Events

Current Activites of FCM and in the past

Not in the News? – it Didn’t Happen

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Article in The New Republic by Parker Molloy 4/7/25

Headline:  “Print Media to Mass Protests: ‘Please Turn to Page 18’ ”

Subhead:  “Here’s how newspapers across America minimized one of the largest demonstrations since Trump’s return to power.”

“On Saturday, April 5, hundreds of thousands of Americans took to the streets across the nation to protest the harmful policies of Donald Trump’s second term. The ‘Hands Off!’ demonstrations represented what organizers called ‘the largest single day of protest since Trump entered office’ with more than 1,100 rallies scheduled in all 50 states. From Chicago to Washington, D.C.; Asheville to Boston; Milwaukee to Louisville—people showed up in droves.

“CNN reported that organizers estimated “millions” turned out coast to coast for these protests that united civil rights organizations, veterans, women’s rights groups, labor unions, and LGBTQ advocates. Even with conservative estimates, we’re talking about one of the largest mobilizations in recent American history.

“But if you picked up a major print newspaper the next day? You’d barely know it happened.

“The New York Times relegated the protests to an image below the fold with a caption instructing readers to turn to page 18 for more information.”

https://newrepublic.com/article/193683/print-media-downplay-mass-protests

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Article in Fair by Miranda C. Spencer, 4/4/25

Headline: “The Resistance Will Not Be Televised ”

“. . . Their common thread is opposition to Trump’s fascistic ideology and rapid rash of likely unconstitutional executive orders, such as freezing federal budget outlays approved by Congress, the mass firing of government workers and the dismantling of institutions by the ‘Department’ of Government Efficiency by unelected ‘adviser’ Elon Musk.

But if you relied on articles and broadcasts from the legacy national news media during early 2025, you wouldn’t know the extent of grassroots action prompted by this discontent. A FAIR examination of five major outlets found that coverage of anti-Trump/pro-democracy protests . . . (January 22 to February 26) was minimal, and downplayed the significance of this opposition, especially around the inauguration. . . Mostly tepid coverage

“Broadcast coverage was abysmal. None of the four network shows in our study ran any reports focused on any of the three protest events. ABC World News Tonight mentioned none of the events, and GMA referred to only one of them in passing. In their coverage of the January 18 protests, CBS Evening News and Mornings gave more coverage to speculation about violent protest than they did to actual (nonviolent) protest. . .”

https://fair.org/home/the-resistance-will-not-be-televised/

 

For Media – His Word is Law

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Article in The Washington Post by Kara Voght, 3/24/25

Headline:  “In Karoline Leavitt’s world, Trump’s word is enough”

Subhead:  “The White House press secretary is shaming some members of the Washington media and fielding softballs from others — all with a self-assured smile.”

“. . . Since February, the White House has been exercising tighter control over the “pool,” a rotating group of journalists covering the president’s public activities when space is limited, serving as the eyes and ears of the entire press corps. .. .”

“On Feb. 25, S.V. Dáte, a reporter for HuffPost, was gearing up for his turn on pool duty the next day when he heard from the White House. ‘We actually can’t fit you in the pool tomorrow,’ a press aide texted.

“During Dáte’s previous turn in the pool rotation, he had asked Trump about a post JD Vance made on X, in which the vice president said that ‘judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.’  . . .”

“ ‘The vice president suggested that if the Supreme Court rules in a way that you don’t like, they could just enforce it by themselves,’ Dáte said. ‘Do you agree with that?’

“ ‘I don’t know even what you’re talking about,’ Trump replied. ‘Neither do you. Who are you with?’

“ ‘HuffPost, sir.’  ‘Who?’  ‘HuffPost.’

“ ‘Oh, no wonder,’ Trump said. ‘I thought they — I thought they died.’

On Feb. 26, the day Dáte had been scheduled for pool duty, was the first day the White House had taken over the pool. An Axios reporter got his slot. That afternoon, Dáte spotted Leavitt in the White House press workspace and asked her why he’d been singled out. She told him he should be ‘grateful’ that HuffPost was still allowed in the pool, according to two witnesses to the exchange.

For the full story, read:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/power/2025/03/24/karoline-leavitt-trump-press-secretary/

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Article in Mediaite by Alex Griffing, 3/21/25

Headline:  “Bernie Sanders Rips Trump In Fiery Takedown: Only a ‘Coward’ Sues Media For Reporting ‘Things You Don’t Like”

“Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) hit the road this week with rallies in the southwest, including one in Tempe, Arizona, on Thursday during which he called President Donald Trump a “coward” for suing media outlets he doesn’t like. . . ”

“In our form of government, unless you are a coward, you don’t sue the media because they report on things you don’t like. You don’t sue the Des Moines Register because they did a poll whose results you don’t like. In a democratic society, we understand that criticism and debate is what makes this country great. . .”

https://www.mediaite.com/politics/bernie-sanders-rips-trump-in-fiery-takedown-only-a-coward-sues-media-for-reporting-things-you-dont-like/

