Media Corruption

Paramount Choosing News?

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Article in Media Matters by Matt Gertz, 2/17/26

Headline:  “Paramount is mangling CBS — and CNN may be next”

Subhead:  “Trump’s corruption makes capitulation a media business plan”

“The Tuesday announcement by Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of CNN, that it is reopening deal talks with Paramount marks the latest example of President Donald Trump’s corrupt effort to quell dissent by pushing media companies into the hands of his supporters.

“Warner Bros. agreed in December to sell its movie and streaming assets to Netflix and spin off its cable networks, including CNN, into a new entity. But Paramount, owned by David Ellison, the son of megabillionaire Trump ally Larry Ellison, is mounting a hostile bid to take over the entire company — and the Ellisons have a powerful ally in the White House. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/cnn/paramount-mangling-cbs-and-cnn-may-be-next

Authoritarians Always Attack Media

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Article in Common Dreams by Stephen R. Weissman, 2/12/26

Headline:  “Don Lemon’s Travail Is a Warning of Rising Authoritarianism; I Would Know”

Subhead:  “My experience as a university professor in Congo demonstrates that repressive governments may go after a variety of observers sympathizing with militant protesters by purveying false or distorted reports of their actions. . .”

“Former CNN anchor Don Lemon is under federal indictment for participating in a Minnesota protest group’s obstruction of a church service. He is scheduled to be arraigned Friday. News of his prosecution took me back more than five decades to when I was a young university professor in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). At that time, President Mobutu Sese Seko’s government threatened to arrest me for my alleged involvement in student disruptions.

“In both cases, increasingly authoritarian governments decided to clamp down on independent observers—journalists or others—who sympathized with community activists. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/don-lemon-authoritarianism

WaPo = CBS Future?

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Article in Daily Kos by Lisa Neeham, 2/9/26

Headline: “Washington Post chief’s firing should terrify new regime at CBS News”

“Will Lewis is out at The Washington Post. Since he was a fancy ‘chief executive,’ his departure is being reported with the genteel framing of him ‘stepping down,’ even though it is very evident that Post owner Jeff Bezos sent Lewis packing.

“Ostensibly, Amazon billionaire Bezos felt that Lewis didn’t handle the complete decimation of the newspaper with enough gravitas and was instead partying in San Francisco at Super Bowl-related events. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/2/9/2367949/-Washington-Post-chief-s-firing-should-terrify-new-regime-at-CBS-News

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Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 2/9/26

Headline: “Opinion | The Washington Post just experienced a week that will live in infamy”

Subhead:  “The week’s upheaval ended with CEO Will Lewis stepping aside after being missing in action as the newsroom was cut”

“What a bizarre week at The Washington Post. Bizarre and puzzling and heartbreaking — not necessarily in that order.

It started last Wednesday with massive layoffs in what former editor Marty Baron called one of the “darkest days in the history of one of the world’s greatest news organizations.” Another former star reporter, Ashley Parker, called it a murder.

The week ended in startling fashion on Saturday when publisher and CEO Will Lewis abruptly resigned in a short (less than 100 words) note to staff. He said it was the “right time” to step away. . .:

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2026/washington-post-layoffs-will-lewis-gone/

Which Road for CBS News?

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Article in Status News by Oliver Darcy, 2/4/26

Headline:  “The Weiss Way or the Highway”

Subhead:  “As speculation swirls over whether CBS News will take any action after new health contributor Peter Attia was ensnared in the Epstein Files, Status has learned what Bari Weiss’s silence actually signals—and what it says about her leadership.”

“On Friday, the Department of Justice released millions of new pages from the Epstein Files, ensnaring some of the world’s wealthiest and most well-known men in the ever-growing scandal. . .”

“But over at CBS News, another name quickly caught the eye of staffers: Peter Attia, the YouTube wellness influencer whom Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss just proudly named as a network contributor.

Attia, it turns out, had exchanged dozens of emails with the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/peter-attia-epstein-files-bari-weiss-cbs-news

CBS, Does She Get It?

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Article in The Guardian by Jeremy Barr, 1/27/26

Headline:  “Bari Weiss tries to win CBS staffers’ trust amid ‘noise’ over 60 Minutes segment”

Subhead:  “In her first town hall, Weiss expressed some regret over her decision to pull 60 Minutes segment at the last minute”

“During her first address to CBS News employees as editor in chief, Bari Weiss acknowledged that there had been “a lot of noise” about her tumultuous tenure and said that some staffers might decide they don’t support her or want to continue working at the company.

