Media Misinformation

Civility Not Fashionable Anymore?

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Article in AlterNet by Robert Reich, 12/2/25

Headline:  “Oxford’s ‘word of the year’ explains all you need to know about Trump — and the media”

“The publisher of the Oxford English Dictionary has named ‘rage bait’ its phrase of the year.

“Call it the monetization of rage. Rage has become a valuable commodity. (Always follow the money.)

“A growing number of online creators are making rage bait. Their goal is to record videos, produce memes, and write posts that make other users furious: conspiracy theories, lies, combustible AI-generated video clips — whatever it takes. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.alternet.org/oxford-word-of-the-year/

Media in Special Court?

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Article in Reporters Without Borders by Staff, 1/3/25

Headline: “USA: New White House “Hall of Shame” webpage expands Trump’s war on the press, disparaging the media”

Subhead: “Misleading. Biased. Exposed.” Far from encouraging trustworthy journalism, the new media bias page on the White House website is the Trump administration’s latest effort to pillory the media. Journalists and outlets critical of Trump’s measures are labelled as “offenders” with no factual breakdown of why their reporting is incorrect. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) urges the White House to take the page down immediately.”

Read the full article at:

https://rsf.org/en/usa-new-white-house-hall-shame-webpage-expands-trump-s-war-press-disparaging-media

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Article in Daily Kos by News Corpse, 12/3/25

Headline:  “A CALL TO ACTION: The Trump White House Launches a ‘Media Bias Offender Tipline’ – Let’s Use It!”

“The battle against biased media is a continuing and exhausting ordeal during the administration of Donald Trump, who frequently refers to the press in Stalinist terms as “the enemy of the people.” No American president has been more hostile toward the media, or more hospitable toward sycophantic toadies than, Donald Trump. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/12/3/2356718/-A-CALL-TO-ACTION-The-Trump-White-House-Launches-a-Media-Bias-Offender-Tipline-Let-s-Use-It?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

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Article in The Nation by Chris Lehman, 12/2/25

Headline:  “The White House Press Tracker Is a Parody of Media Criticism”

Subhead: “With his approval number plummeting, Trump turns to a familiar strategy: launch a culture war against journalists.”

“As President Donald Trump’s approval numbers continue to plummet—he’s now clocked his first-ever majority of male poll respondents giving a thumbs-down—he’s reached for the pet crusade of all right-wing demagogues losing public favor: a culture war against the press. Over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, the Trump White House debuted its media bias tracker—a laundry list of alleged press outrages committed against the righteous, truth-telling MAGAfied executive branch. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/white-house-press-tracker-media-trump/

Lie to Get Viewers Back?

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Article in The Guardian by Jeremy Barr, 12/2/25

Headline:  “Murdochs blessed Fox News plan to air 2020 election fraud claims, Smartmatic alleges”

Subhead:  “In key hearing in defamation case, Fox counters that network simply covered allegations by Trump associates”

“Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch authorized a plan for Fox News to embrace Donald Trump’s false claims of election fraud in 2020 in a bid to win back viewers angry with the network, a lawyer for the voting technology company Smartmatic argued on Tuesday.

“ ‘The conservative viewers, their bread and butter, abandoned them,’ J Erik Connolly told the New York state supreme court judge David B Cohen. ‘So what do they do? They return back to what they know best: they return back to disinformation, pro-Trump propaganda and xenophobia. The election story and the election fraud claims was the perfect vehicle for them to get back onto their core messaging’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/dec/02/rupert-lachlan-murdoch-fox-2020-election

Fake News on “Media Offenders” Website?

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Article in Irish Star by Hannah Broughton, 11/30/25

Headline:  “Trump humiliated as he is forced to take down anti-media website hours after launch”

Subhead:  “In a whirlwind of irony, Trump’s latest venture to expose ‘media bias’ backfired spectacularly, leaving the White House scrambling to correct its own missteps”

https://www.irishstar.com/news/us-news/trump-humiliated-forced-take-down-36329415

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Article in Daily Beast by Jack Revell, 11/30/25

Headline:  “White House Forced to Correct Childish Anti-Media Site”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/white-house-forced-to-correct-childish-anti-media-site/

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Article in Huffington Post by Bryan Grenoble, 12/1/25

Headline:  “White House Media Attack Falls Apart After It Calls Fox ‘Woke’ “

Subhead: “Fox News said its inclusion on a White House webpage of ‘Media Offenders’ was a case of mistaken identity.”

