Internet Media

Indigenous News Pioneer Honored

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                                                                                    ICT photo

Article in Indian Country Today by Staff. 4/11/25

Headline:  “A call to do more: former ICT editor honored by Harvard”

Subhead:  “Mark Trahant will be receiving the 2025 I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence”

“Mark Trahant, former editor-at-large at ICT, has been selected for the 2025 I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence for his 50-year long career in journalism and commitment to Indigenous storytelling. . .”

“Trahant directed the revival of Indian Country Today after the news organization went dark in 2017. He brought it back as a digital newspaper with a mobile-first approach in 2018 when it was previously owned by the National Congress of American Indians in Washington, D.C. Back then the newsroom had a staff of three and it grew to more than 30 employees in 2024. . .”

https://ictnews.org/news/a-call-to-do-more-former-ict-editor-honored-by-harvard

Windfall for Some Media Giants?

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Article in Free Press by Staff, 4/10/25

Headline:  “Kill the Bill: Press Group Fights Oregon Measure on Payment by Tech Firms”

“Free Press Action noted that the bill would divert millions into the pocket of corporate media giants and incentivize tech platforms to block local news content entirely.”

https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/404954/kill-the-bill-press-group-fights-oregon-measure-o.html

Media Ecosystems

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Article in The Contrarian by Jeff Nesbit, 4/9/25

Headline:  “Here’s why Trump ignores traditional media: He has his own media ecosystem now.”

Subhead:  “And Democrats not only don’t have the same network, but they don’t seem interested in building one.”

“A recent report from Media Matters, a non-profit advocacy group that studies and reports on the state of media in America today, makes a stark reality crystal clear: The principal reason Donald Trump no longer pays any attention to traditional media outlets is that his presidential administration has the right-wing media ecosystem marketing content and messages daily to a mass audience reaching 100 million Americans every single day. . .”

https://contrarian.substack.com/p/heres-why-trump-ignores-traditional

Tariffs in the Media

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Article in The New Republic by Greg Sargent. 4/4/25

Headline:  ” ‘Horrifying’: Trump’s Weird, Confused Rant to Media as Markets Tanked”

Subhead:  “As Trump’s shockingly destructive global tariffs cause the markets to crater and he rambles bizarrely about it to reporters, congressional scholar Norm Ornstein walks through how this madness can be stopped.”

“After President Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on imports from all over the globe, prompting the markets to implode, he took a question about it on Thursday. He ranted and rambled delusionally about how everything is just great. He bizarrely likened the country to a patient that had just undergone advanced surgery without grasping why this metaphor is the opposite of reassuring. . .”

https://newrepublic.com/article/193604/horrifying-trump-weird-confused-rant-media-markets-tanked

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Article in The Hill by Dominick Mastrangelo, 4/4/25

Headline:  “Jim Cramer: Trump tariff numbers ‘do not make any sense’  “

Subhead:  “CNBC host Jim Cramer tore into President Trump over the sweeping new tariffs his administration announced this week on nearly all foreign trading partners.”

“ ‘The numbers do not make any sense,’ Cramer said Thursday on CNN.  He claimed the president’s economic advisers and aides on trade ‘really screwed up’ and constructed the tariffs ‘in an ill-advised way.’

“ ‘And I was very let down as someone who really, truly believes that free trade is awful for the American working person,’ Cramer continued in the comments, first highlighted by Mediaite. ‘This is what they came up with? Jeez, come on. Have some gumption. Have some math.’ . . .”

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5232027-jim-cramer-cnbc-donald-trump-tariff-numbers/

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Article in The Washington Post by Jeremy Barr, 4/4/25

Headline:  “Some corners of conservative media aren’t thrilled with Trump’s tariffs”

Subhead:  “The Wall Street Journal editorial board, the Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro and some voices on Fox News have expressed concern about higher prices for Americans. . .”

“President Donald Trump’s global tariff plan, which has unsettled financial markets around the world since it was announced Wednesday, has so far received the backing of many of his most reliable supporters in conservative media. ‘The world’s free ride is now over,’ Fox News host Sean Hannity said in his monologue that night, and borrowed the president’s branding by calling the tariffs a ‘liberation day shake-up’ on Thursday. . .”

“Still, several prominent conservatives in media notably came out against the tariffs, citing the potential for higher prices for the American people and hits to businesses.

“Ben Shapiro, co-founder of the Daily Wire, called Trump’s tariffs ‘probably unconstitutional” and also illogical. ‘The president’s vision of international trade is, I’m sorry to say, mistaken,’ he said on his Thursday streaming show. ‘This is a massive tax increase on American consumers. That’s what it is.’

https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2025/04/04/fox-news-tariffs-ben-shapiro-conservative-media-trump/

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Article in Media Matters by Gideon Taaffe & Noah Dowe, 4/4/25

Headline:  “Right-wing media tell Americans to embrace the tariff pain, wait for a ‘golden age’ “

“Right-wing media are predicting a ‘golden age’ as President Donald Trump’s so-called ‘Liberation Day’ hits some of the United States’ closest trading partners with sweeping tariffs.

