Corporate Media

Imperial Media

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Article in The Washington Post by Caroline O’Donovan and Will Oremus, 10/4/25

Headline:  “This billionaire Trump ally and his son are building an unprecedented media empire”

Subhead:  “Larry and David Ellison’s holdings span movies, TV networks, CBS and soon a stake in TikTok, in a paradigm-shifting portfolio with huge influence.”

“Journalists at CBS News reeled on Friday as they digested news reports that opinion journalist Bari Weiss, a fierce critic of the mainstream media, would become the editor in chief of the straitlaced legacy brand. . .”

Two months earlier, there had been cautious optimism in the Midtown Manhattan newsroom, according to two CBS News staffers who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private information. . .”

“But the newsroom hasn’t heard directly from Ellison since that day, leaving many apprehensive about plans for the network, the two staffers said. The anxiety has been reinforced in recent weeks . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/10/04/larry-david-ellison-media-trump/

 

 

More Wapo News

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Article in Daily Beast by Ewan Palmer, 10/2/25

Headline:  “Bezos’ Washington Post Hires New MAGA-Friendly Columnists”

“Jeff Bezos’ Washington Post has take a massive stride in its turn to the right by hiring three new conservative writers after losing high-profile liberal columnists.

“The Post is bringing in Kate Andrews, Spectator magazine’s U.S. deputy editor; Dominic Pino, economics editor at National Review; and Carine Hajjar, a Boston Globe Editorial Board member and frequent Fox News talking head, as opinion writers. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/jeff-bezos-washington-post-hires-new-maga-friendly-columnists-kate-andrews-dominic-pino-carine-hajjar/

Holding an Empty Bag

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Article in Ars Technica by Staff, 9.26.25

Headline: “Sinclair gets nothing it asked for, puts Jimmy Kimmel back on anyway”

Subhead: “Sorry, Brendan Carr: Sinclair and Nexstar stop preempting Kimmel on ABC affiliates.”

“Conservative broadcaster Sinclair is putting Jimmy Kimmel Live! back on the air. In a statement today, Sinclair said it will end its preemption of the show on its ABC affiliates starting tonight, even though ABC and owner Disney haven’t accepted its request for an ombudsman and other changes.

Facing the threat of lost advertising dollars, Sinclair said it ‘received thoughtful feedback from viewers, advertisers, and community leaders representing a wide range of perspectives.’ . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/09/sinclair-gets-nothing-it-asked-for-puts-jimmy-kimmel-back-on-anyway/

Pay to Play?

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Article in FAIR by Janine Jackson, 9/26/25

Headline:  “‘The White House Is Shaking Down Media Owners to Get Them to Follow the Trump Agenda’:

Subhead:  “CounterSpin interview with Tim Karr on media capitulation”

“. . .And this is all part of a project by the Trump administration to basically control the message, to control the media. And they have been more effective in this administration than he was in his first administration, of figuring out where those pressure points are.

And those pressure points are often with massive media corporations that have business before government. They’re seeking approval of a merger, as is the case with Nexstar and TEGNA, as was the case for Paramount. . .”

And in order to get onto the government’s good side, they have to capitulate. They have to do whatever the chairman of the FCC, Brendan Carr, tells them to do, and whatever the White House tells them to do. / /”

Read the full article at:

Passed Time?

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Article in Daiy Kos by Alex Samuels, 9/26/25

Headline: “Broadcasters throw in the towel on censoring Jimmy Kimmel”

“Well, well, well … looks like Sinclair and Nexstar are bringing back ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ beginning Friday. The broadcasters had yanked the late-night show last week over Jimmy Kimmel’s comments about the alleged murderer of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and the MAGA movement. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/9/26/2345643/-Broadcasters-throw-in-the-towel-on-censoring-Jimmy-Kimmel?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=top_news_slot_4&pm_medium=web

 

 

2 Broadcast Monopolies?

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Article in Daily Dot by Lindsey Weedston, 9/25/25

Headline: “Who is Sinclair? Behind the TV conglomerate refusing to air Jimmy Kimmel”

Subhead: “They were caught scripting what local news anchors said in 2017. “

“Sinclair Broadcast Group catapulted back into the spotlight following the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel over his Charlie Kirk comments. The U.S. telecommunications conglomerate has steadily bought up a huge share of local news stations and is accused of forcing journalists to cite scripts that promote right-wing talking points.

