Editorial Content

Press Freedom Essential!

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Article in Poynter by Ren LaForme, 4/2/25

Headline:  “Max Frankel on how news became the oxygen of our liberty”

Subhead:  “In a foreword written after 9/11, the late New York Times editor captured journalism’s essential role — and warned what happens when we forget it”

“. . .only honest and reliable news media could instruct the world in its vulnerability, summon Americans to heroic acts of rescue, and ignite the global search for meaning and response. Only trusted news teams could discern the nation’s anxiety, spread words of hope and therapy, and help to move us from numbing fear toward recovery.

Here, then, lies above all the ultimate demonstration of the danger that Americans invited when they lost their interest in the world beyond the self and in serious news coverage of those other realms. Another generation has been awakened, summoned to recognize that dependable news occupies a precious but vulnerable place in our society. . .”

“News is not neutral. Like literature, the most important news dwells on stories of conflict, on the rivalries and casualties of life. Yet while conflict is universal, so is the human desire to avoid and reduce it. And so news also serves the armies of reform and implicitly holds out hope and a faith in progress. . .”

Since a free and open society is, by definition, a constantly self-correcting organism, it is constantly nourished by news that exposes flaws and failures and so stimulates debate about how to overcome them. News is the enemy of certainty, and therefore of tyranny.

https://www.poynter.org/ethics-trust/2025/max-frankel-september-11-2001/

Is Fox News in Pain?

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Article in Media Matters by Staff, 4/3/25

Headline:  “Fox Business host confused why media are covering the economic pain of Trump’s tariffs on Americans”

“Charles Payne: ‘This is mind boggling to me that the media is focused on pain, pain, pain’ ”

“STEVE DOOCY (CO-HOST): ‘First thing they talked about Charles, the number one issue and that is tariffs. And one of the things that Lawrence was asking about was the pain on the average American and J.D. Vance said it can’t be fixed overnight. Ultimately costs will probably go up, there will be some pain. But the big question is, do people get the idea that this is for greater good? . . .’ ”

” ‘This is what’s really amazing to me, and unfortunately I hear it on our network and a lot of networks, that somehow we all want a good GDP, we all want a good economy, but does it have to come at the expense? Is it patriotic to always stay in debt, is it patriotic to spend my entire paycheck so that the economy is good? Is it patriotic so that my kids can’t afford to go to college, I don’t have a retirement, I don’t have a decent home, is that patriotic? Is our patriotism tied to Wall Street or should it be tied to our own personal ability to achieve the American dream? We need to rethink all of this.’ ”

https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-friends/fox-business-host-confused-why-media-are-covering-economic-pain-trumps-tariffs

Media Tiptoeing Through . . .

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Article in The New Republic by Parker Molloy, 3/26/25

Headline:  “Renaming Reality: Trump’s Gulf Power Play and Media’s Timid Response”

Subhead:  “News outlets revealed their editorial backbones when covering NASA astronauts’ splashdown.”

“When NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams splashed down last week after more than nine months in space, they landed in more than just water—they landed in a live demonstration of how quickly media organizations will bend to political pressure.

“The body of water where their capsule touched down has been called the Gulf of Mexico for over 400 years. But since Trump signed an executive order renaming it the ‘Gulf of America’ earlier this year, news outlets have suddenly found themselves navigating turbulent editorial waters, revealing quite a bit about their institutional backbone in the process.

“Oliver Darcy at (the always excellent) Status captured this phenomenon perfectly in his analysis over the weekend. ‘When news anchors tiptoe around the name Gulf of Mexico,’ he wrote, ‘it’s not just semantics—it’s a glimpse at how the press starts to flinch under political pressure.’ Darcy pointed out how this kind of linguistic control is a classic authoritarian tactic: ‘In China, Taiwan doesn’t exist—at least not as a country. On official maps, it’s a province. The government enforces strict language about Taiwan’s status, shaping how its people—and the rest of the world—talk about it.’ ”

https://newrepublic.com/article/193157/trump-gulf-america-media-timid-response

Some Media Use Benign Neglect

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Article in FAIR by Conor Smyth, 2/20/25

Headline: “Leading Papers Give Two Cheers for DOGE”

“. . .The Fourth Estate is tasked with serving as a check on abuses of power. But US media were not designed for this.

“Though critical in much of their reporting, corporate outlets have at the same time substantially legitimized the project of DOGE. For one, longstanding fearmongering about government spending in the news sections of corporate outlets has elevated precisely the right-wing vision of government animating DOGE.

