Media Corruption

Hiding Under Fox

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Article in Media Matters by Matt Gertz, 9/23/25

Headline:  “How Fox covers for Trump administration malfeasance”

Subhead:  “Monday night was a perfect case study”

“The job of a Fox News evening host isn’t to cover President Donald Trump and his administration, it’s to give them cover. The network’s stars are shameless propagandists who employ a variety of tactics to hide the president’s misdeeds from their viewers.

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/how-fox-covers-trump-administration-malfeasance-0

Fox Not Covering Gift-Wrapping?

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Article in Media Matters by Matt Gertz, 9/22/25

Headline: “Fox averts its eyes from former employee Homan reportedly receiving a bag of cash”

Subhead: “Fox News has yet to address on-air the recent reports that White House border czar Tom Homan, while working as a contributor for the network in September 2024, accepted a bag of cash from undercover FBI agents as part of a corruption investigation which was subsequently closed under the Trump administration.”

“In an undercover operation last year, the FBI recorded Tom Homan, now the White House border czar, accepting $50,000 in cash after indicating he could help the agents — who were posing as business executives — win government contracts in a second Trump administration, according to multiple people familiar with the probe and internal documents reviewed by MSNBC. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/immigration/fox-averts-its-eyes-former-employee-homan-reportedly-receiving-bag-cash

Media in a Sea of Scandal

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Article in Media Matters by Matt Gertz, 9/1625

Headline:  “Another massive Trump corruption scandal for right-wing media to bury”

Subhead:  “How many orders of magnitude worse is Trump’s corruption than various Hunter Biden claims the right said justified his father’s impeachment: An investigation”

“. . .It goes without saying that the volume of coverage right-wing media outlets give to these shady deals won’t be proportionate — or even inversely proportionate — to what they provided for those Biden stories. Indeed, when House Democrats issued a report last year showing that China directed millions of dollars straight to Donald Trump’s businesses during Trump’s first term, Hannity promptly excused him and moved on. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/another-massive-trump-corruption-scandal-right-wing-media-bury

CBS “Anti-Woke” Leader?

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Article in The Guardian by David Klion, 9/10/25

Headline:  “Disgruntled NYT journalist to ‘anti-woke’ power grab: how far can Bari Weiss go?”

Subhead: “After leaving the New York Times, she turned her Substack into an unshakable pro-Israel voice. Now as Paramount eyes acquisition of her company, Weiss is poised to become Trump’s ally among media elites”

“. . .But one of the most buzzed-about aspects is Paramount’s possible acquisition of the Free Press, the digital media company founded by Bari Weiss as a Substack newsletter in 2021, and Weiss’s potential new role steering CBS’s editorial slant. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/ng-interactive/2025/sep/10/bari-weiss-cbs

CBS Watchdog Has Master?

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Article in FAIR by Saurav Sarkar, 9/9/25

Headline: “CBS Drifts Further Toward Right-Wing State Television”

“After Trump’s Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem (X, 8/31/25) complained that several minutes of her August 31 Face the Nation interview had been ‘shamefully edited…to whitewash the truth,‘ CBS News announced that its flagship Sunday morning program will no longer edit its interviews, except for ‘legal or national security’ reasons (AP, 9/5/25). . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/cbs-drifts-further-toward-right-wing-state-television/

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 9/9/25

Headline:  “CBS’ Conservative Cop”

Subhead:  “David Ellison’s new CBS News ombudsman tried to erase parts of his digital trail – but a Status review of what remains reveals him to be a Trump-supporting advocate”

“Donald Trump ‘is the ultimate outsider.’ He’s a “bold businessman who asks uncomfortable questions that typical policymakers are too squeamish to ask. People may dislike Trump’s methods, but they should appreciate his clarity about power dynamics.’ . . .”

“Those words aren’t from Fox News host Sean Hannity’s nightly sycophantic monologue. They come from Kenneth Weinstein, who lavished Trump with praise in a column published this summer. On Monday, David Ellison’s Paramount named Weinstein the new ombudsman of CBS News. . .”

