Media Misinformation

Hegseth Burning Up About Media?

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Article in The Hill by Brett Samuals, 4/21/25

Headline:  “Hegseth blasts media, ‘disgruntled former employees’ over latest Signal controversy”

“Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth lashed out at the media and ‘disgruntled former employees’ Monday as he finds himself embroiled in fresh controversy over his sharing of sensitive information and his management of the Pentagon. . .”

“. . .’What a big surprise that a few leakers get fired and suddenly a bunch of hit pieces come out from the same media that peddled the Russia hoax,’ Hegseth said, responding to new reporting from The New York Times.

“This is what the media does. They take anonymous sources from disgruntled former employees, and then they try to slash and burn people and ruin their reputations,’ . . .”

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5258597-defense-secretary-pete-hegseth-media-controversy/

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Article in Huffpost by Arthur Delaney, 4/21/25

Headline:  “Hegseth Lashes Out At Media After Firing His Own Aides Amid Pentagon ‘Meltdown’ “

Subhead:  “An angry Hegseth called reporters ‘hoaxsters’ who used ‘disgruntled former employees’ to ruin people.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth lashed out at reporters Monday over a question about his use of a personal phone to discuss war plans in group chats with unauthorized participants.

Speaking in front of his children at the White House Easter Egg Roll, Hegseth suggested the stories had been planted by his own aides, three of whom he recently fired. . .”

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pete-hegseth-pentagon-meltdown_n_68068f65e4b0dae10a35e8ae

Journalists Targeted, Who is Next?

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Article in The Contrarian by Liam Scott, 4/18/25

Headline:  “Trump Officials Trolling Journalists is Just the Tip of the Iceberg”

Subhead:  “Behind the harassment of individual reporters is a full-scale assault on media freedom”

“When The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg revealed last month that he had inadvertently been invited into a Signal group chat of senior U.S. national security officials, the news dominated headlines, cable broadcasts and social media for several days.

“While Democratic lawmakers called for an investigation into the incident, Trump officials set their sights elsewhere: on Goldberg himself. . . The harassment Goldberg faced was an unusually intense pile-on, but it underscores the increasingly common trend of targeting individual journalists by administration officials and even President Donald Trump.

“ ‘It’s clearly an effort to intimidate and silence journalists,’ Kathy Kiely, chair in free press studies at the Missouri School of Journalism, told me. . .”

For years, Trump has accused the mainstream media of bias and has even referred to it as “the enemy of the people,” in an increasingly contentious relationship that has also long featured journalist harassment. . .”

“And now, it’s not just Trump. Others, including Vance, Hegseth, Leavitt, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung, Special Envoy Richard Grenell and DOGE’s Elon Musk, have all targeted journalists online — with varied frequency and intensity — since Inauguration Day three months ago. . .”

https://contrarian.substack.com/p/trump-officials-trolling-journalists

Slanted White House Media?

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Article in Daily Kos by Oliver Willis, 4/17/25

Headline:  “MAGA media rules White House briefings after Trump purge”

“White House press briefings have turned into a playground for pro-MAGA outlets as the Trump administration has worked to sideline legitimate media organizations over the last four months.

“Instead of reporting that provides the public with a clear picture of the inner workings of the administration, the MAGA press corps seeks to push conservative falsehoods and bigotry while attacking the right.

“Outlets known for lying to the public like Breitbart News, The Daily Wire, and Zerohedge have been given prime access to top officials, including President Donald Trump. . .”

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/4/17/2317022/-MAGA-media-rules-White-House-briefings-after-Trump-purge?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=top_news_slot_7&pm_medium=web

 

Broadcasters Can’t Use Facts Now?

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Article in AlterNet by Adam Lynch, 4/17/25

Headline:  ” ‘Misleading the American public’: Trump’s FCC chair tweets veiled threat at media giant”

“Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr is threatening to revoke the licenses of broadcasters who don’t toe the current administration’s line on the wrongful deportation of a legal U.S. resident.

“ ‘Comcast outlets spent days misleading the American public—implying that [Maryland father Kilmar] Abrego Garcia was merely a law-abiding U.S. citizen, just a regular “Maryland man.”  When the truth comes out, they ignore it,’ Carr posted on X Wednesday. ‘Comcast knows that federal law requires its licensed operations to serve the public interest. News distortion doesn’t cut it.’ . . .”

https://www.alternet.org/brendan-carr-fcc/

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Article in The Hill by Sarah Fortinsky, 4/14/25

Headline:  “Trump says CBS should lose license after ’60 Minutes’ segments on Ukraine, Greenland”

“President Trump railed against CBS on Sunday night, saying the network should lose its broadcast license after “60 Minutes” aired segments on Ukraine and Greenland that the president said cast him in a negative light. . . .”

“CBS News’s parent company, Paramount, has said the president’s lawsuit is an “affront to the First Amendment and is without basis in law or fact,” claiming Trump is trying to “punish a news organization for constitutionally protected editorial judgments they do not like.” . . .”

https://thehill.com/media/5247488-trump-says-cbs-should-lose-license-after-60-minutes-segments-on-ukraine-greenland/

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Article in The Hill by Dominick Mastrangelo, 4/14/25

Headline:  “5 things to know about the Trump, CBS feud “

“President Trump’s feud with CBS is reaching a fever pitch as his administration turns up the heat on the national broadcast network stemming from a ‘60 Minutes’ interview it aired with former Vice President Kamala Harris before the presidential election last fall.

“Here are five things to know about the Trump and CBS fight. . . .”

