Media Corruption

Media Defiance

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Article in AlterNet by Thom Hartman, 6/7/26

Headline: “Opinion | One defiant stand is sending shockwaves through Trump’s media takeover”

Over the past year and a half, we’ve watched Brendan Carr, Trump’s hitman at the FCC, go to CPAC conferences and brag about how he’s going to assault stations that say things he and Trump dislike. He’s trying to intimidate ABC affiliates into muzzling Jimmy Kimmel — again. And he succeeded in taking down Stephen Colbert.

“And a Trump-adjacent billionaire nepo-baby has acquired CBS and is systematically stripping it of its journalistic integrity,

Read the full article at:

https://www.alternet.org/alternet-exclusives/scott-pelley-trump/

Pushing Ideology Into Iconic Program

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Article in The Guardian by Anna Betts and Jeremy Bar, 6/3/26

Headline:  “Fired 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley says CBS told him to inject ‘falsehoods’ into reporting”

Subhead:  “Veteran journalist says executives pushed unverified claims and gave politicians a say in interviews”

“. . .’When stewardship of the program passed to my colleagues and me, our responsibility was to expand energetically into a new age of media technology while preserving the values our audience expects. Now, the new owner of our network is casting this legend aside, apparently to curry a moment of favor with the Trump administration.’

“Pelley criticized the new leadership at CBS, adding: ‘Last month, 60 Minutes lost its DNA when our entire senior leadership and two of our best on-air correspondents were cruelly fired without cause’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/jun/03/60-minutes-scott-pelley-cbs-accusations

Podcast to Media Control in “60 Minutes”

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Article in Daily Beast, 5/28/26

Headline:  “New ‘60 Minutes’ Producer’s Cringe Side Hustle Revealed”

“. . .Tech columnist Nick Bilton was tapped by   far more controversial editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss, to sit at the helm of the network’s flagship newsmagazine show on Thursday—a move that sent shockwaves through CBS and beyond. The 49-year-old replaced Tanya Simon, a producer at the program for nearly 30 years, in one of Weiss’s boldest moves yet since coming aboard the network in October.

Weiss told The New York Times that she chose Bilton largely for his storytelling across multiple platforms, which apparently includes podcasting. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/nick-biltons-cringe-side-hustle-revealed/

Foreigners in U.S. Media?

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Article in Free Press by Staff, 5/27/26

Headline: “Free Press Urges FCC to Reject Paramount Skydance’s Request for Massive Foreign Investment from Governments Hostile to Press Freedom”

“. . . Free Press urged the FCC to reject Paramount Skydance’s petition to waive the Communications Act’s prohibition against the significant foreign investment that’s part of the massive media company’s proposal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery.

If Paramount’s $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery survives state antitrust review, at least half (or 49.5 percent) the ownership of the resulting colossus will end up in the hands of foreign investors, including the sovereign wealth funds of three Middle Eastern governments. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.freepress.net/news/free-press-urges-fcc-reject-paramount-skydances-request-massive-foreign-investment

When is “News” Not News?

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Article in the Washington Post by Kathleen Parker, 5/22/26

Headline:  “All this ‘talent’ breaks my brain — and my heart”

Subhead:  “AI fakery is overwhelming. What will happen to human imagination?”

“. . .This brings us to fake news — though not in the way President Donald Trump would have us think. A report from Vulture cites a former executive who estimates that more than 90 percent of what’s online is advertising ‘in disguise.’ At its peak, the content distributor Floodify ran 65,000 dummy social media accounts to gin up interest in its clients, said Joe Lim, who founded the company. This meant that on a given day, Floodify posted 50,000 ads across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and X, which are all supposedly the output of everyday users. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/05/22/ai-is-creating-digital-world-fake-talent-fame/

 

Rt. Wing Media – Money for Mobs?

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Article in Media Matters by Sophie Lawton, 5/21/26

Headline:   “Right-wing media react to Trump’s slush fund for allies with unquestioning loyalty — and some vague skepticism”

“Some right-wing media figures are jumping on board with the Trump administration’s newest effort to support MAGA allies despite numerous questions about its legality; a few are voicing light skepticism of the plan.

This week, the Department of Justice announced that the Trump family had agreed to drop a legally questionable $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS in exchange for the creation of a $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund.” According to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, the fund’s intended recipients are “victims of lawfare and weaponization” by the federal government. . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump/right-wing-media-react-trumps-slush-fund-allies-unquestioning-loyalty-and-some-vague

Trump’s Fox Fellow-Travelers Urge War?

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Article in Media Matters by Matt Gertz, 5/18/26

Headline:  “Trump’s Fox Cabinet urges escalation as he ponders a return to war in Iran”

“. . .Influential pundits on the MAGA propaganda channel are telling the president that he currently holds ‘the cards’ and are urging him to use U.S. military might to seize Iran’s uranium stockpile, force open the Strait of Hormuz, assassinate the country’s leaders, and overturn its regime. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/us-iran-relations/trumps-fox-cabinet-urges-escalation-he-ponders-return-war-iran

Imperial Ballroom & Rt. Wing Media

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Article in Media Matters by Isabella Corrao & Jane Lee 5/7/26

Headline:   “Right-wing media spent months claiming Trump’s ballroom wouldn’t cost taxpayers a penny. Republicans are now proposing $1 billion in taxpayer money to secure it.”

“Since President Donald Trump first demolished the East Wing to build a new White House ballroom, right-wing media personalities have frequently echoed White House talking points asserting that private donors would fund the ballroom at no cost to taxpayers. Recently, however, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) proposed $1 billion as part of a “long-term immigration and border patrol funding bill” for security upgrades related to the ballroom construction project . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/right-wing-media-spent-months-claiming-trumps-ballroom-wouldnt-cost-taxpayers-penny

No Low-Income Media Help?

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Article in Free Press by Staff, 5/5/26

Headline:  “Free Press Opposes Carr’s Cruel and Baseless Attacks on the FCC’s Lifeline Program”

“. . .On Monday,  Free Press filed comments in the Federal Communications Commission proceeding on supposed ‘reform and modernization’ of the agency’s Lifeline program.

“Since the beginning of the year, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has sought to undermine the bipartisan federal-assistance program, which was created during the Reagan administration to help make communications services more affordable for qualifying low-income consumers. Carr has repeatedly attacked the program and proposed changes that would potentially intimidate eligible people from applying for Lifeline benefits. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.freepress.net/news/free-press-opposes-carrs-cruel-and-baseless-attacks-fccs-lifeline-program

Slowly Sinking . . .

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Article in Daily Kos by Oliver Willis, 4/24/26

Headline:  “Alex Jones lost Infowars—and now he’s losing his sh-t”

“Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is losing the empire of lies, deception, and dubious brain pills that he’s spent decades pushing—and he’s not happy about it.

“Jones has spent the last few days directing his signature rants toward The Onion, which is in the process of acquiring Jones’ Infowars brand that he lost as a result of bankruptcy proceedings. Specifically, Jones has directed his ire toward comedian and satirist Tim Heidecker, the new creative director of Infowars. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/4/24/800027311/media-and-culture/alex-jones-lost-infowars/