Information Overload

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/

Reporters Defeat Themselves

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Article in Poynter by Kelly McBride, 7/15/25

Headline:  “Reporters, stop with the double-barreled questions”

Subhead:  “Asking two questions at a time reduces your chances of getting either of them answered”

“The first question from the press pool to President Donald Trump and NATO General Secretary Mark Rutte was a great one: ‘What was the tipping point for you in making this decision, was it a conversation with President Putin, was it a piece of intelligence?’ . . .”

Trump was just about to answer that question when the reporter, Jacqui Heinrich of Fox News, tacked on a second question: ‘And why are you giving them 50 more days?’ she said, referring to the secondary tariffs that Trump is threatening as a punishment if Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn’t broker a peace within 50 days.

They are both good questions. But when reporters ask two questions at the same time, they weaken their chances of getting either of them answered. It gives the respondent the opportunity to choose either or neither question. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2025/reporters-stop-with-the-double-barreled-questions-donald-trump-nato-ukraine/

Musk Fans Heckle Journalists

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Article in The Verge by Mack DeGeurin, 6/29/25

Headline: ” ‘We are the media now’: why Tesla’s robotaxis were dominated by Elon Musk superfans”

Subhead:  “Journalists from the newsroom weren’t allowed inside the robotaxis and were mocked for asking riders basic questions”

“Over the years, Tesla has built part of its reputation on hosting big, bold events to generate authentic hype for upcoming releases. The robotaxi launch in Austin, Texas, last week wasn’t one of them.

“Coverage of the rollout was dominated by a close-knit cohort of Tesla influencers and Elon Musk superfans, many of whom are openly supportive of the CEO’s vision. Journalists and tech bloggers who might have been more critical of the technology were not only excluded but also actively ridiculed and mocked by Tesla fans and some of their followers for attempting to ask basic questions about the service. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theverge.com/tesla/694333/tesla-robotaxi-media-influencers-musk-fans

 

Media are Changing

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Article in Daily Kos by Muriel Vieux, 6/16/25

Headline:  “Media’s changing landscape”

“One of the good things happening in our media landscape today that has been interesting to observe, is seeing anchors that have been fired or let go from mainstream media, creating their own YouTube or other streaming media services, and it’s their transformation that is interesting to watch.

“Those anchors that I use to yell at on my screen, to effing pick a lane, to stop flip-flopping seem to have found their footing and that tells me a lot (more) about how anchors are constrained when it comes to main stream media. Not only are their stances clearer, but their personalities are also punching through now that they don’t have to restrict themselves. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/6/16/2328404/-Media-s-changing-landscape?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

Too Scared to Report?

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Article in The Atlantic by David Frum, 6/4/25

Headline:  “Why Are the Media So Afraid of Trump?”

Subhead:  “How Trump is bullying the media and why it’s working”

“On this episode of The David Frum Show, The Atlantic’s David Frum opens with a warning about how Donald Trump’s second term has brought a more systematic and punishing assault on American media, through regulatory pressure, retaliatory lawsuits, and corporate intimidation. . .”

“David closes the episode by reflecting on the recent media overhyping of President Joe Biden’s age issues. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/archive/2025/06/david-frum-showwhy-are-the-media-so-afraid-of-trump/683029/

Journalism or Propaganda?

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 5/21/25

Headline:  “The Right’s Biden Revisionism”

Subhead:  “For years, right-wing media pushed a warped narrative of Joe Biden as a brain-dead puppet controlled by sinister, shadowy forces. Now they’re demanding vindication—but they do not deserve it.”

“. . .Tuesday, Tapper declared that “conservative media was right and conservative media was correct” about Joe Biden’s mental state.

“But that’s not quite true. Or rather, it simplifies a much more nuanced media and political reality. While it’s fair to argue that the press should have covered Biden’s age with greater urgency—and to acknowledge that Biden clearly lost a step during his presidency—that’s a far cry from validating the deeply irresponsible narrative right-wing media spun for years: that the president of the United States was a mentally incapacitated puppet with dementia, unaware of his own surroundings, and propped up by a “shadow government” running the country in his name.

“That was never journalism. It was propaganda. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/biden-health-media-journalists

Calling for Kinder Media

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Article in UPI by Paul Godfrey, 4/112/25

Headline: “Pope Leo XIV tells media to help promote global peace by ‘disarming’ words”

“Pope Leo XIV on Monday called for a kinder, gentler media, one that speaks up for those with no voice and in defense of free speech, and expressed solidarity with reporters imprisoned around the world for doing their job.

“In his first meeting with the more than 1,000 journalists who make up the Vatican press corps, Leo thanked them their work covering the papal transition and urged them to use their platform to foster peace by taking care over ‘how people and events are presented’. . .”

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2025/05/12/Vatican-Pope-says-media-must-promote-peace/4361747052191/

Kitsch in the Media Now?

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Article in The Guardian by David Smith, 5/10/25

Headline:  “Crass, flashy, outrageous: Trump media blitz redefines meaning of presidential”

Subhead:   “White House communications have adopted a Trumpian air that’s ‘either completely malevolent or completely brilliant’ “

“. . .Over the past three-and-a-half months, the US president and his team have launched a relentless media offensive based on crass language, flashy tactics, shock-value videos and social media memes and posts that are outrageous by design. They have used platforms and personalities to bypass traditional outlets and directly engage the Maga (Make America great again) base. They have found new ways to drown out critics, goad opponents and antagonise the world.

“The embrace of viral far-right culture has nurtured a parallel information ecosystem through pro-Trump outlets enjoying a significant growth in influence, access to power and financial investment. . .”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/10/trump-media-white-house-communications

Broiling the Media?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Kelly Stout, 5/2/25

Headline:  “Chat, Are We Cooked?”

Subhead:  “Trump and the people who work for him don’t care about journalistic norms. Is it time for journalists to rethink them, too?”

“he first hundred days of Trump 2.0 brought forth more material than infinity reporters typing on infinity laptops for infinity years could possibly report. The ‘flood the zone’ strategy—brought to us from the mind of Steve Bannon, the MAGA media strategist—has been around since at least 2018, but now, as the New York Times put it, ‘the flood is bigger, wider and more brutally efficient’; the same article also included the phrases ‘overwhelming sensory overload,’ ‘drinking from a fire hose,’ and ‘gasping in outrage.’ Each of these metaphors hit the news media directly, and hard. And then, on March 11, they gushed into the Signal chat of one journalist in particular. . .”

https://www.cjr.org/feature-2/signal-chat-atlantic-goldberg-trump-norms-ethics.php