Media obsequiousness

Invite Person Who Suppresses Press?

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Article in Status by Jon Passantino, 7/25/26

Headline: “The White House Correspondents’ Disgrace”

Subhead:  “The WHCA sought to reconvene its annual dinner in celebration of press freedom. Instead. it handed Donald Trump a platform to attack the very journalists the organization exists to represent.”

“On Friday night, hundreds of journalists, dignitaries, and members of the Trump administration gathered in Washington for a do-over of the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. . .”

Read the article at:

https://www.status.news/p/the-white-house-correspondents-disgrace

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Article by Jem Bartholomew in Columbia Journalism Review, 7/27/26

Headline:   “A Tale of Two Speeches”

Subhead: “The press’s responsible handling of Trump’s incoherent speech about US election integrity contrasted starkly with Friday’s farcical WHCA dinner.”

“Ever since Donald Trump thudded onto the national political stage, the press has had a difficult time handling the frequency, magnitude, and outlandishness of his lies. . .”

“The thoughtfulness with which the press handled the July 16 speech was worlds apart from the farcical spectacle of the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) dinner. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/a-tale-of-two-speeches-trump-election-integrity-lack-evidence-fact-check-whca-dinner-white-house-correspondents-redo-awkward-wall-street-journal-new-york-times-subpoenas-cnn.php

Will Press Event Be Like Scotland “Black Dinner”?

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Article in Media Matters by Matt Gertz, 7/22/26

Headline:  “The White House Correspondents’ Association takes another futile crack at celebrating the First Amendment with Donald Trump”

“What would it take for the White House Correspondents’ Association to withdraw its invitation to President Donald Trump to attend and speak at its annual dinner on Friday?

“The event theoretically functions as ‘a celebration of a free press and the vital role of journalism in our democracy’ — two things it is comical to propose the president values. Trump’s treatment of the media in his second term has been characterized not only by vitriolic attacks on journalists and lawsuits aimed at a slew of news outlets but also by the use of the law enforcement and regulatory apparatus to punish reporters and steer news outlets into the hands of his cronies. . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump/white-house-correspondents-association-takes-another-futile-crack-celebrating-first

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Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 7/23/26

Headline: “Opinion | Is the White House Correspondents’ dinner headed for another mess?”

Subhead:  “The association says the dinner celebrates a free press. Trump will likely use it to attack the press.”

“Friday’s rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Association dinner has all the makings of a complete clown show.

“I was going to say it has all the makings of a complete disaster, but that is how you would describe the first attempt back in April. That dinner, you recall, had to be shut down after a gunman trying to enter the event shot a Secret Service agent. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2026/white-house-correspondents-dinner-rescheduled-trump/

WaPo Tipping the Scale?

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Article in FAIR by Pete Tucker, 7/9/26

Headline:  “One Year Into Clampdown, WaPo Opinion Cheers for MAGA, Billionaires and AI”

“It’s been an eventful year since Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos tapped Adam O’Neal for the prestigious job of Post Opinions editor. O’Neal was an unusual hire, a 33-year-old with little by way of managerial experience. But O’Neal had a redeeming quality: He was ready to shill for Bezos, and the man Bezos has been desperately wooing, President Donald Trump. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/one-year-into-the-clampdown-wapo-opinion-cheers-for-maga-billionaires-and-ai/

No Truthiness for Media?

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Article in Daily Kos by Karandreas, 7/6/26

Headline: “Media Countenance Trump Lies”

“Jim Scuitto, the otherwise estimable CNN reporter, slipped into the lazy mainstream media cubbyhole of allowing Trump sycophants to lie about the economy without any pushback.

“To wit, Stephen Moore, the far right commentator and former Trump advisor was doing a dance to avoid answering questions about Trump’s latest and perhaps largest grift, the billions he made on crypto. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/7/6/800065965/community/media-countenance-trump-lies/

 

 

Student Media Targeted Now?

