Legal Info

Group Legal documents

Mega Media Money Melting?

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Headline:  “Trump Library Saga Takes Dark Turn: Where Did Millions in Funding Go?”

Subhead:  “Four huge media conglomerates forked over $63 million in ‘settlements’ earmarked for Trump’s presidential library. Democrats are trying to track that money—and the latest developments don’t inspire confidence.”

“Last year, four huge companies pledged tens of millions of dollars to help fund the creation of Donald Trump’s presidential library, a planned monstrosity in Miami that—in a perfect Trumpian twist—may also double as a hotel. The companies—ABC; Paramount; Meta; and X, formerly Twitter—entered into the agreements with Trump to settle legal cases he’d brought against them which experts had dismissed as dubious.

“After the companies agreed to these shakedowns—sorry, settlements—the fund created to receive donations was dissolved last September. Since then, Senate Democrats have been asking: What happened to the money?. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://newrepublic.com/article/209254/trump-library-funding-millions-media-companies

Critical Reporting Survives

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Jem Bartholomew, 4/20/26

Headline:  “Lawfare”

Subhead:  “A string of court decisions have gone against Donald Trump and his administration, blocking efforts to shut down critical reporting.”

“. . .here is what we do know: In a string of court cases, judges have ruled against Trump and his administration’s efforts to shut down critical journalism. These decisions have revealed that many of Trump’s executive actions and legal threats against the press are hollow—and exposed the capitulation by some prominent outlets as needless, cowardly, and self-defeating.

Trump has sought to use defamation suits to intimidate the press, only to see a number of them shatter on impact with the court system. . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/lawfare-trump-court-decisions-first-amendment-new-york-times-wall-street-journal-whca-correspondents-dinner.php

Another Legal Domino Falls?

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Article in The Guardian by Richard Luscombe, 4/13/26

Headline:  “Trump media company drops lawsuit against the Guardian”

Subhead: “TMTG drops defamation claim over report that prosecutors were investigating payments received as possible money laundering”

“Donald Trump’s media corporation has dropped a defamation claim against the Guardian and two other defendants over a report that federal prosecutors were investigating $8m in payments the company received from entities with ties to Vladimir Putin as possible money laundering. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/13/trump-media-guardian-lawsuit

No Defamation?

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Article in The New York Times by Katie Robertson, 4/13/26

Headline:  “Judge Dismisses Trump’s Suit Against The Wall Street Journal”

Subhead:  “The judge said President Trump had not “plausibly alleged” that The Journal published the article with actual malice.”

“A federal judge on Monday dismissed President Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the publisher of The Wall Street Journal over its report of his lewd birthday greeting to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

“Judge Darrin Gayles in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida said in his decision that Mr. Trump had not ‘plausibly alleged’ that The Journal published the article with “actual malice,” a legal standard meaning that it knew what it was publishing was false or had acted with reckless disregard as to its accuracy. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/13/business/media/trump-wall-street-journal-lawsuit-dismissed-epstein.html

Throw the Book at Pentagon Media?

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Article in The Guardian by Jefemy Barr, 4/9/26

Headline:  “US judge rules Pentagon has violated his order in press access case”

Subhead:  “Paul Friedman grants New York Times’s motion to force implementation of earlier ruling that gutted restrictive new policy”

“A federal judge on Thursday ruled that the Pentagon has not complied with an order last month that undid much of a restrictive new press pass policy implemented by the Department of Defense, and ordered the return of credentials to seven New York Times reporters.

The newspaper, which sued the Trump administration in December, had urged the judge to compel implementation of his 20 March ruling after the Pentagon responded to the judge’s determination by creating a new press access policy, which the newspaper called an ‘end-run’ around the judge’s ruling. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/apr/09/pentagon-judge-press-access-case

Reporters Enjoy New DOD Press Room

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Ivan L. Nagy, 4/2/26

Headline:  “Pushed Out. Reinstated. Pushed Out Again.”

Subhead:  “Last week, New York Times reporters were supposed to return to the Pentagon’s corridors. Instead, the entire press corps was banished to an annex, and the Times is back in court.”

