Information Overload

Unlimited Coverage?

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Article in AP by Bill L Barrow, 12/19/25

Headline:  “Trump gave an unusually partisan White House address. Should networks have given him the TV time?”

“ATLANTA (AP) — When Donald Trump delivered the first White House address of his second presidency Wednesday night, all major U.S. networks beamed his image and voice onto their airwaves, cable feeds and online platforms.

Americans ended up watching the Republican president stand in the Diplomatic Reception Room and deliver 18 minutes of aggressive, politically motivated arguments that misstated facts, blamed the nation’s ills on his predecessor, exaggerated the results of his nearly 11 months in office and amplified his characteristically gargantuan, immeasurable promises about what’s to come. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-address-tv-networks-c9704130f09f607f82f9e0054dfc3c02

CBS’s Bari Weiss – Waking-up

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Article in Status by Natalie Korach, 12/17/25

Headline:  “Weiss’ Wake-Up Call”

Subhead: “As her first major CBS News town hall draws underwhelming ratings, Bari Weiss gets a public crash course in the metrics of television success. Now, Status has learned she’s delayed a planned address to staffers about the network’s future.”

“In the days leading up to the holidays, Bari Weiss had planned to address CBS News staffers with a broader vision of where she sees the network heading under her new leadership. But by Tuesday, as early Nielsen numbers for her high-profile Erika Kirk town hall circulated—and headlines began using words like “flop”—those plans quietly changed. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/bari-weiss-cbs-news-erika-kirk-town-hall-ratings

Where Are Media Mergers Heading?

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Article in Electronic Frontier Foundation by Katherine Trendacosta, 12/10/25

Headline: “The Best Big Media Merger Is No Merger at All”

“. . .It’s important to recognize this as we see more and more media mergers. These mergers are not about quality, they’re about control. . .”

“. . .Media companies keep announcing mergers and acquisitions. They’ve been doing it for a long time, but it’s really ramped up in the last few years. And these mergers are bad for all the obvious reasons. There are the speech and censorship reasons that came to a head in, of all places, late night television. There are the labor issues. There are the concentration of power issues. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/12/best-big-media-merger-no-merger-all

Civility Not Fashionable Anymore?

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Article in AlterNet by Robert Reich, 12/2/25

Headline:  “Oxford’s ‘word of the year’ explains all you need to know about Trump — and the media”

“The publisher of the Oxford English Dictionary has named ‘rage bait’ its phrase of the year.

“Call it the monetization of rage. Rage has become a valuable commodity. (Always follow the money.)

“A growing number of online creators are making rage bait. Their goal is to record videos, produce memes, and write posts that make other users furious: conspiracy theories, lies, combustible AI-generated video clips — whatever it takes. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.alternet.org/oxford-word-of-the-year/

Our Algorithm Editors

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Article in Mediaite by Colby Hall, 11/25/25

Headline:  “You’re Not Being Manipulated by Algorithms. You’re Obeying Them”

“Last week, I wrote about Olivia Nuzzi’s remarkably swift media rehabilitation, and the response surprised me. That column argued that modern media rewards spectacle over substance, but it also hinted at something more profound: the performance isn’t just happening inside newsrooms. It’s happening inside us. . .”

“This dynamic is everywhere—including inside newsrooms. After the Nuzzi column ran, several journalists reached out with examples of what I’d call pre-censorship—not editors spiking stories, but writers and editors making quiet decisions based on fear of how an algorithm might respond. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediaite.com/opinion/youre-not-being-manipulated-by-algorithms-youre-obeying-them/

Media History Disappearing?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Liam Scott, 10/28/25

Headline:  “Who’s Going to Save Local Newspaper Archives?”

Subhead:  “Archivists worry in particular about photographs that have never been digitized.”

“The Smokehouse Creek Fire burned through the Texas Panhandle in 2024. . .”

“As it consumed the rolling hills around Canadian [Texas], Brown, whose family has owned the paper since the 1940s, was overcome by a different fear: that the fire would destroy the [Canadian] Record’s archive. “I would have been devastated,” she said. “It’s not just the history of this community. It’s the history of my family. It’s who we are. It’s what we’ve done. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/digitize-save-local-news-archives-prevent-lost-history.php

Hiding From Cameras?

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Article in Huff Post by Corey Townsend, 10/3/25

Headline:  “Maggie Haberman Says Why She Thinks Trump Has Avoided Cameras During The Shutdown”

“On Wednesday, the federal government shut down after Democrats and Republicans failed to reach a consensus on health care.line ”

“Maggie Haberman offered a theory on CNN Thursday as to why President Donald Trump has been relatively elusive during the government shutdown.

“During the segment, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins asked the New York Times journalist why she believed Trump “has not been in front of the cameras. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-avoid-cameras-why-haberman_n_68dff2e0e4b0dbcd325f3c16?origin=home-latest-news-unit

Scoffing at Legacy Media

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Article in Poynter by Stephanie Edgerly & Tim Franklin, 9/15/25

Headline: “A survey of Chicago news consumers shows Gen Z is tuning out local news”

Subhead: “Medill’s annual survey finds audiences drifting from TV and print, wary of AI, and turning to independent content creators.”

“The relationship between the news business and consumers of news is breaking down and reforming at a dizzying pace as digital technology gives audiences new ways to engage with information. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/local-news/2025/chicago-survey-gen-z-local-news-trends-2025/

Remember Media Duopoly Rules?

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Article in Poynter by Al Tompkins, 8/19/25

Headline: “Nexstar’s takeover of Tegna would require an overhaul of FCC ownership rules”

Subhead: “The proposed sale would exceed the FCC’s 39% cap, igniting debate among broadcasters, unions and press groups”

“Nexstar announced Tuesday that it intends to buy Tegna for $6.2 billion — a deal that has been rumored for weeks. To pull off what would be the biggest change in TV broadcast ownership history, however, the Federal Communications Commission would have to relax rules limiting how much of the country one company can reach with its over-the-air signal.. . ”

Read the full Article at:

https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2025/nexstar-tegna-fcc-ownership-rules-media-consolidation/

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Article in Freepress by Staff, 8/19/25

Headline: “Nexstar’s Unlawful Acquisition of TEGNA Is a Bad Deal for the Public “

“. . .The newly combined Nexstar entity, if allowed, would have 265 full-power television stations in 44 states and the District of Columbia and 132 of the country’s 210 television Designated Market Areas (or DMAs). The deal would violate the national broadcast-ownership cap, which the FCC lacks authority to increase or eliminate, as Free Press recently discussed in comments opposing the FCC’s proposed reexamination of this law. . .”

Read the full press release at:

https://www.freepress.net/news/nexstars-unlawful-acquisition-tegna-bad-deal-public

Outfoxed by Epstein?

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Article in The Washington Post by Jeremy Barr, 7/21/25

Headline: “As Trump comes for Murdoch media, Fox News faces a bind”

Subhead: “The network has sparingly covered the defamation lawsuit the president filed against its corporate sibling News Corp. and the Wall Street Journal.”

“On Fox News, the network’s pro-Trump opinion hosts often trumpet the president’s latest attack on the mainstream media. That got a bit more complicated on Friday, when the president sued the Wall Street Journal, another part of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire.

“President Donald Trump filed suit in federal court in Florida, arguing that he was defamed by a July 17 story in the Wall Street Journal reporting that he sent a “bawdy” letter to the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein in 2003 to mark his 50th birthday. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/07/21/fox-wall-street-journal-lawsuit-trump/