Media Politicize

BBC Brouhaha

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Article in The Guardian by Michael Savage, 11/10/25

Headline:  ” ‘Make no mistake – this was a coup’: the extraordinary downfall of the BBC’s top bosses”

Subhead:  “The whirlwind that started when Deborah Turness came under attack at a board meeting is part of a wider political story, some say”

“. . .The departures of Davie and Turness leave the BBC exposed and rudderless as it enters crucial talks over its future and the licence fee. . .”

“The episode has also left everyone wondering whether running the BBC is even possible in a politically hostile environment. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/ng-interactive/2025/nov/10/make-no-mistake-this-was-a-coup-the-extraordinary-downfall-of-the-bbcs-top-bosses

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Article in UPI, by Allen Cone, 11/10/25

Headline:  “Trump threatens $1 billion lawsuit against BBC over video of speech”

“. . .Trump’s attorney, Alejandro Brit, wrote a letter to the British-based outlet demanding a retraction of a BBC Panorama documentary by Friday or face a lawsuit of ‘no less’ than $1 billion.  . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2025/11/10/Trump-threatens-lawsuit-Jan-6-speech/5861762799135/

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Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 11/10/25

Headline:  “BBC resignations over a Trump speech edit show the high cost of editorial mistakes in a polarized era”

Subhead: “A sloppy edit of Trump’s Jan. 6 speech sparked two BBC resignations and a reminder that even small errors can fuel big narratives”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/newsletters/2025/bbc-resign-director-tim-davie-ceo-deborah-turness/

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Article in The Guardian by Geraldine McKelvie, 10/8/25

Headline:  ” ‘BBC ‘100% fake news’, says Donald Trump’s press secretary”

Subhead:  “Comments by Karoline Leavitt follow allegations that Panorama documentary misled viewers with its editing of a Trump speech”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/nov/08/bbc-100-fake-news-says-donald-trumps-press-secretary

Full Mental News?

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Article in AlterNet by Robert Reich, 11/6/25

Headline:  “The media once again misses the real news about Trump’s rapid mental decline “

” ‘TRUMP WASN’T ON THE BALLOT’ . . .”,  according to Pollsters,’ Trump posted after Tuesday’s blowout, not naming the pollsters.

“Yet the media obediently repeated Trump’s words, as if they were news.

“They aren’t news. They’re postures. His words and thoughts add nothing to our understanding of anything. Yet the media reproduces them as if they did.

“He says whatever happens to be in his brain at the moment. He posts about whatever annoys him at the moment. He constantly changes his mind. His brain wanders in ways that cause many to question whether he — who will be 80 in June, and whose family has a history of dementia — is all there. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.alternet.org/trump-mental/

The Enemy Media

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Article in The guardian by Betsy Reed, 11/6/25

Headline:  “In his first term, Donald Trump called journalists the enemy. This time around, he’s treating us like one”

“From Hungary to Russia, authoritarian regimes have made silencing independent media one of their defining moves. Sometimes outright censorship isn’t even required to achieve this goal. In the United States, we have seen the administration apply various forms of pressure on news outlets in the year since Trump’s election. One of my great disappointments is how quickly some of the most storied US media organizations have folded . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/nov/05/trump-journalists-enemy

Big Brother WaPo Now?

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Article in The New Republic by Michael Tomasky, 11/3/25

Headline:  “The Washington Post Has Become Right-Wing Even Faster Than I Thought”

Subhead:  “It’s not going to happen. It’s happening: The mainstream media is becoming right-wing. What are wealthy liberals going to do about it?”

“I almost wrote a column about The Washington Post’s new but increasingly clear editorial slant last week after I read the editorial headlined ‘In defense of the White House ballroom.‘ That’s the kind of headline, opening with ‘in defense of,’ that might be tongue-in-cheek; a bit catty. But no, it was a dull, moronic, straightforward defense of the president of the United States crushing to dust one-third of a building of singular historic importance that is owned by the American people, and doing so while not merely ignoring but saying a colossal fuck you to the rules and procedures that normally govern such changes. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://newrepublic.com/article/202581/washington-post-right-wing-bezos

CBS News – “Lotta Money”

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Article in The Guardian by Jeremy Barr, 11/3/25

Headline:  “CBS News heavily edits Trump 60 Minutes interview, cutting boast network ‘paid me a lotta money’ “

Subhead:  “Trump said Paramount’s sale to David and Larry Ellison was ‘greatest thing that’s happened in a long time’ for free press”

“. . .The edits are notable because, exactly one year before Trump was interviewed by O’Donnell at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Friday he had sued CBS over the editing of a 60 Minutes interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, which he alleged had been deceptively edited to help her chances in the presidential election.

While many legal experts widely dismissed the lawsuit as ‘meritless’ and unlikely to hold up under the first amendment, CBS settled with Trump for $16m in July. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/03/trump-cbs-60-minutes-interview-edited

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Article in Mediaite by Sean James, 11/2/25

Headline:  ” ‘Paid Me a Lotta Money!’ Trump Takes Victory Lap Over ’60 Minutes’ — In Part of Interview That Didn’t Air Live On ’60 Minutes’ “

“One part of President Donald Trump’s 60 Minutes interview on Sunday that did not air live: The president gloating that CBS paid him millions of dollars to settle his lawsuit against the program for its editing of an interview with Kamala Harris last year. . .”

