Media Politicize

Riding the Press?

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Article in The Hill by Max REgo, 10/6/25

Headline:  “Hegseth defends media restrictions: ‘The Pentagon press corps can squeal all they want’ “

“Pete Hegseth is doubling down on the Pentagon’s new restrictions for the press corps, arguing it will not change despite complaints from the press.

“ ‘I think the American people see things like that as absolute common sense,’ the Defense secretary told Fox News on Sunday. ‘The Pentagon press corps can squeal all they want, we’re taking these things seriously. They can report, they just need to make sure they’re following rules.’ . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5540286-hegseth-defends-pentagon-rules/

 

Reporting Limitations at Pentagon

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

Headline:  “Predicament at the Pentagon”

Subhead:  “News organizations face a looming deadline from Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon which is demanding they sign restrictive new rules, or risk being expelled from the building entirely”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/pentagon-press-restrictions-pete-hegseth

Booted Off the Air?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Carolina Abbott Galvao & Riddhi Setty, 9/25/25

Headline: “Local ABC Affiliates Are Getting Slammed”

Subhead:  “Brendan Carr, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, promised to bring power to community stations. But it’s their corporate owners who make the big decisions—while regional reporters and station managers take the heat.”

“Fewer and fewer local broadcasters are independently owned: “In the early eighties, it was north of fifty companies that owned or controlled 90 percent of broadcast media. And I think over the last decade or so, it’s become five or six, depending on how you break it down,” Reed Showalter, the former antitrust enforcer now running for Congress in Illinois, said. . .”

“. . .”Louis Wall, the president of Sagamore Hill Broadcasting, a privately owned broadcaster in Georgia . . . who considers himself to be “very supportive” of the First Amendment, has suddenly had to navigate a complex and often contradictory set of political, ideological, and financial concerns. “Broadcast is under attack from so many different mediums and video sources, we don’t need another piece of our armor or another piece of our programming to be lost,” he said.

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/news/local-abc-affiliates-nexstar-sinclair-getting-slammed.php

 

Gotta Catch ‘Em All

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Article in The New York Times by Cecelia Kang, 4/24/25

Headline:  “Brendan Carr Plans to Keep Going After the Media”

Subhead:  “While “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” returned to ABC on Tuesday, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission has promised to continue his campaign against what he sees as liberal bias in broadcasts.”

“. . .Driven by the belief that liberal tech and media companies have unfairly silenced viewpoints on the right, Mr. Carr is working to transform the F.C.C. from a once sleepy agency best known for licensing local TV stations and expanding 5G cellular networks into a protector of conservative speech. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/24/technology/brendan-carr-fcc-kimmel.html

Media Megaphones

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Article in Daily Kos by Olliver Willis, 9/22/25

Headline:  “Trump gives his Fox News pals a new platform to push propaganda”

“President Donald Trump has reportedly chosen Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, owners of Fox News, as part of a group that will have control over TikTok’s influential algorithm.

The move further consolidates right-wing media control while the Trump administration engages in a full-scale assault on the First Amendment. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/9/22/2344922/-Trump-gives-his-Fox-News-pals-a-new-platform-to-push-propaganda?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=top_news_slot_1&pm_medium=web

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Article in The New York Times by David Streitfeld and Theodore Schleifer, 9/23/25

Headline:  “Larry Ellison, a Media Mogul Like No Other”

Subhead: “The database billionaire and his son, David, are Trump favorites. The family could soon control an empire that includes CBS, Paramount, Warner, CNN and a piece of TikTok.”

” . . . At any other time, the regulatory hurdles to owning TikTok, CBS and CNN along with a major swath of Hollywood would have been insurmountable. This is a decidedly different era, where being in the good graces of Mr. Trump counts for a great deal. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/technology/larry-ellison-oracle-tiktok.html

Shots at the Media

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Article in Media Matters by Gideon Taaffe. et. al., 9/18/25

Headline:  “How right-wing media sow distrust and confusion around vaccines and science”

Subhead: “As Florida ends school vaccine requirements and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s leadership comes under fire, the right has repackaged anti-science talking points as well-meaning skepticism”

“Amid the rise of the so-called ‘Make America Healthy Again’ movement, right-wing media figures have employed a variety of tactics that sow doubt and confusion around vaccine efficacy and science more broadly. These efforts to capitalize on existing distrust of public health institutions and pharmaceutical companies have gained renewed momentum following Florida’s elimination of vaccine requirements for schools . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/how-maha-media-sow-distrust-and-confusion-around-vaccines-and-science

Don’t like what you hear? – Attack!

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Amos Barshad, 9/18/25

Headline:  “The Campaign Against Network Television Picks Up Steam”

Subhead:  “The suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s show was just the latest result of an ongoing conservative effort to stamp out unfavorable voices.”

“Carr and his conservative allies have made no secret of their desire to use the power of the FCC to change what Americans see and hear on the radio and television stations that rely on public airwaves. Since January, Carr’s FCC has opened inquiries into Saturday Night Live, 60 Minutes, and the entirety of NPR. When Paramount, the parent company of CBS, sought to merge with the production company Skydance, the FCC required CBS News to appoint a conservative ‘bias monitor’ before granting its approval. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/abc-jimmy-kimmel-fcc-brendan-carr.php

Media Godfather?

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Article in The New York Times by Staff, 9/19/25

Headline:  “Trump Administration Live Updates: Cruz Calls F.C.C. Threats to Media ‘Dangerous as Hell’ “

“Cruz comments: Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, harshly criticized the Federal Communications Commission chairman, Brendan Carr, accusing him of mafia-like tactics and saying his threat to retaliate against media companies for speech on their airwaves was ‘dangerous as hell.’ President Trump said that news reporters who cover his administration negatively have broken the law, a significant broadening of his attacks on journalists . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/09/19/us/trump-news

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Article in The Washington Post by Alec Dent, 9/19/25

Headline:  “Republican Ted Cruz says FCC chair’s threats about Kimmel are ‘dangerous’ “

Subhead: “The conservative senator warns that letting the government threaten to censor voices it doesn’t like could hurt the political right if Democrats return to power.”

“. . .’No, no, no, no,’ Cruz said on his show after playing Carr’s comments. ‘What he said there is dangerous as hell.’ He added: ‘That’s right out of “Goodfellas.” That’s right out of a mafioso coming into a bar. “God, nice bar you have here. It’d be a shame if something happened to it”. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/09/19/ted-cruz-carr-fcc-jimmy-kimmel/

 

Media Monopoly?

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Article in Mediaite by Colby Hallm 9/17/25

Headline: “Can Larry Ellison and TikTok Rescue the TV Industry?”

“Once upon a time, television was the fireplace around which America gathered. Paramount’s movies filled the multiplex, CBS’s anchors narrated history, CNN beamed wars and elections into living rooms.

“Now the hearth has been replaced by a five-inch rectangle that no one can put down . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediaite.com/opinion/can-larry-ellison-and-tiktok-rescue-the-tv-industry/

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Article in Democracy Now by Staff, 9/16/25

Headline:  “Billionaire Larry Ellison Could Add TikTok to Media Empire as U.S. and China Reach Deal”

“Larry Ellison has a decades-long history with the Republican Party and has frequented Trump’s Mar-a-Lago for dinners and has met Trump in the Oval Office. . .”

“This comes just months after the Trump administration cleared the way for an $8 billion merger between Paramount and Skydance, which is run by David Ellison, son of Larry Ellison.  . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.democracynow.org/2025/9/16/headlines/billionaire_larry_ellison_could_add_tiktok_to_media_empire_as_us_and_china_reach_deal

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