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Unhinged Journalist-Harassment?

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Article in Ars Technica by Jon Brodkin, 7/28/26

Headline:  “eBay pays $46M to journalists it targeted in bizarre harassment campaign”

Subhead:  “eBay sent bloody pig mask and other macabre deliveries to journalists’ home.”

“eBay and three former executives agreed to pay nearly $56 million in a settlement over a macabre campaign of cyberstalking and harassment that targeted two journalists in 2019.

“As we’ve previously written, the case involved deliveries of live cockroaches, a funeral wreath, a book about surviving the loss of a spouse, and a bloody pig mask to the home of a couple who run a news website. There were also harassing messages sent via email and Twitter, and an attempt to install a GPS tracking device on the victims’ car. Criminal charges resulted in guilty pleas and prison terms for former eBay employees. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/07/ebay-former-execs-pay-56m-to-settle-bloody-pig-mask-harassment-case/

Media, Drinking it all in?

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Article in The Hill by Dominick Mastrangelo. 7/27/26

Headline:  “The Atlantic calls Patel lawsuit an ‘assault’ on Constitution in dismissal bid”

“The Atlantic is asking a judge to toss a lawsuit brought by FBI Director Kash Patel against the outlet over its reporting alleging excessive drinking and questioning his performance in the job. . .”

“The Atlantic, in a statement on Monday, called Patel’s suit ‘meritless’ and said it was asking the court to permit it to begin seeking factual discovery from the FBI and the Department of Justice — including documents and depositions of key individuals, which it called ‘appropriate given the allegations in this matter’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5993569-atlantic-patel-defamation-suit/

White House Needs Plumbers Again?

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Article in The Washington Post by Michael Birnbaum, 7/24/26

Headline:  “To track down government leakers, Trump supports pursuing journalists”

Subhead:  “Hours before addressing the White House press corps, the president endorsed using subpoenas against reporters in national security leak investigations.”

“President Donald Trump took an aggressive stance toward Justice Department investigations of journalists Friday, saying that the way to pursue ‘treasonous’ leaks was to seek information from the journalists who received the leaked material.

“The comments — which came hours ahead of a rerun of the White House correspondents’ dinner, where the president was to address the reporters who cover him at a gala that honors the freedom of the press — amounted to a presidential endorsement of his administration’s legal battles against journalists. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/07/24/identify-government-leakers-trump-supports-pursuing-journalists/

30 Years for Box of Magazines

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Article in FAIR by Dorothee Benz, 7/22/25

Headline:  “Prairieland Was a Test, and Corporate Media Failed”

” ‘Thirty-Year Sentence for Transporting Zines Is a Five-Alarm Fire for Free Speech,’ an Intercept headline (6/26/26) shouted days after a federal court sentenced eight anti-ICE protesters to a combined 450 years in prison. . .”

“One of the defendants, Daniel Sanchez Estrada, was not even at the protest. He was, as the Intercept’s headline correctly reported, sentenced to 30 years because he moved a box of zines. . .”

“Yet the extremely harsh sentences for Sanchez Estrada and the others did not set off any alarm bells among corporate media. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/prairieland-was-a-test-and-corporate-media-failed/

Media Monopoly Deal Delayed Again

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Article in The Wrap by Benjamin Lindsay, 7/23/26

Headline:  “Paramount-WBD Deal Delayed Again as Judge Extends Restraining Order by 2 Weeks”

Subhead:  “With Thursday’s ruling, the earliest David Ellison’s deal for Warner Bros. Discovery can close is Aug. 17″

“The Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger was delayed further on Thursday after a federal judge extended the temporary restraining order pausing the deal by an additional two weeks, pushing the earliest date David Ellison could close the $110 billion deal to Aug. 17. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.thewrap.com/industry-news/deals-ma/paramount-warner-bros-restraining-order-extended-2-weeks/

Subpoena Against Reporters Burned

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Article in UPI by Stephen Feller, 7/23/26

Headline: “Justice Department withdraws subpoenas for New York Times reporters”

“The Department of Justice on Thursday agreed in court to withdraw subpoenas it sent to three journalists at the New York Times to force them to reveal their sources.

“The Justice Department ‘unilaterally’ withdrew the subpoenas after U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian threatened to quash them if it did not do so, ABC News and The New York Times reported. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/07/23/justice-department-withdraws-subpoenas-new-york-times/1801784850308/

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Article in The Guardian by Victoria Bekiempis, 7/23/26

Headline: “Trump’s DoJ drops effort to subpoena New York Times over Qatari jet story”

Subhead:  “Journalists had reported on security concerns about US president flying on $400m Air Force One plane from Qatar”

Read the article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/jul/23/new-york-times-reporter-subpoenas-withdraw

Dig Into Reporter Families Now?

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Article in Freedom of the Press Foundation by Staff, 7/20/26

Headline:  “Trump admin escalates attacks on journalists, probing family communications”

“The New York Times reported today that the Trump administration issued third-party subpoenas seeking communications not only of journalists’ phone and text records but those of their relatives, including spouses and parents.

“The subpoenas were part of the government’s investigation into the source of reporting that President Donald Trump’s Qatari-gifted Air Force One replacement was deemed unsafe to fly him back from the NATO summit. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://freedom.press/issues/trump-admin-escalates-attacks-on-journalists-probing-family-communications/

Paramount Prevalent Peril

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Article in The Guardian by Jeremy Barr, 7/17/26

Headline:  ” ‘Laws were broken’: multistate effort to stop Paramount’s $111bn merger heads to court”

Subhead:  “Attorneys general from 12 states are suing to block the Paramount-Warner Bros deal they say violates antitrust law”

“A last-ditch effort to block the merger between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) is heading to court as 12 Democratic state attorneys general attempt to stop the $111bn deal they say violates antitrust law and reduces competition in both the film and cable television industries.

“The lawsuit, which was filed on Monday, faces a crucial hearing on Friday to determine if a judge will temporarily pause the deal or allow it to continue toward approval. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/jul/17/paramount-warner-bros-merger

Media Precedent Still Valid?

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Article in The New York Times by Adam Liptak, 7/16/26

Headline:  “Could a 50-Year-Old Case Thwart Trump’s Attacks on the News Media?”

Subhead:  “The precedent said that ‘official harassment of the press’ is forbidden by the First Amendment.”

“It has been more than half a century since the Supreme Court issued its only decision on whether the First Amendment allows prosecutors to force reporters to testify about their confidential sources.

“The meaning of that precedent, Branzburg v. Hayes, is contested, and how the courts apply it may determine the fate of the Trump administration’s aggressive efforts to compel journalists to reveal their sources. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/16/us/politics/the-docket-supreme-court-press.html

Coercing Reporter to Reveal Sources

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Riddhi Setty, 7/15/26

Headline:  “Private Matters”

Subhead:  “Catherine Herridge, a former Fox News reporter, is being compelled to pay $800 a day until she reveals confidential sources.”

In 2003, Toni Locy, a former reporter for USA Today, published a series of articles about the FBI’s investigation into the 2001 anthrax attacks . . . Along the way, she reported on Steven Hatfill, a former Army scientist who was the initial focus of the FBI’s probe. In 2003, Hatfill filed a civil lawsuit under the Privacy Act. . . As part of his legal efforts, in 2004 he pressed Locy and other journalists to testify and reveal their sources.

In February of 2008, a federal judge held Locy in contempt of court for refusing to do so.

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/private-matters-catherine-herridge-fox-news-confidential-sources-reveal-privacy-act-lawsuit.php