Media Politicize

Reporters Enjoy New DOD Press Room

by

Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Ivan L. Nagy, 4/2/26

Headline:  “Pushed Out. Reinstated. Pushed Out Again.”

Subhead:  “Last week, New York Times reporters were supposed to return to the Pentagon’s corridors. Instead, the entire press corps was banished to an annex, and the Times is back in court.”

“Ordered to let journalists back in, the Pentagon instead banished them to an annex on the far side of its parking lot. A Pentagon reporter called that ‘an elaborate troll.’ Another told me it was ‘a bullshit move.’ ‘How weird is that?’ Paul Friedman, a United States District judge, remarked at a hearing on Monday. ‘Is it Catch-22? Is it Kafka?’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/news/new-york-times-pentagon-kicked-removed-reinstated-hegseth-department-war-credentials.php

Watch out for the Judicial Teeth!

by


Article in The New York Times by Erik Wemple, 4/2/26

Headline:  “Trump’s Media-Bashing Is Coming Back to Bite Him in Court”

Subhead:  “Judges have cited attacks on the press by the president and his appointees when ruling against the government in at least three court cases.”

“President Trump in April 2025 posted some thoughts on Truth Social about public media, in all caps: ‘Republicans must defund and totally disassociate themselves from NPR & PBS, the radical left “monsters” that so badly hurt our country!’

“This was not a watershed moment. In both his social media posts and his off-the-cuff comments to reporters, Mr. Trump’s broadsides against traditional news outlets have become the tap water of his political rhetoric.

“But they’re now haunting him in court. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/02/business/media/trump-media-courts.html

“60 Minutes” Chaos?

by

Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 3/31/26

Headline:  “Bari’s ‘60’ Blow Up Plan”

Subhead:  “Earlier this year, Bari Weiss was talked out of making changes to ’60 Minutes’ midseason, Status has learned—but with the summer break approaching, her eyes are now trained squarely on the famed newsmagazine. . .”

“With Bari Weiss now at the helm of CBS News and taking an unusually hands-on approach to ’60 Minutes,’ a cloud of uncertainty hangs over the show’s future. “No one knows what to expect,” one staffer on the show told Status about the mood internally. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/bari-weiss-cbs-news-60-minutes-changes

Journalists Under Threat

by

Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 3/31/26

Headline:  “Opinion | CNN journalists were detained in what Israel called a ‘serious ethical and professional failure’ “

Subhead:  “The Israeli military suspended a battalion and dismissed a soldier within days after the incident, which CNN reported while covering settler violence”

“Late last week, CNN’s Jeremy Diamond reported that he and his crew were detained and assaulted by members of the Israeli military while reporting from the West Bank. (The link above includes video of the incident.)

“Over the weekend, Diamond wrote that CNN was covering a story about Israeli settlers brutally attacking several Palestinians and establishing a new illegal outpost in the village of Tayasir. While there, Diamond reported, Israeli soldiers pointed guns at the CNN team and ordered them to sit. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2026/cnn-idf-assault-settlers-west-bank/

 

Revenge on the Media?

by

Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Jem Bartholomew, 3/30/26

Headline:  “Was the FBI Raid on a Washington Post Reporter’s Home an Act of Retribution?”

Subhead: “Investigators ‘assisted’ Hannah Natanson in applying her right index finger to a Post-owned MacBook Pro, accessing all its data.”

“. . .As [KAsh Patel] said on Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast in 2023, ‘We’re gonna come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections. We’re gonna come after you—whether it’s criminally or civilly, we’ll figure that out—but yeah, we’re putting you all on notice’. . .”

“At 6:05am on January 14, the FBI executed a search warrant at the home of Hannah Natanson, a Washington Post reporter who had spent much of Trump’s first year back in office covering the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) as it took a hatchet to the civil service. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/was-the-fbi-raid-on-a-washington-post-reporters-home-an-act-of-retribution.php

Fool the Judge on Press Access?

by

Article in The Guardian by Jeremy Barr, 3/30/26

Headline: ” ‘What’s going on?’: US judge calls aspects of new Pentagon press policy ‘weird’ “

Subhead: “Judge seems skeptical of Pentagon’s restrictive protocol but did not rule on forcing compliance with an earlier order”

“Federal judge Paul Friedman seemed skeptical of the new press policy implemented by the Pentagon last week, calling aspects of it “weird” and Kafkaesque.