“Even more worryingly, however, criticism of DOGE by major editorial boards has been weak, and in some cases has been overshadowed by these boards’ support for the ideas behind DOGE, or even for DOGE itself. . .”

https://fair.org/home/leading-papers-give-two-cheers-for-doge/

Media Deja Vu

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 3/19/25

Headline:  “MAGA Media’s Musk-querade”

Subhead:  “Right-wing media stars once raged against ‘unelected elites’ wielding government power—now, they’re fawning as Donald Trump hands Elon Musk the keys to federal agencies, despite glaring conflicts of interest.”

” It’s prime time on cable news, and beneath the glow of the studio lights, a monologue erupts. The anchor excoriates the president for having ‘skirted the Senate confirmation process’ and ’empowered’ unelected individuals ‘to oversee major offices within the federal government,’ railing against a system where they ‘operate only under the supervision of the White House.’ The words are dripping with indignation, warning of a government where power is handed to unvetted individuals, accountability is nonexistent, and a radical reshaping of the U.S. government is underway.

“ ‘In essence, a select group of unconfirmed, unvetted individuals are now at the helm of a shadow government right here in the U.S.,’ the anchor warns.”

“. . . But the clip isn’t from 2025. It’s from Sean Hannity on Fox News in the summer of 2009, raging against Barack Obama’s appointment of so-called ‘czars.’. . .”

https://www.status.news/p/right-wing-media-elon-musk-hypocrisy

WAPO Goes Down Slippery-Slope

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Article in The Guardian by Marina Dunbar, 3/10/25

Headline:  “Top Washington Post columnist quits after piece critical of Bezos is scrapped”

Subhead:  “Ruth Marcus dissented from paper’s new opinion policy of supporting only ‘personal liberties and free markets’”

“Washington Post associate editor and top political columnist Ruth Marcus is reportedly resigning following the decision by the CEO, Will Lewis, to kill her opinion column critical of the billionaire owner Jeff Bezos’s latest changes to the paper.

“ ‘It is with great sadness that I submit my resignation as columnist and associate editor of the Washington Post,’ Marcus wrote in a letter addressed to Lewis and Bezos and posted on X by a New York Times media reporter.

“Last month, Bezos announced changes to the opinion section that appeared to more closely align the Post with the political right, saying that only columns that supported ‘personal liberties and free markets’ would henceforth be published.”

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/mar/10/washington-post-ruth-marcus-resigns

Washington Post Cracking Up?

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Article in Mediaite by Kathrun Wilkens, 3/3/25

Headline:  “Exclusive: Marty Baron on Jeff Bezos, The Washington Post, and Trump’s Crackdown on the Press”

“A few months after legendary journalist Marty Baron was hired as the top editor of The Washington Post in 2013, billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos bought the paper.

During his eight years leading The Post — a dramatic run that included Donald Trump’s first term in office and ten Pulitzer Prizes for the paper — Baron maintained a good relationship with Bezos and has praised the billionaire for standing up to Trump’s efforts to crack down on coverage in the years since his retirement in 2021.

In Trump’s second term, Baron fears Bezos has abandoned his resolve to maintain the independence and credibility of The Post.

The billionaire made waves last week by announcing a shift in the paper’s editorial policy. In a rare public statement, he declared that The Post’s opinion section would now advocate for “personal liberties and free markets,” and not print opposing viewpoints on those subjects.

https://www.mediaite.com/podcasts/exclusive-marty-baron-on-jeff-bezos-the-washington-post-and-trumps-crackdown-on-the-press/

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Article in The Atlantic by George Packer, 3/1/25

Headline:  “The Washington Post Is Dying a Death of Despair”

“How does a free press in this country die? Probably not the way Americans imagine. It’s unlikely—though not impossible—that heavily armed police are going to raid newspaper offices, confiscate computers, and haul editors and reporters off to jail. Media websites probably won’t go dark under government bans. Pro-regime militias with official backing won’t light a bonfire of anti-regime books and magazines on Pennsylvania Avenue. The demise of independent journalism in the United States will be less spectacular than the notorious examples of other times and places—as much voluntary as coerced, less like a murder than a death of despair.”

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/03/bezos-restrictions-editorial-independence/681878/?gift=I4LGsilsOekK9WrXBxktmnSsD3Fe4VPgZUp5v32UrZc&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

 

Extra! Extra! Get Yer News by Algorithm!

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Article in The Guardian by Lois Beckett, 3/3/25

Headline:  “LA Times to display AI-generated political rating on opinion pieces”

Subhead:  “Los Angeles paper’s ‘Insights’ tool comes after months of public debate between opinion staff and billionaire owner”

“Some Los Angeles Times opinion pieces will now be published with an artificial intelligence-generated rating of their political content, and an AI-generated list of alternative political views on that issue, the paper’s biotech billionaire owner announced on Monday.

“The new AI “Insights” feature will only be applied to a range of opinion content in the paper, not its news reporting, according to a public letter announcing the change from Patrick Soon-Shiong, the medical entrepreneur who bought the Los Angeles Times in 2018.