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Article in FAIR by Hank Kennedy, 7/6/26

Headline:  “Trump Era Repression Trickles Down to Student Press Censorship”

The Wingspan ran a cartoon in January by Aidan McClaren, comparing modern-day actions of ICE with the Palmer Raids against American radicals in the 1920s and the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans. The well-known quote from George Santayana appears at the top: ‘Those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it.’ A bystander observes, ‘Why does this look familiar…?’. . .”

“Within two days, school administrators at Gretna East High School in Omaha, Nebraska, had taken the cartoon off the paper’s website. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/trump-era-repression-trickles-down-to-student-press-censorship/

Are the Media Drugged?

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Article in Alternet by John Stoehr, 6/28/26

Headline: “Opinion | Trump is sleeping in public and possibly on experimental drugs—but the media is silent”

“Why did Donald Trump blow up a signing ceremony. . .”

“On Wednesday, California Congressman Ted Lieu suggested an answer – that the 80-year-old president no longer has the mental capacity to recognize what’s in his own best interest. . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.alternet.org/alternet-exclusives/old-trump-media/

CBS in the Crystal Ball

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Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 6/29/26

Headline:  “Opinion | What’s next for CBS News, CNN and ‘60 Minutes?’ “

Subhead: “Wall Street Journal reporter Isabella Simonetti breaks down the upheaval at CBS News and what the Paramount merger could mean for CNN”

“Has there been a bigger media story in 2026 than the upheaval at CBS News?

“CBS has a new owner who has a cozy relationship with President Donald Trump. The news division is being run by someone who had no meaningful TV news experience before she was hired. The evening news has a new anchor whose tenure is off to an uneven start. And even the network’s most dependable and respected product — the venerable ’60 Minutes’ — has been besieged by controversy, massive changes and unpopular firings. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2026/whats-next-cbs-news-cnn-60-minutes-paramount-bari-weiss/

Et Tu NBC?

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Article in Status by Natalie Korach, 6/17/26

Headline:  “NBC’s Ballroom Blowback”

Subhead: “An NBCUniversal executive’s candid remarks justifying Comcast’s donation to Trump’s ballroom stunned reporters in the room and reignited questions about the company’s motives, Status has learned.”

“On Wednesday, NBC-owned stations news directors and NBC News investigative reporters gathered for a network training day ahead of the 2026 Investigative Reporters & Editors conference in National Harbor, Maryland. But amid a day of the usual presentations and speeches, some attendees were surprised to hear what sounded like an NBCUniversal executive suggesting that parent company Comcast’s multimillion-dollar donation to Donald Trump’s controversial White House ballroom project was simply a cost of doing business. . .

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/comcast-ballroom-donation-trump-nbc-news

Media and 2020 Election

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Article in AlterNet by D. Earl Stephens, 6/10/26

Headline:  “Opinion | Veteran reporter tells complicit media to ‘go to hell’ “

“As the smoke finally started to clear following Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election, and Donald Trump’s violent attack aimed at overthrowing our government just two months later, I wrote a piece castigating our disintegrating working press in the United States.

“The thrust of my write was this: If you were addressing ANY Republican about ANYTHING, your first question simply had to be, “Do you believe Donald Trump lost the 2020 election?. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.alternet.org/alternet-exclusives/complicit-media-trump/

Media Birds of a Feather Now?

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Article in Status by Natalie Korach, 6/7/26

Headline:  “The Post’s Opinion Non-‘Sense’

Subhead:  “After Jeff Bezos mandated a rightward overhaul of the opinion section, a Status examination of Adam O’Neal’s podcast feels more like culture-war red meat than ‘personal liberties and free markets,’ and it’s struggling to find an audience.”

“Last month, a group of commentators sat down for a conversation that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on Fox News, Breitbart, or Joe Rogan’s podcast. Lounging on a beige couch with exposed microphones and a wood-paneled backdrop, the four panelists derided the Biden administration’s response to the Covid pandemic. . .”

“But that discussion wasn’t taking place on a right-wing media outlet. It featured The Washington Post opinion editor. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/washington-post-opinion-podcast-adam-o-neal