“Economists are warning about recession, inflation, and job loss as a result of Trump’s tariffs, but right-wing media are largely ignoring these predictions as they endorse the White House’s economic agenda, downplaying the negative stock market and telling their audiences to anticipate a return of American manufacturing.

“While some right-wing personalities have voiced concern over the tariffs’ potential harms, much of the commentary has held that the U.S. must embrace ‘short-term’ pain in order to get long-term benefits, that tariffs will bolster the U.S. economy and raise revenue, or that the tariffs are just a ‘negotiation weapon.’ ”

https://www.mediamatters.org/tariffs-trade/right-wing-media-tell-americans-embrace-tariff-pain-wait-golden-age

Media Overload

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Article in The Guardian by Michael Savage. 4/1/25

Headline:  “‘I can’t cope with it any more’: newsrooms scramble to retain audiences amid the big switch-off”

Subhead:  “In an international survey last year, 39% of respondents said they selectively avoid news to some degree”

“When Deborah Turness, the head of BBC News, informed her staff recently that she was shaking up how they worked as part of a drive to combat “the growing trend of news avoidance”, she had in mind the likes of Dave Ayres, a handyman from Leeds.

“ ‘I used to have the news on the TV every morning for an hour or so as I got the children ready for school and completed my household tasks,’ he said. ‘Now it has literally been switched off and unplugged. I can’t cope with it any more. It’s just too much and there’s nothing I can do about it.’

“Though he dips into his favourite news apps occasionally in the evening, he now strictly limits his news consumption. He’s not alone. The Guardian has been contacted by a series of one-time news junkies who are now seeking to restrict their news intake after suffering from disturbed sleep or a downturn in their mood.”

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/apr/01/i-cant-cope-with-it-any-more-newsrooms-scramble-to-retain-audiences-amid-the-big-switch-off

Pods of Media-Fun

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Article in The Verge by Tina Nguyen, 3/27/25

Headline:  “Trump White House invites a bloc of conservative podcasters as a jab at legacy media”

Subhead:  ” ‘Podcast Row’ is going to be a recurring event.”

On Thursday, several conservative podcasters were invited to the White House to participate in Podcast Row, an event meant to engage alternative media by granting them hours of unprecedented access to senior Trump Administration officials. The White House intends to make this a recurring event.

“Bringing in new media outlets has obviously been a priority of this administration and we will explore all options that allow us to reach as many Americans as possible,” Kaelan Dorr, White House Deputy Communications Director, told The Verge.

According to NewsNation correspondent Libbey Dean, administration attendees included Cabinet and Cabinet-level officials . . .  Online figures streaming from the room included Natalie Winters from Bannon’s War Room, Canadian YouTuber David Freiheit, and podcaster Breanna Morello.

https://www.theverge.com/policy/637890/trump-white-house-podcast-row

Spreading Media Greatness South

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Article in The Guardian by Rachel Savage, 3/26/25

Headline:  “Trump names pro-Israel media activist as US ambassador to South Africa”

Subhead:  “Leo Brent Bozell III, founder of a conservative media group, is president’s nomination amid rising diplomatic tensions”

“Donald Trump has nominated a conservative, pro-Israel media activist as US ambassador to South Africa, at a time when the relationship between the two countries is at a nadir.

“Leo Brent Bozell III founded the Media Research Center – whose website states it is ‘a blog site designed to broadcast conservative values, culture, and politics [and] to expose liberal media bias’ – in 1987.

“His son Leo Brent Bozell IV was sentenced to 45 months in prison in May 2024 for assaulting police and smashing windows in the 6 January 2021 Capitol riots. He was released in January as part of Trump’s mass pardon.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/26/trump-names-pro-israel-media-activist-as-us-ambassador-to-south-africa

Texting the Media

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Article in Media Matters by Matt Gertz, 3/27/25

Headline: “Fox defense for negligent texting of war plans: Top Trump national security officials are incompetent”

“Fox News personalities’ new argument in support of their former colleagues who discussed pending military strikes on an unsecured text chain is that those former colleagues — now America’s top military, national security, and intelligence officials — are easy to deceive. . .”

“But on Tuesday, they came up with a new excuse — one which amounts to arguing that the nation’s top national security officials are morons.

“When Fox host Laura Ingraham asked Waltz to explain Goldberg’s presence on the Signal chat, Waltz dissembled.

“ ‘I’m not a conspiracy theorist,’ Waltz began, before offering a conspiracy theory in which ‘somehow’ Goldberg ‘gets on somebody’s contact and then gets sucked into the group.’

The national security adviser added that Goldberg may have somehow ‘deliberately’ ensured that his contact information was attached to a Trump official’s contact name, adding that the administration has ‘the best technical minds’ trying to ascertain how such a thing happened. . .”

https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-defense-negligent-texting-war-plans-top-trump-national-security-officials-are

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Article in Daily Kos by Oliver Willis, 3/26/25

Headline:  “Media downplays Trump team’s massive leak fiasco as mere ‘blunder'”

“Many mainstream media outlets are minimizing or trivializing the Trump administration’s leak of highly sensitive war plans, and in doing so, they are echoing President Donald Trump’s spin on the scandal.

