Media Corruption

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

Colbert and Liberty

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Article in The Contrarian by Josh Levs. 8/12/25

Headline:  “Two big things the legacy media missed about Colbert”

Subhead:  “In the fight for democracy, there’s something we must dismantle.”

“Among the many problems with the legacy media is the so-called ‘news cycle.’ These days, it often seems that we’re supposed to talk about an issue for only half a day before moving on to the next disaster. As a result, we can easily stay distracted and fail to learn important lessons from the latest developments.”

“. . .I stopped to look at two big things the media missed about CBS’ decision to cancel ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.’ . . .”

“He’ll very likely be better off, and even freer to say whatever he wants. That’s what happens when you get out from under a huge corporation. It’s also why some journalists have left newspapers that are now run by billionaires. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://contrarian.substack.com/p/two-big-things-the-legacy-media-missed

Confusion by D.C. Federal Prosecutor?

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Article in Mediaite by Staff, 8/12/25

Headline:  “DC Reporter Confronts Jeanine Pirro on Trump Pardoning Cop-Beaters: ‘How Is This Not a Mixed Message?’ “

“U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro dismissed criticism from police of President Donald Trump’s January 6 pardons during an interview with Fox 5 reporter Jillian Smith about the administration’s decision to send the National Guard into Washington, D.C. to crack down on crime.

Smith pressed Pirro on the contradiction between the president’s pro-police messaging now and his sweeping pardons of rioters who assaulted cops during the January 6 Capitol attack. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediaite.com/crime/dc-reporter-confronts-jeanine-pirro-on-trump-pardoning-cop-beaters-how-is-this-not-a-mixed-message/

Who Monitors the Monitor?

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Article in The Guardian by Margaret Sullivan. 8/9/25

Headline: “A ‘bias monitor’ for CBS News is a bad idea. Here’s why”

Subhead: “I was a public editor at the New York Times, handling complaints from the public. That is a better path than CBS’s one”

“For years before I became the public editor at the New York Times, I admired the work of journalists doing the job of holding their own newsrooms accountable to high standards.

“And when I heard that CBS News would get a position something like that, I thought – briefly – that this could be a positive development. After all, the network’s credibility and independence has come under fire after its parent company settled a frivolous lawsuit brought by Donald Trump. . .”

“I quickly changed my mind once I learned the details. This is not a traditional ombudsman but what some have dubbed a ‘bias monitor’ who will receive and evaluate claims of bias in the network’s journalism and report on them to the corporation’s president. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/aug/09/bias-monitor-cbs-news

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Article in Poynter by Rick Edmonds, et al., 8/8/25

Headline:  “Opinion | Skydance and Paramount complete their merger – whither CBS News?”

Subhead: “New chairman talks about ‘empowered’ journalists; critic assails trading principles for profit”

“The headline-chewing Skydance Media takeover of Paramount Global was formally concluded Thursday. . .

Red the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2025/skydance-and-paramount-complete-their-merger-whither-cbs-news/

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 8/7/25

Headline: “The Skydance Sidestep”

Subhead: “David Ellison admirably showed up to take tough, unscreened questions from a room full of reporters – but he danced around the biggest ones about Donald Trump. ’60 Minutes’, and more”

“Naturally, the assembled group of journalists didn’t ignore the elephant in the room, and the first was about Donald Trump. Specifically, whether Ellison, the Silicon Valley tech scion, had cut a secret side deal to air upwards of $20 million worth of public service announcements for causes Trump supports. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/david-ellison-paramount-trump-side-deal-60-minutes

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Article in Reuters by Deborah May and David Shepardson, 8/7/25

Headline:  “Paramount closes $8 billion merger with Skydance after settling ’60 Minutes’ lawsuit”

“. . .The merger was approved after Skydance agreed to ensure CBS news and entertainment programming would be free of bias, hire an ombudsman for at least two years to review complaints, and end diversity programs. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/paramount-closes-8-billion-merger-with-skydance-after-settling-60-minutes-2025-08-07/

Clean Money for Nonprofit Media

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Julie Bernstein & Margaret Sullivan, 7/7/25

Headline:   “For Nonprofit Newsrooms, Ethical Funding Is Essential”

Subhead:  “How outlets are updating their strategies to protect editorial independence.”

“As advertising revenue for small news organizations dries up, donor money from foundations is playing a bigger role. This relationship presents some new ethical questions for journalists: Who should newsrooms accept money from? On what terms? And how should they disclose that relationship to the public? In considering these questions, we were reminded of an incident that happened at PBS in 2013, when the broadcaster announced ‘Pension Peril,’ a two-year series on a crisis in public employee retirement benefits. The series ran during PBS NewsHour Weekend and was spearheaded by its flagship New York station, WNET.   “However, PBS failed to disclose that the series was funded with a 3.5-million-dollar grant from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, founded by John Arnold, a billionaire hedge-funder with a history of involvement in pension policy reform. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/nonprofit-newsrooms-ethical-and-sustainable-funding.php

Hands up, Media!

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Article in Daily Kos by TheBradBlog, 8/6/25

Headline:  ” ‘Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens’: Media Giants Continue Trump Capitulation: ‘BradCast’ 8/6/2025″

“. . .The corporate capitulation is worse than you think. And it strikes right at the heart of what this nation’s founders saw as perhaps the most important protection for freedom from monarchs and tyrants. Ya know, like the one we ended up with anyway. . .”

“Following Donald Trump’s gutting of the 80-year old Voice of America earlier this year, his and the Republican Congress’ ending of federal funding for NPR and PBS a week or so ago, and the absurd $16 million dollar settlements of ridiculous defamation lawsuits filed by Trump against the corporate owners of Disney/ABC and Paramount/CBS, the largest media conglomerates in the nation continue to rollover in fear, in hopes of placating and/or currying favor with our press-freedom hating, tyrannical man-baby President. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/8/6/2337193/-Ain-t-Nobody-Here-But-Us-Chickens-Media-Giants-Continue-Trump-Capitulation-BradCast-8-6-2025?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web