Media Politicize

Media Abandon Civil Rights?

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Article in Free Press by Staff, 1/21/26

Headline:  “Comprehensive New Report Puts Major Media Companies on Notice for Anti-DEI Capitulations”

Subhead:  “In a detailed analysis of the 35 most dominant U.S. media companies, Free Press reveals a disturbing and cowardly reversal on prior civil-rights commitments. . .”

“On Wednesday, Free Press published an authoritative report analyzing the retreat in 2025 of the nation’s largest media companies from prior commitments to promote diversity, equity and inclusion principles in their workplaces and policies. The report — COMPLICIT: Corporate Media’s Capitulation to Trump’s Attacks on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion — sheds new light on the ongoing capitulation of major media and tech companies to the dictates of a bigoted and corrupt Trump administration. . .”

Read the Full article at:

https://www.freepress.net/news/comprehensive-report-puts-major-media-companies-notice-anti-dei-capitulations-trump

Negative vs. Biased News

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Article in Daily Kos by Trenz Pruca, 1/20/26

Headline:  “Media Bias, Negative News, and a Persistent Myth”

Subhead:  “You must be a Republican if you believe that: Fox News, MAGA influencers, and professional outrage merchants tell the truth; scientists, judges, journalists, and civil servants are the deep state.”

“Is the media biased? — the Patterson Study. (2018). . .”

“. . .What the study does examine is the long-term trend toward negative news coverage in broadcast media, a shift that began in the early 1960s as television news expanded in length and became increasingly image-driven. Negative events—conflict, scandal, disaster—are simply easier to visualize. This is why automobile accidents receive more coverage than random acts of kindness. The accident happened. Reporting it is neither fake nor biased; it is merely well suited to the medium.

“Patterson explicitly warns against conflating negative news with biased news. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/1/20/2364428/-Media-Bias-Negative-News-and-a-Persistent-Myth?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

Minneapolis Journalists Attacked

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Article in Reporters Without Borders by Staff, 1/20/26

Headline:  “Attacks on journalists in Minnesota cap Trump’s first year back in office”

“Federal agents and officials are increasingly targeting journalists in the state of Minnesota covering widespread protests against the government’s sweeping immigration crackdown. At least six journalists have been violently attacked by agents in the state’s twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul since the start of the new year. Federal officials have also threatened independent journalist Don Lemon with criminal charges for his reporting on a protest inside a church. The attacks cap Donald Trump’s first year back in office, which has been defined by his explosive war on press freedom. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://rsf.org/en/attacks-journalists-minnesota-cap-trump-s-first-year-back-office

The Press Says, “Search Me?”

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Article in The Washington Post by Kathleen Parker, 1/16/26

Headline:  “Attacks on the press? America’s seen this before.”

Subhead:  “A history of government vs. the media, from the Pentagon Papers to Obama”

“The FBI’s early wake-up call at a Washington Post reporter’s Virginia home and subsequent seizure of her phone and two laptops has sent chills through the Fourth Estate.

“Even non-journalists should be worried by what happened to Hannah Natanson, who found FBI agents at her front door at 6 a.m. Wednesday, wielding a search warrant. . .”

“Even though we’re accustomed to President Donald Trump’s contempt for the “fake” media, this unusually aggressive act felt Gestapo-like.  . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/01/16/post-fbi-press-freedom-hannah-natanson/

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Riddhi Setty, 1/16/26

Headline: ” ‘A Trauma That You Carry’ “

Subhead:  “An unprecedented attack on press freedom at the Washington Post.“

“. . .’ “You don’t just get over the federal government banging on your door at six in the morning,’ Burke said of the Natanson case. Two years later, much of his equipment remains in the FBI’s possession. . .”

“Journalists who have been targeted by government searches or surveillance said the Natanson incident reflects an alarming escalation of the Trump White House’s hostility toward the media. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/a-trauma-that-you-carry-washington-post-wapo-hannah-natanson-press-freedom-device-search-seizure-trump.php

Right Media Escalate Conflict?

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Article in Media Matters by John Knefel & Sophie Lawton

Headline:  “Right-wing media are describing pro-immigrant Minnesota activists using the language of war”

Subhead:  ” ‘Civil war,’ ‘insurgents,’ ‘a guerilla tactical playbook’ — these are just some of the ways MAGA pundits are describing civil resistance to Trump’s ICE rampages”

“Right-wing media figures and outlets are using the language of war to characterize protests against the presence of violent Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minnesota. . .”

“While some in right-wing media have referred to anti-ICE demonstrations as an “insurrection” since at least October, the overall tenor of right-wing rhetoric has escalated dramatically in recent days. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/immigration/right-wing-media-are-describing-pro-immigrant-minnesota-activists-using-language-war

Attack a Journalist? – FAFO

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Article in the Huffington Post by David Moye, 1/15/26

Headline:  “Karoline Leavitt’s Meltdown Not Winning Her Any Fans On Social Media”

Subhead:  “People on X weren’t sympathetic to the White House press secretary’s tirade against a journalist asking a legitimate question about issues facing ICE.”