“he AI-generated tool “operates independently” from the paper’s human journalists, and “the AI content is not reviewed by journalists before it is published”, the Los Angeles Times noted in a summary of the new feature.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/03/la-times-ai-opinion-rating

State Media Control?

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Podcast on NPR On he Media, by staff  2/28/25

Headline:  “The New ‘State Media.’ Plus, Podcasters Are Running the FBI.”

“Breaking from a century of tradition, the White House says it will seize control of the press pool covering the president. On this week’s On the Media, the new administration is prioritizing access for an array of far-right influencers and news outlets. . . ”

“Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Anna Merlan, senior reporter at Mother Jones covering disinformation, technology, and extremism, to discuss the White House’s latest move to control the press pool covering the president. Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Brandy Zadrozny, senior reporter at NBC News covering the internet, to discuss the rise of Dan Bongino, from right wing podcaster to Donald Trump’s new pick for Deputy Director of the FBI, and his history of anti-FBI rhetoric.”

https://www.npr.org/podcasts/452538775/on-the-media

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Article in Mother Jones by Anna Merlan, 2/25/25

Headline:  “Meet the New State Media”

Subhead:  “How the second Trump administration grants access and status to conspiracy theorists, propagandists, and far-right influencers.”

“. . . From the moment Trump returned to office, his second administration has prioritized giving access and status to an array of far-right influencers and news outlets, including figures with checkered pasts and thin or nonexistent journalistic credentials. In doing so, the administration has created a swell of flattering media coverage, a gauzy bubble around its every decision, no matter how destructive or incoherent. This new state media displays unquestioning loyalty, and its propaganda pipeline is speedier than ever, ensuring that every executive order or new move by the Department of Government Efficiency is greeted with rapturous pseudo-reporting the moment it’s announced.

As part of this new order, the White House press briefing room is now chock-full of conservative podcasters, influencers, and representatives of right-wing media outlets. Nine days after Trump reassumed office, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt took to the podium for her first briefing to announce that the White House would encourage what she called ‘new media voices’ to apply for press passes, including ‘independent journalists, podcasters, social media influencers, and content creators.’

“ ‘Starting today,’ she added, ‘this seat in the front of the room, which is usually occupied by the press secretary staff, will be called the “new media” seat. . .’

“This new crop of people who have been given extremely good access are not journalists.

“ ‘For the most part, this new crop of people who have been given extremely good access are not journalists in the traditional sense ‘ says Margaret Sullivan, executive director of the Craig Newmark Center for Journalism Ethics and Security at Columbia University and a former public editor for the New York Times.

“ ‘They’re closer to propagandists than journalists,’ Sullivan adds. ‘I don’t know if you could call it ‘coverage. It’s positive exposure for the Trump administration. They’ll be part of a cheering squad.’ ”

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/02/donald-trump-press-room-conservative-media/

 

New Muzzle for the Media?

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Article in The Guardian by Anna Betts, 2/28/25

Headline:  “Ex-Washington Post editor Marty Baron rebukes Bezos: ‘betrayal of free expression’ “

Subhead:  “Lauded former editor ‘appalled’ by billionaire newspaper owner’s overhaul of opinion section to narrow focus”

“Marty Baron, a highly regarded former editor of the Washington Post, has said that Jeff Bezos’s announcement that the newspaper’s opinion section would narrow its editorial focus was a “betrayal of the very idea of free expression” that had left him ‘appalled’.

“In an interview with The Guardian, Baron also said: .’I don’t think that [Bezos] wants an editorial page that’s regularly going after Donald Trump.’

“On Wednesday, the billionaire newspaper owner and Amazon founder sent an email to Post staffers announcing that the newspaper’s editorial section would shift its editorial focus and that only opinions that support and defend “personal liberties” and “free markets” would be welcome, and other viewpoints ‘will be left to be published by others’.

“Bezos’s announcement was met with criticism and resulted in the departure of the newspaper’s opinions editor, David Shipley. Baron, who was executive editor of the Washington Post from 2012 until 2021 and is one of the most esteemed figures in American journalism, blasted Bezos’s decision.

“There’s been a long tradition at the Post of having a variety of opinions on the opinion pages and that’s part of its heritage,” Baron said. ‘Bezos supported that since he acquired the paper, he advocated for that internally, but his most recent decision represents a real betrayal of the heritage of the Post and a betrayal of the very idea of free expression.’ ”

“Baron said that news organizations including the Post have traditionally honored the principle of free expression by allowing a wide variety of views on the opinion pages, but that Bezos’s decision on Wednesday ‘does exactly the opposite’ and ‘dishonors free expression, which is the most fundamental personal liberty of American citizens’ ”.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/28/marty-baron-jeff-bezos-washington-post