate Media Didn’t Even Check It Once”

“The Trump FBI is drawing up an enemies list that could encompass well over half the US public. . .”

“Congratulations—you may be headed for Attorney General Pam Bondi’s “list of groups or entities engaging in acts that may constitute domestic terrorism. ‘Terrorism,’ of course, is the magic word that strips you of all sorts of legal protections, especially in the post-9/11 era. . .”

“. . .virtually no corporate media outlets covered this. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/fbi-is-making-an-enemies-list-and-most-corporate-media-didnt-even-check-it-once/

Media Decimation

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Article in Status by Natalie Korach, 12/10/25

Headline:  “Media’s Unhappy Holidays”

Subhead:  “Penske Media cuts mark the latest tremors in a brutal year for media jjobs, as rolling layoffs and mergers leave newsrooms across the country in an anxious holding pattern.

“Barely a few months after imposing a new return-to-office mandate—a move seen internally as an effort to thin the ranks—Jay Penske has quietly moved to initiate another round of cuts within his Hollywood media empire, Status has learned. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/media-layoffs-penske-washington-post-cbs-news