Local News is Important

Article in Poynter by Phoenix Chapital, 7/16/25

Headline: “When the World Cup came to Kansas City, local journalists stayed local”

Subhead: “As global media descended on the city, Kansas City reporters found stories only local journalists could tell”

“As international media outlets flocked to Kansas City to cover the World Cup, local journalists responded to the global event by leaning even harder into what they do best: covering their own communities.

“Rather than trying to match the international press corps, Kansas City’s newsrooms found their advantage in telling stories only local journalists could tell. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2026/local-news-coverage-world-cup-kansas-city/

Rt. Media & Regime Change

Article in Media Matters by Matt Gertz, 7/9/26

Headline: “As Trump declares Iran ceasefire ‘over,’ right-wing media hawks push for ground troops, regime change — even nuclear strikes”

“Right-wing media hawks are floating a new wave of risky and at times bloodthirsty escalations after Iranian forces struck commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. retaliated by resuming military strikes, and President Donald Trump declared the long-shaky ceasefire with Iran “over.”

Fox News contributor and Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen wants to ‘destroy 100%’ of Iran’s defense industrial base and ‘set them back to the Stone Age militarily and then declare victory’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/trump-declares-iran-ceasefire-over-right-wing-media-hawks-push-ground-troops-regime-change

Rt. Wing Media Worry About Cuba

Article in Media Matters by Janos Balazs, 7/2/26

Headline: “Right-wing Spanish-language media caution that attacking Cuba won’t be as straightforward as the Maduro raid”

Subhead: “One guest said any potential U.S. military action in Cuba ‘would have to be much larger than Venezuela’ “

“As tensions have risen between the U.S. and Cuba, some Spanish-language right-wing media voices have cautioned that regime change in Cuba won’t be as easy as President Donald Trump’s raid to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in early January. While hosts have generally expressed support for such actions, they’ve claimed that the Cuban government is ‘more closed off’ than Venezuela; that former Cuban leader Raúl Castro has ‘the whole army as personal security’; and that ‘there is no Delcy Rodríguez’ in Cuba, referring to the former vice president of Venezuela who replaced Maduro. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/spanish-language-media/right-wing-spanish-language-media-caution-attacking-cuba-wont-be

Different Questions for Different Areas?


Article in Al Jazerra by Patrick Gathera 6/30/26

Headline: “At the World Cup, the media has set up a moral checkpoint”

Subhead : “While US and European players just get to play football, Global South footballers are questioned about politics.”

” ‘Why is it that African teams and Middle Eastern teams have to answer for what their governments are doing but European teams don’t?’ South African comedian Trevor Noah asked recently during a World Cup watch party.

“He was reacting to the questions Western journalists had lobbed at Iranian players following their games. But the question goes far beyond Iran. It speaks to a familiar hierarchy in global journalism: Some players are allowed to be athletes. Others are turned into ambassadors, defendants and moral exhibits. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2026/6/30/at-the-world-cup-the-media-has-set-up-a-moral-checkpoint

Media Turmoil – Newspaper Stands Out


Article in The New Republic by Perry Bacon, 6/29/26

Headline:  “The British Paper That Americans Are Rushing to Read”

Subhead:  Guardian US managing director Steve Sachs says the paper’s audience has grown vastly in the United States because it is free, independent, and global.”

“The news about the news has been terrible over the last year: CBS News taken over by Bari Weiss; Jeff Bezos pushing The Washington Post opinion section to the right; CNN, The New York Times, and other outlets often choosing to downplay the radicalism of President Trump so they can portray themselves as neutral and objective; numerous local and national outlets laying off reporters. But The Guardian US is the rare positive news media story. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://newrepublic.com/article/212480/british-paper-americans-rushing-read

Posterior Reporting

Article in Raw Story by Thom Hartman, 6/22/26

Headline:  “Opinion | The truth about Trump was finally blared across this newspaper’s front page “

“This weekend, the right-wing Italian daily Libero, a major conservative newspaper that shares a fair amount of Donald Trump’s politics, ran a one-word verdict on the President of the United States across its front page. The Italian word is coglione. The polite translation is ‘idiot.’ The translation that George Conway and half of social media reached for, and the one the paper plainly intended, is a good deal blunter than that and more dictionary accurate: ‘a–hole.’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.rawstory.com/raw-investigates/trump-meloni/

Did Press Cover Iraq or Iran Better?


Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Jem Bartholomew, 6/22/26

Headline:  “How’d We Do?”

Subhead:  “The press corps failed badly in the run-up to the US invasion of Iraq. Was coverage of the Iran war any better?

“. . .’Does this mean—whisper it—that overall the press has had a ‘good’ war, at least compared with the debacle of the run-up to Iraq? I’m still making up my mind. And I’m curious what CJR’s readers think about this—so do respond to this email or send me a note if you’d like to share your thoughts. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/howd-we-do-iran-war-press-corps-iraq-invasion-trump-bush-netanyahu-new-york-times-haberman-swan.php

Media Propaganda and Elections


Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Maddy Crowell, 6/1/26

Headline:  “The Battle for the American Mind”

Subhead:  “Lauren Chen, a right-wing influencer, ran an alleged Russian-backed media company until the DOJ shut it down. Now she’s back—with a new podcast.”

“. . .During the 2020 elections, according to a declassified intelligence briefing, there was strong evidence that Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, had interfered in favor of Trump. But the goal was essentially less about advancing the fortunes of any one candidate and more about fragmenting and polarizing the American electorate.. . .”

“To the extent that Russia’s 2016 operation was successful, that can be attributed in large part to its exploitation of a media landscape that had, increasingly, become a Wild West of alt-news sites such as the Daily Caller, Breitbart, Project Veritas, Newsmax, and Blaze TV. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/feature/the-battle-for-the-american-mind-lauren-chen-liam-donovan-tenet-media-fbi-raid-biden-merrick-garland-tim-pool-benny-johnson-lauren-southern-dave-rubin-russia-disinformation-putin.php

Interview Tyrants?

Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Joel Simon, 6/1/26

Headline:  “Should Journalists Interview Dictators?”

Subhead:  “Encounters on the line between control and conditions.”

“. . .The trope of the dictator interview—presenting a despot as a celebrity, a figure of popular fascination with whom a reporter has managed to secure time—crystallized in the sixties and seventies, when Oriana Fallaci, an Italian journalist and provocateur, confronted Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, among others. In 1979, not long after the triumph of the Iranian revolution, she interviewed Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and—famously—ripped off her chador, calling it a “stupid medieval rag.” Barbara Walters took the opposite tack, humanizing and personalizing repressive leaders such as Fidel Castro, whom she first interviewed in 1977, and Mu‘ammar Gaddhafi, with whom she spoke a dozen years later. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/feature/should-journalists-interview-dictators-dan-rather-jon-lee-anderson-christiane-amanpour.php