Corporate Media

Media Consolidation Threat

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News Release from Free Press by Staff, 8/5/25

Headline:  “Press Freedom Groups Tell FCC: Media Consolidation Poses Grave Threat to Independent News and Information in the United States”

Subhead:  ” ‘Allowing for even more media consolidation poses too great a risk to our democracy, and to the free press on which it depends.’ “

“WASHINGTON — On Monday, 16 leading press freedom groups, civil liberties organizations and labor unions urged the Federal Communications Commission not to move forward with plans to loosen media ownership limits before it fully assesses the negative impacts media consolidation has had and will have on local news and information in the United States.

Earlier this summer, the FCC asked for public comments on changing or eliminating a longstanding rule that limits the size and national reach of giant broadcasters — like Sinclair, Nexstar and Fox Corporation — which already own hundreds of local stations across the country.

“Our chief concern regards the impact further consolidation of media ownership will have on the independence of the nation’s press and the vitality of its local journalism,” wrote the groups, including the NewsGuild CWA, Free Press, Open Markets Institute, Reporters Without Borders-USA, the Society of Professional Journalists, the National Coalition Against Censorship, Project Censored, Writers Guild of America East and Writers Guild of America West, among others. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.freepress.net/news/press-freedom-groups-tell-fcc-media-consolidation-poses-grave-threat-independent-news-and

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Article in Common Dreams by Jessica Corbett, 8/5/25

Headline:  “Press Freedom Coalition to FCC: Don’t Ditch Checks on Corporate Media Consolidation”

Subhead:  “The 16 groups urge the agency “to uphold its obligation to promote competition, localism, and diversity in the U.S. media.”

“A coalition of 16 civil liberties, press freedom, and labor groups this week urged U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to abandon any plans to loosen media ownership restrictions and warned against opening the floodgates to further corporate consolidation.

“Public comments on the National Television Multiple Ownership Rule were due to the Federal Communications Commission by Monday—which is when the coalition wrote to the FCC about the 39% national audience reach cap for U.S. broadcast media conglomerates, and how more mergers could negatively impact “the independence of the nation’s press and the vitality of its local journalism. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-fcc

No Reporting on Evil

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Article in Common Dreams by Tim Karr, 7/31/35

Headline: ​ “Why Is So Much of Corporate Media Caving to Trump?”

Subhead:  “A new ranking of the 35 largest media conglomerates finds a systemic failure to protect democracy against authoritarianism.”

“The rules of authoritarianism are pretty simple: Do as the leader says… or else.

This lopsided power equation runs counter to the checks and balances that are baked into the DNA of any healthy democracy. . .”

“Free Press this week released the inaugural Media Capitulation Index to examine how this information ecosystem is fairing nearly 250 years later. This sweeping investigation analyzes and rates the independence of America’s 35 largest media companies, including the many conglomerates that have recently caved to pressure from an authoritarian and corrupt Trump administration.

“The findings are sobering. After digging into the many failures of America’s hyper-commercialized media system, we present a series of recommendations to help dig the United States out of the authoritarian quicksand into which we’re sinking, and build toward a more independent, democratic, diverse, and free press. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/corporate-media-caves-trump

Mapping the Media Bias

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Article in The Contrarian by Josh Levs, 7/31/25

Headline:  “The media’s geographic bias strikes again”

Subhead:  “A lone shooter in New York leads to nonstop coverage, while other shootings are ignored.”

“The big news networks like to claim that they cover the entire country. That no matter where you live in the United States, they’re operating with you in mind. Sure, they might be broadcasting from New York City, but really they’re focused just as much on you as they are on their metropolis.

“Then comes a day like Monday.

“A horrible shooting in New York City did not just lead the big cable news networks in prime time; it overtook much or all of them. A lone gunman who killed four people and then himself was, to these networks, the country’s top story.

“The same cannot be said for Reno, Nevada, where a man killed three people outside the largest casino that same day. Nor the gas station in Detroit where two people were killed.

Read the full article at:

https://contrarian.substack.com/p/the-medias-geographic-bias-strikes

Another media failure?

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Article in FAIR 7/31/25 by Shirlynn Chan

Headline:  “Media Sidelined Deadly Consequences of Trump’s Reconciliation Bill”

“President Donald Trump on July 4 signed into law an omnibus reconciliation bill, branded in MAGA propaganda (and much of corporate media) as the ‘Big Beautiful Bill.’ . . .”

“FAIR’s Belén Fernandez (7/9/25) closely examined the dramatic lack of coverage of the vast expansion of the government’s anti-immigrant capacities. But the deadly consequences of the other aspects of the bill were also remarkably underexplained to the public.

“To see how major media explained the contents and consequences of the reconciliation bill to the public before its enactment, FAIR surveyed New York Times, Washington Post, CNN and NPR news coverage from the Senate’s passage of the final version of the bill on July 1 through July 4, day Trump signed the bill into law. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/media-sidelined-deadly-consequences-of-trumps-reconciliation-bill/

Declining Newspapers Ads?

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Article in Poynter by Rick Edmonds, 7/31/25

Headline:  “Did Craigslist decimate newspapers? Legend meets reality.”

Subhead:  “Craig Newmark’s simple site was hailed as a disruptor and blamed for the collapse of classifieds. But journalism’s business failures ran deeper.”