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/white-house-media-hall-of-shame-fox-woke_n_692db994e4b0c8c3c7ce6e19?origin=home-latest-news-unit

Sometimes The Press Fails

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Article in FAIR by Janine Jackson, 11/26/25

Headline:  “Press Remembers Oldest Survivor of Tulsa Massacre—But Not Press’s Role in Massacre”

“. . .As Joe Torres (Free Press, 5/27/21), co-author of News for All the People: The Epic Story of Race and the American Media, recounted, the local white-owned press didn’t just fuel the massacre; it also helped cover it up. The other main local paper, the Tulsa World, provided the white narrative of the massacre in its headline (6/1/1921) the next day: ‘Two Whites Dead in Race Riot.’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/press-remembers-oldest-survivor-of-tulsa-massacre-but-not-presss-role-in-massacre/

Our Algorithm Editors

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Article in Mediaite by Colby Hall, 11/25/25

Headline:  “You’re Not Being Manipulated by Algorithms. You’re Obeying Them”

“Last week, I wrote about Olivia Nuzzi’s remarkably swift media rehabilitation, and the response surprised me. That column argued that modern media rewards spectacle over substance, but it also hinted at something more profound: the performance isn’t just happening inside newsrooms. It’s happening inside us. . .”

“This dynamic is everywhere—including inside newsrooms. After the Nuzzi column ran, several journalists reached out with examples of what I’d call pre-censorship—not editors spiking stories, but writers and editors making quiet decisions based on fear of how an algorithm might respond. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediaite.com/opinion/youre-not-being-manipulated-by-algorithms-youre-obeying-them/

Fake Media War?

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Article in Media Maters by Zachary Pleat, 11/24/25

Headline:  “Right-wing media praise Trump’s made-up excuses for war against Venezuela”

Subhead:  “Trump massively inflated threat from Venezuelan “narco-terrorists” smuggling fentanyl into the US”

“President Donald Trump and right-wing media have been quick to cite fentanyl interdiction as the supposed justification for the administration’s likely illegal strikes against vessels in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, which they have blamed on so-called “narco-terrorists” tied to the regime of President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela. But reporting has shown the Trump administration’s excuses are built on lies. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/national-security/right-wing-media-praise-trumps-made-excuses-war-against-venezuela

Media Promote War?

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Article in Common Dreams by Ricardo Vaz, 11/20/25

Headline:  “Venezuela Gets the Iraq Treatment: US Corporate Media Manufactures Consent for Another Imperialist War”

Subhead:  “Over weeks of military buildup and threats, corporate outlets elected to ignore the evidence disproving Trump’s claims and to platform warmongers.”

“. . .Over the years, Western media have endorsed Washington’s Venezuela regime-change efforts at every turn, from cheerleading coup attempts to whitewashing deadly sanctions (FAIR.org, 6/13/22, 6/4/21, 1/22/20). Now, with a possible military operation that could have disastrous consequences, corporate outlets are making little effort to hold the US government accountable. Rather, they are unsurprisingly ceding the floor to the warmongers. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/venezuela-media-war

Where’s Media?

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Article in The Contrarian by Josh Levs, 11/19/25

Headline:  “Trump’s Epstein call is coming from inside the house”

Subhead:  “There’s something we know for certain, and the media is failing to convey it clearly.”

“When a House committee released some documents related to sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein last week, the overtly partisan media did what it always does: grab a few lines out of context and rush to sweeping conclusions. Mainstream media did what it always does, as well: find any morsels to play up in hopes of getting people to click, watch, listen, or read, even if it’s unclear what those morsels mean. So, yet again, the public has been subjected to a confusing morass in the news. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://contrarian.substack.com/p/trumps-epstein-call-is-coming-from

Networks Have Broadcast Licenses?

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Article in The Hill by Dominick Mastrangelo, 11/18/25

Headline:  “Trump threatens ABC News broadcast license after reporter asks about Epstein “

“President Trump attacked an ABC News reporter Tuesday after she asked about the Epstein files, threatening to have the network taken off the air for questioning him about the controversy. . .”

Read the full story at:

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5611057-president-trump-threatens-abc/