Media Politicize

Hegseth Burning Up About Media?

by


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/

– – – – –

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?

by


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

When You Jilt Your Media Fans

by


Article in Politico by Michael Kruse, 4/18/25

Headline:  ” Trump’s Most Important Relationship Is Ending. And the Break-Up Isn’t Pretty.”

Subhead:  “For a half-century Trump and the mainstream media have mutually benefited from a stormy symbiosis. Why is he trying to kill the institution that made him?”

“. . .“I’m thinking seriously of running for president,” Trump said. “Why aren’t you writing about me?”

“ ‘He knew that you couldn’t be a serious presidential candidate in this country at that time unless your name showed up in every newspaper in the country,’ Fournier told me. ‘And if the AP wrote about you, that’s what would happen,’ he said.

“Trump used to court the AP. Today he’s in court with the AP — key members of Trump’s administration are defendants in a lawsuit filed by the flagship wire service after he booted its reporters from the Oval Office and Air Force One for not following his order to call the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. . .”

Because his relationship with the media is his most important relationship. More than his three wives — more than any business partners — Trump’s symbiotic relationship with the media helped him craft an identity that has fueled every other achievement.

No longer. In the wake of his election last fall and at the outset of his second presidential term, Trump has turned his performative anti-media schtick into actual anti-media deeds. Wielding lawsuits, executive actions and the unleashing of allies and aides, he’s attempting to starve, squelch or shutter network television stations, global news agencies and reporters in Washington and beyond — a roster of targets ranging from ABC to CBS to NPR to the publication you’re reading right now. . .”

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/04/18/trump-media-history-ap-apprentice-00271192

Rt, Wing Listeners Flying Away

by


Article in Media Matters by Gideon Taaffem 4/17/25

Headline:  “Callers to conservative radio shows voice their displeasure with Trump’s tariffs”

Subhead:  “Caller: ‘To me, this is just reckless, and I’m so angry. I’ll be darned if I’ll vote for another Republican again.’ ”

“Conservative radio listeners have been vocal about their displeasure as President Donald Trump’s tariffs created economic uncertainty and sent stock markets plunging.

“Though many right-wing media figures have dismissed the stock market volatility and praised Trump’s tariff policy, some listeners of right-wing radio shows were displeased, calling in to pronounce it ‘reckless,’ ‘sloppy,’ and ‘the single biggest, dumbest move in political history’. . .”

https://www.mediamatters.org/tariffs-trade/callers-conservative-radio-shows-voice-their-displeasure-trumps-tariffs

No Reporting on Pres Allowed!

by


Article in Huffpost by Marco Margaritoff, 4/15/25

Headlline:  “Bernie Sanders Slams Trump For Targeting Media: ‘If You Can’t Take Criticism, Get Out’ “

Subhead:  ” ‘Trump had a meltdown Sunday on social media over a ’60 Minutes’ report on his plan to take over Greenland and Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.”

“Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is calling out President Donald Trump for his thin-skinned reaction to Sunday’s “60 Minutes” broadcast on CBS — and for once again demanding the network lose its license over last year’s interview with Kamala Harris. . .”

““And right now, he’s going after the media,” the Vermont senator said. “I don’t know if any of you saw it. He is now wanting to take away CBS’s license because they did a story that criticized him.”

“Oh, my word, CBS criticized him! Oh, let’s drive them out of business! How terrible is that!” Sanders continued in a mocking tone to boos from the crowd directed at Trump. . .”

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-donald-trump-cbs-60-minutes_n_67fe2dc8e4b0e3decc4bf552

Media No-Go Zone

by


Article in AP by David Bauder,4/15/25

Headline:  “The White House is starting a new media policy that restricts wire services’ access to the president”

“Fresh from a courtroom loss over The Associated Press’ access to the presidency, the White House on Tuesday put forward a new media policy that sharply curtails access to Donald Trump by news agencies that serve media outlets around the world. It was the latest attempt by the new administration to control coverage of its activities.

“The move would block the AP and other wire services that serve billions of readers through thousands of news outlets. It comes after a judge ruled the White House had violated the organization’s free speech by banning it because it disagreed with the outlet’s decision not to rename the Gulf of Mexico. . .”

https://apnews.com/article/ap-trump-press-speech-white-house-access-97a6f5532edd5eec09bd292ba5c9dbdb

Rt. Wing Media Find Fault

by


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

– – – – –

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

Widening Gyre Public Media

by

Article in Free Press by Staff, 4/14/25

Headline:  “Trump’s Plan to Defund Public Broadcasting To Face Opposition from Americans Who Overwhelmingly Support NPR and PBS“

Subhead:  “White House source tells press of plan to cut more than a billion dollars from the budget, effectively zeroing out federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting”

“According to Politico and New York Times reports Monday, the White House will send Congress a request to claw back nearly $1.1 billion in already-approved federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the entity that provides federal support for NPR and PBS affiliates across the country. . .”

https://www.freepress.net/news/trumps-plan-defund-public-broadcasting-face-opposition-americans-who-overwhelmingly-support

Soon – Media Required to Praise Leader?

by


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

Foreign Journalists in Danger

by


Article in AP by Didi Tang, 4/5/25

Headline: “Foreign journalists at US-backed media fear being sent to repressive homelands after Trump’s cuts”

“After hiding in Thailand for seven years, two Cambodian journalists arrived in the United States last year on work visas, aiming to keep providing people in their Southeast Asian homeland with objective, factual news through Radio Free Asia.

But Vuthy Tha and Hour Hum now say their jobs and legal status in the U.S. are at risk after President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order gutting the government-run U.S. Agency for Global Media. The agency funds Radio Free Asia and other outlets tasked with delivering uncensored information to parts of the world under authoritarian rule and often without a free press of their own. . .”

“ ‘It fell out of sky,’ Vuthy, a single father of two small children, said through a translator about the Trump administration’s decision, which he says threatens to upend his life. I am very regretful that our listeners cannot receive the accurate news,’ Hour said, also through a translator.

“Both men said they’re worried about providing for their families and being allowed to stay in the U.S. They say it’s impossible to return to Cambodia, a single-party state hostile to independent media where they fear being persecuted for their journalistic work.”

https://apnews.com/article/radio-free-asia-voice-of-america-trump-084045acb927d5cc2ddc46b61d59a692