International Media

US Media Control Expands to Namibia

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Article in The Guardian by Rachel Savage, 2/27/25

Headline:  “Namibian media outlets have reacted with anger and dismay after they were asked by the US embassy whether they were affiliated with western publications whose subscriptions have been cancelled by the US state department.”

“On 11 February, the state department ordered its outposts to cancel “non-mission critical” media subscriptions as part of the Trump administration’s drive to cut government costs.

“A 14 February directive then instructed prioritising the cancellation of subscriptions to the Economist, the New York Times, Politico, Bloomberg News, the Associated Press and Reuters, according to the Washington Post.

“Donald Trump’s second presidential term has started with a wave of initiatives to reduce the size of government and purge it of anything deemed to be liberal.”

The Namibian, an independent newspaper, was asked by a US embassy staff member on 18 February via email: “Are you or any of your services associated/affiliated with the following companies: The Economist, the New York Times, Politico, Bloomberg News Feed, Associated Press, or Reuters? If so, could you please explain how? ie Do you re-run their stories or are you a subsidiary of the publication?”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/27/namibia-media-outlets-angered-us-scrutiny-western-news-subscriptions

Media Missing Numbers?

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Article in Common Dreams by Ralph Nader, 2/24/25

Headline:  “An Indifferent Media Is Failing to Report the 400,000 Dead in Gaza”

Subhead:  “Only the Palestinians, who are not allowed to live, don’t get the respect of having their deaths accurately estimated”

“Enough already of the media’s lazy indifference to the vast undercount of the Palestinian death toll from Netanyahu’s genocidal daily bombing and shelling of Gaza’s defenseless civilian population. I’m referring to all the media – the corporate media, the public media, and the independent media. They all stick with the Hamas Ministry of Health’s (MOH) count of named victims whose corpses have been identified by hospitals and mortuaries. For months there have been no operating hospitals and mortuaries to send their grisly data to the Health Ministry.

“The official Hamas count that all sides like to cite is now over 48,000 deaths. As American doctors back from Gaza before the Rafah closing last year said—just about everybody surviving in Gaza is sick, injured, or dying. They put the death estimate almost a year ago at a minimum of 95,000, not counting tens of thousands of families buried under the rubble when Israeli F-16s blew up entire apartment buildings. . . ”

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/real-death-toll-gaza

Media Music to His Ears

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Article in Media Matters by Staff, 2/20/25

Headline:  “Right-wing media are divided after Trump pushed Russian propaganda to attack Ukraine”

“On February 18, President Donald Trump pushed multiple false claims about the war in Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelensky’s involvement in it, falsely suggesting that Ukraine started the war and that Zelensky is a “dictator without elections.” Both claims echo Russian propaganda about the war.

“Many right-wing media figures praised Trump’s comments, with some commentators even following in his footsteps to target Zelensky. Others denounced Trump’s remarks as ‘music to the ears of Vladimir Putin.’ ”

https://www.mediamatters.org/russias-invasion-ukraine/right-wing-media-are-divided-after-trump-pushed-russian-propaganda-attack

Trump – Golf or Gulf?

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Article in the Columbia Journalism Review by Yona TR Golding, 2/21/24

Headline: “The Gulf Between Trump and the Press”

Subhead: “Trying to make the ‘Gulf of America’ happen.”

When President Trump signed an order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America” back in January, I couldn’t stop thinking about a scene from the 2004 teen classic Mean Girls, in which queen bee Regina George snaps at Gretchen Weiner, her underling, for trying to make the word fetch a synonym for cool. (“Stop trying to make ‘fetch’ happen!” Regina says. “It’s not going to happen!”) . . . The Associated Press, it seems, was on the same page as me: two days after the order was signed, the agency issued an update to its stylebook—which is widely followed throughout the news business—recommending the continued use of the original name, though it would acknowledge the new name as well. “Trump’s order only carries authority within the United States. Mexico, as well as other countries and international bodies, do not have to recognize the name change,” the AP reasoned in an announcement about the decision. ‘As a global news agency that disseminates news around the world, the AP must ensure that place names and geography are easily recognizable to all audiences.’

“But Trump, it turned out, was determined to make “Gulf of America” happen. Last week, an AP reporter was blocked from attending the signing of an executive order in the Oval Office; later in the day, Julie Pace, its executive editor, wrote in a statement that she had been informed that the decision was the White House’s response to the new stylebook guidance. “It is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism,” she wrote. “Limiting our access to the Oval Office based on the content of AP’s speech not only severely impedes the public’s access to independent news, it plainly violates the First Amendment.”

