Media Consolidation

New Media Masters

by

Article in FAIR by Caitlan Scialla, 4/17/26

Headline: “Paramount’s Purchase of CNN Heralds a New Trump-Friendly Media Empire”

“The ultra-wealthy have long leveraged their capital to build sprawling media empires that narrow our public range of debate (FAIR.org, 6/1/87). But Paramount Skydance‘s winning bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) marks a major milestone in media monopolization that, if successful, will further expand Trump-allied tech moguls Larry and David Ellison’s burgeoning power over US news and entertainment media. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/paramounts-purchase-of-cnn-heralds-a-new-trump-friendly-media-empire/

Against Mega Media Merger

by

Article in Free Press by Staff, 4/15/26

Headline: “Free Press Flies Protest Banners Around Paramount Studios as a Struggling CBS Attempts to Woo Advertisers During ‘Upfront Week’ “

Subhead:  “Billboard trucks and a plane circle studio lot showing the dangers of media mega-mergers as CBS seeks to attract advertisers amid historic declines in ratings.”

“LOS ANGELES — On Wednesday evening, two mobile billboards and a plane banner exposing the dangers of the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger circled the Paramount Studio lot as the media giant attempts to woo advertisers to purchase spots on CBS’s fall primetime schedule. . .”

“The protest billboards and banner, produced by Free Press, warn advertisers about placing their products on CBS, as it remakes itself into a mouthpiece for the Trump regime. If the Paramount Skydance acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery goes through, it would put outlets including HBO and CNN under the control of David Ellison and his father Larry, one of the richest men in the world. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.freepress.net/news/free-press-flies-protest-banners-around-paramount-studios-struggling-cbs-attempts-woo

MAGA Mega Media Merger?

by

Article in FAIR by Pete Tucker, 4/2/26

Headline:  “Trouble for Nexstar Merger That Would Create Mega-Network for MAGA”

“It’s not exactly breaking news that President Donald Trump endlessly attacks the media, or that his administration lapdogs quickly echo his gripes. But there’s one official who has stood apart, and he’s done so by not only mimicking Trump, but by remaking the US media in his boss’s image, most recently by rushing through local TV broadcast giant Nexstar’s takeover of Tegna.

“ ‘Unlike his predecessors, Carr isn’t just another corporate lawyer,’ Rolling Stone’s Matt Bai (3/17/26) wrote about Brendan Carr, Trump’s Federal Communications Commission chair:

” ‘He is a cultural claims adjuster, a pasty-faced, soft-spoken agent of Trump’s retribution. If you were going to single out the most dangerous functionary in Trump’s little circle of Hell, you’d have plenty of candidates…. But don’t sleep on Brendan Carr. His legacy of awfulness may yet prove more durable’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/trouble-for-nexstar-merger-that-would-create-mega-network-for-maga/

WAPO and Nuclear Option

by

Article in FAIR by Peter Castagno. 4/1/26

Headline:  “Washington Post Promotes Nuclear Agenda Tied to Bezos’ Investments”

“The Washington Post has devoted four editorials to supporting the expansion of nuclear energy in the past three months, relying on factual errors and distortions to make the case for the Trump administration’s unprecedented cuts to nuclear safety regulation. The Post‘s owner, Jeff Bezos, is the chair of Amazon, a company dependent on electricity-guzzling data centers that invested more than $1 billion in nuclear energy last year. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/washington-post-promotes-nuclear-agenda-tied-to-bezos-investments/

Media and Money

by


Article in FAIR by Janine Jackson, 3/24/26

Headline:  ” ‘A Media System Built on Profit Is Incredibly Fragile’:”

Subhead:  “CounterSpin interview with Jim Naureckas on MAGA vs. the First Amendment”

“. . . All of the conflicts we were told we were either making up or exaggerating are out in broad daylight. The president is overtly handing control of the country’s media outlets to a tiny group of MAGA billionaires. The Trump-appointed head of the public interest–defending regulator is stating that any outlets that don’t toe the Trump line, wherever that is today, could lose their broadcasting license for that reason. . .”

“There is lots of informed, impassioned debate going on right now about the various nightmares unfolding in and from the US. What does it mean that that’s happening largely outside the still-influential news media outlets that have long shaped public understanding?. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/a-media-system-built-on-profit-is-incredibly-fragile/

Whirlwind for TV News

by

Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Kyle Paoletta, 3/20/26

Headline: :  “Brendan Carr’s Deregulation Blitz Is a Disaster for TV News”

Subhead:  “The FCC chairman is clearing the way for Trump and corporate broadcasters to control the airwaves.”