“Along with Nexstar, Sinclair is now the focus of concerns around broadcast monopolies and the fate of free speech in America. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.dailydot.com/news/who-is-sinclair-tv-conglomerate-jimmy-kimmel/

Clock is Ticking

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Article in Poynter by Tom Jones and Nicole Slaughter Graham, 9/26/25

headline: “Opinion | A TikTok deal ticks closer to done

Subhead: “The deal would keep TikTok alive in the U.S. — but raises questions about who will shape what millions of young users see.”

“After months of delays and extended deadlines, it appears a deal that would allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States on a permanent basis is in its final stages.

That’s good. And, well, maybe not so good. . .”

“Aside from being able to say he ‘saved’ TikTok, he has other reasons to see that this deal goes through. Among the potential investors are tech and media giants Larry Ellison, Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, and Michael Dell. Ellison is founder of Oracle. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2025/tiktok-deal-trump-executive-order-china/

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Tory Lysik, 9/25/25

Headline: “Where the White House Is Leading Us with TikTok“

Subhead: “The Trump administration is pioneering a new form of political communication. The imminent prospect of a deal to reshape TikTok’s future in the United States could give the White House even more power.”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/tiktok-white-house-press-ellison-trump-yass-murdoch.php

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Article in The Guardian by Blake Montgomery, 9/24/25

Headline:  “Murdoch’s TikTok? Trump offers allies another lever of media control”

Subhead:  “Under the known terms of the deal with China, TikTok would get a new board, including Murdochs and Ellisons”

“Donald Trump revealed last week the US and China are close to inking a deal to let TikTok continue operating in the US. Details are not final, but should the agreement go through as has been reported, the owners of the US’s most powerful cable TV channels may soon also steer the nation’s most influential social network. The arrangement would gift Trump’s billionaire allies a degree of control over US media that would be vast and unprecedented. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/24/tiktok-trump-murdoch-ellison

Booted Off the Air?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Carolina Abbott Galvao & Riddhi Setty, 9/25/25

Headline: “Local ABC Affiliates Are Getting Slammed”

Subhead:  “Brendan Carr, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, promised to bring power to community stations. But it’s their corporate owners who make the big decisions—while regional reporters and station managers take the heat.”

“Fewer and fewer local broadcasters are independently owned: “In the early eighties, it was north of fifty companies that owned or controlled 90 percent of broadcast media. And I think over the last decade or so, it’s become five or six, depending on how you break it down,” Reed Showalter, the former antitrust enforcer now running for Congress in Illinois, said. . .”

“. . .”Louis Wall, the president of Sagamore Hill Broadcasting, a privately owned broadcaster in Georgia . . . who considers himself to be “very supportive” of the First Amendment, has suddenly had to navigate a complex and often contradictory set of political, ideological, and financial concerns. “Broadcast is under attack from so many different mediums and video sources, we don’t need another piece of our armor or another piece of our programming to be lost,” he said.

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/news/local-abc-affiliates-nexstar-sinclair-getting-slammed.php

 

Flag Flying Over All Media?

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Article in The Atlantic by David Karpf, 9/24/25

Headline:  “The MAGA Media Takeover”

Subhead:  “Trump and his powerful friends are creating a dangerous moment for free speech.”

“American mass media has been transformed in these early months of President Donald Trump’s second administration. We’re about 35 weeks into a term that will last for 173 more, and in that time, we have seen a tech titan gut a once-great newspaper in an apparent act of capitulation to the commander in chief, government accounts gleefully spreading hateful memes on X (the far-right platform owned by a billionaire tech oligarch), a defamation lawsuit filed by Trump against The New York Times (and quickly dismissed by the judge as ‘superfluous’), and, of course, the assault on free speech carried out by Trump’s Federal Communications Commission chairman. Big things can happen very quickly. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2025/09/maga-media-takeover-tiktok/684351/