“After The Atlantic reported on Monday that top Trump officials had mistakenly included the outlet’s top editor in an unsecured group chat, Trump told reporters that the breach was merely a ‘glitch.’ And Trump’s allies struck the same tone in appearances in right-wing media.

On Tuesday, USA Today described the incident as a ‘relatable fail.’ In the story, reporters Jessica Guynn and Bailey Schulz likened the leak of war plans to ill-timed responses in family group texts.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/3/26/2312682/-Media-downplays-Trump-team-s-massive-leak-fiasco-as-mere-blunder?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=top_news_slot_1&pm_medium=web

Media Diversity Not Politically Correct?

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Article in Washington Post by Taylor Tilfordm 3/21/25

Headline:  “FCC chair threatens to block mergers of media companies engaged in DEI”

Subhead:  “The agency is already investigating Comcast and NBCUniversal over their diversity, equity and inclusion policies.”

“The Federal Communications Commission is prepared to block mergers and acquisitions involving companies that continue promoting diversity, equity and inclusion policies, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said Friday.

“President Donald Trump has ordered federal agencies such as the Justice Department to draw up lists of companies, nonprofits and other organizations to target over ‘illegal DEI efforts,’ which the administration has defined broadly. Now Carr is signaling that persisting with DEI could negatively affect media and communications companies’ dealmaking prospects.

“Any businesses that are looking for FCC approval, I would encourage them to get busy ending any sort of their invidious forms of DEI discrimination,” Carr said in an interview with Bloomberg News on Friday. . .”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/03/21/fcc-dei-diversity-mergers-acquisitions-ma/

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Article in Free Press by Timothy Karr, 3/21/25

Headline:  “FCC Chairman Carr’s Egregious Attacks on Diversity Reach New Low With Merger Threats”

“FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s racist attacks on U.S. businesses ramped up on Friday, when he announced, according to Bloomberg, that he would block mergers from companies that promote diversity, equity and inclusion. Carr’s latest tirade follows earlier threats against Comcast and Verizon.

Free Press Co-CEO Craig Aaron said, “There are many good reasons to block a media merger: for example, preserving competition, or preventing higher prices and job cuts. A company’s programs designed to promote diversity, equity and inclusion obviously don’t make that list. Carr’s crusade against so-called DEI programs is a blatant attempt to legitimize discrimination against people of color, women, people with disabilities, religious minorities and LGBTQIA+ people. It’s shameful and wrong.

“Corporate America needs to stand up against Carr’s bigotry and reject his offensive claims that programs designed to address discrimination are themselves discriminatory. . .”

https://www.freepress.net/news/press-releases/fcc-chairman-carr-attacks-dei-mergers

 

Historic U.S. Broadcaster Gagged

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AP – Andrew Harnik photo

Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Liam Scott, 3/18/25

Headline:  “The Last Days at Voice of America“

Subhead:  “Covering the press freedom beat at VOA, I got a front-row seat to its demise.”

“On Saturday, about thirteen hundred Voice of America staffers, myself included, were placed on administrative leave. VOA’s final broadcast went out; its website was updated one last time. For the first time since its creation, in 1942, to combat Nazi propaganda, VOA went silent.

As a press freedom reporter, I’ve spent the past few years constantly interacting with groups like the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders. But this time, it was my editor, Jessica Jerreat, and I who reached out to sound the alarm. I wasn’t acting in an official capacity—in fact, I had been ordered not to work—but I felt I had to do something.

Dozens of VOA staffers in Washington are on J-1 visas, and if they lose them, they may have to return to countries whose governments have a record of jailing critics. Two VOA contributors are imprisoned in Myanmar and Vietnam, and I didn’t want them to be forgotten. . . .”

https://www.cjr.org/first_person/last-days-voice-of-america-voa-trump-kari-lake.php

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Article in The Hill by Dominick Mastrangelo, 3/18/25

Headline:  “Trump’s silencing of Voice of America sparks shock, outrage”

“President Trump’s decision to gut the government agency that oversees Voice of America (VOA) has shocked staffers, who have been ordered to stop working, and fueled concern about the U.S. retreating as a champion of press freedom worldwide. . .”

“Employees who spoke with The Hill this week described a chaotic span of 48 hours after employees received an email Saturday telling them to cease all reporting until further notice. . .”

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5201754-voa-shut-down-trump/

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Article in Al Jezeera by Staff, 3/17/25

“United States President Donald Trump’s administration has begun laying off staff at Voice of America after signing an executive order placing nearly all employees at the government-funded media network on leave.

“VOA employees working on a contractual basis on Sunday received an email informing them that they were being terminated effective March 31.

“In the email, which was seen by Al Jazeera, the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) said contractors must ‘cease all work immediately’ and were ‘not permitted to access any agency buildings or systems’ . . “.

“Trump’s directive is the latest in a series of moves to draw condemnation from media freedom advocacy groups, including Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists, which branded the latest order ‘dystopian’. . . ”

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/3/17/trumpadministration-starts-mass-layoffs-at-media-outlet-voice-of-america