Events

Article in Free Press by Staff, 12/17/25

Headline: “Trump’s Censorship Czar Faces Senate Grilling on Efforts to Silence and Control the Media; Backpedals on Earlier Acknowledgement of FCC Independence”

“During a Wednesday Senate oversight hearing, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr faced a thorough grilling from Commerce Committee Democrats — and even some Republicans . . .”

“. . . recent polling from The Economist and YouGov shows 68 percent of the American public found it “unacceptable” for the government to pressure broadcasters to remove programming that includes speech it disagrees with. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.freepress.net/news/trumps-censorship-czar-brendan-carr-faces-senate-grilling-fcc-efforts-censor-and-control-media

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Article in Huffpost by Sanjana Karanth

“Headline: “Trump FCC Stooge Tries tp Rewrite History on Jimmy Kimmel Firestorm”

Subhead: “FCC Chair Claims Agency Never Threatened To Pull License Over Kimmel”

“FFC Chairman Brendan Carr told senators on Wednesday he never threatened to pull ABC’s license over late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s employment, calling it “nothing more than projection and distortion by Democrats.”

Read the Full Article at:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/brown-university-shooting-rob-reiner-death_n_693fda79e4b0775c50782f40/liveblog_6942e501e4b0fd459eef59ca?origin=home-latest-news-unit

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Article in The Guardian by Richard Luscombe & Vhris Stein, 12/17/25

Headline:  “FCC chair suggests agency is not independent amid fears of Trump power-grab”

“Brendan Carr’s declaration to senators raised concerns of a further power-grab by the White House, amid concerns surrounding efforts by Donald Trump and his officials to exert greater control over independent agencies since his return to office in January.

“The FCC, Carr told the Senate’s commerce, science, and transportation committee on Wednesday, ‘is not an independent agency, formally speaking’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/17/trump-fcc-brendan-carr

Article in Common Dreams by Jessica Corbett, 10/13/25

Headline:  “Ceasefire Sparks Fresh Calls for Global Media Access to Gaza”

Subhead:  “Press groups are also demanding justice for the more than 200 journalists slaughtered in Palestinian territory over the past two years.”

“. . .’It is particularly critical for American journalists to overcome the Israeli government’s attempts to hide the aftermath of the US-funded devastation in Gaza,’ CAIR [Council on American-Islamic Relations] added. ‘Reporters must immediately receive access to Gaza so they can see and report on the consequences of the genocide for themselves’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.commondreams.org/news/journalism-in-gaza

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Article in Mother Jones by Moran Barkai and Paul TUllis, 10/13/25

Headline:  “Israeli Media’s Distorted View of the War in Gaza”

Subhead:  “While global news showed a humanitarian disaster, most outlets in Israel remained silent.”

“In December 2023, nearly three months after the October 7 massacre, the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies gathered members of the country’s media. . .”

“For months on TV, nationalism, grief, and revenge had mixed freely. Israeli victims’ testimonies were common, as were first responders’ accounts. The idea of a second Holocaust, requiring a massive military response, was a regular talking point. But the suffering in Gaza was hardly noted. By mid-December, close to 20,000 people in Gaza had been killed. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/10/israeli-media-gaza-channel-television-press-distorted-view/

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Article in FAIR by Drew Favekh, 9/27/25

Headline:  “When Palestinians Die in Israeli Captivity, US Media Almost Never Take Note”

“The different treatment accorded to the plights of Palestinian and Israeli prisoners by US corporate media illustrates a persistent double standard that treats some people as more human than others. . .”

“The lack of US media attention in 2025 cannot be attributed to a lack of either abuses or available leads. In July, an exposé by Israeli newspaper Haaretz (7/6/25) showed Megiddo Prison to be one of the more brutal of Israeli prisons. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/when-palestinians-die-in-israeli-captivity-us-media-almost-never-take-note/

The FCC announced last month, the audit of many broadcasting stations:  The list may be found in this link:

https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-25-673A1.pdf

Article in The Guardian by Margaret Sullivan, 9/5/25

Headline: “Why is much of the media ignoring questions about Trump’s health?”

Subhead:  “Most of the mainstream media is overly cautious in approaching the fair topic of the president’s health”

“Prestigious news organizations gave scant attention when, for several days recently, Donald Trump faded from public view. Other than some social media posts and some blurry golf-course images, the normally ubiquitous president seemed almost to disappear.

But most of Big Journalism gave that subject a pass. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/sep/05/trump-health-media-margaret-sullivan

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Liam Scott, 9/4/25

Headline:  “What’s in a Hand?

Subhead:  “The White House press corps gets credit for not falling for misinformation about Trump’s health. But is it missing the story again?”

” ‘How did you find out over the weekend that you were dead?’ It was Tuesday afternoon, and Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy was asking Donald Trump about the viral rumors that spread late last week, fueled by an uncharacteristic span of days without any public events, that the president was gravely ill.

“It’s fake news,” Trump replied . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/trump-health-misinformation-hand-social-media.php

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Article in Comic Sands by Alan Herrera, 9/4/25

Headline:  “Vance Gets Brutal Reminder After Accusing Media Of ‘Lying’ About Trump Being On His ‘Deathbed’ “

Subhead:  “Vice President JD Vance accused the media of claiming that President Trump was dying after he wasn’t seen for three days—except no reputable media sources claimed that.”

“Vice President JD Vance was called out after accusing media outlets of claiming that President Donald Trump was dying after he wasn’t seen for three days even though no reputable media sources had published reports saying so. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.comicsands.com/vance-media-trump-deathbed

Article in Media Matters by Matt Getz, 9/3/25

Headline: “Donald Trump killed the Jeffrey Epstein story on the right”

Subhead: “MAGA propagandists care about Trump, not principles or victims”

“President Donald Trump has succeeded in getting his media supporters to stop talking about his old friend Jeffrey Epstein, the deceased sex offender and financier. Prominent MAGA media figures ignored a wave of Epstein news on Tuesday, signaling that Trump’s pressure campaign has paid off with their silence — even as (or, perhaps, because) his own corrupt involvement in the story has grown. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/donald-trump-killed-jeffrey-epstein-story-right

Article in The New York Times by Kate Conger, 8/15/25

Headline:  “Judge Blocks F.T.C. Investigation of Media Matters“

Subhead:  “The agency began looking into the liberal watchdog group’s research critical of Elon Musk and his social media platform, X, in May.”

“A federal judge granted an injunction on Friday blocking the Federal Trade Commission’s investigation of Media Matters, saying the inquiry violated the free speech rights of the liberal watchdog group, which had published research critical of Elon Musk and his social media platform, X. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/15/technology/media-matters-ftc-musk-injunction.html

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Article in Washington Post by Scott Nover, 8/15/25

Headline: “Judge blocks FTC probe into liberal media watchdog:

Media Matters won a preliminary injunction on First Amendment grounds after a judge found the agency was retaliating against its reporting on Elon Musk’s X.”

Read the full article at:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/08/15/media-matters-ftc-injunction/