“Ordered to let journalists back in, the Pentagon instead banished them to an annex on the far side of its parking lot. A Pentagon reporter called that ‘an elaborate troll.’ Another told me it was ‘a bullshit move.’ ‘How weird is that?’ Paul Friedman, a United States District judge, remarked at a hearing on Monday. ‘Is it Catch-22? Is it Kafka?’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/news/new-york-times-pentagon-kicked-removed-reinstated-hegseth-department-war-credentials.php

Watch out for the Judicial Teeth!

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Article in The New York Times by Erik Wemple, 4/2/26

Headline:  “Trump’s Media-Bashing Is Coming Back to Bite Him in Court”

Subhead:  “Judges have cited attacks on the press by the president and his appointees when ruling against the government in at least three court cases.”

“President Trump in April 2025 posted some thoughts on Truth Social about public media, in all caps: ‘Republicans must defund and totally disassociate themselves from NPR & PBS, the radical left “monsters” that so badly hurt our country!’

“This was not a watershed moment. In both his social media posts and his off-the-cuff comments to reporters, Mr. Trump’s broadsides against traditional news outlets have become the tap water of his political rhetoric.

“But they’re now haunting him in court. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/02/business/media/trump-media-courts.html

Stopping Media Merger?

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Free Press Press Release by Staff, 3/23/26

Headline:  “Unlawful Approval of Largest Broadcast Merger in History”

Subhead:  “Notice of appeal to the D.C. Circuit comes as FCC Chairman Brendan Carr continues his campaign to censor and control a free and independent press in the United States”

“WASHINGTON – On Monday, Free Press, the Communications Workers of America, the United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry, Inc. and Public Knowledge filed an appeal of the Federal Communications Commission’s rushed approval of the largest broadcast television merger in U.S. history.

“The challenge, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, asks the court to stop the merger of Nexstar and Tegna before it proceeds and the companies combine all operations, and asks the court to set aside the FCC’s approval of the deal. The groups assert that the merger is unlawful — in contradiction of laws established by Congress and of FCC procedures, too. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.freepress.net/news/public-interest-coalition-sues-fcc-unlawful-approval-largest-broadcast-merger-history

RSF Saving Public Media

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Article in Reporters Without Frontiers by Staff, 3/23/26

Headline:  “USA: RSF and allies file second lawsuit to save public broadcaster VOA“

“Following courtroom victories in a first legal case to save Voice of America (VOA), Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has joined a second lawsuit against the Trump administration to protect the international public broadcaster’s journalism. RSF’s first lawsuit established that the Trump administration’s attempt to dismantle VOA and its parent organization, the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), was illegal. This second case intends to protect VOA’s legally mandated editorial independence and prevent Trump from turning it into a propaganda outlet. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://rsf.org/en/usa-rsf-and-allies-file-second-lawsuit-save-public-broadcaster-voa

News Restored in Pentagon

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Article in Reuters by Jack Queesn, 2/20/26

Headline:  “Pentagon’s limits on press access unconstitutional, US judge rules”

“. . .A federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration’s restrictive Pentagon press access policy, which threatens journalists with being branded security risks ​if they seek information not authorized for public release.

“The lawsuit by the New York Times in Washington, D.C., federal court alleged that policy changes ‌by the Defense Department last year gave it free rein to freeze out reporters and news outlets over coverage the department did not like, in violation of the Constitution’s protections for free speech and due process. The government disputed that characterization and said the policy is reasonable and necessary for national security. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-judge-blocks-restrictive-pentagon-press-access-policy-2026-03-20/

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Article in New York Times by Erik Wemple

Headline:  “Judge Rules Pentagon Restrictions on Press Are Unconstitutional”

“A federal judge tossed parts of the Pentagon’s restrictions on news outlets, saying they violated the First Amendment, in a lawsuit brought by The New York Times”

“A federal judge on Friday ruled that the Pentagon’s restrictions on news outlets violate the First Amendment and issued an order tossing parts of the department’s policy, handing a victory to The New York Times, which filed suit in December over the restrictions.

Judge Paul Friedman, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, also ordered the Pentagon to restore the press passes of seven journalists for The Times. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/20/business/media/pentagon-press-restrictions-new-york-times.html