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/trump_associated_press_ban_gulf_of_mexico.php

 

Some Media Got it Right on Ukraine

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Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 2/20/25

Headline:  “Opinion | Good on the media for calling out President Trump’s falsehoods on Ukraine”

“Just when you thought our politics couldn’t get any more bizarre and divisive and distressing, something else transpired.

“As happens far too often these days, it was something said by President Donald Trump.

“In a truly stunning post on Truth Social, Trump called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ‘A Dictator without Elections.’ He also called Zelenskyy a ‘modestly successful comedian’ and, just as he did a day earlier, seemingly blamed Zelenskyy for starting the war with Russia even though it was Russia that invaded Ukraine. Trump wrote that Zelenskyy ‘talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, to go into a War that couldn’t be won, that never had to start, but a War that he, without the U.S. and “TRUMP,” will never be able to settle.’ ”

“In a positive sign, the media appropriately and responsibly covered Trump’s comments. . .”

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2025/trump-truth-social-statements-ukraine-zelenskyy-elected-media/

Scared Media

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Article in FAIR by Gregory Shupak, 2/20/25

Headline:  “Media Afraid to Call Ethnic Cleansing by Its Name”

“Earlier this month, President Donald Trump said that the US will ‘take over the Gaza Strip’ and ‘own’ it for the ‘long-term’ (AP, 2/5/25), and that its Palestinian inhabitants will be ‘permanently’ exiled (AP, 2/4/25). Subsequently, when reporters asked Trump whether Palestinians would have the right to return to Gaza under his plan, he said ‘no’ (BBC, 2/10/25).

“After Trump’s remarks, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (Reuters, 2/5/25) said ‘it is essential to avoid any form of ethnic cleansing.’ ”

https://fair.org/home/media-afraid-to-call-ethnic-cleansing-by-its-name/

A Media Template for the U.S.

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Andras Petho – Viktor Orban Documentary

Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Josh Hersh, 2/14/25

Headline: “A Warning from a Hungarian Journalist: ‘Brace Yourself for the Worst’”

Subhead: “András Pethő has watched American media head down a familiar path.”

“András Pethő is a Hungarian journalist and a cofounder of Direkt36, an independent investigative news outlet.

“Over the past decade, he’s watched as the government of Viktor Orbán—the world leader whom Steve Bannon once praised as Trump before Trump’—has systematically eroded the freedom of the press in his country, in ways that may feel familiar to Americans watching corporate news leaders succumb to pressure from the administration.

“András’s 2022 essay on the lessons he learned from experiencing Hungary’s crackdown on a free press ‘Direkt36’s latest investigation: a documentary about the secret wealth of Orbán and his allies . . . ‘ ”

https://www.cjr.org/kicker/hungary-viktor-orban-direkt36-andras-petho.php

Ukraine Media Frozen

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Article in The Washington Post by David Stern & Robyn Dixon, 2/7/25

Headline:  “Independent media in Russia, Ukraine lose their funding with USAID freeze”

Subhead:    “Independent media in Russia and Ukraine have been critical of their governments and provide alternative reporting, but much of it relied on U.S. grants.”

“The suspension of USAID has had a dramatic effect on both Ukrainian and Russian independent news outlets that relied on the grants to operate and produced work often critical of their governments.
Get concise answers to your questions . . .”

“The program that provides billions in U.S. assistance internationally is better known for its humanitarian and medical work, but the funding has also been used for democracy promotion as well as supporting journalism.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/02/07/ukraine-russia-independent-media-trump-usaid/

Reporting on “Gaza Takeover”

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Article in Media Matters by Noah Dowe, 2/6/23

Headline:  “Right-wing media defend Trump’s call to “take over” Gaza and expel Palestinians”

Subhead:  “Fox host Jesse Watters: Trump “can finally bring peace and prosperity and seaside condos” to Gaza”

“On Tuesday, during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Donald Trump said the United States “will take over” and take “ownership” of Gaza, displacing its population and redeveloping it into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”

“Right-wing media immediately justified — and, in some cases, outright endorsed — Trump’s statements, with some figures arguing Palestinians and others in the region “should be grateful” and declaring that “the strategic goal in Gaza is now and has always been ethnic cleansing.” Others argued Trump was “negotiating” or “playing four-dimensional chess” by “just kind of floating an idea.”

https://www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump/right-wing-media-defend-trumps-call-take-over-gaza-and-expel-palestinians