“ ‘I just want to start by saying: I get it. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/jan/27/bari-weiss-cbs
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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 1/27/26

Headline:  “Weiss and the Wary”

Subhead:   “The new CBS News chief finally addressed her skeptical newsroom, presenting her vision of the network’s future and fielding tough questions about her editorial views—though some staffers told Status they left unconvinced.”

Read the article at:

https://www.status.news/p/bari-weiss-cbs-news-town-hall

Taking CBS Somewhere

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Article in The New Yorker by Clare Malone, 1/19/26

Headline:  “Inside Bari Weiss’s Hostile Takeover of CBS News“

Subhead:  “The network’s new editor-in-chief has championed a press free from élite bias, while aligning herself with a billionaire class more willing than ever to indulge Donald Trump.”

“. . .Weiss’s embrace of a press free from élite bias—what she might call woke politics—has taken her to the top of the media establishment. It has also aligned her with a tech-billionaire class more willing than ever to indulge Trump to protect the sanctity of shareholder value. . .”

“Trump, for his part, was effusive in his praise of Weiss. “I think you have a great new leader, frankly, who’s the young woman that’s leading your whole enterprise,” he said during his sit-down with O’Donnell. . .“

Read the full article at:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/01/26/inside-bari-weisss-hostile-takeover-of-cbs-news

Gambling with the News?

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Article in Slashdot by BeauHD, 1/21/26

Headline:  “America Is Slow-Walking Into a Polymarket Disaster’

“In an opinion piece for The Atlantic, senior editor Saahil Desai argues that media outlets are increasingly treating prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi as legitimate signals of reality. The risk, as Desai warns, is a future where news coverage amplifies manipulable betting odds and turns politics, geopolitics, and even tragedy into speculative gambling theater. . .”

“The problem is that prediction markets are ushering in a world in which news becomes as much about gambling as about the event itself. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/01/22/006212/america-is-slow-walking-into-a-polymarket-disaster

Media Abandon Civil Rights?

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Article in Free Press by Staff, 1/21/26

Headline:  “Comprehensive New Report Puts Major Media Companies on Notice for Anti-DEI Capitulations”

Subhead:  “In a detailed analysis of the 35 most dominant U.S. media companies, Free Press reveals a disturbing and cowardly reversal on prior civil-rights commitments. . .”

“On Wednesday, Free Press published an authoritative report analyzing the retreat in 2025 of the nation’s largest media companies from prior commitments to promote diversity, equity and inclusion principles in their workplaces and policies. The report — COMPLICIT: Corporate Media’s Capitulation to Trump’s Attacks on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion — sheds new light on the ongoing capitulation of major media and tech companies to the dictates of a bigoted and corrupt Trump administration. . .”

Read the Full article at:

https://www.freepress.net/news/comprehensive-report-puts-major-media-companies-notice-anti-dei-capitulations-trump

Venezuelan Media – Same Old

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Carolina Abbott Galvao & Ivan L. Nagy, 1/16/26

Headline:  “For Venezuelan Journalists, It’s Like Maduro Never Left”

Subhead:  ” ‘If you have contacts or sensitive information that you’re not supposed to have, you could be thrown in jail.’ “

“. . .This is less a function of recent American interference than business as usual. Under the leadership of Hugo Chávez, through Nicolás Maduro’s tenure to today, official narratives have echoed across state-controlled TV, radio, and print media; authorities have declined visas for foreign journalists to enter the country; independent news outlets are banned and accessible only via VPN. In the week following the US incursion, police, military forces, and colectivos—pro-government paramilitaries—roamed the streets, cracking down on protesters, members of the opposition, and independent journalists. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/news/for-venezuelan-journalists-its-like-maduro-never-left.php

US and Censorship Attempts

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Article in Techdirt and Free Press by by Mike Masnick and Nora Benavidez, 1/16/26

Headline:  “Trump’s ‘Free Speech’ Presidency Racked Up 200 Censorship Attempts In Its First Year”

“We’ve said it before, and we’ll keep saying it because apparently it needs repeating: Donald Trump is not a free speech president. He just plays one on TV while doing the exact opposite behind the scenes. And in front of the scenes. And basically everywhere. Over and over and over again. . .”

Read the full articles at:

https://www.techdirt.com/2026/01/16/trumps-free-speech-presidency-racked-up-200-censorship-attempts-in-its-first-year/

. . .and:

https://www.freepress.net/news/trumps-free-speech-presidency-racked-200-censorship-attempts-its-first-year