“. . .Appearing on a conservative podcast, Carr had delivered an open warning to the television stations that aired Kimmel, saying, “These companies can find ways to change conduct to take action on Kimmel or, you know, there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

“Carr’s threat had teeth. Under his leadership, the FCC is in the midst of a historic deregulation spree he’s calling ‘Delete, Delete, Delete.’ The campaign is currently reviewing the agency’s ‘multiple ownership’ rules, which prohibit any one company from exerting outsize control over the local television market. A loosening of those rules could prove immensely profitable for the owners of local ABC affiliates, including Nexstar and Sinclair, so those companies seem to have viewed Carr’s desire to punish Kimmel as an opportunity to curry favor with the administration. . .

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/brendan-carr-fcc-deregulation-blitz-is-a-disaster-for-tv-news.php

Stopping Media Merger?

by

 


Free Press Press Release by Staff, 3/23/26

Headline:  “Unlawful Approval of Largest Broadcast Merger in History”

Subhead:  “Notice of appeal to the D.C. Circuit comes as FCC Chairman Brendan Carr continues his campaign to censor and control a free and independent press in the United States”

“WASHINGTON – On Monday, Free Press, the Communications Workers of America, the United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry, Inc. and Public Knowledge filed an appeal of the Federal Communications Commission’s rushed approval of the largest broadcast television merger in U.S. history.

“The challenge, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, asks the court to stop the merger of Nexstar and Tegna before it proceeds and the companies combine all operations, and asks the court to set aside the FCC’s approval of the deal. The groups assert that the merger is unlawful — in contradiction of laws established by Congress and of FCC procedures, too. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.freepress.net/news/public-interest-coalition-sues-fcc-unlawful-approval-largest-broadcast-merger-history

Media Uber Alles

by


Article in The Nation by Steve Scherer, 3/20/26

Headline:  “Correspondent to Uber Driver”

Subhead:  “I once documented human displacement and desperation. Now, due to a crumbling media ecosystem, I am living it.”

“. . .After serving as Reuters’s Ottawa bureau chief for five years, my job was eliminated in a cost-cutting drive. . .”

“As a correspondent who covered politics on two continents, I have seen politicians in other countries use immigrants as scapegoats. It’s always a deadly approach, especially for the immigrants. But Trump needs scapegoats to distract from the gaping wound that is the relentless shrinking of America’s once-great middle class. That social grouping once included me. But not anymore. . . .”

“South of the border, in the United States, more than 10,000 journalists lost their jobs between 2022 and 2024, according to Nieman Reports. . .”

“When I lost my job, I told myself, ‘If all else fails, I’ll drive for Uber.’ Well, here I am, and it’s not as comforting as I thought it would be. I used to think I was different from the migrants I wrote about—protected by a passport, a salary, a press badge. But the past two years have stripped away that illusion. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/from-foreign-correspondent-to-uber-driver/

Icon of Radio – Gone.

by

Article in AP by David Bauder, 3/20/26

Headline:  “CBS News shutters its storied radio news service after nearly a century, ending an era”

“NEW YORK (AP) — CBS News said Friday it will shut down its storied radio news service after nearly 100 years of operation, ending an era and blaming challenging economic times as the world moves on to digital sources and podcasts. Said longtime CBS News anchor Dan Rather: ‘It’s another piece of America that is gone.’. . .”

“Today, CBS News Radio provides material to an estimated 700 stations across the country and is known best for its top-of-the-hour news roundups. The service will end on May 22, the network said Friday. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://apnews.com/article/cbs-radio-news-bari-weiss-11372c28f9557d0b10e329e6c4be339f

Judge Bari Show?

by


Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 3/19/26

Headline:  “CBS’ Judgment Day”

Subhead:  “Staffers at CBS News tell Status they are “on edge like crazy” as the newsroom readies itself for mass layoffs overseen by Bari Weiss that will reshape the storied outlet around her vision for it”

“Over on 57th Street, at the CBS Broadcast Center on the West Side of Manhattan, anxiety and fear in the air are palpable. Over the last 24 hours, word has spread amongst staffers that the axe is set to fall imminently, with a second round of mass layoffs poised to hit the David Ellison-owned newsroom just months after the last round. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/cbs-news-layoffs-bari-weiss-ce41