Corporate Media

Media Consolidation & Intimidation

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Article in FAIR by Pete Tucker, 10/8/25

Headline:  “MAGA’s Little Helpers: Sinclair, Nexstar and the Consolidation of Broadcast TV”

“When Jimmy Kimmel made his dramatic return to ABC’s airwaves on September 23, I was eager to be one of the over 6 million who tuned in. Only I couldn’t, at least not on TV.

That’s because the local ABC station in the DC area, WJLA, is owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Network. And the right-wing network refused to air the Jimmy Kimmel Show! on any of its 38 ABC affiliates. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/magas-little-helpers-sinclair-nexstar-and-the-consolidation-of-broadcast-tv/

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Article in Mother Jones by Monika Bauerlein, 10/8/25

Headline: “Nice Little TV Network You Got There”

Subhead: “How easily has Trump rolled corporate media? So much more easily than he probably expected.”

“The most basic American freedom, the first one enumerated in the Constitution, the right to say whatever the hell we please, including and especially about the powerful, was no longer reliable—for a celebrity employed by one of the world’s biggest media corporations, and thus for any of us.

Read the full article at:

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/10/cbs-news-bari-weiss-free-press-corporate-media-nice-little-tv-network-trump/

In the Shredder?

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Article in Daily Beast by Janna Brancolini, 10/6/25

Headline:  “Murdoch Paper Shreds Trump’s ‘Self-Destructive’ Fiasco”

“Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal blasted President Donald Trump’s tariff policy as “self-destructive folly” in response to plans to bail out farmers whose markets the administration has destroyed.

“Trump is considering a $10 billion relief package for soybean farmers, who have seen their sales plummet, thanks to the president’s trade war with China, which has hit American soybeans with a 23-percent import tax. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/rupert-murdoch-paper-shreds-donald-trumps-self-destructive-tariff-fiasco/

 

New CBS News Head Faces Right

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Article in The Guardian by J. Oliver Conroy, 10/6/25

Headline:  “Bari Weiss’s ascension to top of CBS News highlights the political winds”

Subhead:  “US media giants have bowed before Maga after Trump’s many lawsuits and the Jimmy Kimmel firestorm”

“Paramount Skydance, the newly merged conglomerate which owns CBS News, has hired the journalist Bari Weiss as the network’s editor-in-chief – and acquired the Free Press, the publication Weiss co-founded in 2021 as a challenger to the establishment media, for a reported $150m.

“Weiss has made her career as a center-right critic of progressivism, and the Free Press is a contrarian, loosely conservative and ardently Zionist publication that views itself as a speaker of hard truths and protector of free discourse. . .”

(More articles below) – Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/oct/06/bari-weisss-cbs-news-analysis

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