He also complimented Bari Weiss, the new head of CBS News, and said he believed she will do a good job leading the news operation. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediaite.com/media/paid-me-a-lotta-money-trump-takes-victory-lap-over-60-minutes-in-part-of-interview-that-didnt-air-live-on-60-minutes/

This Week – The West Wing!

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Article in the Washington Post by By Scott Nover and Andrew Jeong, 11/1/25

Headline:  “White House restricts media access in key area of the West Wing”

Subhead:  “The move limiting free press access to Room 140, which houses the offices of the press secretary and other staff, was said to be based on national security.”

“The White House said Friday that reporters could no longer access an area in the West Wing known as ‘Upper Press’ that houses the offices of key communications staff members, triggering pushback from White House correspondents, who said the move would hurt the press’s ability to cover the president. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/10/31/white-house-media-access-west-wing/

Chippin’ Away at the Media

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Article in The Washington Post by Brianna Tucker, 10/31/25

 

Headline:  “N.C. GOP spokesman urges reporter to drop news story, citing Trump ties

Subhead:  “Communications director Matt Mercer later says in a social media post that Trump should ‘feed ProPublica to the USAID wood chipper.’ ”

“A spokesman for the North Carolina Republican Party appeared to threaten the news outlet ProPublica — citing ‘connections’ to the Trump administration — over a story it reported and ultimately published on a prominent conservative state Supreme Court judge. . .:

“The story examined state Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Newby, his starkly conservative transformation of the court and power over the state’s politics. . .”

“. . .the publication said it received a response from North Carolina GOP spokesman Matt Mercer, attempting to coerce ProPublica to kill the story.

“ ‘I’m sure you’re aware of our connections with the Trump Administration and I’m sure they would be interested in this matter,’ Mercer said in an email that ProPublica published. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/10/31/republican-north-carolina-propublica-trump/

Radio Shutdown Coincidence?

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Article in The Guardian by Staff 10/30/25

Headline:  “Radio Free Asia suspends news operations amid cuts and US government shutdown”

Subhead:  “RFA will begin closing overseas bureaus, as well as laying off and paying severance to staff members, with the hope that it could return in the future”

“RFA was founded nearly three decades ago to report on China and other Asian countries without independent media.

“It has been operating with a skeleton staff the past few months, primarily producing a few stories online as the administration sought to choke off its funding. . .”

“Long a thorn in Beijing’s side, RFA’s closure comes after the US president met Chinese leader Xi Jinping on a trip to Asia. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/31/radio-free-asia-suspends-news-operations-amid-cuts-us-government-shutdown

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Article in Human Rights Watch by Staff, 12/23/25

Headline:  “Afghanistan: Taliban Tramples Media Freedom”

Subhead:  “Journalists Face Arrest, Torture; Journalists in Exile at Risk of Forced Return”

“The Taliban have gutted Afghan media since taking control of the country in August 2021 through the use of surveillance and censorship and by punishing media workers for perceived criticism.

“As the Taliban’s oppression of the media has increased, the need for independent news outlets in Afghanistan has become even greater. Journalists described both the harsh conditions in Afghanistan and growing challenges facing those living in exile. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/10/23/afghanistan-taliban-tramples-media-freedom

Someone Wants to Control All Media

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Article in The Guardian by Owen Jones, 10/29/25

Headline:  “From CBS to TikTok, US media are falling to Trump’s allies. This is how democracy crumbles”

Subhead:  “We’re watching the Orbánisation of the US – and as in Hungary, control of the media is key to consolidating power”

“Democracy may be dying in the US. Whether the patient receives emergency treatment in time will determine whether the condition becomes terminal. Before Donald Trump’s return to the presidency, I warned of ‘Orbánisation’ – in reference to Hungary’s authoritarian leader Viktor Orbán. There, democracy was not extinguished by firing squads or the mass imprisonment of dissidents, but by slow attrition. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/oct/29/cbs-tiktok-us-media-donald-trump-allies-democracy

 

News in the Eye of the Beholder

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Article in Status by Natalie Korach, 10.29.25

Headline: “Paramount’s Eye Strain”

Subhead:  “It was a ‘traumatic’ day at CBS News, as David Ellison’s Paramount unleashed a fresh wave of layoffs across the company, hitting the news division hard.”

“On Wednesday morning, shortly after Paramount staffers received a memo from David Ellison outlining a ‘tough day’ of layoffs ahead, CBS News staffers joined the regular 9 a.m. editorial call where newly minted editor in chief Bari Weiss and president Tom Cibrowski addressed them on the forthcoming cuts. “\’This is just an enormously difficult day for so many people that have given years of their lives to this company,’ Weiss said.

“Indeed, it was another rough day inside CBS News, which has experienced no shortage of them in recent months. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/cbs-news-layoffs-paramount

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Article in The Guardian by Jeremy Barr, 10/29/25

Headline:  “CBS News staffers lose jobs in ‘bloodbath’ as part of sweeping cuts from Paramount”

Subhead:  “Paramount laying off about 1,000 staffers, including some in news, on Wednesday amid longer-term cost-cutting plan”

“For months, CBS News staffers have been on edge waiting for a long-expected round of layoffs as part of the $2bn in cost-cutting that had been promised after parent company Paramount’s successful merger with Skydance Media.

“Those cuts began on Wednesday morning and are expected to affect fewer than 100 people. The company declined to provide a specific number. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/oct/29/cbs-news-layoffs-paramount