Media obsequiousness

Media Consolidation & Intimidation

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Article in FAIR by Pete Tucker, 10/8/25

Headline:  “MAGA’s Little Helpers: Sinclair, Nexstar and the Consolidation of Broadcast TV”

“When Jimmy Kimmel made his dramatic return to ABC’s airwaves on September 23, I was eager to be one of the over 6 million who tuned in. Only I couldn’t, at least not on TV.

That’s because the local ABC station in the DC area, WJLA, is owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Network. And the right-wing network refused to air the Jimmy Kimmel Show! on any of its 38 ABC affiliates. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/magas-little-helpers-sinclair-nexstar-and-the-consolidation-of-broadcast-tv/

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Article in Mother Jones by Monika Bauerlein, 10/8/25

Headline: “Nice Little TV Network You Got There”

Subhead: “How easily has Trump rolled corporate media? So much more easily than he probably expected.”

“The most basic American freedom, the first one enumerated in the Constitution, the right to say whatever the hell we please, including and especially about the powerful, was no longer reliable—for a celebrity employed by one of the world’s biggest media corporations, and thus for any of us.

Read the full article at:

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/10/cbs-news-bari-weiss-free-press-corporate-media-nice-little-tv-network-trump/

Shape of Things to Come?

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(Penguin Books)

Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Jem Bartholomew, 10/6/25

Headline:  “Unbelievable Stupidities”

Subhead:  “How the press can rise to the moment.”

“In April 1944, in one of his early Tribune columns, George Orwell described the feeling of coming across a newspaper from before the outbreak of World War II, which at the time had been raging for almost five years, and ‘marvelling at its almost unbelievable stupidity.’

“The stupidity that Orwell saw was a naive disregard—or in some cases a willful downplaying—of the danger signs of the coming global war. . .”

“. . .Ten years from now, or eighty years from now, what might future observers look back on as the media’s ‘unbelievable stupidities’? Will they think the press of today rose to the moment? . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/unbelievable-stupidities.php

Hiding Under Fox

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Article in Media Matters by Matt Gertz, 9/23/25

Headline:  “How Fox covers for Trump administration malfeasance”

Subhead:  “Monday night was a perfect case study”

“The job of a Fox News evening host isn’t to cover President Donald Trump and his administration, it’s to give them cover. The network’s stars are shameless propagandists who employ a variety of tactics to hide the president’s misdeeds from their viewers.

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/how-fox-covers-trump-administration-malfeasance-0

All the Eggs in Someone’s Basket

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Article from Poynter by Angela Fu , 9/15/25

Headline:  “Media consolidation is shaping who folds under political pressure — and who could be next”

Subhead:  “ABC sidelining Jimmy Kimmel and Paramount canceling Stephen Colbert underscore how corporate interests weigh on free speech in the Trump era”

“. . .Media watchers called Kimmel’s sidelining an alarming act of capitulation — one that fit into a larger pattern of media giants self-censoring in anticipatory obedience to President Donald Trump and his administration.

“Kimmel’s show, though popular, was just one cog in the Disney media empire (ABC’s parent company), and its distribution relied in part on two other media behemoths, Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcasting Group. That made it especially vulnerable to political pressure since both Nexstar and Sinclair are exploring acquisitions regulated by Carr’s agency, the Federal Communications Commission. . .”

Rad the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2025/which-media-outlets-could-capitulate-to-trump/

The Media “Enforcer”

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Article in The Washington Post by Tom Benner, 9/22/25

Headline:  “Brendan Carr, the FCC muscle behind Trump’s anti-media crusade”

Subhead:  “FCC chair Brendan Carr has emerged as one of the top lieutenants in President Trump’s war against the media. How much power does he really hold?”

“Hours before the suspension was announced, Carr seemed to threaten FCC action against networks, saying ‘we can do this the easy way or the hard way,’ and advising Disney and other media companies to ‘find ways to change conduct.’ Carr denies playing a direct role in the Kimmel suspension, but critics say Carr has emerged as Trump’s top enforcer in the president’s war against the media. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/post-reports/brendan-carr-the-fcc-muscle-behind-trumps-antimedia-crusade/

 

Free Speech Firestorm

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LINKS TO HEADLINES ON THREATS TO FREE SPEECH 9/18/25

 

Article inVox by Cameron Peters:   “Trump’s brazen attack on free speech”

https://www.vox.com/the-logoff-newsletter-trump/461990/jimmy-kimmel-trump-carr-free-speech-attack

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Article in The Guardian by Joseph Gedeon & Marina Dunbar :  “Trump suggests punishing TV networks for ‘negative’ coverage amid outrage over Kimmel suspension –  President says Jimmy Kimmel was ‘not a talented person’ as critics decry show’s suspension as an attack on free speech”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/18/jimmy-kimmel-show-trump

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Article in The Hill by Brett Samuels:  “Trump on Jimmy Kimmel: Networks that only criticize him ‘not allowed to do that’ “

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5510784-trump-jimmy-kimmel-criticism/

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Article in Mediaite by Michael Luciano:  “FCC Commissioner Rebukes Agency’s Chair, Says ‘We Don’t Have the Authority’ To Retaliate Against Broadcasters”

ttps://www.mediaite.com/media/news/fcc-commissioner-rebukes-agencys-chair-says-we-dont-have-the-authority-to-retaliate-against-broadcasters/

