Events

Current Activites of FCM and in the past

Poor Climate for Journalists

by


Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Peter Schwartzsteibm 4/22/25

Headline: “How Climate Change Foils Climate Reporting”

Subhead: “Floods are hard to cover when the road is washed out.”

“. . .Climate change is replete with brutal ironies. To those must be added the ways in which climate is increasingly sabotaging journalists’ attempts to cover it. Places are being rendered inaccessible by extreme weather events. Gear is failing or breaking or simply proving unfit for purpose in tougher conditions. In this sometimes literal morass of mud and mind-boggling temperatures, this all-important story is getting harder to tell. . .”

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/climate-change-reporting-challenges.php

Protestors and the Media

by


Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Lauren Watson, 4/17/25

Headline:  “Student Journalists Wrestle with Censoring Their Own Work”

Subhead:  “Navigating a surge in requests to take down previously published material.”

“In early March, Dylan Hembrough, the editor in chief of The Alestle, the student newspaper at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, published a story about protests on campus over federal funding cuts and censorship in science. The following day, the paper received a message from one of the protesters, who had been featured prominently in photographs and an interview, asking to have their name and image removed. At the time, Hembrough said, the paper didn’t have any policy allowing for such a post-publication takedown. ‘So, in that case, we ended up denying it’ . . .”

“In the past few weeks, eight students at SIUE have had their visas revoked by the Trump administration, Hembrough said—part of a group of more than thirteen hundred students nationwide who have been detained or lost their visas, sometimes for infractions as minor as participating in a protest.. . .”

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/student-journalists-censorship-protests-takedown-requests.php

 

Airwaves Belong To All Of Us

by


Article in The Nation by Victor Pickard, 4/15/25

Headline:  “We Must Save Public Media to Change It”

Subhead:  “We need public media more than ever—it’s too precious to let Trump defund it. But to live up to its democratic promise, we must support public media to serve our needs.”

“he US public media system is under a multi-pronged attack from a hostile government. It’s under investigation by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for purportedly airing commercials, and by Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who recently led a congressional hearing—dubbed the “Anti-American Airwaves”—to target what she claims is public media’s liberal bias. . .”

“Government attacks on public media are as old as Big Bird. Ever since Richard Nixon feuded with public broadcasting during its earliest days, every Republican administration, except Gerald Ford’s, has tried to cut public media funding. . .”

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/public-broadcasting-media-democracy/

Not in the News? – it Didn’t Happen

by


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

– – – – –

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

by


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/

by


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

by


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

by

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