 

Complaints to Rt. Wing Media

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Article in Media Matters by Gideon Taafe, 3/20/25

Headline:  “Listeners keep calling in to right-wing radio shows to complain about Trump’s policies”

“In the past several months, right-wing radio shows have been receiving calls from audiences who are unhappy with the Trump administration’s policies. Listeners are sharing their stories of family members losing jobs, discussing anxiety about the economy, and expressing their disagreement with President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance’s handling of the Ukraine-Russia war.”

https://www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump/listeners-keep-calling-right-wing-radio-shows-complain-about-trumps-policies

Avoiding Media Kowtow

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Stephen J. Adler, 2/20/25

Headline:  “Fostering a Culture of Newsroom Independence”

Subhead:  “How to fight anticipatory compliance.”

“Media self-censorship, anticipatory compliance, capitulation, bending the knee. Whatever you call it, it represents one of the most insidious means by which people with power can squelch news reporting that doesn’t serve their interests. You don’t have to arrest or fire reporters—you just have to make them increasingly afraid that you will.

“Donald Trump’s second term—and the ascendancy of billionaire press antagonists—has already created an environment in which journalists feel more pressure than ever to self-censor or soften their coverage to ensure that they stay on legally and politically safe ground. How does a reporter, or a newsroom full of them, guard against sheltering in such truth-killing safe harbors? . . .”

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/fostering-culture-newsroom-independence-fight-anticipatory-compliance-self-censorship-bend-knee.php

Associated Press in Cross-Hairs

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Article in Axios by Marc Caputo, 2/17/25

Headline:  “Scoop: Why Trump targets AP“

“One of the big reasons President Trump is limiting AP reporters’ White House access is to protest what aides see as years of liberal word choices that the wire service’s influential stylebook spread across mainstream media, according to top White House officials.

“Why it matters: The trigger was the announcement by The Associated Press that it would continue using the 400-year-old “Gulf of Mexico” rather than switch to “Gulf of America,” as declared by Trump in a Day 1 executive order. But it turns out that broader underlying grievances made AP a target.

“The big picture: By spotlighting AP, Trump is amplifying Republican and conservative criticisms that the AP Stylebook, a first reference for most U.S. news organizations, shapes political dialogue by favoring liberal words and phrases concerning gender, immigration, race and law enforcement.”

“. . . Axios said in a statement Friday, ‘the government should never dictate how any news organization makes editorial decisions. The AP and all news organizations should be free to report as they see fit. This is a bedrock of a free press and durable democracy.’ ”

https://www.axios.com/2025/02/17/trump-ap-gulf-america-mexico

No-joke Media

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Article in Fast Company by Zachary Petit

Headline:  ” ‘ I won the Pulitzer Prize and I’m busking on a corner’: 3 top artists on the uncertain future of political cartooning”

“Editorial cartoons and illustration are fairly niche topics—or so I once thought. On Jan. 3, cartoonist Ann Telnaes published Why I’m quitting the Washington Post on her Substack. It detailed how the paper—owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, who attended Donald Trump’s second inauguration—rejected her cartoon of Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman, Los Angeles Times publisher Patrick Soon-Shiong and Mickey Mouse worshipping at the president-elect’s feet with bags of money. The next day, the story was international news.”

https://www.fastcompany.com/91262247/i-won-the-pulitzer-prize-and-im-busking-on-a-corner-3-top-artists-on-the-uncertain-future-of-political-cartooning?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

Paranoid About Media?

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Article in VOX by Rebecca Jenninga, 1/24/25

Headline:  “It’s not conspiratorial to be worried about social media’s rightward swing”

Subhead:  “Meta denies any funny business on Instagram in the aftermath of Trump’s inauguration. Should we believe them?”

“Many Instagram users this week had their scrolling interrupted by the bearded visage of our newly elected Vice President JD Vance. Suddenly it seemed that on the week of their inauguration, everybody on the app was following or being suggested to follow the official accounts of President Donald Trump and Vance (@POTUS and @VP, respectively).

“Chaos ensued. In group chats, on Instagram Stories, on X, and Bluesky, people frantically wondered what was up. Some, like pop stars Gracie Abrams and Demi Lovato, said that when they tried to unfollow the VP and POTUS accounts, the app wouldn’t let them until they attempted multiple times.

Meta, meanwhile, has been busy assuring users that nothing new or weird is going on here. The accounts for the POTUS and VP, including their followers, were automatically handed over to the new administration as is customary during a presidential transition, while the accounts for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris previously under those usernames would be duplicated in an archive account. They’ve said it ‘may take some time for follow and unfollow requests to go through’ but did not provide details when asked by the New York Times why that might be. Hashtags like #democrat were hidden, Meta said, due to ‘an error’ that affected many hashtags, not just left-leaning ones (those hashtags are now visible).”

https://www.vox.com/culture/396686/facebook-instagram-tiktok-conservative-trump