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Article in Meidasnews by Aaron Parnas :  “Rep. Robert Garcia Launches Probe Into Trump Administration, ABC, and Sinclair – Oversight Ranking Member Denounces ‘Corrupt Schemes’ Amid Censorship Concerns”

https://meidasnews.com/news/rep-robert-garcia-launches-probe-into-trump-administration-abc-and-sinclair

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Article in AlterNet by Carl Gibson:” ‘Blatant assault on freedom of speech’: Colbert issues scathing takedown of ABC and Trump”

https://www.alternet.org/colbert-trump-kimmel/

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Article in Common Dreams by Julia Conley :   ” ‘Red Alert Moment’ for Free Speech as ABC Cowers to Trump FCC and Cancels Kimmel – These companies are turning the public airwaves into another propaganda arm of the Trump regime,’ said one critic.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/jimmy-kimmel-show-canceled

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Article in Raw Story by Robert Reich:  “Trump just opened another front in his all-out war on U.S. media”

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-kimmel-2674006230/?utm_source=breaking

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Article in Poynter by Ellen Clegg:  “Opinion | Why unsigned newspaper editorials no longer work – The Boston Globe’s response to Charlie Kirk’s murder highlighted how anonymous editorials can sound hollow and out of touch”

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2025/boston-globe-charlie-kirk-editorials-problem/

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Article in Media Matters by Matt Gertz:  “Jimmy Kimmel and the MAGA strong-arming of American media”

https://www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump/jimmy-kimmel-and-maga-strong-arming-american-media

Legacy Media Not Looking

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Article in Common Dreams by Joseph Bouchard, 9/16/25

Headline:  “Trump’s Venezuela Boat Strikes Are War Crimes, So Where’s The Media?”

Subhead:  “Why hasn’t the mainstream media pressed the administration on these strikes being illegal and dangerous (and unpopular)?”

“On September 2, the Trump administration shared footage purporting to show a US strike on a Venezuelan fishing boat. Even if we take the incident entirely at face value (and there are a lot of reasons to question the video itself)—the US Navy attacked a fishing boat off Venezuela, killing 11 people. On Monday, another strike was allegedly conducted on a boat, killing three people. The way the media has handled these strikes is an indictment of the state of American neoliberal reporting in a neofascist age. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-boat-strikes-crimes

Selective Firing?

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Article in Free Press by Staff, 9/16/25

Headline: “The Media 2070 Project Denounces the Washington Post’s Firing of Columnist Karen Attiah”

“On Monday, Karen Attiah, a Washington Post opinion columnist, wrote on her Substack that the paper had fired her over her social-media posts on gun violence and race following the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk last week in Utah.

“Attiah wrote she was fired for “speaking out against political violence, racial double standards, and America’s apathy toward guns.”

“Attiah noted she was “the last remaining Black full-time opinion columnist at the Post, in one of the nation’s most diverse regions,” adding that her firing “is part of a broader purge of Black voices from academia, business, government, and media — a historical pattern as dangerous as it is shameful — and tragic. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.freepress.net/news/media-2070-project-denounces-washington-posts-firing-columnist-karen-attiah

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Article in The New Republic by Perry Bacon, 9/15/25

Headline:  “Black Voices Are Vital to Democracy. The Media Must Stop Firing Them.”

Subhead:   “The Washington Post’s Karen Attiah is the latest prominent Black journalist to lose her job. The trend is a sign of retrenchment in both fighting racism and saving democracy.”

“. . .And while the media changes are more subtle, the racial retrenchment is obvious. Republican appointees on the Supreme Court and lower-level courts and now the Trump administration have essentially outlawed any program that seeks to address racial disparities.

“Put these retrenchments together, and you have a very hostile environment for Black journalists. The political right is trying to basically outlaw any discussion of racial inequality—and news organizations are trying to appease the political right. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://newrepublic.com/article/200462/karen-attiah-black-voices-firing

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 9/15/25

Headline:  “Fired by The Post”

Subhead:  “The Washington Post said it fired Karen Attiah over comments she made about white men in the wake of Charle Kirk’s death, Status has learned”

Read the article at:

https://www.status.news/p/karen-attiah-fired-washington-post-charlie-kirk

Silencing Reporters Silences Us

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Article in The Guardian by Edward Helmore, 9/14/25

Headline:  “How the US right wing is taking over news media and choking press freedom”

Subhead:  “Takeover of broadcast companies by Donald Trump’s allies is harbinger of media capitulation to authoritarian leanings”

“The US right has appeared to increase its influence on mainstream media in America in recent weeks, especially in television news which has been a major target of the Donald Trump administration. . .”

“The moves deepened concerns among many US media critics and observers of authoritarianism that press freedoms in the US were undergoing capitulation to the Trump administration’s rightwing authoritarian leanings. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/14/rightwing-news-media-journalism

Someone Likes a Network

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Article in Mediaite by Joe DePaolo, 8/31/25

Headline:  “Trump Goes On Wild Social Media Spree Shouting Out Fox Pundits, Attacking Newsom and Encouraging ‘Major Lawsuit’ Against Major League Baseball”

“President Donald Trump went on a wild social media spree Sunday morning in which he fawned over Fox News pundits, attacked Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and encouraged a ‘major lawsuit’ against Major League Baseball. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/trump-goes-on-wild-social-media-spree-shouting-out-fox-pundits-attacking-newsom-and-encouraging-major-lawsuit-against-major-league-baseball/