“The decline of newspaper print classifieds and the ripple effects that gutted newsrooms began, by many accounts, in 1995. That’s when Craig Newmark invented Craigslist, the homely but oh-so-successful site that matches buyers and sellers, mostly for free, with only a few listings carrying a modest charge.

“Did Craigslist drive the downfall of print classifieds?

“ ‘I’ve always wondered about that,’ Newmark said in a Zoom interview July 1. ‘I think it had an effect.’

“But portraying him and the list as torpedoing an otherwise great business model is way overblown, he still believes. Citing an influential essay by Thomas Baekdal, Newmark contends that the root of newspapers’ trouble was the loss of readers. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2025/did-craigslist-kill-newspapers-poynter-50/

“Good Friends”?

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Article in NPR by David Folkenflik, 7/29/25

Headline:  “Trump lawsuit against Murdoch and ‘Wall Street Journal‘ turns personal”

Subhead:  “President Trump’s defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and its powerful owner has taken a personal turn.”

In the legal filings — and on social media — Trump says he personally told media mogul Rupert Murdoch that the racy birthday greeting he had supposedly sent two decades earlier to the late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein had been faked and did not exist. Murdoch’s Journal reported it anyway, despite Trump’s warning.

Now, Trump is asking a federal judge in Miami to compel the man he once called ‘my very good friend Rupert Murdoch’ to answer his lawyers’ questions under oath within 15 days of the order. Trump’s legal team acknowledges that the ink is barely dry on the lawsuit — there is no schedule of court deadlines yet — but argues that Murdoch is unlikely to testify in person whenever a trial occurs due to his advanced age and health issues. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.npr.org/2025/07/29/nx-s1-5482955/trump-epstein-murdoch-deposition-lawsuit?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

Media on Life Support?

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Article in The Guardian by Robert Reich, 7/29/25

Headline:  “US press and publishing We are witnessing the silencing of American media”

Subhead:  “From the Washington Post to CBS, companies are caving to Trump. This is how democracy dies”

“. . .Friends, this is how democracy dies.

“The silencing is happening across America because Trump cannot stand criticism, because he’s vindictive as hell, and because he’s willing and able to use every department and agency of the federal government to punish any media corporations or universities that allow criticism of him.

“Shame on any media outlet or university that allows Trump to silence it. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jul/30/trump-silencing-of-american-media

Which Media Capitulated Most?

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Article in American Crisis by Margaret Sullivan, 7/29/25

Headline:  “American Crisis exclusive: The ‘Media Capitulation Index’ “

Subhead:  “A sweeping report — with rankings — on the decline of independence in our corporatized media”

“If you’ve been paying attention to the news lately, you know that the media has been on a capitulation-and-kowtowing spree.

“To tick off a few cases: The parent company of CBS News paid $16 million to settle a suit brought by Donald Trump over a (routinely edited) ’60 Minutes’ interview of Kamala Harris. Another Trump suit — against ABC News — raked in $15 million, and garnered a note of regret; many legal experts think ABC could have won the case had they tried. The owner of the Washington Post, Jeff Bezos, ordered an editorial endorsing Harris to be killed last fall; and Bezos was front and center at Trump’s inauguration after contributing $1 million to the festivities. Fox News drastically cut back on its coverage of the Jeffrey Epstein story after Trump charged it was a non-story and a hoax. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://margaretsullivan.substack.com/p/american-crisis-exclusive-the-media

Journalistic Values Kaput?

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Article in The New Republic by Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Steven Tian, Stephen Henriques, 7/28/25

Headline: “The “Tiffany Network” Shatters as Paramount-CBS Sells Its Soul Cheap”

Subhead: “The new, post-merger head of CBS donated to Biden—but apparently wants to make Bari Weiss a network star. How worried should we be?”

“The sellout of the Columbia Broadcasting System’s journalistic values to commercial interests was foreshadowed in 1976, in Sidney Lumet and Paddy Chayefsky’s dark comedy satire Network; in James Brooks’s 1987 romantic comedy Broadcast News; and in Michael Mann and Eric Roth’s 1999 drama The Insider, explicitly calling out the revered CBS. However, it was insider Shari Redstone who completed the dreaded desecration last week.

“Surely the capitulation to President Trump by Redstone, controlling owner of Paramount-CBS, to secure Federal Communications Commission clearance to sell her dwindling media empire to David Ellison of Skydance and Redbird Capital was a moment of tragic irony. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://newrepublic.com/article/198492/paramount-cbs-sells-soul-trump-cheap

Unlikely Free Press Ally?

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Article in The Guardian by Jane Martinson, 7/28/25

Headline:  “Murdoch v Trump: why the flawed media titan could be the final protector of press freedom”

Subhead:  “His companies may have hacked phones and broadcast lies, but Murdoch appears ready to battle the president to uphold editorial freedoms”

“. . .More than two decades later, is the crisis in the US media, one in which everything seems about to be lost, motivating Murdoch to take on the most powerful man in the world? It is as good a reason as many of those given over the past week for the fact that the billionaire whose Fox News channel has acted as a Trump cheerleader throughout is now, alone among US media titans, preparing to do battle in the courts.

“Trump’s onslaught on the US media – withdrawing federal funds, banning reporters and launching multi-billion-dollar lawsuits – has led once-renowned defenders of media freedom such as the Washington Post, ABC News and CBS to crumple, either changing their editorial policies or agreeing to apparently frivolous settlements . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jul/28/rupert-murdoch-donald-trump-press-freedom