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5248507-five-things-to-know-about-the-trump-cbs-feud/

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 4/14/25

Headline:  “Skydancing With Trump”

Subhead: “Donald Trump escalated his attacks on CBS News in a Sunday night tirade. But it’s what prospective new owner David Ellison was doing 24 hours beforehand that’s also left the newsroom on edge.”

“On Sunday night, Donald Trump launched into an unhinged tirade, this time targeting CBS News and its parent company, Paramount Global. The president, apparently incensed by the latest episode of ’60 Minutes,’ unleashed a barrage of false claims and conspiratorial rhetoric, accusing the network of having ‘illegally’ worked to elect Kamala Harris.  . .”

https://www.status.news/p/david-ellison-donald-trump-skydance-paramount

Rt. Wing Media Find Fault

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Update:

Article in The Verge by Sato, 4/16/25

Hedline:  “Tariffs are splitting even Trump’s loudest boosters.”

“At least somewhat. Media Matters analyzed top podcasters aligned with Donald Trump and found that while most covered his tariff policy positively, there are signs of fracturing. Ben Shapiro and Joe Rogan are among the right wing influencers who’ve criticized Trump’s trade war in recent weeks. . .”

https://www.theverge.com/news/650096/tariffs-are-splitting-even-trumps-loudest-boosters

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Article in Media Matters by Zachary Pleat4/14/25

Headline:  “MAGA media knives are out for Trump’s tariff advisers”

Subhead:  “Trump supporters are blaming some of Trump’s economic appointees — instead of Trump — for confusion and general turmoil over his tariff”

“Numerous right-wing media figures are placing blame for the chaos and confusion over Trump’s ‘reciprocal’ tariffs on two of his top economic appointees — senior trade adviser Peter Navarro and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick — rather than on Trump himself. . . .”

“Pro-Trump media figures on Fox and elsewhere have been blaming Lutnick and Navarro for tariff-related confusion over the past week . . .”

https://www.mediamatters.org/tariffs-trade/maga-media-knives-are-out-trumps-tariff-advisers

Soon – Media Required to Praise Leader?

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Article in Huffpost by Lydia O’Commor 4/14/25

Headline:  “Trump Is Ramping Up His War With The Press As He Demands Media Praise”

Subhead:  “Nobody watches you anymore. You have no credibility,” Trump snapped at CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.”

“President Donald Trump has been escalating his war with the media, allowing members of his administration to take turns bashing a reporter, denying journalists access to the Oval Office and calling for networks to be punished.

“In his latest installment, Trump lashed out at CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins before she could even finish asking him a question on Monday. . . .”

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-war-with-press_n_67fd47bfe4b081fb1e97209b

Lost Money in the Market? Media’s Fault!

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Article in Daily Mail by Karelyn Caralle, 4/9/25

Headline:  “Karoline Leavitt tears into media for missing Trump’s ‘art of the deal’ after stunning tariffs U-turn: Live updates”

“White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said the media was responsible for tanking global markets and leaving tens of millions of everyday Americans fearing for their jobs – not Donald Trump’s tariffs. . .”

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14587733/donald-trump-china-tariff-trade-war-104-stock-market-live-updates.html

 

News is What They Make It

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Article in The Beast by William Vaillancourt

Headline:  “Jake Tapper on WH Signal Response: ‘Nothing Matters Anymore’ “

Subhead:  “Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt tried to wrap up the scandal, insisting that ‘this case has been closed.’  CNN’s Jake had more to say”

“Jake Tapper threw up his hands Monday in response to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt declaring resolved the issue of top administration officials inadvertently revealing planned strikes in the Middle East to a journalist through a Signal group chat.

“Nothing matters anymore,” the CNN anchor said in a discussion with The Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg, who wrote last Monday how he had been invited into the Signal chat earlier this month by National Security Adviser Mike Waltz.

“Leavitt told reporters earlier in the day that “this case has been closed here at the White House, as far as we are concerned”—despite no firings and no inspectors general from any government department launching an investigation into the shocking security lapse.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/cnns-jake-tapper-reacts-to-white-house-signal-response-nothing-matters-anymore/

Fox – “Nothing to see here”

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Article in Media Matters bu Matt Gertz, 4/1/25

Hedline:   “How Fox is handling reports that the Trump administration may have erroneously sent people to a foreign torture prison”

“Fox News propagandists are employing a variety of defenses in response to revelations that the Trump administration has sent people in error to a notorious foreign prison, from alleging that migrants don’t deserve due process to attacking other news outlets for reporting on the ‘one-offs’ to arguing that such mistakes are acceptable because ‘a lot of people in this country’ are ‘arrested for things that they didn’t do.’ ”

https://www.mediamatters.org/immigration/how-fox-handling-reports-trump-administration-may-have-erroneously-sent-people-foreign

Bots of Media Fun

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 4/1/125

Headline:  “Bloomberg and the Bots”

Subhead:  “Bloomberg insists its journalists have “full control” over its error-prone A.I. bot—but staffers tell Status they can’t stop it from publishing errors.”

“A few days ago, The New York Times published a remarkable story: Bloomberg News, one of the most powerful forces in business journalism, had introduced factual errors into at least three dozen article pages using its new “takeaways” carousel. The recently introduced artificial intelligence feature, which has been prominently affixed to the top of most stories, was designed to spotlight key points in its reporting.

“In a statement to The Times, a Bloomberg spokesperson moved to dismiss concerns about the A.I. carousel, telling reporter Katie Robertson that it is “transparent when stories are updated or corrected.” But it was what the spokesperson said next that caught the attention of reporters inside the Bloomberg newsroom.

“Journalists have full control over whether a summary appears—both before and after publication—and can remove any that don’t meet our standards,” the Bloomberg spokesperson asserted to The Times. . .”

https://www.status.news/p/bloomberg-news-ai-summaries