“White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt probably thought attacking a journalist who asked a legitimate question about Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents during Thursday’s press briefing would help her win the hearts and minds of voters.

But it doesn’t appear things worked out as she might have hoped, based on the social media reaction to her meltdown at a simple question asked by The Hill’s Niall Stanage.

During the briefing, Stanage noted an earlier comment made by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem that ICE agents are ‘doing everything correctly,’ before asking Leavitt how that can be when “32 people died in ICE custody last year, 170 U.S. citizens were detained by ICE, and Renee Good was shot in the head and killed by an ICE agent.”

“Leavitt didn’t like the answer and declared, ‘Oh, OK. So you’re a biased reporter with a left-wing opinion’ before going on a tirade where she called Stanage ‘a left-wing activist” and said he was ‘posing as a journalist.’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/karoline-leavitt-meltdown-ice-sparks-social-media-backlash_n_69696996e4b00edae2a41e5b?origin=home-whats-happening-unit

Broadcasting into Iran Stopped?

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Article in Mediaite by Sarah Rumpfm 1/13/26

Headline: “Kari Lake Blocks Radio Free Europe from Using U.S. Transmitter in Kuwait to Broadcast into Iran: Report”

“US Agency for Global Media senior advisor Kari Lake has blocked Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty from broadcasting into Iran using a USAGM transmitter located in Kuwait, reported Oliver Darcy in his Status newsletter.

“Lake narrowly lost the 2022 Arizona governor’s race to Democrat Katie Hobbs, and since then has paired her support for former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims of fraud in the 2020 election with her own unfounded accusations that her election was stolen from her as well. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediaite.com/media/kari-lake-blocks-radio-free-europe-from-using-u-s-transmitter-in-kuwait-to-broadcast-into-iran-report/

CBS Wreck?

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Article in The Guardian by Anna Betts, 1/12/26

Headline:  “David Letterman calls CBS News a ‘wreck’ under newly installed leadership”

Subhead: “Former late-night host makes comments amid merger of CBS’s parent company Paramount with Skydance Media”

“The former CBS late-night host David Letterman has criticized his old network, calling its news division a ‘wreck’ under its newly installed leadership. . .”

“He said: ‘CBS News is a wreck – it’s just gone. CBS News, for decades, going back to [the second world war], before [it], Ed Murrow would be broadcasting the blitz of London from the rooftop of buildings in London for CBS Radio, and it was that mentality that drove the integrity of CBS News, that has been trampled on, pissed on, and eviscerated by these idiots that have taken it over.’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/jan/12/david-letterman-cbs-news-bari-weiss

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Jem Bartholomew, 1/12/26

Headline:   “And That’s the Way It Is”

Subhead:  “At CBS News, the suppression of critical reporting and the promotion of appeasement reveal Bari Weiss’s true colors.”

Read the article at:

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/cbs-news-suppression-critical-reporting-appeasement-bari-weiss-tony-dokoupil.php

Somebody’s Pants on Fire?

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Article in Mediaite by Isaac Schorr, 1/8/26

Headline: ” ‘Absolute Disgrace!’ Irate JD Vance Loses It on the Media for ‘Lying’ About ICE Shooting”

“Vice President JD Vance dressed down the media on Thursday over its coverage of the shooting of a Minneapolis woman by an ICE officer on Wednesday in a monologue he delivered from the podium in the White House briefing room.

“After first discussing the administration’s response to the Somali fraud scandal playing out in Minnesota, Vance accused the press of ‘lying’ about what had transpired in Minneapolis the day before. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediaite.com/media/tv/absolute-disgrace-irate-jd-vance-loses-it-on-the-media-for-lying-about-ice-shooting/

Rt. Wing Media Cheering

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Article in The Guardian by Margaret Sullivan, 1/8/26

Headline: “Some US media are cheerleading Trump’s Venezuela raid. That’s not their job”

Subhead: “An almost admiring feeling pervaded the early coverage – and not just among right-leaning outlets”

“If you believe the early public opinion polls, Americans are uncertain about last weekend’s raid on Venezuela and the seizure of the country’s leader, Nicolás Maduro.

But many in the media seem to be trying to move that wavering needle to approval.   That’s especially true on the right, of course, where Fox News is leading a full-on cheering squad.

Even the right-leaning podcaster Megyn Kelly, a former Fox host herself, said the cable network’s early coverage was like watching Russian propaganda.”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jan/08/us-media-trump-venezuela-raid

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Article in Media Matters by Sophie Lawton, 1/7/26

Headline: “Greenland, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Iran, and more: After Maduro’s capture, right-wing media encourage escalating US involvement around the globe”

“Following the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, right-wing media figures are pushing for the Trump administration to next target other countries — including Colombia, Cuba, and Mexico — and even to take Greenland from Denmark, a NATO ally. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/greenland-colombia-cuba-mexico-iran-and-more-after-maduros-capture-right-wing-media