“Friedman struck down key aspects of the previously implemented Pentagon media policy on 20 March, but at the latest hearing on Monday stopped short of ruling on a motion filed by the New York Times to force compliance of his decision.

“Friedman was particularly skeptical about the ways in which press space was being provided to the seven New York Times reporters, whom he previously ruled should have their press access badges returned. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/30/judge-pentagon-press-policy-weird

Shaping the Media

by


Article in Mediaite by Kathryn Wilkens, 3/27/26

Headline:  “ ‘Trump Is Winning’: FCC Chair Boasts He’s Remaking the Media by Pushing Out Left-Leaning Figures”

“During a Friday CPAC appearance, FCC Chair Brendan Carr bragged that he’s remaking the media by pushing out left-leaning figures, declaring, ‘[President Donald] Trump is winning.’

“ ‘When he ran for office, he ran directly at the fake news media,’ said Carr. ‘He said, “You don’t get to decide what we say, what we think, how we’re gonna vote inside the voting booth.” President Trump took on the fake news media, and President Trump is winning.’

“Look at the results so far,” he continued. “PBS — defunded. NPR — defunded. Joy Reid — gone from MSNBC. Sleepy-eyed Chuck Todd — gone. Jim Acosta — gone. John Dickerson — gone.”

“[Stephen] Colbert is leaving,” Carr continued. “CBS is under new ownership, and soon enough, CNN is gonna have new ownership as well.” After this list, cheers could be heard from the audience.

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/trump-is-winning-fcc-chair-boasts-hes-remaking-the-media-by-pushing-out-left-leaning-figures/

ICE & Rt. Wing Media

by

Article in Media Matters by Gideon Taaffe & Sage Hodil, 3/27/26

Headline:  “Right-wing media are calling for ICE to ‘surround the polls’ in midterms”

Subhead:  “Right-wing media figures claim Democrats are ‘basically admitting they’re cheating’ by opposing ICE at polling stations. But noncitizen voting is a fake problem and ICE has racially profiled US citizens.”

“Right-wing media personalities are pushing for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to be deployed to polling stations during the 2026 midterm elections, claiming it will ‘fix the fraud’ of alleged noncitizen voting and suggesting the only reason Democrats oppose the idea is that ‘they want to cheat’ and ‘protect illegals’ voting rights.’ Department of Homeland Security officials, meanwhile, have put out mixed messaging regarding whether or not the department will consider this course of action.

“In reality, according to experts, instances of noncitizen voting are negligible and the presence of ICE agents at polling stations would be illegal, as it could intimidate voters into staying away and have a ‘chilling effect’. . .”

Read the full story at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/voter-fraud-and-suppression/right-wing-media-are-calling-ice-surround-polls-midterms

Neuter All Critics?

by

Article in FAIR by Ari Hall, 3/25/26

Headline:  “Trump’s FTC Wages a War on Media Criticism”

“NewsGuard, a company that rates news outlets’ accuracy using what it calls apolitical journalistic criteria…to identify reliable sources of information, has filed a lawsuit to block the Federal Trade Commission’s demand for a list of all its customers.

“The FTC in May 2025 launched a wide-ranging probe into NewsGuard and 16 other groups—including left-leaning watch group Media Matters for America, and the Global Disinformation Index, a nonprofit media ratings service. The agency alleged the groups were part of ‘a conspiracy to boycott conservative and independent media.’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/trumps-ftc-wages-a-war-on-media-criticism/

Here Comes the Judge

by

Article in The Guardian by Jer3emy Barr, 3/24/26

Headline:  “New York Times accuses Pentagon of defying judge’s press access order”

Subhead:  “DoD announces ‘interim’ policy for journalists decried by newspaper as ‘end-run around the court’s ruling’ “

“The New York Times on Tuesday accused the Pentagon of disobeying a judge’s ruling that undid much of the restrictive agreement journalists were forced to sign or lose access to the building.

The judge, Paul Friedman, granted an injunction on Friday that overturned much of the language in the ‘media in-brief’ document that had so concerned many news organizations that cover the Pentagon that almost all journalists chose instead to give back their press badges. He also ordered that seven journalists from the Times be returned their badges.

Instead of complying with the judge’s order, the Pentagon chief spokesperson Sean Parnell announced on Monday night that the department would permanently close a designated work space for journalists known as ‘correspondents’ corridor’ and create a ‘new and improved press workspace’ in an annexed facility outside the building. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/mar/24/pentagon-correspondents-press-restrictions