Read the article at:

https://www.status.news/p/cbs-news-ombudsman-kenneth-weinstein

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Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 9/9/25

Headline:  Opinion | Paramount named an ombudsman to oversee CBS News. Who is he?

Subhead:  “The new ombudsman, Kenneth Weinstein, steps into a role created to safeguard fairness, though political questions linger”

“. . . On the surface, an ombudsman should be a welcome addition to any network newsroom, which should be practicing fair and honest journalism free of bias.

“But this particular announcement came off as a bit suspicious. It has been seen as a way to placate President Donald Trump, whose FCC had to sign off on the sale. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2025/cbs-ombudsman-kenneth-weinstein-who/

Reporters Time for Life Jackets?

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 9/5/24

Headline: “The Bezos Briefing”

Subhead:  “As The Post bleeds reporters, its top editor Matt Murray sat down for a meeting with Jeff Bezos in Miami, Status has learned”

“Late last month, just before the Labor Day holiday weekend, The Washington Post’s executive editor, Matt Murray, found himself face to face with the newspaper’s billionaire owner, Jeff Bezos. . .”

“The meeting came against the backdrop of a wave of newsroom departures, this one triggered by buyout offers that sent some of The Post’s best-known bylines toward the exits. That exodus followed yet another round of defections earlier this year, when star talent left for rivals such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Atlantic. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/jeff-bezos-washington-post-matt-murray-meeting

Media Racketeer?

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Article in The Nation by Jack Mirkinson, 9/4/25

Headline: “Vile Grifters Are Taking Over Establishment Media”

Subhead: “Paramount is reportedly set to pay between $100 million and $200 million for ‘The Free Press’ and will install Bari Weiss at the top of CBS News.”

“. . .As a New York Times columnist, she constantly hawked right-wing bile while posing as a liberal who was just tired of all the extremism and censorship on the left—a tedious bait-and-switch that nevertheless sent her media profile soaring. . .”

“. . .There are lots of awful things about our current moment. But one of the worst is that we have to sit and watch as odious hucksters not only take over our public life but make out like bandits while doing so. I hope that CBS News staffers resist this attempt to destroy their workplace with everything they have. . .

“I hope that Weiss’s tenure atop CBS is short and failed. But mostly, I hope that one day we live in a world where people like Weiss are treated with the contempt they deserve and are hurled into the cultural wilderness where they belong.

Read the full article at:

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/bari-weiss-free-press-cbs-news-paramount/#

 

Fake AI Authors Taken Down

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Article in The Guardian by Maya Yang, 8/21/25

Headline: “Wired and Business Insider remove articles by AI-generated ‘freelancer’ “

Subhead:  “At least six publications have taken down articles under the name Margaux Blanchard that were AI-generated”

“Multiple news organisations have taken down articles written by an alleged freelance journalist that now appear to have been generated by AI.

“On Thursday, Press Gazette reported that at least six publications, including Wired and Business Insider, have removed articles from their websites in recent months after it was discovered that the stories – written under the name of Margaux Blanchard – were AI-generate . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/21/ai-author-articles-wired-business-insider

Saving Empire With a Deal

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Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 8/20/25

Headline:  “Opinion | Why did CBS settle with Trump? Media mogul Shari Redstone speaks”

Subhead: “Paramount’s controlling shareholder says settling with Trump was in the company’s best interest”

“Trump’s case stood little to no chance in court, but the general narrative was that Paramount settled with Trump to get the required approval from his administration for the merger.

At the center of all this was Shari Redstone, the controlling shareholder of Paramount.

Now, The New York Times’ James B. Stewart has a new major story out — “Why Did Shari Redstone Do It?” — which details the 13 months of negotiations between Paramount and Skydance, as well as the reasoning behind settling the lawsuit with Trump. . .”

Read the full article at:

ttps://www.poynter.org/commentary/2025/why-did-cbs-settle-with-trump-media-mogul-shari-redstone-speaks/

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